Explore "The Ploughman and the Gnome" by Mary de Morgan on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A young ploughman was following his plough in a field one morning when suddenly the horses stopped, and do what he would he could not make them stir. Then he tried to push the plough himself, but he could not move it one hair's-breadth. He stooped down to see what could be stopping it, when a deep voice cried, "Stop, I am coming up. " The voice was so loud that the ploughman shook with fear, but though he looked all around him, he could see no one from whom it could come. But presently it spoke again (only this time it was a little lower), and called out, "Have patience, and I shall be up in a moment. " The ploughman quaked in every limb, and stood quite still, and the voice began again (but this time it was no louder than most folks'), and it said -- "If you will only not be in such a hurry, I will tell you what I want. Look in front of your horse's right foot, and pick me up."
He bent down and looked on the ground, and there in the earth, just in front of his horse's right foot, he saw what he thought was a little black lizard. He touched it very cautiously, and started back with surprise when the voice spoke again, and he found it came from this tiny creature.