Skillywidden

Long ago in Cornwall, a farmer went up a hill called Trendreen to cut furze. Furze is a prickly bush with bright yellow flowers, and people used it to light their fires. The farmer worked all morning, and then he stopped to rest.

Just then, he saw something tiny lying on a soft patch of heather. It was a little man, no longer than the farmer’s arm, fast asleep in the sunshine. He wore a little green coat, and his cheeks were rosy. “What a funny little fellow,” whispered the farmer. “The wind is getting cold, and he is all alone up here.” So he gently wrapped the little man in his big coat and carried him home.

His wife and children were amazed. “Is he a pixie?” asked the children. “I think he must be one of the little people,” said their mother. The tiny fellow woke up, looked around, and gave a big smile. The children named him Bobby Griglans, because griglans is an old Cornish name for heather.

Bobby Griglans loved to play. He played tag around the kitchen table and hide-and-seek behind the pots. He sang funny little songs, and he laughed like a tinkling bell. He ate tiny bites of bread and honey, and he slept in a basket by the fire. The children loved him very much.

One sunny day, the children took Bobby Griglans out to play by the big pile of furze. They ran and jumped, and Bobby Griglans danced on the prickly bushes without getting scratched. Then, all of a sudden, they saw a tiny man and a tiny woman coming along the path. They were dressed in green, and they were looking under every bush and stone. “Skillywidden! Skillywidden! Where are you?” they called.

Bobby Griglans jumped up with a happy shout. “Here I am, Daddy!” he cried. He ran to the little man and woman, and they hugged him tight. Skillywidden was his real name, and these were his own mother and father.

He turned and waved goodbye to the children. Then, in a twinkle, the three little people were gone. The children were sad, but they were glad that Skillywidden was home with his family. And whenever they went up Trendreen Hill after that, they thought they could hear a tinkling laugh among the yellow furze.