Chapter 5: The Cauvels’ True Ancestry

This was the Dwarf Fetchit’s story, told in a simplified manner because Dwarf story is so long-winded and full of flowery words that it would just bore you to tears.

Long ago, a great Giant came down from the cold and cruel Mountains of the North (the geography of this land and our land is entirely different) and entered a desolate land which he claimed for his own. With his Magic, which was a very powerful sort and not the type that you see in circuses, he created a long, winding and mighty river that divided the North and South of this land. Then he raised another range of mountains south of the land. In the East he hallowed a river so deep and wide that he called it the Sea and the whole of the Eastern coast was a jumble of sharp, rocky cliffs that began from the Mountains of the North and gradually grew lower and tamer towards the mouth of the great river, where they became beaches, flatlands and thin forests. On the other side of the great river, the landscape was pretty much the same, only the cliffs grew in reverse towards the Southern mountains.

In the West he raised soft, rolling hills. Among the pleasant hills he grew one particular hill to be lord over the other hills. Then he filled the hills with thick woods until the whole western region were nothing but woods and hilly country.

The Giant then created the first two races to inhabit the beautiful new land. One was called the Nymphs. These were the first-born so he made them Lords and Ladies of his new land. And because they were first-born too he made them to be extremely beautiful so that their beauty exceeded all that was and will be created in that new land. Then he breathed life into them and when they awoke, he was greatly pleased. They were tall and wise and had some Magic of their own. The Nymphs went about the new land and set about to business immediately.

First they did the Naming. They named the main, great river Larune. The lands between the Larune and the Mountains of the North were called Naurdil. The lands that were sandwiched between the Larune and the Southern Mountains were called Aruvil. The Eastern Coast was left as it was, for the Nymphs respected the power of the Sea, and the woods in the West was called Wood Land, because they loved the trees most and couldn’t find any suitable name for such a beautiful place. Last of all they christened the Giant’s new land Brythea.

The Giant was delighted at the intelligence of the Nymphs and their appreciation for his land, so much so that he allowed them to do whatever they wanted with the land. The Nymphs got to work at once. First they made Wood Land their home and the centre of their domain. In Wood Land, they built a great city on the very top of the tallest hill and named it Bruthien. The hill whereupon they built Bruthien was known as Nymph Hill.

Because the Nymphs had Magic of their own, they created some living beings of their own. First they created woodland animals and filled all Brythea with it. Then they filled the Larune with all sorts of aquatic life. After they had done all this, they wondered how they were going to rule over so many animals and govern over so many trees, so they created, first, the Dwarfs, who were given the power to tame animals (that was really how the squirrel was able to join the gathering at Mr. Poovle’s underground home) and speak their language.

After that came the Pixies, who were able to communicate with trees and tame them, if they might, for the trees had spirits. Last of all were the Brownies. They were given great skill in craft and knowledge and while the Nymphs reigned they were responsible for the building of all sorts of wonderful structures.

While the Nymphs were doing all this, the Giant was busy creating another set of creatures for the Nymphs to rule over. He gave them great beauty and some Magic like he did the Nymphs, but he made sure that they were less mighty than the Nymphs. These beings he named the Sprites, and he presented them to the Nymphs.

Just as he did that, though, his father, the King of All Giants stormed into Brythea and immediately howled for his son to come out, for he had broken a stern Giant Law. The Giant quivered and trembled and wept pools of tears, but eventually the Nymphs persuaded him to go and meet his father (they had a good sense of morality and honour). That was what the Giant did. His father the King gave him a good beating and his wrath caused devastating storms and hurricanes that ravaged throughout Brythea for many days. The Nymphs could not bear to see their Creator be punished so, and went to plea with the King of All Giants. Upon looking at their great beauty, the King’s heart softened, but still he must punish his son.

And so that was how the Terrible Curse came to be set upon them: that Brythea will never be at peace until three of the race of the Humans enter Brythea to quell the chaos and bring peace to Brythea. The Nymphs had no choice but to accept their cruel fate, and long after the King had brought the Giant home with him over the Mountains of the North, they spent a lot of time discussing among themselves what the race of the Humans was and where to find them.

The Curse slowly came true, and it began with this: at first, the Nymphs didn’t know what they were going to do with the Sprites. Everything that needed care was already assigned to either the Dwarfs, Pixies or Brownies. At last they decided that the Sprites should become their servants in Bruthien. The Sprites were just as clever as the Nymphs and of course refused it flat. In their fury, they tried to wrestle Wood Land out of the grasp of the Nymphs. That led to the Bitter War.

(At this point, the story must be interrupted for a moment for Patrick and Ruth, who were growing more impatient and restless by the minute, had stood up and asked what did this have to do with them at all, and they reminded Fetchit the Dwarf quite angrily that their sister was still in the clutches of the Fairies, and why weren’t the Fairies in the story anyway? Fetchit, the patient fellow, told the children to sit down and hear him out, for he was getting to the point.)

