Gypsy Dwarfs

What is a Gypsy Dwarf?

A literal definition might be, “A small person who wanders about.” We might talk genetics, or anthropology here, but for our purpose, GYPSY DWARFS have been watching us and visiting us for nearly two decades.

Where? Here in Virginia. We also observed them in New Hampshire in recent years near Pat’s property in Amherst, along an abandoned logging road near his house. Here in Virginia, we have spotted the critters on our little farm, in Stanley, and on the back road behind Aunt Lynn’s (Ellen’s older sister) house, in Mechanicsburg, VA.

We have never felt a need to report them to the police or any other authority, as they have always been friendly and peaceful.

Allow me to recount, here, one of our sightings and a subsequent adventure with three of the gypsy dwarfs, here in Virginia.

For the chroniclers and historians among the readers, I will tell you that the year was 1993, and the location of this encounter was near the Town of Stanley, Virginia. We lived on a small 5 acre farm there, with a pond, a creek, a barn, a pasture and an orchard on and adjacent to our property. We never wandered far from the property itself, as there were ample targets for short explorations.

We always begin oru stories, with…“Once upon a pie”, we were walking away from the house, toward the barn, which was about 200 feet from the side of the farmhouse. We usually walked “through” the barn when starting our walk, and today was no exception.

Sarah and Ellen were inside the house, in the kitchen making cookies, as I recall, and only Hannah and myself (Daddy) were exploring. As we exited the barn, on the opposite side, the remaining pasture was only about 100 feet deep. The creek, which flooded often in the springtime, as we were downhill from the Skyline Drive and the mountains which elevated it. This time of year there was no evidence of flooding, and the sun was getting lower in the western sky.

Hannah was first to see the flash of color off to our left as we slowly walked towards the end of our pasture. She pointed her left hand straight out and said, “Daddy…what’s that? Over there…it looks like a bird with red and blue feathers!” I looked where she pointed but saw nothing. “Where?” I asked. “Right over there near the big tree, Daddy,” she said. But, still, I saw nothing…

We walked on, and made a turn left of the fence row, towards the creek, and that’s when IT HAPPENED. I heard what sounded like children laughing, giggling, actually, and noticed a flash of the colors Hannah had seen. The sound and the “colors” came from our right side…near the creek. I told Hannah, “Stop, be still.” I thought that whatever was out there we didn’t want to let them know we were watching them. As we looked in the direction of the creek in complete silence…we saw…(you’ll never believe this) the tops of three little heads appear above a row of rocks, at the bank of the creek.

Hannah started, and became tense…I held her arm, as I looked closely at the small creatures. There were three, and they had not seen us as yet. They were speaking to each other and laughing…They spoke so rapidly, I couldn’t tell whether it was English or some foreign tongue. They were about 3 feet tall, and each one wore something on their head resembling a hat. Each “hat” had three or four feathers attached which made the little people have a festive and friendly appearance.

But, we couldn’t be certain…they were strange indeed, and never had either Hannah or Daddy ever seen such a sight. We remained quite still. Oddly enough the three little ones began to walk our way! They hadn’t seen us yet, but they walked directly towards our position. In only 5 to 10 seconds, they were so close that they HAD to see us. And see us they did! Their language of chatter got even louder and less understandable, as they pointed at Hannah and looked at me.

Hannah was nearly the same size as our three visitors. They seemed to be wondering whether Hannah might be “one of them”…but, they quickly seemed to understand that she was not.

I said, “Hello, who are you? And what are you doing here?” I spoke it in a friendly way, as there seemed to be no need to fear them. The one closest to me answered, “We are only gypsy dwarfs, and we live here in your woods. We don’t bother anyone and usually never talk to big people like yourselves. My name is Hobo, and this is Bandit, and Rascal, my two brothers.” These three little people looked very “human” but their clothing and their short stature gave them a “fairy like” appearance.

