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| Lowe | Mr Fox |
Now when I was a boy one of the things I liked was to go fishing. And sometimes my Uncle George used to take me with him and I can remember on one occasion we were out at Earlswood Lakes near Birmingham. We were walking down this lane and this trampman came towards us. Just as he was passing by I said:
Look uncle there’s one of those tramps.
Well I think my uncle was embarrassed:
He is not a trampman, he’s a gentleman of the road. Just because he’s got an old coat and a pair of boots that’ve seen better days doesn’t mean that he’s any better or worse than you or me.
Well I always remember what my uncle said and this story is about a trampman, a gentleman of the road, and I last saw him at the Lickey Hills near Birmingham, he was walking down this lane. Now it was in the spring and it was a hot day, he was tired and his feet were killing him. His boots had had come apart and he only kept the upper and the sole together by binding them with bailer twine.
As he was walking along by the hills he saw this patch of grass though a gap in the fence, it was that lovely soft grass, the type that makes you want to jump into it and roll around. Well he went through the gap and sat down on the grass and kicked off his boots, he lay back and in no time at all he was fast asleep. Now what he hadn’t realised was that he’d gone to sleep in a ring of toadstools, a fairy ring.
Now it may have been a minute it may have been and hour and the next thing he knew was that something or someone was tugging at his beard.
Ow!
He opened his eyes and there was a little man, he was about so high:
Clear off!
Why should I go, I was just having forty winks.
You’ll have to go because my master the King of the Fairies it’s his birthday and we’re going to have a party. Where your lying that’s where the band are going to be and you see where you’ve casually thrown your old boots, that’s where the food and drink’s going to be. So you’re going to have to clear off!
Well the trampman looked at his boots and he had an idea:
I will go but you’re going to have to do something for me, you’re going to have to give me a new pair of boots.
Well, you’re in luck, my master the King of the Fairies it’s his fortieth birthday and he’s having a new pair of boots, so you can have his old pair, but you’re going to have to promise that you’ll never tell a living soul where you got those boots from, for if you do then they’ll go straight back where they came from.
Well the trampman gave his promise and the little man went away. So the trampman lay back and he went back to sleep. Well it may have been a minute, it may have been an hour and the little man came back:
Wake up! Here’s your boots.
Well the trampman opened his eyes and he saw the little man holding a beautiful pair of buttercup yellow boots, they were each about the size of my thumb and they were perfect in every detail.
Why they’re no good, they wouldn’t even fit on my big toe.
Well that’s where you’re wrong, those boots are bigger on the inside than they are on the outside.
Well, the trampman slipped one of the boots onto his big toe and it went straight onto his foot and it was a perfect fit, and then he put the other boot on. He walked to and fro, it was like walking on air, it made a pair of Doc Martin Boots seem quite poor by comparison, he thanked the little man and was just walking away:
Hang on a minute, if you’re out in the countryside and you’re just about to go home what should you always remember?
I don’t know, close gates behind you I suppose.
Well yes, but you should always remember to take your old rubbish home with you.
So the trampman picked up his old boots and he put one in his right pocket and one in his left pocket and away he went.
Well later that summer he was walking down this lane near Earlswood Lakes. He hadn’t had a bath for some time and the cows in the field, the wind being it that direction went:
Moo!
And they all dashed off to the far side of the field.
He walked to the bottom of the lane where there was a lake. Now it was a hot day and his feet, in spite of his beautiful buttercup yellow boots, were a little tired. He looked towards the lake and he saw a fisherman, a fly fisherman, he was fishing for trout and he thought to himself:
Now he’s not going to like it, but that’s just too bad.
He walked over to the side of the lake and he sat down and he took his beautiful buttercup yellow boots off and he placed them on a stone, he didn’t have to take his socks off they just fell off. And you know the way it is when you’ve been walking for some time and you dip your feet into cold water, it’s absolutely wonderful. So he slipped his big toe and then his foot into the water:
Ssss!
It was fantastic, so he slipped his other foot into the water:
Ssss!
They felt divine.
Now the water became cloudy and the fisherman stood up:
Hey you! Trampman, what do you think you’re doing?
What do you think I’m doing, I’m giving my feet a bit of a rest.
Well the fisherman walked towards him and he spotted the beautiful buttercup yellow boots, he picked them up:
Why these are wonderful, they’re perfect in every detail, my daughter would love to have a pair of boots like these for her doll. Tell me trampman, where did you get them?
They’re mine and I’m not telling you!
I don’t believe that a beautiful pair of buttercup yellow boots like these can belong to someone like you, you better tell me where you got them from or I’ve a good mind to call a policeman.
You can threaten as much as you like but I’m not telling you!
Look trampman, you just tell me what shop you got them from and I’ll just go there are buy a pair for my daughter.
Well in the end, just to get rid of him, the trampman told the fisherman where he’d got the boots from. The fisherman realised that he would never be able to get a pair of boots like that so he put them down and he went over and packed up his rod, his net and his creel and away he went.
Well the trampman looked at the sky, it was clouding over and he thought:
I better find somewhere to sleep for the night.
So he dried his feet on the grass and he looked for his beautiful buttercup yellow boots. He looked between the stones, he parted the grass but he couldn’t find them anywhere because, as you know and I know, they’d gone straight back where they’d come from. So there was nothing else he could do, he took his old boots out of his pockets, he put them on his feet and way he went.
So if you’re ever out near Earlswood Lakes or the Lickey Hills and you see an old trampman with an old coat and an old pair of boots done up with bailer twine. Then you’ll know as I know that he once had a beautiful pair of buttercup yellow boots but he lost them because he couldn’t keep him promise to he fairies.