Editor’s Note: This comes from Evans-Wentz’ field work (c. 1909) in western Cornwall, more particularly at Sennen Cove.

‘Many say they have seen the small people here by the hundreds. In Ireland they call the small people the fairies. My mother believes there were such things, and so did the old folks in these parts. My grandmother used to put down a good furze fire for them on stormy nights, because, as she said, ‘They are a sort of people wandering about the world with no home or habitation, and ought to be given a little comfort.’ The most fear of them was that they might come at night and change a baby for one that was no good. My mother said that Joan Nicholas believed the fairies had changed her baby, because it was very small and cross-tempered. Up on the hill you’ll see a round ring with grass greener than anywhere else, and that is where the small people used to dance.’