William Crossing - Tales of the Dartmoor Pixies Glimpses of Elfin Haunts and Antics (Illustrated Edition).pdf - William Crossing - widez2

Tales of the

Dartmoor Pixies

William Crossing

Tales Of The Dartmoor Pixies

Glimpses Of Elfin Haunts And Antics

by William Crossing

London, Hood

[1890]

Preface

HE tales related in the following pages, I have gathered from

the peasantry of Dartmoor, and they may be accepted as

representative of the class of stories told of the elves of

superstition—the pixies.

Had my design been simply to have presented the reader with a

collection of these, I might have filled a greater number of pages, but

I have had a different aim in view. What I have endeavoured to do

has been to give, by means of these tales, as clear an idea as possible

of the pixy superstition as it formerly existed, believing that the

fanciful notions of our forefathers should not be regarded as

altogether unworthy of attention, but that upon investigation they

will probably be found to yield something of value to the student of

folk-lore.

To this end I have chosen such tales as I considered would best give

the reader an acquaintance with the kind of actions in which the

pixies were said to indulge, at the same time refraining from

including any that are found in the pages of other writers.

That the ideas respecting the elfin race here treated of are of very

different character from what they were a generation or two since is

most true; but it is none the less interesting to note that though the

existence of ‘the little goblins is looked upon by the peasant as being

more than doubtful, and in many cases regarded with actual

scepticism, the deeds with which they were formerly credited are not

yet entirely forgotten.

Splatton,

South Brent, Devon,

11th June. 1890.

William Crossing - Tales of the Dartmoor Pixies Glimpses of Elfin Haunts and Antics (Illustrated Edition).pdf