The Brown Man Of The Moors

In the year before the great rebellion two young men from Newcastle
were sporting on the high moors above Elsdon, and, after pursuing
their game several hours, sat down to dine in a green glen, near one
of the mountain streams. After their repast, the younger lad ran to
the brook for water, and, after stooping to drink, was surprised, on
lifting his head again, by the appearance of a brown dwarf, who stood
on a crag covered with brackens across the burn. This extraordinary
personage did not appear to be above half the stature of a common man,
but was uncommonly stout and broad–built, having the appearance of vast
strength. His dress was entirely brown, the colour of the brackens, and
his head covered with frizzled red hair. His countenance was expressive
of the most savage ferocity, and his eyes glared like those of a bull.

It seems he addressed the young man, first threatening him with his
vengeance for having trespassed on his demesnes, and asking him if he
knew in whose presence he stood. The youth replied that he supposed him
to be the lord of the moors; that he had offended through ignorance;
and offered to bring him the game he had killed. The dwarf was a little
mollified by this submission, but remarked that nothing could be more
offensive to him than such an offer, as he considered the wild animals
as his subjects, and never failed to avenge their destruction. He
condescended further to inform the young man that he was, like himself,
mortal, though of years far exceeding the lot of common humanity, and
that he hoped for salvation. He never, he added, fed on anything that
had life, but lived in the summer on whortle berries, and in winter on
nuts and apples, of which he had great store in the woods. Finally,
he invited his new acquaintance to accompany him home and partake his
hospitality, an offer which the youth was on the point of accepting,
and was just going to spring across the brook (which if he had done,
the dwarf would certainly have torn him to pieces) when his foot was
arrested by the voice of his companion, who thought he had tarried
long. On his looking round again “the wee brown man was fled.”

The story adds that the young man was imprudent enough to slight the
admonition, and to sport over the moors on his way homewards, but soon
after his return he fell into a lingering disorder, and died within a
year.