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Bluecaps were regarded as hard workers and it was said that they were expected to be paid a working man's wages, equal to those of an average putter (a mine worker who pushes the wagons). This payment was left in a solitary corner of the mine, and they would not accept any more or less than they were owed. The miners would sometimes talk of having seen a flickering bluecap settle on a full tub of coal, transporting it as though "impelled by the sturdiest sinews".{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|pp=27–28|ps=}}
Bluecaps were regarded as hard workers and it was said that they were expected to be paid a working man's wages, equal to those of an average putter (a mine worker who pushes the wagons). This payment was left in a solitary corner of the mine, and they would not accept any more or less than they were owed. The miners would sometimes talk of having seen a flickering bluecap settle on a full tub of coal, transporting it as though "impelled by the sturdiest sinews".{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|pp=27–28|ps=}}


Another being of the same type (though less helpful in nature) was called "Cutty Soames"<ref name=poorlabour>''Labour and the Poor in England and Wales, 1849-1851: Northumberland and Durham, Staffordshire, the Midlands'', Jules Ginswick, Routledge, 1983, {{ISBN|0-7146-2960-X}}, 9780714629605, pp. 65-66</ref> or ''Old Cutty Soames'',<ref>''Character Sketches Of Romance, Fiction And The Drama'', Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, Marion Harland, The Minerva Group, Inc., 2004, {{ISBN|1-4102-1335-8}}, {{ISBN|978-1-4102-1335-8}}, page. 119</ref> who was known to cut the rope-traces or soams by which the assistant putter was yoked to the tub.<ref name=poorlabour/>
Another being of the same type (though less helpful in nature) was called "Cutty Soames"<ref name=poorlabour>''Labour and the Poor in England and Wales, 1849–1851: Northumberland and Durham, Staffordshire, the Midlands'', Jules Ginswick, Routledge, 1983, {{ISBN|0-7146-2960-X}}, 9780714629605, pp. 65-66</ref> or ''Old Cutty Soames'',<ref>''Character Sketches Of Romance, Fiction And The Drama'', Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, Marion Harland, The Minerva Group, Inc., 2004, {{ISBN|1-4102-1335-8}}, {{ISBN|978-1-4102-1335-8}}, page. 119</ref> who was known to cut the rope-traces or soams by which the assistant putter was yoked to the tub.<ref name=poorlabour/>


==See also==
==See also==

Latest revision as of 16:02, 4 May 2024

Bluecap
GroupingMythological creature
Fairy
First attestedIn folklore
CountryUnited Kingdom
RegionEngland
DetailsMines

A bluecap is a mythical fairy or ghost in English folklore that inhabits mines and appears as a small blue flame. If miners treat them with respect, the bluecaps lead them to rich deposits of minerals.[1] Like knockers or kobolds, bluecaps can also forewarn miners of cave-ins. They are mostly associated with the Anglo-Scottish borders.[2]

Bluecaps were regarded as hard workers and it was said that they were expected to be paid a working man's wages, equal to those of an average putter (a mine worker who pushes the wagons). This payment was left in a solitary corner of the mine, and they would not accept any more or less than they were owed. The miners would sometimes talk of having seen a flickering bluecap settle on a full tub of coal, transporting it as though "impelled by the sturdiest sinews".[3]

Another being of the same type (though less helpful in nature) was called "Cutty Soames"[4] or Old Cutty Soames,[5] who was known to cut the rope-traces or soams by which the assistant putter was yoked to the tub.[4]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Citations

  1. ^ Allen (2005), p. 24
  2. ^ Katherine Mary Briggs, The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature
  3. ^ Briggs (1976), pp. 27–28
  4. ^ a b Labour and the Poor in England and Wales, 1849–1851: Northumberland and Durham, Staffordshire, the Midlands, Jules Ginswick, Routledge, 1983, ISBN 0-7146-2960-X, 9780714629605, pp. 65-66
  5. ^ Character Sketches Of Romance, Fiction And The Drama, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, Marion Harland, The Minerva Group, Inc., 2004, ISBN 1-4102-1335-8, ISBN 978-1-4102-1335-8, page. 119

Bibliography