English Fairy and Other Folk Tales JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 1
English Fairy and Other Folk Tales JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 1
English Fairy and Other Folk Tales JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 1
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FAIRIES.<br />
WORCESTERSHIRE FAIRIES. 1<br />
ACCORDING to tradition, that interesting headl<strong>and</strong> called Oseberrow, or Osebury (vulgo Rosebury)<br />
Rock, which lies not far from Alfrick, <strong>and</strong> is situated upon the border of the river Teme, in Luisley,<br />
opposite to Knightsford Bridge, was a favourite haunt of the fairies (vulgo pharises). It is said they had a<br />
cave there (which is still shown); <strong>and</strong> that once upon a time, as a man <strong>and</strong> boy were ploughing in an<br />
adjoining field, they heard an outcry in the copse on the steep declivity of the rock; <strong>and</strong> upon their going<br />
to see what was the matter, they came up to a fairy, who was exclaiming that he had lost his pick, or<br />
pick-axe. This, after much search, the ploughman found for him; <strong>and</strong> thereupon the fairy said if they<br />
would go to a certain corner of the field wherein they had been ploughing, they would get their reward.<br />
They accordingly went, <strong>and</strong> found plenty of bread <strong>and</strong> cheese, <strong>and</strong> cider, on which the man feasted<br />
heartily; but the boy was so much frightened that he would not partake of the repast.<br />
It also is said that upon another occasion a fairy came to a ploughman in the same field, <strong>and</strong> exclaimed:<br />
"Oh, lend a hammer <strong>and</strong> a nail,<br />
Which we want to mend our pail"<br />
There likewise is a saying in the neighbourhood, that if a woman should break her peel (a kind of shovel<br />
used in baking bread), <strong>and</strong> should leave it for a little while at the fairies' cave in Osebury Rock, it would<br />
be mended for her. In days of yore, when the church at Inkberrow was taken down <strong>and</strong> rebuilt upon a<br />
new site, the fairies, whose haunt was near the latter place, took offence at the change, <strong>and</strong> endeavoured<br />
to obstruct the building by carrying back the materials in the night to the old locality. At length, however,<br />
the church was triumphant, but for many a day afterwards the following lament is said to have been<br />
occasionally heard:<br />
"Neither sleep, neither lie,<br />
For Inkbro's ting-tang hangs so high."<br />
The church is a large <strong>and</strong> h<strong>and</strong>some edifice, of mixed styles of architecture. It is supposed to have been<br />
built about five centuries ago, but has undergone much alteration.<br />
As a countryman was one day working in a field in Upton Snodsbury, he all of a sudden beard a great<br />
outcry in a neighbouring piece of ground, which was followed by a low, mournful voice, saying: "I have<br />
broke my bilk, I have broke my bilk;" <strong>and</strong> thereupon the man picked up the hammer <strong>and</strong> nails which he<br />
had with him, <strong>and</strong> ran to the spot from whence the outcry came, where he found a fairy lamenting over<br />
his broken bilk, which was a kind of cross-barred seat; this the man soon mended, <strong>and</strong> the fairy, to make<br />
him amends for his pains danced round him till he wound him down into a cave, where he was treated<br />
with plenty of biscuits <strong>and</strong> wine; <strong>and</strong> it is said that from thence-forward that man always did well in life<br />
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