Topper Dell was a halfling wizardess who lived roughly five hundred years ago. In most of her stories she is portrayed as good-spirited and friendly, defeating all her enemies with her clever spells.
One example, one of the few known to non-halflings, is written below as it originally appeared.
Topper Dell and the Three Hunters
Told by Elder Jeslina Maresdawn
Recorded by Siffliheim Garnjold, traveler and poet
Tonight we tell the story of Topper Dell and the Three Hunters. It was a fine spring morning, and Topper was flying with her magic wings (A chorus of cheers at this point), when she saw three strange creatures below. They looked like men, but when they walked, they didn't move the grasses or leave kidneybean prints, as men do. So she flew up into a tree and huddled down low... (The children all huddled low at this point. Some form of audience participation, most likely as it appeared practiced.) And pretty soon she was hidden so well that the creatures would never be able to find her.
When she was sure she was safe, Topper cast a spell to let her see through the falsehoods, like our friends the gnomes use. So she stared close at them, looking through the veil and being careful not to be seen. (A pantomime of peering through the cover of brush or trees.) And what she saw shook her to her very bones. One of the three hunters, for that is what they were, was like a man in shape or size, but had snakes growing from his face. The other was not a man at all, but a great ball of eyes. And the third was a flat, wide thing made of shadows, that swam through the sky like a fish.
Now Topper was worried, so she flew out over their heads and said, "Hello, you! What are you looking for out here?" And all three of the hunters looked up at her and roared in anger.
"We are hunters!" said the tentacle-face. "We come from our lord, seeking creatures with wings like yours! And when we get you, I'll eat your mind, for I'm quite hungry!" Topper recognized him, then. He was Chaltabar the brain-eater! (Cries of alarm.)
"You can't hide from me!" said the ball of eyes. "I see everything!" And Topper knew that he was Delra, who cannot be hidden from. (More cries.)
The third said nothing, but swam back and forth through the air.
"Well, come and catch me, then!" Topper cried, and flew away as fast as she could, away from her town. The three hunters followed her, roaring as they came.
Chaltabar came after her most quickly, casting a spell to be in front of her, floating with magic. But clever Topper cast a spell to guard her thoughts, so that the nasty Chaltabar couldn't steal her mind or pull her like a puppet. (All the children cover their eyes and noses, as if to fend off the tentacles.) Then she said, "You have good magic, but without it you're no good!" So she cast a spell that took away all the magic, and Chaltabar fell to the ground, squashed flat!
Then came Delra, with beams of light flashing from his eyes. Topper knew that to get hit by those beams could be her death, so she cast a spell to make many of her, and another spell to make her faster and harder to catch. (A pantomime of one Topper becoming many) Then she took out her wand of lightning and flew right toward Delra. As its eyes flashed out beams of light that sizzled by her, she called to it, "I know where you can't see me!" And then she flew right under it, where it had no eyes, and hit it with a great burst of lightning. Delra popped like the great big ball that it was!
Last came the shadow fish. It came close to her, and looked at Chaltabar and Delra, and said to her, "Now that I have seen you, I must either fight you or run to my lord and tell him. But I wish that I hadn't seen you, for I do not want to die, or to hurt you."
So Topper thought for a moment, and said, "Come here, then." And it came over, and she cast a spell on it to make it go to sleep. And when it did, she cast another spell, and the creature lost its memory, so that it never knew that it had met Topper, or seen her magical wings. (The children put their hands to their heads and pull away, as if plucking out memories.) Then Topper flew away, leaving the monster in peace, because as you all know, Topper never hurt anyone who didn't try to hurt her.
Then Topper flew home, and told everyone about the trouble, and so I'm telling it to you just like that, so that if the three hunters ever come back, we'll all know what to do.
Back to MythologyAndReligion