I do believe in faeries!
I have just returned from a well earned Rambler retreat with my family in Cornwall. It's a place that holds many good memories for me, Mrs Many-Coats and all the assorted little Many-Coats. Regardless of your beliefs I think much of Cornwall and indeed the whole of the South-West of England has a particular draw, which I think has something to do with the huge number of ancient henges, burial mounds and other ritual structures that bring us closer to a time when we may have been closer to nature and the seasons. Something that many of us would like to get back to in this hurly burly modern age.
And no where can this strong link to the past be seen than in the continued existence of stories about faeries and piskies (Cornish pixies) which although they still appear in books in other parts of England, can, I am assured by Cornish locals, still be seen gambolling among the meadow flowers on or about twilight on any summer evening.
Now I know what many of you are thinking and I too scoffed when first I heard these tales. That was until my son, Samuel Many-Coats produced irrefutable evidence of their existence...
It turns out the young scamp had trapped a couple (A fairy and Pisky) in his satchel using some clotted cream fudge purchased from Granny Wobbly's Fudge Pantry on Tintagel high street in Cornwall. His plan: to sneak them home and see if he could get them to breed. Luckily I discovered the poor creatures still secreted in Master Many-Coat's satchel, but not until we had left Cornwall and were stopping for a tea break in the magnificent surrounds of Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. And having urgent business to attend to back here in Norfolk and so being unable to return them to their native land, we decided to release them there in the gorge in the hope that they will establish their own colony. Who knows, if they are successful there might come a day when their numbers spread and we have faeries again in Norfolk!
And no where can this strong link to the past be seen than in the continued existence of stories about faeries and piskies (Cornish pixies) which although they still appear in books in other parts of England, can, I am assured by Cornish locals, still be seen gambolling among the meadow flowers on or about twilight on any summer evening.
Now I know what many of you are thinking and I too scoffed when first I heard these tales. That was until my son, Samuel Many-Coats produced irrefutable evidence of their existence...
Young Master Many-Coats & his fairies in Cheddar Gorge
(Immediately Prior to their release back into the wild)
Click on image to make larger
(Immediately Prior to their release back into the wild)
Click on image to make larger
It turns out the young scamp had trapped a couple (A fairy and Pisky) in his satchel using some clotted cream fudge purchased from Granny Wobbly's Fudge Pantry on Tintagel high street in Cornwall. His plan: to sneak them home and see if he could get them to breed. Luckily I discovered the poor creatures still secreted in Master Many-Coat's satchel, but not until we had left Cornwall and were stopping for a tea break in the magnificent surrounds of Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. And having urgent business to attend to back here in Norfolk and so being unable to return them to their native land, we decided to release them there in the gorge in the hope that they will establish their own colony. Who knows, if they are successful there might come a day when their numbers spread and we have faeries again in Norfolk!
+Many-Coats+
Oh dear. Cheddar Gorge is teeming with adders.
ReplyDeleteNot a problem Tom as the wee folk pointed out that there are goats in the gorge and that they will use a combination of goat skin and tar to construct adder proof trousers....
ReplyDeleteMagik in da hand bro, innit
ReplyDeleteMassive respect The Cush
ReplyDelete