THE BOGGARTTHE BOGGART
IN an old farm-house in Yorkshire, where lived an honest farmer named George Gilbertson, a Boggart had taken up his abode. He caused a good deal of trouble, and he kept tormenting the children, day and night, in various ways. Sometimes their bread and butter would be snatched away, or their porringers of bread and milk be capsized by an invisible hand; for the Boggart never let himself be seen; at other times the curtains of their beds would be shaken backwards and forwards, or a heavy weight would press on and nearly suffocate them. Their mother had often, on hearing their cries, to fly to their aid.
There was a kind of closet, formed by a wooden partition on the kitchen-stairs, and a large knot having been driven out of one of the deal-boards of which it was made, there remained a round hole. Into this, one day, the farmer's youngest boy stuck the shoe-horn with which he was amusing himself, when immediately it was thrown out again, and struck the boy on the head. Of course it was the Boggart did this, and it soon became their sport, which they calledlarking with the Boggart,to put the shoe-horn into the hole and have it shot back at them. But the gamesome Boggart at length proved such a torment that the farmer and his wife resolved to quit the house and let him have it all to himself. This settled, the flitting day came, and the farmer and his family were following the last loads of furniture, when a neighbor named John Marshall came up.
"Well, Georgey," said he, "and so you're leaving t'ould hoose at last?"
"Heigh, Johnny, my lad, I'm forced to it; for that bad Boggart torments us so, we can neither rest night nor day for't. It seems to have such a malice against t'poor bairns, it almost kills my poor dame here at thoughts on't, and so, ye see, we're forced to flitt loike."
He scarce had uttered the words when a voice from a deep upright churn cried out."Aye, aye, Georgey, we're flittin ye see!"
"Ods, alive!" cried the farmer, "if I'd known thou would flit too, I'd not have stirred a peg!"
And with that, he turned about to his wife, and told her they might as well stay in the old house, as be bothered by the Boggart in a new one. So stay they did.
THE END
FOOTNOTES:[1]InChristmas Tales of Flanders.Illustrated and collected by Jean De Bosschere. Dodd, Mead & Company.[2]Reprinted by special permission fromStories and Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen. Copyright by Houghton, Mifflin Company.[3]Reprinted by special permission fromTwilight Land,by Howard Pyle. Copyright by Harper & Brothers[4]By permission of the publishers fromThe City That Never Was Reached,by Dr. Jay T. Stocking. Copyright byThe Pilgrim Press.[5]FromCzechoslovak Fairy Tales, by Parker Fillmore. Copyright by Harcourt, Brace & Company.[6]Reprinted by permission of the publishers fromThe Pool of Stars, by Cornelia Meigs. Copyright, 1915, by the Macmillan Company.[7]Reprinted by special permission fromThe Sons O' Cormac, by Aldis Dunbar. Copyright, 1920, by E. P. Dutton & Company.[8]FromJewish Fairy Tales and Fables,by Aunt Naomi. Robert Scott, London.[9]FromEnglish Fairy Tales,by Joseph Jacobs. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons, Publishers, New York and London.[10]FromThe Sweet-Scented Name,by Fedor Sologub. Edited by Stephen Graham. Constable & Company, London.[11]By permission fromGranny's Wonderful Chair, by Frances Browne. Copyright by E. P. Dutton & Company.[12]By permission fromChrist Legends,by Selma Lagerlof. Copyright by Henry Holt & Company.[13]By permission fromThis Way to Christmas,by Ruth Sawyer Durand. Harper & Brothers.Also inThe Children's Book of Christmas Stories;ed. by A. D. Dickinson and A. M. Skinner. Doubleday, Page.[14]FromChildren of the Dawn,by Elsie Finnimore Buckley. Stokes, London.[15]Reprinted by permission fromThe Red Book of Romance. Edited by Andrew Lang. Longmans, Green & Company.[16]By permission fromUnder Greek Skies,by Julia Dragoumis. Copyright by E. P. Dutton & Company.[17]By special permission fromThe Punishment of the Stingy,by George Bird Grinnell. Copyright by Harper & Brothers.[18]By permission from Waukewa's Eagle, by James Buckham, inSt. Nicholas, Vol. XXVIII, Part I, The Century Company.[19]FromThe Wandering Heath,by Arthur Quiller-Couch. Copyright, 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons. By permission of the publishers.[20]FromLegends and Tales of North Cornwall, by Enys Tregarthen. Wells Gardner, Darton & Co.[21]Mad.[22]Jack-o'-Lantern. Will-o'-the-Wisp. The Piskey Puck. Some say he walks about carrying a lantern, others, that he goes over the moorsinhis lantern.[23]Waving.[24]Little.[25]In Cornwall, these "little Ancient People" are calledPiskeys. In England and Ireland,Pixies.[26]FromThe Wandering Heath, by Arthur Quiller-Couch; Copyright, 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons. By permission of the publishers.[27]Beer-house.[28]Breeches buoy.[29]FromEnglish Fairy Tales,by Joseph Jacobs. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons.[30]To go fromleftto right, instead of following the Sun's course fromrightto left.[31]Prose Version, by Anna Cogswell Tyler.[32]It is a well-known fact that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any further than the middle of the next running stream. It may be proper likewise to mention to the benighted traveler, that when he falls in withbogles,whatever danger there may be in his going forward, there is much more hazard in turning back.[33]FromFairy-Gold, a book of old English Fairy Tales. Chosen by Ernest Rhys.
