Small People Page 3

The illustration on this page is taken from 'Traditions & Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall' by William Bottrell 1873

Brownie picture by the late Myghal Colgan

The Knockers, or Buccas

The Knockers, or Buccas, are the faerie folk of the Cornish tin and copper mines. One story says that they are the souls of the Jews who killed Jesus and who were sent to work in the mines as a punishment. In support of this theory, they were said to be heard sweetly singing carols in the mines, not from choice but under compulsion, on Christmas Day, Easter Day, All Saint's Day and the Jewish Sabbath. Small pieces of smelted tin found in old smelting-works were known as 'Jew's bowels'. However, in other versions, they share the same origins as their faerie cousins above ground.

Knockers were said to have large heads and faces of old men. Other descriptions tell of ugly, thin-limbed creatures no higher than the smallest human dwarf, with large hooked noses, slit mouths from ear to ear, and a great liking for making dreadful faces. Stories are told of them crossing their eyes and thumbing their noses when they met humans, or bending over to grimace at them between their spindly legs.

The Knockers haunted only the richest tin mines, and many are reputed to have been discovered by their singing and knocking underground. When a miner went into an 'old level' and saw a bright light, it was a sure sign that he would find tin there. Often, the Knockers were helpful, working ahead of the miners and leading them to rich veins of ore by the knocking noises of their Thunder Axes - a kind of magically powerful pickaxe. But they could be spiteful if their wishes were not respected or if the miners didn't treat them fairly. Any miner who failed, for example, to leave a portion of his underground meal - a piece of pasty, maybe - for the Knockers to enjoy could expect no help from them. Similarly, they were not to be sworn or shouted at. Any miner who upset them was fool because the knockers worked only the most profitable seams of tin and copper and would share their good fortune with those humans who treated them right. If a miner was particularly disrespectful, he could rely on continuing bad luck and even physical abuse. The most famous example of this is the story of 'Barker's knee'. Barker upset the Knockers and, as the result, was made lame for the rest of his life. Another miner who upset the Knockers was Tom Trevorrow.Click here to read their stories.

The Knockers were known by many names. E M Wright in her book Rustic speech and folk-lore (1913) lists alternatives such as Gathorns, Nickers, Nuggies, Knackers and Buccas. However, William Bottrell couldn't decide whether Buccas were Knockers or Spriggans.

'It is uncertain whether Bucka can be regarded as one of the fairy tribe; old people, within my remembrance, spoke of a Bucka Gwidden and a Bucka Dhu - by the former they meant good spirit, and by the latter an evil one, now known as Bucka boo. I have been told, by persons of credit, that within the last forty years it was a usual practice with Newlyn and Mousehal fishermen to leave on the sand at night a portion of their catch for Bucka. Probably from this observance the common nickname of Newlyn Buckas was derived. An old rhyme says:

'Penzance boys up in a tree,
Looking as wisht as wisht can be;
Newlyn buckas as strong as oak,
Knocking them down at every poke.'

From this it appears that Newlyn boys once considered it matter of pride to be called by the name of their ancient divinity.

(Bottrell, Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, 1870-90, vol.2).

Certainly, Bottrell's 'Buckas' seem more like spiteful Spriggans or prankish Piskies than Knockers who, we are told, rarely came above ground. This is supported by stories that, at harvest time, it was common to throw a piece of bread over the left shoulder and spill a few drops of beer spilled on the ground for him, to keep the Bucca happy. And some claim that Bucca, or Bucca-boo, was the origin of the term 'Bogey' or 'Bogeyman'. There are certainly stories of parents telling their children that if they were bad the Bucca would 'come and carry them off.'

The Browneys, or Brownies

Browneys were house faeries living closely alongside humans. They were known to be kindly and good, and took every opportunity to do things to benefit their adopted family. One story tells of a beekeeper whose bees would not settle. His maid, therefore started to bang a tin pan and shout, "Browney! Browney!" as loud as she could until 'the good Browney compels the bees to settle.' All the Browneys seemed to want in return was to share some of the household's food and comforts. A certain Mr Cornish, a past Town Clerk of Penzance, once mentioned at an antiquarian meeting that 'there was a brownie still existing in (the town hall)' and that 'a gentleman, whose opinion he would take on many matters, had told him that he had often seen it, sitting quietly at the fireside.' (Courtney, Cornish Feasts and Folklore, page 123.)

In some parts of Cornwall in the 1890s, it was thought that Browneys became moths when they died, and moths were called Browneys or Piskies. Margaret Ann Courtney also mentions a green bug which infests bramble-bushes in late autumn that locals called a Pisky or, confusingly, a Browney. And Quiller Couch wrote that, around the Polperro area, weasels were known as Brownies or Fairies. So perhaps Browneys had the power to transform themselves into animals? One old Cornish lady I knew in Helston in the 1970s called her resident house mice 'Browneys'.

Brownies seem to be the closest thing in Cornish folklore to the traditional 'Fairy' or 'Faerie'. In some accounts, the terms Brownie and Fairy seem to interchange regularly.

I stated at the start of this document that I would treat the term 'Small People' as a generic term for all of Cornwall's faerie folk as there are so few instances of the Small People being mentioned (when compared to the large number of Pisky, Spriggan, Knocker and Brownie stories). However, the best description of the Small People I've read comes from the Cornish Connexions website, where it states that:

'The most faery-like of Cornwall's elfin folk were undoubtedly the Small People. Gentle, harmless, always beautiful. Like Pisky, they would come into the homes of the sick, the old and the poor, bringing wild flowers and entertaining with songs, lively dancing or light hearted pranks. More usually however, they were seen by some lucky person while holding their fairs and markets in woodland dells, in faery gardens filled with perfume and music, perhaps among the sea-pinks that found hold along the cliff ledges, or in the shelter of moorland cairns. Unfortunately, such sights were a rare privilege for human eyes, and those that trespassed on faery ground immediately became one of their number.'

I'm not sure what their source was for this description. However, of all the Cornish Small People, the description seems most fitting for the Browneys and their acts of kindness.

As a final word on the Browneys, I should add that although they preferred the warmth and cosiness offered by human dwellings, their natural habitat was the glorious Cornish landscape. 'Faerie folks are in old oaks' as the ancient saying goes, and certain 'Small People' did reside in the forests and among - or even inside - trees. In February 1912, The St Austell Star newspaper printed a story 'Faeries in the Forest' as told to them by an elder resident. It tells the story of foolish Cornish faerie folk who had chosen the wrong trees to live in during a storm. Read the story here.

They also seem to have lived on the beaches and cliffs. William Bottrell recounts this tale:

'A few days since, a woman of Mousehal told me that not long ago troops of small people, no more than a foot and a half high, used - on moonlight nights - to come out of a hole in the cliff, opening onto the beach, Newlyn side of the village, and but a short distance from it. The little people were always dressed very smart; and if anyone came near them they would scamper away into the hole. Mothers often told their children that if they went under cliff by night the small people would carry them away into 'Dicky Danjy's holt.''

(Bottrell, Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall)

So there you have it: A short guide to the little people of Cornish folklore.

If you have any stories that we don't have, please e-mail them to me and I'll add them to the site and credit you with the find.