A faerie dwelling on Selena Moor near Lands End was first stumbled upon about
two hundred years ago by a William Nay of Buryan. One night on his way home to
Baranhaul Farm he became lost in the dark so decided to take a short cut he knew
quite well across the moor. A mist rose and grew thicker and thicker as he struggled
on across the marshy ground. Just for a second the bank of mist parted and William
could see in the distance some faint lights. By now he was totally lost and in
desperation decided to make for these lights so rode on until he came to a forest
that he had never seen before. Hundreds of candles hung from the branches and
music drifted about him. The trees grew thicker the farther he rode into the wood
until at last he came across a small cottage nestled at the base of an enormous oak tree.
Dancing about a young girl playing a violin were dozens of small green figures.
The sound of the music was so inviting that William felt moved to join in until a
warning glance from the young girl made him hesitate. She set down the violin and
drew him away under a tree where in the light from an overhanging candle he
recognised his dead sweetheart Grace Hutchens who used to live in the village of Selena.
She had mysteriously died three years previously leaving William broken hearted.
Grace explained to William that she had become pixyled on the moor and that she
had also been drawn to the cottage by the sound of the music.
Once here she had eaten an apple and from then on Grace was a captive in Faerieland;
the body in her grave was nothing but a block of wood woven about with magic
to make it resemble her.
William was determined to escape from the faerie glade and to take Grace with him
so he took off one of his gloves, turned it inside out to break the spell and threw it into
the middle of the throng. Everything went black, the faeries disappeared along with
Grace and William fell to the ground in despair. His friends found him still unconscious
three days later. He never recovered and shortly died.
His body lies next to Grace's grave in the Buryan graveyard, or does it?
Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles
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