White caps: an old folk story

Press, 29 August 1978, Page 14

White caps: an old folk story

Once there was a boy called Peter who lived with his parents not far from a large forest. He had never been to the forest on his own, but one day when he was collecting blackberries he decided to follow the track through the trees. He wandered further and further away and after a while, when he was ready to return home, he could nett find the track. Soon he realised he was hopelessly lost. Now it was growing dark and Peter was too tired to walk another step. He lay down beside an old tree stump and in a few moments was fast asleep. However, it wasn’t long before he woke again. Something hairy brushed against his cheek. He opened his eyes. A great black bear was lying beside him. Peter trembled, but the bear gave him a gentle lick and stood up. Then the animal started to move slowly

away so Peter decided to follow behind. The bear led Peter on and on through the forest and when they reached some low bushes, behind which a light was shining, it left him. Peter hurried forward and saw that the light was coming from the window of a turf hut. He knocked on the door and a little woman opened it and invited him inside. She took him into a cosy room where another little woman was sitting by the fire. She gave him a mug of hot soup and said that although there was only one bed he could share it with both of them. Peter soon fell asleep but he woke again to hear the clock chiming 12. Immediately the two little women jumped out of bed and put on white caps which hung over the head of the bed.

“Here’s off”, the first little woman said. And the second cried: “Here’s after”. And they both rose

through the air, as if they were flying and disappeared out the window'. “I don’t want to stay here alone”, thought Peter, and seeing a third white cap at the end of the bed, he put it an and shouted: “Here’s after”. At once he was whisked off his feet and shot out the window, too. The next moment he was standing in front of a f fry ring in the forest and the little women were dancing gaily round it. Suddenly one said: “Here’s off to a gentleman’s house: and the other cried: “Here’s after”. So Peter again shouted: “Here’s after” too. And he flew through the air as before until he came to a halt at the top of a tall chimney. Then the first little woman, who was really a fairy, said: “Down the chimney”: and the other little woman and Peter said: “Here’s after”.

And down they all descended to a dark and dirty kitchen. The two little women started sweeping and cleaning, and told Peter that the poor servant girl was lame and could not manage on her own. But he did not feel like working and slumped down in a corner and dozed off to sleep. When he awoke it . was morning and the servant girl, who thought he was a burglar, was staring at him in alarm. She started crying and the cook came and called the master of the house. Peter was very frightened and tried to explain what had happened. But no-one believed his story. He was taken to prison, locked jn a dungeon, and sentenced to be hanged The next day he was taken to the scaffold, and many people gathered to watch. But just as the hangman was going to pull the rope, a little

woman pushed through the crowd. She was wearing a white lap and ing a white cap and carried a similar one. “May the prisoner be hanged in this cap?” she asked the judge. “Yes” he answered. She hurried up to the scaffold and put it on Peter’s head, saying “Here’s off”. Quickly, Peter said: “Here’s after.” And they flew away together, faster than lightning, to the turf hut. There the fairy gave him a good dinner. However, she told him that she had been very angry when he had taken the third cap from the bed without permission. And she made Peter promise never again to touch fairy property. Then the two nttie women showed Peter the way home and he lived happily ever after.