Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second SeriesBottrell, William
General
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series
Bottrell, William
Cornwall (England : County) -- Social life and customs; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
The only thing she relished was goat's milk, "for you must
have often heard," said she, "that these animals are frequently
seen on moors, or among carns and in other out-of-the-way places,
miles from their homes. They are enticed away by small people[100]
to nourish their babes and changelings. There's a score or more
of goats here at times. Those cunning old he-ones that often
come among a flock—no one knows whence—and disappear with
the best milkers, are the decoys, being small people in such
shapes. One may often notice in these venerable long-beards,
when seen reposing on a rock, chewing their cuds, a look of more
than human craftiness and a sly witch-like glance cast from the
corner of their eyes."
Looking at Mr. Noy for a moment with a melancholy
expression, she sighed and continued, "I am now getting used
to this sort of life and find it tolerable, the more so because the
whole tribe behave to me with great kindness, the elderly men
above all; you observed that little fellow to whom I spoke and
who now plays the tambourine, I desired him to tell the rest, in
case they inquired for me, that I was gone to look after the
children, and he is so much attached to me as to do or say
anything I request." Seeing Mr. Noy look somewhat lowering,
Grace exclaimed, "Oh! my dear Willy, don't be such a noddy
as to be jealous, for he's no other than vapour, and what he is
pleased to think love, is no more substantial than fancy."
Mr. Noy asked if there were any children among them besides
those they stole and replaced with changelings?
"Very few indeed," she replied, "though they are fond of
babies, and make great rejoicing when one happens to be born
amongst them; and then every little man, however old, is proud
to be thought the father. For you must remember they are not
of our religion," said she, in answer to his surprised look, "but
star-worshippers. They don't always live together like Christians
and turtle-doves; considering their long existence such constancy
would be tiresome for them, anyhow the small tribe seem to think
so. And the old withered 'kiskeys' of men that one can almost
see through, like puffs of smoke, are vainer than the young ones.
May the Powers deliver them from their weakly frames! And
indeed they often long for the time when they will be altogether
dissolved in air, and so end their wearisome state of existence
without an object or hope."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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