Once upon a time there was a family, that is, a man, a woman, and their wee little son. They lived in a smallish house in a nice neighborhood far away from the noise and bustle of the city, and that was just how they liked it.
There was only one problem. The little house was haunted by a boggart.
Now, the man had never seen the boggart. The woman had never seen the boggart. But they were absolutely sure this was only true because the boggart took great pains to hide himself away. They knew he was there anyway.
Like, one time, their wee little son saw a giant shadow on his wall, with many legs and long thin things sticking out of its little head. Or another time, he’d complained of tiredness because he’d been up all night listening to something hum just inside his bedroom. Bits of food disappeared from his little table, and sometimes they’d find remnants of what appeared to be a tiny tea party.
One time, he’d complained, saying “Bogger” and pointing at the wall behind his mother. Just as she’d turned to look, a clock had fallen off the wall for no reason whatsoever. After that, she cleaned the wee little boy up (there were some boogers on his fingers, as he was prone to picking his wee little nose), and immediately told her husband they needed to move.
He prepared, but without much effort. You see, this man understood boggarts. He knew that he would spend a good deal of time packing and cleaning and buying and getting ready and such, until the final day, when he let his neighbors know he was going. At that point, he was sure the boggart would announce its intention of coming along.
You can imagine his surprise when nothing happened.
He and his family rode off one morning with no interruptions or bother. The little boy never complained of the boggart again.
And, back in their old house, a cricket crawled into a patch of sunlight on the floor and curled up to take a nap.
When the man returned the next week to pick up the rest of his family’s belongings, he found his house redecorated, with lovely pictures of crickets all over the wall. He never did find out why.
The End.
Source: The Boggart, English folktale
