David Ritchie (1740–1811), also known as David of Manor Water, Bow'd Davie, Crooked David, and most notably the Black Dwarf, was a

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

, the son of a quarryman at the

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

of Stobo. He was the inspiration for

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

's novel, ''

The Black Dwarf ''The Black Dwarf'' (1817–1824) was a satirical radical journal of early 19th century Britain. It was published by Thomas Jonathan Wooler, starting in January 1817 as an eight-page newspaper, then later becoming a 32-page pamphlet. It was price ...

''. Scott visited him in 1797. C.J.S. Thompson, "The Mystery and Lore of Monsters", pgs. 227-228 He was brought up as a brushmaker in Edinburgh, but was disliked because of his appearance. He eventually settled in a stone cottage on the banks of

Manor Water Manor Water is a river in the parish of Manor, Scottish Borders, Manor, Peeblesshire in the Scottish Borders. It rises in the Ettrick Forest and flows down through the Maynor valley, passing the various farms and hamlets of Maynor as well as Kirk ...

near the town of

Peebles Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The door of the cottage was about 3 feet and 6 inches high, and the ceiling was just high enough for him to stand inside. The superstitious locals feared he could cast the

evil eye The Evil Eye ( grc, ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος; grc-koi, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός; el, (κακό) μάτι; he, עַיִן הָרָע, ; Romanian: ''Deochi''; it, malocchio; es, mal de ojo; pt, mau-olhado, olho gordo; ar ...

on them, blamed him for any problems with their livestock, and generally avoided him. He never wore shoes, which would not fit on his misshapen feet. Instead, he wrapped his legs and feet in cloth. He walked with the help of a staff considerably taller than himself. Sources described him as being irritable and having a shrill, dissonant laugh, but he is also described as an intellectual who enjoyed reading Milton's ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...

'' and ballads by

William Shenstone William Shenstone (18 November 171411 February 1763) was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, ''The Leasowes''. Biography Son of Thomas Shenstone and Anne Penn, d ...

References

External links

The Black Dwarf historical site
1740 births 1811 deaths People with dwarfism People associated with the Scottish Borders Place of birth missing {{Scotland-bio-stub