>
Here are some stories and accounts of sightings from North America. Also some Native Legends and tales probably based on true encounters with our small neighbors.
"When I was 7 I lived with my grandparents. They lived in a subdivision surrounded by a forest. I had a friend who I always used to play in the forest with. We'd collect sticks and build tree houses with them and play along the stream.
One day I was in the forest with her and I kept seeing something out of the corner of my eye. It was a little person peeking out from behind a tree, just a bit shorter than me. When I turned to look at them they'd disappear behind a tree. At first I thought it was my brother playing tricks but I went to look and no one was there.
I didn't mention it to my friend because I was worried I was going crazy. I noticed she started to look behind the trees as I had been doing before and I asked her what was wrong. She said that she kept seeing someone behind the trees. I told her about what I was seeing and we went on a search for this person or people. We kept seeing them out of the corner of our eyes but when we looked to see them straight on they'd zip behind the trees. They were dressed in brown."
For most of the summer we'd always go into the woods and try to see these people. It became a game like hide and seek. We never did see them properly though. Every time I'd go inside I'd have a weird feeling. The only way I can explain it is if you've ever been woken up in the middle of a deep sleep and a vivid dream and then have to get up and go about your mundane life. It's like you're still living that dream.
From Oregon and Texas, USA
"I learned that a bored young boy playing along a creek near Bend, Oregon, saw two little people who crossed the creek and stood looking at him. He said they were no more than 15 to 18 inches high and very dark complected. They wore skins as garments, and after a period of 10 to 15 seconds, walked back across the creek and into the forest. The boy showed their footprints to his parents, who had contracted to a logging company to clean up slash piles. The prints were obvious and his parents were flabbergasted, but chose not to follow the little beings into the woods. He believes now that the little men weren't happy about the logging and destruction in the forest."
"The last time I saw little people was around 1957 in Fort Worth, Texas. I had been sleeping and something made me open my eyes. I saw two small people looking back at me. I was too tired and sleepy at the time to pursue further investigation of these two little guys who had very little hair and wore shabby strange clothes. They sort of smiled at me and I fell back to sleep. I know what I saw and they were real."
Kumeyaay Indian encounters
There has just been a heavy week of rain a group of children went down to the river to see the swollen waters run. Much to their surprise they saw a small boat and little people in it. They were not surprised because they saw the Eeyahpoos, because they grew up hearing about them, but were surprised that despite the rapidly running water the boat was traveling against the current and going up stream.
The children immediately decided they wanted to play with the boat so they would take it away from the Eeyahpoos. They tried to get sticks to bring the boat in but the boat moved toward the other side of the river. Their last method was to toss rocks so the waves would move the boat to the shore. They begin to toss rocks on the opposite side of the boat but it had the opposite effect and the boat moved away from them. They all remember the best thrower in the group was the last to toss rocks but the Eeyahpoos, and the boat, got away from them.
Now that they are grown they are fascinated that they actually saw little people. It astounds them that there are little people among us, they actually exist.
I have never seen them but my late Brother saw one in the woods at night. He ran home screaming. My son also saw one looking in his bedroom window and ran outside to see it but it was gone. In both cases the Eeyahpoos had hats on.
The Gifts of the Little People
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - Grimm's Fairy Tales
A tailor and a goldsmith were journeying together when one evening, just as the sun had sunk behind the mountains, they heard the sound of distant music. It grew more and more distinct. It had a strange sound, but was so pleasing that they forgot their fatigue and walked speedily ahead. The moon had already risen when they arrived at a hill, upon which they viewed a large number of small men and women who were holding hands and dancing around and cheerfully singing with the greatest pleasure and happiness. That was the music that the wanderers had heard.
An old man, somewhat larger than the others, sat in their midst. He wore a brightly colored jacket, and his ice-gray beard hung down over his chest. Filled with amazement, the two wanderers stopped and watched the dance. The old man motioned to them that they too should join in, and the little people voluntarily opened their circle.
The goldsmith, who had a hump on his back, and -- like all hunchbacks -- was forward enough, stepped right up. The tailor was at first a little shy and held back, but as soon as he saw what fun it was, he too took heart and joined in.
They closed the circle again, and the little people sang and danced wildly forth. However, the old man took a broad knife, that had been hanging from his belt, sharpened it, and as soon as it was sufficiently sharpened, looked at the strangers. They were frightened, but they did not have to worry for long. The old man grabbed the goldsmith and with the greatest speed smoothly shaved off his beard and the hair from his head. Then the same thing happened to the tailor.
Their fear disappeared when the old man patted them friendly on their shoulders as if he wanted to say that they had done well by letting it all happen without resisting. With his finger he pointed toward a pile of coal that lay nearby, and indicated to them through gestures that they should fill their pockets with it. They both obeyed, although they did not know of what use the coal would be to them. Then they went on their way to seek out a place to spend the night.
They had just arrived in the valley when the bell from a neighboring monastery struck twelve. The singing ceased instantly. Everyone disappeared, and the hill lay in lonely moonlight.
The two wanderers found shelter. Lying on beds of straw, they covered themselves with their jackets. They were so tired that they forgot to take the coal out of their pockets first.
They were awakened earlier than normal by a heavy weight pressing down on their limbs. They reached into their pockets, and could hardly believe their eyes when they saw that they were not filled with coal, but with pure gold. Further, their hair and their beards had also been fully restored.
Now they were rich. However, the goldsmith had twice as much as the tailor, because -- true to his greedy nature -- he had filled his pockets better. However much a greedy person has, he always wants more, so the goldsmith proposed to the tailor that they stay there another day in order to be able to gain even more wealth from the old man on the mountain that evening.
The tailor did not want to do this, and said: "I have enough and am satisfied. I am going to become a master, marry my pleasant object (as he called his sweetheart), and be a happy man."
However, to please the goldsmith, he agreed to stay one more day. That evening the goldsmith hung several pockets over his shoulders in order to be able to carry everything, and set off for the hill.
As had happened the night before, he found the little people dancing and singing. The old man shaved him smooth once again, and indicated that he should take some coal. Without hesitating he packed away as much as his pockets would hold, and then happily returned home. Covering himself with his jacket he said: "I can bear it, if the gold presses down on me." With the sweet premonition that he would awaken tomorrow as a very rich man, he fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes, he got up quickly in order to examine his pockets. How astounded he was, that he pulled out nothing but black coal, however often he reached inside. "Anyway, I still have the gold from the night before," he thought, and reached for it. Horrified, he saw that it too had turned back into coal. He struck himself on the forehead with his grimy hand, and felt that his entire head was as bald and smooth as his beardless chin.
Nor was that the end of his misfortune. Only now did he notice that in addition the hump on his back, a second one, of the same size, had grown onto his chest. Now he recognized the punishment for his greed and began to cry aloud.
The good tailor, who had been awakened by all this, consoled the unhappy man as best he could, saying: "You were my traveling companion, and you can stay with me now and live from my treasure."
He kept his word, but the poor goldsmith had to bear two humps and cover his bald head with a cap as long as he lived. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Die Geschenke des kleinen Volkes, Kinder- und Hausmärchen, no. 182 Interested? Go to Next Page