The Bitter War caused the Nymphs to lose hold over much of Brythea. Eventually they were in danger of losing Wood Land too, until one day the Lord of the Nymphs went exploring the last frontier of Wood Land that was also the edge of Brythea, and stumbled upon the Land of the Humans. He realised that this was the race that the King of All Giants had mentioned, and so he thought of a plan. He decided to live among the Humans and select only the three bravest and most trustworthy ones among them to bring into Brythea and win the War.

(Now, Fetchit declared that he had gotten to the point of the story, and the Cauvels urged him to continue.)

It was by a marvellous stroke of fate that the Lord of the Nymphs fell in love with a female Human. He married her and took her to Bruthien and introduced his bride proudly to the other Nymphs. The Nymphs were delighted at first, and quickly installed the female Human to become their Lady, in hopes that the War would end soon.

But this did not happen. Many years passed and still the War went on. A small contingent of the Sprites sailed over the Sea and returned with another type of creatures, the Goblins. The Goblins were ugly and cruel in nature, but they were frightened of the Sprites, who were even more malicious, and fought their War for them. The number of Goblins was far greater than that of the army of the Nymphs, as was obvious during the Battle of Larune, where the two armies clashed in the Fords of Larune, and in that battle many of the Nymphs fell. The remainder of them fled back to Bruthien and, in their wrath, cast their Lord and their Human Lady out of Wood Land and out of Brythea forever, forbidding them to return.

But little did they know that the Lady was with child at that time, and, as you can probably guess already, that child was none other than Patrick Cauvel.

Fetchit smiled and sipped his tea, while Patrick was so stunned and shocked that he just stared at him and never moved a muscle. And because Ruth was his sister and thus shared the same type of blood, she was just as shocked too, because that meant that they were half-Nymphs.

“Now you know why,” said Mr. Poovle a little gruffly, but his face had a little bit of a smile. “Now you know why, don’t you? You understand now.”

Finally, Patrick opened his mouth to speak. His voice was trembling when he said, “How would you know that it was me? I was born out of, out of here, wasn’t I?” It felt weird to mention ‘Brythea’ so he avoided saying it. Then he said more steadily, “I could be anyone’s child!”

“No!” squeaked one of the Pixies, most probably Vee because Corree was the quieter and shyer one of the two. “I was there, Corree and I, at your birth! For when the Lord and his Lady were banished, some of us were still loyal to them and Jorgle the Dwarf actually went with them out of Wood Land and was banished as well. Some of the animals, Perker the Squirrel here was one of them, still kept contact with them and they relayed news of the Lord and Lady to us. That was how it went about, see! And when the Nymphs finally died out - ”

“They didn’t!” interjected Mr. Poovle abruptly, “They are still alive! Alive I tell you! They’re still in Bruthien; dispirited maybe, but not dead!”

“All right, all right, Poovle, no need to get so worked up!” Vee shouted back and cleared his throat. “But they became a good deal sadder and wearier than before. They shut themselves in Bruthien and cast a protective spell around the city so that no one but their own race can find their way in. But the Sprites will, eventually! That’s why they created Fairies: an inferior form of the Nymphs. They wanted them to snoop around and find a way in themselves.”

“So,” said Ruth finally, and she found her voice quite shaky, “so we are the ones to restore peace in – in Brythea?” She found that she needed some effort to pronounce Brythea too. This was all very queer to her indeed. All her life she had grown up believing she was a girl, just a normal girl who had to go to school in London and spend summers with her aunt and uncle. She never would have guessed that she had Nymph blood in her. Nor would Patrick, or Anne, or anyone. But why had her parents held this piece of information away from her? And why were they living so far away from England? From here, from Brythea?

The Wood Landers looked at each other and Fetchit said, “Of course!”

“But we’re not here to do that,” said Patrick, his eyes wide with disbelief. “We’re here to rescue our sister. We don’t want or need any dabbling with this sort of thing.” He stood so quickly that he knocked his stool back. “Come on, Ruth, let’s go. We’re much better off ourselves.”

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” shouted Fetchit. Patrick glared at him. Fetchit drew a deep breath and said, “You know next to nothing about Wood Land. Next thing you know you’ll be kidnapped by the Fairies, and where will you be? The Sprites won’t hesitate to kill you, that’s for sure. Will you help us regain our peace,” Fetchit licked his lips nervously and gulped before he continued, “if we agree to help you rescue your sister?”

Patrick’s anger lessened. He thought it over for a few seconds as a tense silence fell in Mr. Poovle’s house. Then he looked at Ruth. “What about it, Ruth?”

Ruth stared at him back. “If we turn our backs on them, we’re turning our backs on Anne. But it’s your call,” she added softly.

Patrick nodded and turned to Fetchit, but he was still furious. “All right. You’ve got a deal.”