Kitty Green

Though its whereabouts are unknown, some folk believe that a particularly mysterious object still exists somewhere in Castleton. An object of two parts. Both lead. It may be half-buried, underwater, on a shelf or in a cupboard. It may even be in someone’s pocket.

This is the tale of this artefact and the turn of events which led to its appearance.

Kitty Green was a girl from Castleton who lived with her parents in a house made from limestone, just north of the church. Both buildings were made from the same rock. It was Sunday and Kitty and her parents were headed for morning service. Kitty had other arrangements.

The day was bright and the valley gleamed in its royal May-green and Kitty wandered off in the direction of the grasslands that surrounded the village. The young girl had quickly vanished behind the cool stone walls of the neighbouring houses and soon reappeared in a shady clearing of oak trees - the entrance to Cave Dale. The sound of bells were now distant and Kitty followed the songs of blackbirds through an old wooden gate and up towards the emerald chasm.

To small eyes and small feet, Cave Dale towered high above and Kitty had surely entered another realm. Stumbling on loose chalky-boulders, the curious girl made her way up to the top of the dale until she could see far in to the distance, across the entire valley that existed beyond her village. She could no longer hear the sound of bells.

The day had passed by and the grazes on Kitty's knees were now dry. The grass below her feet fizzed with crickets she could not find. Kitty was now very far from home.

She was in fact approaching Eldon Hill - a place her parents knew well; and would definitely not want their daughter near for beneath this hill lies a bottomless pit called Eldon Hole. This is what Kitty could hear. A low, humming wind. Warbling.

As Kitty approached this strange, dark hole she fell faint and rested on the fringe of the pit.

When the young girl finally woke up from her slumber, she was no longer surrounded by clover but by dank moss and liverwort. The daylight she was in was cold and dim. Amongst echoing drips of water, Kitty could make out the grumbly murmurings of a strange tongue.

“Ah won’t ‘urt thee.”

“Ah won’t ‘urt thee, smol girl.”

There he stood, a great big thing of grey flesh covered in lichen and dirt. A giant.

“But ma thun do what ah tells thee. Gragg haff survant now.”

The giant clearly had plans to make Kitty his servant. Unlike Gritstone giants, Cave giants are rather dim-minded beings and our Gragg here was about to show Kitty something he probably shouldn't have.

“Sees this ball un ring, smol girl? When ah give thee ball un ring to look after, tha munna put t’ball in t'ring. Not never. ‘ear me?”

Kitty agreed. She had in fact been rather pliant in the presence of this great beast. A simple-minded beast, however, who was true to his word - he treated Kitty kindly, though he made her work hard and she soon wished she was back home in Castleton.

One day as the giant bathed in the amber waters of Peakshole, Kitty sat on the riverbed keeping watch over Gragg's leathery clothes and various jewels. He sure was a horrible thing but hygenic nonetheless. Whilst daydreaming of her limestone village and her parents warmth, Kitty absent-mindedly passed the lead ball through the lead ring wishing she hadn't wandered off that Sunday morning; wishing she was home.

The giant had vanished. The smell of damp was gone. The sound of bells returned.

Kitty found herself in her bed and it was time to go to church.

Her adventures were never believed by the folk of Castleton but Kitty went on to live a long, fulfilling life for in her pocket there was the ball and ring. Her giant secret.