" The best and most authentic account of this dangerous and
mysterious being occurs in a tale communicated to the author by that
eminent antiquary, Richard Surtees, Esq. of Mainsforth, author of the
HISTORY OF THE BISHOPRIC OF DURHAM.
According to this well-attested legend, two young Northumbrians were
out on a shooting party, and had plunged deep among the mountainous
moorlands which border on Cumberland. They stopped for refreshment in
a little secluded dell by the side of a rivulet. There, after they had
partaken of such food as they brought with them, one of the party fell
asleep; the other, unwilling to disturb his friend's repose, stole
silently out of the dell with the purpose of looking around him, when he
was astonished to find himself close to a being who seemed not to belong
to this world, as he was the most hideous dwarf that the sun had ever
shone on. His head was of full human size, forming a frightful contrast
with his height, which was considerably under four feet. It was thatched
with no other covering than long matted red hair, like that of the felt
of a badger in consistence, and in colour a reddish brown, like the hue
of the heather-blossom.
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