Darrow Brook Fairies
How I met the Darbries:
Part Twelve
Part Twelve
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There is something that I should tell you that I found out at some time while visiting the Darbies. I really can’t remember exactly when and I know very little about it, but it seems the Darbies knew a person around here before me. The name Jude came up once in a while and I think it is someone who visited them before me. Like I say, they mention the name, but don’t talk about him. It’s hard to explain. Darbies live in the now and don’t spend time talking about the past, or about people. When I’m gone, they’ll remember me, but I won’t be a daily topic or something they talk a lot about. They talk about current things. But still, I felt I was being compared to him. Maybe when I wrote, “As I was leaving, I swore I heard, “jude man” or “good man”,” I really heard, “Jude man” and “good man”. Oh well, like the Darbies, past is past and we’ll probable never know.
Some of the things from the past, that they do talk about, are the reason they split up in their homeland, and the trip from Scotland to Darrow Brook. The clan in Scotland was called She-halon. “Be She-halon now Darbies” is how they say it. And there were a lot of fairies there. Thousands maybe more spread over a huge valley. Faries from all over would come and visit then move on. All the news came from She-halon. Then war and conflict came. The clan split up and went in separate directions, all looking for safe new homes. The Darbies were a group that had talked and learned about “The New World”. When the split came, they had already decided to go to America. There were fifty of them, all girls.
They wandered the coast until they found a dock that was packing ships with grains for the new world. They untied all the bags, burrowed in, two to a bag and waited. Workers tied the bags and as luck was with them, all went onto the same ship. They talked to each other the whole trip. They talked quietly so only a fairy could hear. After being unloaded it seemed like forever before anyone opened a bag up. Luckly they were checking the contents and the condition of the grain and retied the bag loose enough for one of them to wiggle it open and escape. They darted right out of the tent. It was stupid move as men were awake and all over the place, and everyone else was still in the bags, but they made it into the trees unnoticed. After dark, one watched as the other went in and untied the bags. One after another they waited for the signal and bolted for the woods. Soon they were all free and looking for a temporary home. They found one some miles inland, but it was by no means ideal. They would stay here for the winter, and head out looking in the spring. Year after year, get ready to move in the spring. It takes a while every spring to recover from sleeping all winter. Travel around all summer looking for a new place, settling on another temporary place, and doing it all over again, for eight years they looked until they came upon Darrow Brook.
They learned the name and the reason it was ideal, when they would hear traders in boats say, “Don’t go down Darrow Brook, pure swamp down there. Follow the curve down French Creek. The very few travelers that came through did just that. There was no one around for miles, and the impenetrable swamp was huge. They voted unanimously to make this their permanent home. They then became, The Darrow Brook Fairies, or Darbies for short.
They wandered the coast until they found a dock that was packing ships with grains for the new world. They untied all the bags, burrowed in, two to a bag and waited. Workers tied the bags and as luck was with them, all went onto the same ship. They talked to each other the whole trip. They talked quietly so only a fairy could hear. After being unloaded it seemed like forever before anyone opened a bag up. Luckly they were checking the contents and the condition of the grain and retied the bag loose enough for one of them to wiggle it open and escape. They darted right out of the tent. It was stupid move as men were awake and all over the place, and everyone else was still in the bags, but they made it into the trees unnoticed. After dark, one watched as the other went in and untied the bags. One after another they waited for the signal and bolted for the woods. Soon they were all free and looking for a temporary home. They found one some miles inland, but it was by no means ideal. They would stay here for the winter, and head out looking in the spring. Year after year, get ready to move in the spring. It takes a while every spring to recover from sleeping all winter. Travel around all summer looking for a new place, settling on another temporary place, and doing it all over again, for eight years they looked until they came upon Darrow Brook.
They learned the name and the reason it was ideal, when they would hear traders in boats say, “Don’t go down Darrow Brook, pure swamp down there. Follow the curve down French Creek. The very few travelers that came through did just that. There was no one around for miles, and the impenetrable swamp was huge. They voted unanimously to make this their permanent home. They then became, The Darrow Brook Fairies, or Darbies for short.