A. K. Hamilton Jenkin says that "the disposition of the knackers was always capricious, as this story shows, and in many cases proved definitely spiteful. In consequence, it was a common practice among the miners to leave them a "didjan" (small piece) of their "croust" (lunch) on resuming work, in the hope, thereby, of purchasing their good will. Failure to observe this practice sometimes entailed dire retribution."
A. K. Hamilton Jenkin then relates another William Botterell story about a man named Tom Trevorrow who was working in Ballowal mine, near St Just. "A queer old 'bal' [mine] this...and one which is said to be worked before the flood. Close by it lies Ballowal 'burrow', one of the most famous prehistoric burial-places in Cornwall. Old 'Santusters' (St Just people) used to declare that not only the mine itself, but the barrows, crofts, and 'cleves' (cliffs) all around were swarming with knackers and 'spriggans' (sprites), so that Tom, if he was wise, would do as other men did and leave a little of his croust to propitiate these old-time workers whose precincts he was invading. Tom, however, was a scoffer, and cared for none of these things, till one night when he was at work in a place by himself he heard ever so many squeaking voices chant:"
Tom Trevorrow! Tom Trevorrow!
Leave some of thy fuggan for Bucca,
Oh bad luck to thee, to-morrow.
Tom's only reply was to shout in a fury: "Go to blazes, you cursed old Jew's sperrats, or I'll scat your brains out." Thereupon the voices changed to a threatening note, and the miner caught the words:
Tommy Trevarrow! Tommy Trevarrow!
We'll send thee bad luck to-morrow,
Thou old curmudgeon to eat all thy fuggan
And not leave a didgan for Bucca.
Sure enough on his return to work next day Tom found the truth to their prophecy, for a fall of ground had occurred during the night, burying up all his tools, and the pile of good ore upon which he had been relying for the whole of his two months' pay. It has been said that this was only the beginning of the man's bad luck, which so dogged his footsteps that he was eventually compelled to leave the mine.
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