[1]InChristmas Tales of Flanders.Illustrated and collected by Jean De Bosschere. Dodd, Mead & Company.
[1]InChristmas Tales of Flanders.Illustrated and collected by Jean De Bosschere. Dodd, Mead & Company.
[2]Reprinted by special permission fromStories and Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen. Copyright by Houghton, Mifflin Company.
[2]Reprinted by special permission fromStories and Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen. Copyright by Houghton, Mifflin Company.
[3]Reprinted by special permission fromTwilight Land,by Howard Pyle. Copyright by Harper & Brothers
[3]Reprinted by special permission fromTwilight Land,by Howard Pyle. Copyright by Harper & Brothers
[4]By permission of the publishers fromThe City That Never Was Reached,by Dr. Jay T. Stocking. Copyright byThe Pilgrim Press.
[4]By permission of the publishers fromThe City That Never Was Reached,by Dr. Jay T. Stocking. Copyright byThe Pilgrim Press.
[5]FromCzechoslovak Fairy Tales, by Parker Fillmore. Copyright by Harcourt, Brace & Company.
[5]FromCzechoslovak Fairy Tales, by Parker Fillmore. Copyright by Harcourt, Brace & Company.
[6]Reprinted by permission of the publishers fromThe Pool of Stars, by Cornelia Meigs. Copyright, 1915, by the Macmillan Company.
[6]Reprinted by permission of the publishers fromThe Pool of Stars, by Cornelia Meigs. Copyright, 1915, by the Macmillan Company.
[7]Reprinted by special permission fromThe Sons O' Cormac, by Aldis Dunbar. Copyright, 1920, by E. P. Dutton & Company.
[7]Reprinted by special permission fromThe Sons O' Cormac, by Aldis Dunbar. Copyright, 1920, by E. P. Dutton & Company.
[8]FromJewish Fairy Tales and Fables,by Aunt Naomi. Robert Scott, London.
[8]FromJewish Fairy Tales and Fables,by Aunt Naomi. Robert Scott, London.
[9]FromEnglish Fairy Tales,by Joseph Jacobs. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons, Publishers, New York and London.
[9]FromEnglish Fairy Tales,by Joseph Jacobs. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons, Publishers, New York and London.
[10]FromThe Sweet-Scented Name,by Fedor Sologub. Edited by Stephen Graham. Constable & Company, London.
[10]FromThe Sweet-Scented Name,by Fedor Sologub. Edited by Stephen Graham. Constable & Company, London.
[11]By permission fromGranny's Wonderful Chair, by Frances Browne. Copyright by E. P. Dutton & Company.
[11]By permission fromGranny's Wonderful Chair, by Frances Browne. Copyright by E. P. Dutton & Company.
[12]By permission fromChrist Legends,by Selma Lagerlof. Copyright by Henry Holt & Company.
[12]By permission fromChrist Legends,by Selma Lagerlof. Copyright by Henry Holt & Company.
