The author is unknown. Printed versions date back to the 1840s, but the story is thought to be much older. The earliest version takes place in Dartmoor with three pixies and a fox before its best known version appears in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs in 1890, with Jacobs crediting James Halliwell-Phillipps as the source. This is an original version that registers as a type B124 folktale in the Thompson Motif Index. Original Color and B&W Illustrations by L. Leslie Brooke.