Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/46

 38 As he uttered these words a low cry was lizard by his feet, and there "They beheld, O wondrous and strange! a small dark creature, clothed in a soft velvet skin, in texture and in hue like the Lady Alice her robe, and they saw as it groped into the earth that it moved along without eyes in everlasting night." "She herself had become

THE FIRST MOLE

OF THE HILLOCKS OF CORNWALL."

Before finishing this section of my work I must say a few words about the islands of Scilly and their legends. The Rev. H. J. Whitfield, M.A., in 1852 published a book on this subject, but his legends are for the most part purely fictitious, and its title, Scilly and its Legends, a little misleading.

The Scilly Isles, just off the Land's End, are very numerous, but only five are inhabited; some are mere rocks in the sea, and, counting ihose, they are said to be a hundred and fifty. The largest is St. Mary's, and the dwellers on it are apt to look with contempt on the inhabitants of the other islands (the Off Islands). The word Scilly is sometimes derived from Sulleh, rocks dedicated to the sun, and sometimes from Sillyas, a conger. This fish is very plentiful on these coasts, and a ridiculous rhyme says that Scilly fare consists of—

Occasionally the saying runs: "Oh! the Scillonians live on fish and 'taties every day, and conger-pie for Sundays."

In the beginning of this century, before steamboats were invented, when communication between Scilly and Penzance (the mainland) depended upon wind and weather, in winter its people were often reduced to great straits for want of provisions, which gave rise to the proverb, "There is always a feast or a fast in Scilly." This is, however, now far from being the truth, and Scilly is one of the most prosperous parts of Great Britain; its inhabitants, as a rule, are well educated, they are noted for their courteous manners; and for its beautiful scenery it is well worth a visit. The dialect of its poorer