[13]By permission fromThis Way to Christmas,by Ruth Sawyer Durand. Harper & Brothers.Also inThe Children's Book of Christmas Stories;ed. by A. D. Dickinson and A. M. Skinner. Doubleday, Page.
[13]By permission fromThis Way to Christmas,by Ruth Sawyer Durand. Harper & Brothers.
Also inThe Children's Book of Christmas Stories;ed. by A. D. Dickinson and A. M. Skinner. Doubleday, Page.
[14]FromChildren of the Dawn,by Elsie Finnimore Buckley. Stokes, London.
[14]FromChildren of the Dawn,by Elsie Finnimore Buckley. Stokes, London.
[15]Reprinted by permission fromThe Red Book of Romance. Edited by Andrew Lang. Longmans, Green & Company.
[15]Reprinted by permission fromThe Red Book of Romance. Edited by Andrew Lang. Longmans, Green & Company.
[16]By permission fromUnder Greek Skies,by Julia Dragoumis. Copyright by E. P. Dutton & Company.
[16]By permission fromUnder Greek Skies,by Julia Dragoumis. Copyright by E. P. Dutton & Company.
[17]By special permission fromThe Punishment of the Stingy,by George Bird Grinnell. Copyright by Harper & Brothers.
[17]By special permission fromThe Punishment of the Stingy,by George Bird Grinnell. Copyright by Harper & Brothers.
[18]By permission from Waukewa's Eagle, by James Buckham, inSt. Nicholas, Vol. XXVIII, Part I, The Century Company.
[18]By permission from Waukewa's Eagle, by James Buckham, inSt. Nicholas, Vol. XXVIII, Part I, The Century Company.
[19]FromThe Wandering Heath,by Arthur Quiller-Couch. Copyright, 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons. By permission of the publishers.
[19]FromThe Wandering Heath,by Arthur Quiller-Couch. Copyright, 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons. By permission of the publishers.
[20]FromLegends and Tales of North Cornwall, by Enys Tregarthen. Wells Gardner, Darton & Co.
[20]FromLegends and Tales of North Cornwall, by Enys Tregarthen. Wells Gardner, Darton & Co.
[21]Mad.
[21]Mad.
[22]Jack-o'-Lantern. Will-o'-the-Wisp. The Piskey Puck. Some say he walks about carrying a lantern, others, that he goes over the moorsinhis lantern.
[22]Jack-o'-Lantern. Will-o'-the-Wisp. The Piskey Puck. Some say he walks about carrying a lantern, others, that he goes over the moorsinhis lantern.
[23]Waving.
[23]Waving.
[24]Little.
[24]Little.
[25]In Cornwall, these "little Ancient People" are calledPiskeys. In England and Ireland,Pixies.
[25]In Cornwall, these "little Ancient People" are calledPiskeys. In England and Ireland,Pixies.
[26]FromThe Wandering Heath, by Arthur Quiller-Couch; Copyright, 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons. By permission of the publishers.
[26]FromThe Wandering Heath, by Arthur Quiller-Couch; Copyright, 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons. By permission of the publishers.
[27]Beer-house.
[27]Beer-house.
[28]Breeches buoy.
[28]Breeches buoy.
[29]FromEnglish Fairy Tales,by Joseph Jacobs. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons.
[29]FromEnglish Fairy Tales,by Joseph Jacobs. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons.
[30]To go fromleftto right, instead of following the Sun's course fromrightto left.
[30]To go fromleftto right, instead of following the Sun's course fromrightto left.
[31]Prose Version, by Anna Cogswell Tyler.
[31]Prose Version, by Anna Cogswell Tyler.
[32]It is a well-known fact that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any further than the middle of the next running stream. It may be proper likewise to mention to the benighted traveler, that when he falls in withbogles,whatever danger there may be in his going forward, there is much more hazard in turning back.
[32]It is a well-known fact that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any further than the middle of the next running stream. It may be proper likewise to mention to the benighted traveler, that when he falls in withbogles,whatever danger there may be in his going forward, there is much more hazard in turning back.
[33]FromFairy-Gold, a book of old English Fairy Tales. Chosen by Ernest Rhys.
[33]FromFairy-Gold, a book of old English Fairy Tales. Chosen by Ernest Rhys.