HAYLE The Piskeys on the Towans

Hayle Towans sandunes seen from air

It was a calm night or so it seemed, the sea rippled a gentle surf, the sky rippled raspberry and a pink hue settled along the dunes.

As the sunset fired resplendent in reds, oranges, and purples something strange was happening. All about were swirling and whirling grains of caramel as the sands began to dance. From within little arms waved, little legs kicked and tiny faces grinned. A tinkling music piped across the water and round and round and round the little people danced in perfect rings, for these sand hills have forever been the home of fairy folk.

On this night, as the piskeys held hands and leant back in a whirling dance, the sands rose in gossamer webs and slender arms, weaving through the air like huge silver moths. Sand gathered apace, and in amongst the swathes of gold, eyes glittered with mischief and garlands of sea pinks and blue sea squill were thrown into the air, to be carried along the sands. The fairies of the Towans pulled sandy veils into glittering spirals, and the sandy spirals furled and whirled all the way over the Kelsey Estuary and covered Lelant Meadows, smothering the green fields under layers and layers of dune dust, rolled flat with an eager tide.

If you were to wander east above the Foundry, between the creek at Hayle Harbour and the sea, you will be entering a fairy kingdom, where the silky sands writhe like ashen snakes over the shore and cover the Towans in fairy dust. Tread carefully.

 

Retold by Anna Chorlton

Source Robert Hunt Popular Romances of the West of England