The Tizzie-Whizie
Windemere, Lake District 1906
“It has the body of a hedgehog, the wings of a dragonfly, the antennae of a bee, and a huge fluffy tail like a squirrel.”
I love this story. And I know I say that for a lot of these stories, but this may be in my top three folklore stories. I love that this story is probably, if you boil it down, just an elaborate money-making scheme much like Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose... but you just never know. Maybe there actually is a hedgehog/bee/dragonfly/squirrel monster living near Lake Windemere? Just like maybe there was a talking mongoose called Gef living on the Isle of Man?
We’re going back to the 1900s for this tale, in the scenic, tranquil Windemere area of the Lake District. Here there lived a boatman, too unskilled to make money mastering a craft and too unambitious to leave the Lakes for business, he noticed a lot of tourists roaming the streets of Windemere.
Realising he needed to hatch a plan to start making a bit of money from these tourists, he stumbled over to his favourite drinkery. A beer would clear his mind! All of his ideas involved his boat, could he offer a performance on his boat? Could he row out young lovers to enjoy the scenery? No, no, none of that would do.
And then, on possibility his third ‘thinking’ pint, a group of six tourists from London blew into the pub. Another pint for courage, of course, before he stumbled over to strike up conversation with the Southerners. One lady gushed over his accent, asking if he’d lived here his whole life? After confirming, she asked if he knew of any local myths or legends for she just loved those kind of stories.
This got the boatman thinking...
He desperately looked around the room, searching for inspiration. He spotted a framed painting of a hedgehog, but that wouldn’t draw in crowds begging to take their money...
“Have you ever heard of the Tizzie-Whizie?” the boatman asked. A hedgehog, with bee antenna, dragon-fly type wings and a big bushy squirrel tail.
He had their attention instantly, and agreed to go out onto the lake with him to try and spot a Tizzie-Whizie of their own. The next morning rolled by, and the group of Londoners gathered by the Lake. They stood for twenty minutes, listening intently for the tell-tale squeaks of the Tizzie-Whizie. One of them believed so hard that they exclaimed they heard it! They heard it!
No one could see the Tizzie-Whizie on the Lake... Well, of course they didn’t! Tizzie-Whizie’s are amazing underwater swimmers! And so the group paid plenty to the boatman to board his boat and sail across the Lake. Using the money he’d earned, the boatman bought some biscuits and ‘lured’ the infamous Tizzie-Whizie over to his friend’s photography studio to grab a photo. Judge for yourself...
He printed and sold this photo for every boat tour he hosted in search of the Tizzie-Whizie. He made the money he’d hoped for and then some, it’s said that a lot of people did not for a second believe in the Tizzie-Whizie but instead wanted the experience on his boat, led by his charm and skill in story-telling. Some probably did, deep down, want to believe this adorable creature lived among us. I know I certainly want a Tizzie-Whizie of my own!
Sources
https://www.rabbies.com/en-us/blog/tizzie-whizie-legend-lake-district
https://www.comicartfestival.com/tizzie-whizie-a-lovable-lakes-legend
https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Tizzie-Whizie
