Elphi is a friendly hob who lives in the Ryedale Folk Museum. Though no-one has ever seen him, they know he exists. Each evening when the visitors and the staff have left and the museum is closed, he appears. He carries out tasks around the site which the staff and volunteers have been unable to finish.

Sometimes Elphi visits the cornfield where Kevin, the museum gardener, has trouble preventing the birds from eating the newly sown seed. By using his bird scarer he frightens away the birds, and using his special bird whistle he persuades the birds to follow him into the vegetable garden where there are plenty of snails and grubs to eat.

Each evening to show their thanks the staff leave Elphi a bowl of creamy milk, a freshly baked loaf and some cheese on the stone bench outside Harome Cottage.

Together Elphi, the staff and volunteers work in harmony to preserve the habitats, creatures, and plants who share our museum.

However, this was not always the case.

Not so long ago there was a bad curator who did not believe in Elphi. Although the staff tried their hardest to persuade him, he saw differently and forbade them to leave out any food for Elphi.

As well as being helpful Elphi has a mischievous side to him. When the food no longer appeared each evening he decided to teach everyone a lesson. The tasks he normally carried out were left unfinished and things started to go wrong around the site. Milk churns were tipped over, Kevin’s gardening tools went missing. Corn was spilt in the barn where the mice ate it and the cottage recipe card were all muddled up. Visitors stopped coming and the museum started to look uncared for as jobs were left unfinished.

Something had to be done but was it too late to persuade Elphi to return? The bad curator was asked to leave, but there was still no sign of Elphi. He was cold and hungry and sure that no one cared for him or the museum. Soon he was too afraid to venture outside. The staff looked everywhere but could not find Elphi’s home. They left food out for him but each morning it was still there untouched. What else could they do?

Then, one day a new curator arrived at the museum, and he heard what had been going on. He believed in kindness of hobs and realised that they could not bring the museum back to life without Elphi’s help. The curator told the staff to leave out a bowl of creamy milk, a freshly baked loaf and some cheese just like before. Then they waited. Eventually, one morning the food had disappeared. Had Elphi returned? Slowly but surely the museum began to come back to life. In the mornings staff began to notice that tasks had once more being finished for them. They had learnt a value lesson and Elphi’s help would never again be forgotten.

To this day Elphi has still not been seen, but the clues he leaves behind for all to see, tells us that he is never far away.