Story Hour
Tommy the Tommyknocker
Written by Gene B. Williams
There are three things you have to know for this story.
A tommyknocker – sometimes just called a knocker – is a creature who lives deep in the ground, usually in mines. They’re not always friendly, but sometimes they protect the human miners. They know the mines better than any human ever could and they sense danger. When they do, they make a knocking sound to alert the miners to get to safety. In return, the miners give them pieces of their lunch. A favorite of both miners and tommyknockers is the Cornish pasty. (The “a” in pasty is pronounced much like the “a” in cat.)
What’s a pasty? It’s a Cornish meat pie. Dough is rolled out into a circle. Chopped meat, potatoes, onions and other things are put inside. Then it is folded over, crimped to seal it and then baked. Sometimes on one end will be something like chopped apple for dessert – called “afters.”
Now that you know what a tommyknocker is, and a pasty, and afters, let’s get to the story.
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A mining community in Redruth, Cornwall in about 1890, and a Cornish pasty cut open.
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Copper miners in Michigan in 1905. A “drift mine” in Virginia, 1908.
Tommy the Tommyknocker
Tommy was a tommyknocker and proud of it. His father was a tommyknocker and his mother was a tommyknocker and his uncles were all tommyknockers. Almost everyone he knew was a tommyknocker – except for Mary. Mary was a human. You could say that Mary was his favorite human, and it would be the truth. It would also be the truth that Mary was the only human that he knew. This is how that happened.
Tommyknockers live deep underground. Their eyes are so very good in the darkness of the mines, but they can’t come outside in the day. In fact, they rarely come out even at night. A bright moon hurts their eyes. This is okay, though, because the tommyknockers are also very shy. They are so good at hiding that no one, in all of history, has ever seen one. In fact, no one has ever heard one, either – except for the knocking and other noises they make to warn the miners of danger.
The tommyknockers had many jobs. One of them was to watch out for the miners. That was Tommy’s favorite job. You see, miners were human, and no matter how well they knew mining, the tommyknockers knew more. The mines weren’t just a place to work, they were home to the tommyknockers. The tommyknockers knew every rock, every pebble, every … well every everything. Some say that they could even talk to the rocks. So, Tommy would listen to the rocks.
If the tommyknockers thought there was danger, they would do just what their name says. They would knock. They might knock on a beam, or they might knock on a rock. When the miners heard these sounds, they knew to be extra careful – or to leave that part of the mine. The greater the danger, the louder would be the knocking.
Tommy the tommyknocker liked the miners. He especially liked it when they would leave something special to eat – like the crust of a pasty. Tommy the tommyknocker loved those! His favorites were those left by a miner named Joseph.
Each morning before the sun came up, Joseph would come to the mine. Holding his hand would be his little daughter, Mary. In her other hand would be a Cornish pasty for her father’s lunch, wrapped in wax paper and still warm from the oven.
Tommy the tommyknocker was tall for his age. He was well over 18 inches tall even in his stocking feet – and taller yet when he put on his mining boots – and taller yet when he put on his mining hat. With boots and hat, Tommy the tommyknocker was almost 20 inches tall!
Tommy the tommyknocker was just a young boy, a mere 237 years old, and he had a birthday coming. In that short life (for a tommyknocker) he had seen many things. Once, very late at night when it was very dark, he crept out of the mine that was his home. He went outside and sat under a tree. It was his birthday, and even though he wasn’t supposed to go outside, he wanted to do something special. So he did.
It was a strict rule. Tommyknockers were born in the mines, grew up in the mines, stayed in the mines. Most tommyknockers were more afraid of going outside than you would be of going into a deep, dark mine. Not Tommy! Remember – he was about to become 238 years old! He felt like he was all grown up.
Tommy went out of the mines. Tommy wanted to see the outside world.
What he saw from under a tree was a very bright light. At least it was bright to him. A small shack was in the distance with an early morning lamp, and an early morning stove. Tommy was used to being in the dark, so even the dim light of the lamp and stove – dim to you and me – was very bright to him.
Very carefully, very quietly, the way a tommyknocker can when they want to (which is most of the time), he crept up to the little cottage that was Mary’s home. He saw a mother teach her young daughter how to make lunch for the father.
“Mix the dough this way, Mary,” the mother said. She put flour and suet and butter into a bowl along with a little cold water, then stirred and stirred. When it was all mixed, the mother showed Mary how to use a rolling pin to flatten the dough.
From another bowl they took out a handful of mix. It was chunks of meat, potatoes, swede (like rutabagas) and onions.
“We’re going to make it special for your father today,” mother said. She pushed the mix to one side then filled the other end with some sliced apples. “Now he will have a good meal, and some afters, too. The apples will be a good dessert.”
