|
The
gypsies had already visited nearly every house in Cawston before Christmas
in an attempt to sell their mistletoe claiming that it would bring good
luck during the festive season. Some villagers, mainly old ladies, bought
a small twig in the belief that it would bring them good fortune. Most
villagers in Cawston were, however, of a different opinion.
The gypsies lived in
a caravan at Haveringland for part of the year and for the rest of the
time adhered to the romany life by wandering from village to village in
North Norfolk. There were mixed feelings in Cawston about gypsies and
many considered them to be thieves, bag-snatchers and even stealers of
children.
It was a mild day in
late December 1955 and the gypsies walked down the Norwich Road to the
Ratcatchers Row, which was then a row of 19th. century brick
houses, many of which were in need of repair and modernisation. A few
good luck charms were sold which probably brought the gypsies more luck
than the new owner of the charm as this guaranteed their next meal. One
elderly lady along the Ratcatchers Row was having her fortune told when
her husband arrived back home who immediately sent the gypsies away. An
elderly man along the Ratcatchers Row frightened them away with is old
rusty pitch fork.
The gypsies went from
door to door all the way to Eastgate and then headed for Cawston village.
On the road to Cawston a young girl riding a bicycle on her way home from
work at St. Michael’s hospital in Aylsham stopped and asked the gypsies if
they could tell her fortune. Sitting on a blanket under an old oak tree
in an empty field where barley and wheat thrive in the fertile soil in the
summer, an elderly gypsy took the girl’s hand, gave her a good luck charm
and said that she will meet her future husband before the last bell rings
out the old year.
The girl wondered
whether she had spent her money wisely as she did not know how she could
meet anyone as there were no New Year’s Eve celebrations in the village
apart from a few privately organised parties to which she had not been
invited. In those days the 1st. January was not a national
holiday and the farm labourers in Cawston could be seen working that day
on the land after they had had a New Years celebration drink with their
employer.
Two days later on New
Year’s Eve the young girl arrived back in Cawston from work and decided to
have some fish and chips in Mrs. Stackwood’s tea room before going home.
As she sat there waiting for her meal she was approached by a young man, a
newspaper reporter, who asked her if she knew anyone in the village who
could provide him with information about the prisoners of war in Cawston
during the World War II. She immediately thought of her father.
A year later on New
Year’s Eve the young girl and the young man who she had met in the tea
room were married in St. Agnes Church. It was no surprise to anyone when
the old gypsy, who had told her fortune, received an invitation to the
wedding. Before the marriage, however, the girl asked the gypsy to tell
her fortune again. And this she did sitting on the same blanket at the
same time on the same day exactly one year later under the same old oak
tree. This time the gypsy told her that she would have a son within a
year. And so it happened ten months later a baby boy was born. It
surprise nobody when the gypsy was invited to the christening six weeks
later.
And at the same time
on the same day one year later day sitting on the same blanket under the
same old oak tree the young girl asked the gypsy to tell her fortune
again. This time the gypsy told her that within one year she would give
birth to a baby girl. And it happened as the gypsy had said; her baby
girl was born the following November. The gypsy, who had meanwhile become
a very close friend of the family, received an invitation to be the
godmother of the baby girl who was also to bear the gypsy’s name, Hilda.
Full of excitement
and joy shorty after the christening, the young girl met the gypsy once
more at the same time on the same day in the same place sitting on the
same blanket under the same old oak tree in Cawston. When the gypsy
looked at her hand this time her face turned pale for she knew that this
time her news was not good. The gypsy told the young girl that she feared
a death of a close friend of her family and this would happen before the
last bells rings out the old year. The young girl went away weeping and
grief-stricken as she knew New Year’s Eve was only two days away.
The young girl kept
this secret to herself. On New Year’s Eve she went to Mrs. Stackwood’s
tea room as she had done every year since she had first met the gypsy.
Just as she had finished drinking her cup of tea two men entered. “It’s a
pity the poor old soul has passed away, I wonder where they will bury
her.” one man said. “Well, I don’t know what they do with gypsies.” the
other man replied. Overhearing the conversation, the young girl asked who
had died. “I don’t suppose you know her” one man said, “it is the old
fortune teller from the gypsy camp in Haveringland, they call her Hilda”.
Michael Yaxley
Bonn, Germany.
December 2007.
(This story may not be published in any form
without the permission of the author or the Cawston Historical Society.
Should any publishing company wish to publish this story it is welcome to
do so providing that one free copy of the publication is sent to the
author and one copy to the
Cawston Historical Society. It is requested that any royalties
resulting from publication be sent to the Cawston Historical Society).
|
