Stones with Holes, the Little People, and Dragons

I used to be a scientist. A real honest-to-goodness write-my-own-grants, do-my-own-research, run-my-own-lab scientist at a major medical school. And yet...

I never ever really stopped believing in magic and in the little people.

The way I always looked at it is that if a mythical concept reappears over and over in the folklore of many different cultures, then there must be an element of truth to it. Probably, many of us, when first finding out about dinosaurs, thought "Of course! Dragons!"

In 1995 I moved to Krakow, Poland. It's a magical place. Of all the cities of Poland, Krakow alone has remain untouched from the 14th century. In the chronicles of history, it has worked sort of like this: Every time Poland got invaded and conquered, enemies sweeping across the country and taking over, eventually they entered Krakow, looked around and thought "This is a really neat place. Let's set up our headquarters here." And so they let it be because that made it more pleasant for the conquerers.

But the people of Krakow, even now, at least half believe another explanation. In Krakow, there is a castle, and under the castle lives a dragon who magically protects the city. i find this very charming.

But what about other common myths, such as the one of little people. A few years ago, a scientific group announced finding a group of very small, yet adult, human-like skeletons. At first, it seemed that these literal "little people" lived a very long time ago, far beyond the range of recorded history (though not so far back as the dinosaur/dragons). But a new report says that further research has revealed that they may have lived just 2000 years ago, well within the range of recorded history.

The Little People

I am delighted at this news.

So you should not be surprised that I have adopted one of the folk beliefs of my new country, England. When I first heard of self-drilled stones and how they protected a home or brought good dreams if hung on a bed in the fantasy books that are my favorite reads, I began to look for them. For months I looked and found nothing. Then last October, my very lucky sister came for a visit and we went walking along the Peddlar's way between Sheringham and Cromer on the Norfolk north coast. As we walked, I told her about the stones with natural holes in them, called self-drilled but found in or near water. Within about 10 minutes of my telling her the story, she found four. One for each of my family's households, my own, my sister's, my brother's, and my dad's. I put mine by the bottom of my front door where it remains. The next week, I won £10 in the lottery, the only time I've ever won anything. I get a certain feeling of serenity every time I see it there, as if it ties me more firmly to this new land than I might be otherwise.

I also read that if you look through one of these stones when I full moon is up, you can see the fairies. I admit, I tried once, but I haven't seen one yet. I do intend to keep trying, though. What a magical thing it would be to see one, even if I never told a single living soul.