They didn’t seem afraid of us, and neither did we have reason to fear them. They said they knew where we lived, and that we had two dogs, and two cats. They also knew that Hannah had a big sister living there in the farm house. As they seemed ready to turn and go, Hannah said, “Do you like cookies?” The brother called “Bandit” answered, “Yes, of course we like cookies. Do you have a cookie we could eat?” Hannah told them that her Mother was baking some chocolate chip cookies right now, and that they would soon be ready to eat.

It was as if, the three little ones had just heard the best news ever! They asked, “Do you think we could have a cookie?” Hannah looked at Daddy and got confirmation that it would be fine, if we invited them home with us to share a couple of hot cookies before they continued going wherever they were going. So, she said, “Sure, come with us, and we’ll take you to see Mommie and Sarah, my sister. As the five of us turned to walk to the house, the one called Rascal took my hand and asked, “Could our sister come, too?” “Who’s your sister?” I asked. Rascal, said “She’s Bashful…I mean, her name’s Bashful, and she is bashful, you know what I mean…” Just then a little girl moved out from behind the nearest tree. She was so cute! And, so bashful, too. So now, there were four of them! Hobo, Bandit, Rascal, and Bashful. My goodness. What a surprise for Mommy and Sarah!

As we approached the house, Fogey and Lightfoot, our Irish Setter, and Labrador-Collie mix greeted us. The little ones seemed afraid, so I assured them that our dogs were harmless. Hobo then asked, “Have your dogs ever seen Gypsy Dwarfs before?” What’s a Gypsy Dwarf: I was wondering. “That’s what we are, you know, we’re Gypsy Dwarfs” and dogs sometimes chase us and try to bite us!”

“Not these two dogs,” I said. They are the best doggies in the world and they will be your friends, just like Hannah and I are your new friends. “Let’s go inside and get some cookies, okay?” The liked that idea and we soon passed through our sliding back door into a new world of warmth, (it was still cold outside) and the wonderful aroma of cookies baking.

“Well, what have we here? Asked Ellen…Sarah seemed very confused and excited to see the four little people coming through the door. Hannah announced, “They’re Gypsy Dwarfs! And we found them in the field behind the barn….can we give them some cookies?, PLEASE, Mom?”

“Of couse we can”, said Ellen. “We can share our cookies with them.” And, “What are your names?” So, Hobo introduced his two brothers, Bandit and Rascal, and then his sister, Bashful. They were so cute. Sarah was sitting on the sofa by the kitchen table and invited Bashful to come and sit by her. But, Bashful, was bashful, and needed some convincing. So, Sarah got a small glass of milk and two warm cookies and held them out for Bashful to take. Sure enough, that did the trick. Bashful smiled and crawled up onto the couch beside Sarah and took a big bite of her first cookie and a sip of the milk.

For the next 30 minutes, or so, we had company. We had the most unusual company we had ever seen! We had Gypsy Dwarfs” for cookies and milk, right there in our kitchen.

It was as though a timer had been set in little Hobo’s head, as he suddenly looked up at me and announced, “We must go now. We must be home before dark, or we’ll be in trouble.” And just that quickly the four of them moved to the door. I opened it, and we all said goodby to these most special characters. They filed through the door, and began running for the field almost immediately. They were gone!

“Will they ever come back?” said Sarah. “Yes, cried Hannah, I want to play Barbies with Bashful!” Mommy and Daddy agreed that they had “no idea” whether we would ever see our Gypsy Dwarf friends again. And, here ends our story. We NEVER SAW THEM again. And people who have heard the story of our encounter with the four Gypsy Dwarfs that day never really believed it. They smiled and nodded their heads, but they didn’t really believe in their “heart of hearts” that we had cookies with the Gypsy Dwarfs.

What do YOU think? Do you BELIEVE there are such things as Gypsy Dwarfs? As I have said, we never again encountered Hobo, Bandit, Rascal, and Bashful, but we HAVE seen the tops of their colorful feathers peeking out above the rocks when we take a walk. We have seen the colors, many times. Maybe YOU SHOULD LOOK for these colorful feathers, too, as you walk outside near the creek and near the woods…

…and THAT WAS THE END OF THE STORY…