Beelzebub Treworthy grew up in the sleepy Cornish Village of St Mawes... back when it was a fishing town... long before the days of Chelsea Tractors, holiday makers and yachts...
He spent his childhood stealing the produce from the quay freshly landed by the fisherman, and developed a real taste for fish, especially when it was stolen from someone else. He especially enjoyed stealing from other fisherman's shrimp pots at low tide under the moonlight in the summer. His reputation for theft became so great, that he couldn't control himself, and some locals said he 'had the devil in him!'
Rumour has it, he was so possessed by his love of fish, that one fine July day, when he was out crewing for his dear old father, he pushed him overboard, causing him to knock his head on the rudder of the boat, and drown out by St Anthony's light, just in order to claim an extra share of the days catch. He told the local fishermen, his dad who was well loved in the village had fallen overboard and was missing at sea, although no one could work out how, as the wind was from the north and the sea was fair.
Now... Agatha Pella, was a wise old white haired lady who lived in an old white hut down on the shore over by the lighthouse... the locals kept away from her, as she had apparently studied all sorts of magic, and had been known to communicate with the animals that lived out on the headland. She had seen everything, and knew that Beelzebub needed to be stopped, before he killed again. One fine July day, a bit like the day his father went missing, Agatha climbed up to the point and blew hard on the Hevva's horn, which signalled to all the fisherman, that the pilchards were shoaling... Hevva! Hevva! here it is, here it is... However, as it was such a fine day, all the men were out already, it was only Beelzebub who was skulking around by the shrimp pots on the quay who heard. He jumped to action, stealing a local mans punt, pulled up on the beach, he rowed frantically out with a net, to haul in his favourite, and most valuable catch of all... the pilchard!
Beelzebub rowed out towards St Anthony's point, and towards the beach there, hoping to net the illusive pilchard shoal and eat them all for himself, however what he didn't realise was old Agatha Pella was playing a trick with pieces of glass on the headland, shining them on the water to make it look like fish below the surface... he rowed in towards what he thought was the shoal, as they went into the cave, and it was at that point Agatha appeared above the mouth of the cave, and cast her curse on him...
'Beelzebub Treworthy... you are a thieve and a killer! you will pay for your wicked ways, doomed to roam this land as a scavenger of the sea...
until you break your curse through kind acts of another human... You will not revert to your human form until another human gives you, through kindness, a whole pasty, on a fair sunny day in July!'
Beelzebub, went to respond, but all that came out was a 'caaaw caaaaw'... he went to pull the oars in the punt to row away, but... he had no hands... then, the old woman, threw a rock towards him, and instinctively, he jumped from the boat... and.... flew!!!! yes... flew!!!!…. It was then he realised... he had turned into a common seagull.
Sadly... or not so (as many of the fishermen thought) Beelzebub was never seen again... however, it has been noted that round St Mawes harbour, on specific days of the year, particularly when the wind is in the north... there is a very curious, some might say rude, seagull who attempts to steal the pasties from the passing visitors enjoying their very own piece of Cornish cuisine heaven.
Written in collaboration by L, M and N... July 2025