So there I am, right, after a night of being kept awake by the partying elk hunters and their girlfriends,
slipping across the glass like surface of the lake, like Mike so eloquently described,
enjoying the scenery and the blissful peace and quiet.
When suddenly I see this figure perched on top a rock bluff, and I'm thinking what the heck; this can't be right.
So I paddled closer to get a better look.
I felt a bit like a character in one of the fantasy novels I like to read, where the lead suddenly gets
transported though the mist to the land of the little people, because there on the rock, sitting there as you
please as if it belonged and grasping a big fish, was a Gnome.
Even without the imaginative embellishment, it still seemed pretty wild that someone had placed such
a thing on top of a rock outcropping, miles away from any other such lawn adornments.
And yet with time and weathering, the little fella seemed as if he belonged there...
and so the feeling of magic and wonder remained.
So everyday as I passed by in my kayak, I acknowledged him,
and I'd ask him to wish me luck in my fishing.
You see it now, don't ya?
He's grinning isn't he?
I've been had by a lawn ornament, haven't I?
That is Catchpole, a fairy gnome and the self-appointed protector of the lake and all fish that dwell therein.
ReplyDeleteYou were lucky to hook anything with him about, Dar. Maybe he was hitting the bushes when you got lucky with that minnow:)
Ah, thank-you Mike, that explains it. I am honoured then to make Catchpole's acquaintance. Self-appointed defenders usually do what they do because they care. Perhaps the lake's been over-fished of late, and Catchpole was needed to help maintain the balance.
ReplyDeletelove the gnome, protector of the lake! he's doing a good job, love the first pic.
ReplyDeleteA great story Dar , I enjoyed the adventure with you.
ReplyDeleteLoved and absorbed every word of the story. I bet with you that Catchpole is only wearing a disguise as common garden gnome. When you don't look his eyes will twinkle and and he will be grinning for making another human being believe he is a plastic doll. But he isn't. He is a true "tomte" (the Swedish imps that look after farms and special places) and woe the man, who is hurting the animals, plants and places he is looking after.
ReplyDelete