Pieces of butter were put over the top, then Mary helped fold the pasties and used her little fingers to seal the sides. Then she made a “J” from a little piece of dough and pressed it into the side with the apples. That showed it was a pasty just for father (because his name began with “J”), and showed him which end to eat first (although Mary wondered if he would start with the afters).
It didn’t take long before the pasties were in the oven. Tommy knew the aroma, and it was wonderful. Actually, it was better than anything he had ever smelled. He’d smelled the pasties many times down deep in the mine, but he had never smelled them baking. Oh, my, it was wonderful!
The sun was beginning to come up. The light hurt Tommy’s eyes. Still, he heard the sound of the oven opening. He just had to look. There were the pasties, all brown and delicious. But it was getting late for a tommyknocker – early for a human – and the sun was coming. Tommy rushed back to the mines and comforting darkness. There he would wait for the miners to toss pieces of their lunches, and other treats.
Before too much longer, there they were as usual. Same as always, Mary was holding her father’s hand, and that pasty with the “J” on it. Both Tommy and Joseph could hardly wait for lunchtime. Not only were those pasties the best, Joseph always left a little extra – not just the crust. Tommy knew he would get a bit of apple dessert afters that day. And sure enough, he did. It might be just a taste of apple for you or me, but to Tommy it was just about the best thing he’d ever tasted in his life! He thought how wonderful it was that he got this special treat right before his birthday!
All that day he stayed close, just in case there might be another piece.
Then he heard sounds from the rocks. He heard sounds from the beams. He felt it. Something was very wrong. The miners were in danger. Joseph was in danger! That part of the mine was going to have a cave-in. The ceiling and walls were going to fall. The miners would be crushed, or buried alive.
Tommy knocked as tommyknockers knock. The miners stopped for a moment, then went right back to their work.
He knocked again. Then again.
They paused and went back to work. They heard the knocking, but they couldn’t hear what the rocks were saying. Tommy could! In just moments, this tunnel in the mine was going to collapse.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Tick tick tick went the tools of the miners.
The rocks were telling their own story. Tommy could hear it but the miners couldn’t.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Tick tick tick
RUMBLE
Tick tick tick
Tommy was getting desperate. He had to find some way to warn the miners, and especially Mary’s father, Joseph.
RRRRUUMMMBLE.
There in the darkness he spotted a small piece of pasty crust. He didn’t want to eat it – he had something else in mind. With all his might he threw it. It smacked into the back of Joseph’s head.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!!!
Joseph signaled the others to stop working. “Something is going on here.”
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!!!!!!!!
“We’d better get out of the tunnel,” Joseph urged. The miners rushed out, and just in time. There was dust, then pebbles, then rocks, then the whole ceiling of the tunnel came down. The miners had barely escaped, and without a scratch.
Covered in dust, the miners got back to the surface where they told of the knocking that had saved their lives. At home, Joseph told his family. The next morning, Tommy was at their window again. He watched as Mary helped take pasties from the oven.
One had the letter “J” on it.
Next to it was an extra large pasty. On it was the letter “T.” He wondered, “T for Tommy?”
The sun was coming up so Tommy hurried back to the comforting darkness of the mine. As usual, Mary and her father came to the entrance. Unlike usual, Mary carried two pasties. She gave them both to her father. Then she waved – once to her father, and once to the opening of the mine. She couldn’t see Tommy, of course, but he could see her.
He could also see when Joseph entered the mine and stepped to the side. There on a very dark rock ledge, Joseph carefully placed that larger pasty – all of it. Joseph said into the darkness, “Thank you.” Then he went off to his work.
Tommy stood there for a while, just looking. A whole pasty, all his own? Not just a piece of crust, a whole pasty! With his initial on it. And it was still warm.
He lifted it carefully, held its warmth to his chest and walked away into the darkness. He had a big smile and was thinking, “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had!”
Next Time
February is a very busy month. It begins with Groundhog Day. It is National Cherry Month, and National Grapefruit Month, and Great American Pie Month, and …. Then there are the birthdays. On February 12, Abraham Lincoln was born. As it happens, both Danny and Nicker celebrate the same birthday. Someone else was born on that day. He was one of the biggest ever. His name was Paul Bunyan. He had a pet ox named Babe who was just as large. There are many stories about these two. For example, did you know that we have the Grand Canyon because Paul dragged his huge axe behind him? Or that we have the Great Lakes because Babe needed a drink of water?
Come back in February and enjoy some of these tales.
Don’t forget to get ready for the big BIRTHDAY BASH on February 12. Join with all rest of us to celebrate Danny’s and Nicker’s birthday!!!
Plan a party of your own. Get out your kazoos and drums and whatever else. Gather some friends. Let everyone vote – what is your favorite Nicker story?
Then sit back and enjoy a whole handful of Paul Bunyan stories.
