English Fairy and Other Folk Tales

by Edwin Sidney Hartland - 1892

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COLMAN GREY

Choice Notes: Folk-Lore, p. 73.

A FARMER, who formerly lived on an estate in our vicinity, was returning one evening from a distant part of the farm, when, in crossing a particular field, he saw, to his surprise, sitting on a stone in the middle of it, a miserable-looking little creature, human in appearance, though diminutive in size, and apparently starving with cold and hunger. Pitying its condition, and perhaps aware that it was of elfish origin, and that good luck would amply repay him for his kind treatment of it, he took it home, placed it by the warm hearth on a stool, and fed it with nice milk. The poor bantling soon recovered from the lumpish and only half-sensible state in which it was found, and, though it never spoke, became very lively and playful. From the amusement which its strange tricks excited, it became a general favourite in the family, and the good folk really felt very sorry when their strange guest quitted them, which he did in a very unceremonious manner. After the lapse of three or four days, as the little fellow was gamboling about the farm kitchen, a shrill voice from the town-place, or farmyard, was heard to call three times: "Colman Grey!" at which he sprang up, and gaining voice, cried: "Ho! ho! ho! my daddy is come," flew through the keyhole, and was never afterwards heard of.