THE tales related in the following pages, I have gathered from the peasantry of Dartmoor, and they may be accepted as representative of the class of stories told of the elves of superstition--the pixies.

Had my design been simply to have presented the reader with a collection of these, I might have filled a greater number of pages, but I have had a different aim in view. What I have endeavoured to do has been to give, by means of these tales, as clear an idea as possible of the pixy superstition as it formerly existed, believing that the fanciful notions of our forefathers should not be regarded as altogether unworthy of attention, but that upon investigation they will probably be found to yield something of value to the student of folklore.