THE SMALL PEOPLE'S GARDENS.
IF the adventurous traveller who visits the Land's End district will go down
as far as he can on the south-west side of the Logan Rock Cairn, and look
over, he will see, in little sheltered places between the cairns, close down
to the water's edge, beautifully green spots, with here and there some ferns
and cliff-pinks. These are the gardens of the Small People, or, as they are
called by the natives, Small Folk. They are beautiful little creatures, who
appear to pass a life of constant enjoyment amongst their own favourite
flowers. They are harmless and if man does not meddle with them when they are
holding their fairs--which are indeed high festivals--the Small Folk never
interfere with man or anything belonging to him. They are known to do much
good, especially when they discover a case of oppressed poverty; but they do
it in their own way. They love to do good for its own sake, and the
publication of it in any way draws down their censure, and sometimes severe
anger, on the object whom it was their purpose to serve. To prove that those
lovely little creatures are no dream, I may quote the words of a native of St
Levan:
"As I was saying, when I have been to sea close under the cliffs, of a fine summer's night, I have heard the sweetest of music, and seen hundreds of little lights moving about amongst what looked like flowers. Ay! and they are flowers too, for you may smell the sweet scent far out at sea. Indeed, I have heard many of the old men say, that they have smelt the sweet perfume, and heard the music from the fairy gardens of the Castle, when more than a mile from the shore." Strangely enough, you can find no flowers but the sea-pinks in these lovely green places by day, yet they have been described by those who have seen them in the midsummer moonlight as being covered with flowers of every colour, all of them far more brilliant than any blossoms seen in any mortal garden.