"My old pop-pop, he sez that there wuz alluz gnomings coming in and ut o' tha' place. 'Bout an 'undred years or so ago, there wuz a weddin' up there, and most of 'em never came ut agin."

Barley is the oldest human in the village of Whitehill, nearly one hundred, and has been rendered practically incomprehensible with age. His grandfather ('pop-pop') saw the wedding that took place in the mine between the gnomish ('gnoming') clans, and told Barley that many of them never came out again.

Description

Barley is bent like a willow tree, incapable of standing up straight, and is missing all of his teeth but one. His face is lined like a wizened apple, but is mostly curled into a rheumy smile. His joints don't bend very well, and he moved stiffly, slowly, but with a fierce independence.

Traits and Motivations

Barley is happy to watch the world at work, and generally takes the opinion that nothing has killed him yet, so it can't be all that serious.