This part of my website will have information that goes for all, or most, gnomes.
- Forest Gnomes: These gnomes live in the forest. They tend to look like the classic gnome you probably first think of - red hat, blue shirt, green trousers, and a white beard. That is what the males of this variety look. The females wear a dark green hat, a pale shirt with red decorations, and a dark grey skirt.
- Dune Gnomes: These gnomes live in deserts. The males of this variety wear orange caps a green shirts, while the females wear khaki and beige. They are slightly taller then forest gnomes.
- Garden Gnomes: The living counterparts of your ceramic, cement, or resin gnome decorations. Some say that the living garden gnomes and the decorative garden gnomes are one and the same, and that they come alive at night. These gnomes wear a variety of colors.
- House Gnomes: They inhabit old houses. Of all the gnomes, they know most about humankind. They wear the same clothing as forest gnomes.
- Farm Gnomes: Their clothes are, interestingly, quite similar to the dune gnomes. They have the same orange hat and green shirt for males, and khaki clothing for females. They're similiar to the house gnome in many ways.
- Siberian Gnomes: They are most affected by crossbreeding with trolls. Larger then other kinds of gnomes, perhaps about 18-21 centimeters tall. They wear brown clothing, usually, and they take horrible revenges for any offense, even a slight one.
- Marsh Gnomes: They wear dark green and brown. They are the same size as forest gnomes.
Gnome boys are taught by their fathers. They are taught different kinds of whistles, each with its own meaning, how to increase running speed, the knowledge of plants and animals, carving, and more.
Gnome girls are taught by their mother, grandmothers, and aunts. They learn housekeeping, sewing, weaving, spinning, cooking, baking, knitting, and more, including, like their brothers, knowledge of plants and animals, which is something every gnome should know. A pasttime of theirs is bottle feeding baby rabbits.
While on the subject of pasttimes, I shall tell you about the games that gnome children play. Gnomes keep field mice as pets, such as us humans keep dogs or cats, which the children love to play with. They thouroughly enjoy swinging (adult gnomes also enjoy this, especially when they are mullings things over) and use berries as balls to play with.
Gnomes also build their own homes. Forest, garden, and dune gnomes live underneath trees. With help from their fathers, and the local moles and rabbits, which are great friends of they burrow underneath trees (almost always their birthday trees). They have several rooms, including the boot room (a sort of entryway), the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, the toilet room, and the bathroom.
The boot room is the first room a gnome will make. There is a tunnel leading to it which has a polecat trap in it to protect the gnomes from predators such as rats, polecats, cats, and other predatory animals small enough to fit through a gnome's doorway. The use of the room is quite self explanatory, it is where the gnomes keep their boots, skis, and other outside wear, and also, usually, the tools they use outdoors. The watch cricket (a gnome's version of a watch dog) is also kept here, and the bride's dowry chest, a beautiful wooden box, is kept in the corner.
The living room is next. It has comfortable chairs, and three little alcoves in the wall for bedrooms. One for the parents, one for the children, and one for guests. There are little doors in the walls that gnomes pull out in order to get into their bed.
Then there is the kitchen, which is very small. It has a little furnace and many cupboards. There is also the bathroom, which has a bath, a basin, and a cupboard full of anything a gnome could need while using this room. Then there is a toilet room. The door for this room is beautiful, ornately carved and a lovely brass colour, but the toilet inside is even more beautiful. It is of the same colour as the door, and even more beautifully carved, and inlaid with gemstones.
Finally, the dining room. There is a table, and chairs for the parents. The children have to stand during meals. Gnomes keep a candle on the table at all times. There is also cabinets that keep the utensils, plates, and bowls.
Gnomes are children until they are about 80, perhaps older. I do not know for certain. What I do know is that they begin thinking about marriage at around 100 years, which I can only assume is the equivelant of a 20-25 year old human. Once they find a female gnome they like, they will present her with small gifts and other attentions. Courtship can last anywhere from 7 or 9 months to a year. If she returns the attentions, they will soon get married. The house was finished years before, and is inspected by the in-laws beforehand.
Sources Cited:
There have been several gnome sightings over time. Whether they are credible or not, we do not know. A Roman man by the name of Publius Octavus wrote in his journal in A.D. 470:
"Today I saw a miniature person with my own eyes. He wore a red cap and blue shirt. He had a white beard and green pants. He said that he had lived in this land for twenty years. He spoke our language, mixed with some strange words. Since then I have spoken with the little man many times. He said he was descended from a race called Kuwalden, a word unknown to us, and that there were only a few of them in the world. He liked to drink milk . Time and again I saw him cure sick animals in the meadows."
We can only assume that Octavus was lucky enough to see a gnome, specifically a forest gnome, as they match his description perfectly. Another person, Axel Munthe, said once: "To my amazement I have heard that there are people who have never seen a gnome. I can't help pitying these people. I am certain there must be something wrong with their eyesight."
I believe the next subject will be of great importance to one learning about gnomes. I will now tell you about a gnome's diet. They are vegetarian. Gnomes eat mushrooms, salads, infertile songbird eggs, ant eggs, berries and other fruit, nuts, and bread daily. They also have little cakes. If the infertile songbird eggs sound strange to you, then here is further explanation. Gnomes are great friends of songbirds, and will give them food in the winter if the bird does not migrate, as well as warn them of coming danger, and build them birdhouses (safer then nests because birds of prey are too big to follow them in). In return for this, the gnomes will shine lights through the eggs to see if they are fertile (a technique called candling) and if they are infertile, the birds will give them the egg. There is no fear of the gnome lying in order to get an egg; gnomes are honest and gentle creatures.
You can befriend gnomes by leaving milk out in the night, as they adore it. They also like alchohol, such as beer and cider. Other drinks they like are fermented rasberries.
Gnome parties are wonderful. The males wear red embroidered tunics and red dancing shoes. The females wear the same tunics and shoes as the males, and decorate their hats with berries, leaves, or flowers. They dance in circles, with much clapping and boot-slapping. The music is played on flutes, ocarinas, drums, fiddles, and soft singing.