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A Strange Otter
ONE day two friends went to hunt otters on the banks of the Pennant, in
Merionethshire. When they were yet some distance from the river they saw some
small creature of a red colour, running fast across the meadows in the direction
of the stream. Off they ran after it, but before they could catch it the little
animal hid itself beneath the roots of a tree, on the brink of a river. The two
men thought it was an otter, but at the same time they could not understand why
it was red. They thought they would like to catch such an extraordinary specimen
alive, and one of them said to the other, "You go home to get a sack, while I
watch." Now, there were two hole under the roots of the tree, and while one held
the sack with its mouth open over one of them, the other pushed his stick into
the other hole. Presently the creature went into the sack, and the two men set
out for home, thinking they had achieved a great feat. Before they had proceeded
the width of one field the inmate of the sack spoke in a sad voice, and said:
"My mother is calling for me: oh, my mother is calling for me!" This gave the
two hunters a great fright, and they at once threw down the sack. Great was
their surprise when they saw a little man in a red dress running out of the sack
towards the water. He disappeared from their sight in the bushes by the river.
The two men were greatly terrified, and felt that it was more prudent to go home
than meddle any further with the Fair Family.

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