The Fairy and the Kettle

Long ago, on a little island off the coast of Scotland, a woman lived with her husband in a stone cottage. She had a big black kettle that she used every day. And not far from her cottage stood a round green hill where the fairies lived.

Every morning, a little fairy woman came quietly to the cottage door. She never said a word, but she always reached out her hand for the kettle. And every morning, the woman gave it to her and said, “Kettle, kettle, go with care, and come back full of something to share!” Every evening, the fairy brought the kettle back. And inside it, there was always something good, like warm bread or oatcakes and honey.

One day, the woman had to go to the market. “If the fairy comes, please give her the kettle,” she told her husband. “And don’t forget to say the rhyme.” But when the fairy came, the husband felt a little shy. He handed her the kettle without saying anything at all. And that evening, the kettle did not come back.

When the woman came home and heard what had happened, she shook her head. “Without the rhyme, the fairies think they can keep it,” she said. “I will go and fetch it myself.”

So she walked up the green hill in the moonlight. A little door stood open in the side of the hill, and soft music was coming out. Inside, the fairies were dancing, and her kettle sat by the fire. The woman quietly picked up her kettle and hurried back out of the door.

Then two little fairy dogs began to bark and run after her. “Woof, woof, woof!” they barked, down the green hill. The woman reached into the kettle and found some oatcakes inside. She tossed the oatcakes on the path behind her, and the dogs stopped to sniff and nibble. By the time they finished, she was safe inside her cottage, with the kettle in her arms.

The fairy never came to borrow the kettle again. But whenever the woman walked past the green hill, she heard the fairy music and smiled. And her good black kettle stayed safe and warm by her own fire.