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Once upon a time, long,
long, before any of you were born, there lived an old woman in a
cottage, beside a wide-stretching moor, behind the Ochil hills. Her
cottage was in a very lonely spot, far from neighbors, and to keep
her company there lived a little grandchild with the name of Nelly.
The house in which they dwelt was known by the name of "Bessie o' the
Bogs", for the old woman's name was Bessie, and the moor at this part
was full of boggy places, in which it was very dangerous to venture.
The old woman kept a cow and a few fowls, so that she and her
grandchild were supplied with plenty of milk, butter, and eggs.
Little Nelly was not able to go to school, because the road was too
long for her tiny feet; so her grandmother gave her lessons at home,
and taught Nelly the letters of the Alphabet from an old horn book,
which she had used herself when a little girl. She also taught Nelly
to sew a sampler, which is a piece of fine canvas, stretched upon a
frame, on which is sewn in colored wool all the letters of the
Alphabet, the figures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0, and beneath that the girl's
own name, which in this case was Nelly Henderson.
On the long winter nights the Granny used to tell stories about
the Fairies and Brownies, who were at that time believed to dwell in
a large earth mound, called "The Fairy Knowe," which was near
Pendreich, overlooking the beautiful vale of Menteith, and the
western group of the Grampian mountains. There they held high revels,
dancing in the silver moonbeams, and playing at leap-frog and other
funny games, which kept them amused until the dawn drove them into
hiding. Nelly loved to listen to tales of these grey people, as they
were sometimes called, and especially the doings of one Brownie,
called Tod Lowrie, or Red Bonnett, from the red cap which he was
supposed to wear. This Brownie was a great favorite with the
shepherds who looked after the sheep on the Ochils, and as he always
helped them, though he was never seen by any of them, none would
speak an evil word of this good Fairy.
Nelly's Granny had quite a budget of tales about the things Tod
Lowrie used to do, and thus the little girl got to love the tiny elf
whose good-humor and kindly deeds were proverbial. At night when she
went to bed she used to wish very much to see her favorite Fairy, but
she never managed to catch even a glimpse of his red cap. As time
went on little Nelly thought more and more about her Fairy friends,
and often wished to see some of them as the gambolled on the dewy
grass or crept quietly into people's houses to do their work for
them, and leave everything tidy in the morning. For, of course, Nelly
knew that when all the folks in a house were sound asleep, then it
was that Tod Lowrie would step inside, and take up the broom and
sweep the floors and lay the fire, and leave everything tidy and neat
for the shepherd's wife in the morning.
Though Nelly and her Granny lived so far from other people, they
had a little world of their own to take up their attention. Nelly was
specially fond of the scones which her Granny baked, and which she
called her "Fairy scones", because they were covered with little
rings made by a thimble. These rings reminded Nelly of the rings she
often observed on the dewy grass in the early morning, which were
supposed to be made by the Fairies dancing at the dawn of day. When
the evening shadows fell she would sit by the fire and dream of the
little queer folk who hid away from the view of mortals, and only
appeared to do some service to the people they regarded with favor.
One night, as Nelly thus sat by the fire and watched the glowing
peats, for they had no coal in that moorland region, she prayed to
herself that God would let her see the Brownie whom she knew as Tod
Lowrie, or Red Bonnet. Her Granny had not been very well that day,
and Nelly had tried her best to do the work of the house, but she had
not been able to do it all. When she went to bed, where her Granny
had been resting all day, she felt very tired, and soon fell asleep.
It was the month of January, and the cold of winter was severe, the
ground being covered with snow.
That night a snowstorm began to blow across the moor, just as the
evening shadows began to fall, and about the time little Nelly had
gone to bed. Some little time after she fell asleep the door gently
opened, and a strange, quaint little figure stole into the room. It
was a wee man with a red cap upon his head, green shoes upon his
feet, and a tight little jacket of greenish leather closely buttoned
round his body. He looked slyly round the room, which was in
semi-darkness, the only light being that which came from the
flickering embers of the peat fire. Having satisfied himself that
everybody was asleep, he picked up a broom and set to work to sweep
the hearth and the floor; next he arranged the dishes upon the
shelves of the dresser or cupboard. Then the Brownie, for this was
none other than Tod Lowrie himself, went out to an outhouse and
brought in two wooden stoups, or pitchers, full of water, and set
them carefully in a corner. Going out again, he brought in some peats
which he placed upon the fire, and bending down upon his knees, he
blew the embers until the fire blazed quite cheerily. Taking a
hurried glance round to see if he might be observed, he seemed to be
satisfied that all was well, and going into a scullery close by, he
carried a pot into the room, and, having put some water into it, he
hung it upon the hook above the fire. The Brownie then took a bowl
full of meal, and with a wooden stick, called a "spurtle," in his
hand, he slowly allowed the oatmeal to trickle through his fingers
into the pot, stirring the contents the while until it boiled; adding
a pinch of salt, he allowed it to boil for some time. Taking out the
wooden spurtle, he scraped it upon the side of the pot and laid it
carefully aside. His next action was to fetch two wooden bowls from a
press, one large and one small.
Turning to the fire, he unhooked the pot, carried it carefully to
the table, and poured out the porridge into the two empty bowls.
When this was done, Ted Lowrie took the pot into the scullery and
washed it clean, using a bunch of heather stalks tied firmly together,
called a "range"; going into the scullery again, he returned with two
small bowls of fresh milk, which he placed beside the bowls of
steaming porridge.
Looking at his handiwork, the Brownie smiled to himself and rubbed
his hands together in high glee. "This will surprise my little Nell,"
he said to himself; and wheeling round he said, "Now it's time I was
off, before the morning light wakens up my little friend." Red Bonnet
went to the door, but great was his surprise to find that during the
night, when he had been so busy, the snow had been falling and the
wind had been causing it to drift; so heavy had it been that the
cottage was completely surrounded by a bank of snow, heaped up to the
roof.
He next tried the window, but it was blocked too, so the wee man
could find no exit that way. Standing in the middle of the floor the
Brownie considered what he should do. At last he hit upon a plan of
escape. He went to the fireplace and prepared to climb up the chimney;
but as he stepped upon the jamb of the fireplace, the smoke from the
burning peats so tickled his little nose that he gave a huge sneeze
and fell with a dump on the floor. This untoward noise awoke Nelly
from her slumbers, and looking out from her box-bed, she saw the wee
Brownie with his red cap and green shoes, and, thrilled with delight;
she cried to her Granny: "Oh look, Granny, here's Tod Lowrie!" But
when Granny had opened her eyes and looked out of the bed, the
Brownie was gone, having leapt up the chimney and vanished.
So, after all, the only person who ever saw Tod Lowrie was little
Nelly, whose pure eyes and kind heart enabled her to see a Fairy.