Lakeland Folk Tales for Children E-Book

Taffy Thomas MBE

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 106

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Did you know that if you look closely around Scafell Pike in the winter you might find a great dragon? Or that hidden in the forest around Egremont you might catch a glimpse of the fabled fairy folk? What, you don't believe me? Read these tales then take a look for yourself. This collection is full of stories that Taffy has told over the years, and that children love to hear time and again. Including a gang of smugglers and an ugly face-pulling competition, not only will children love to read them, or listen to them being read, the tales will also stimulate an interest in the area, and help children engage with their own surroundings wherever they live.

Leseprobe

First published in 2016

The History Press The Mill, Brimscombe Port Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QGwww.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2016

All rights reserved © Taffy Thomas, 2016

The right of Taffy Thomas to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 6948 2

Original typesetting by The History Press

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

For Ona and Uma, my dear granddaughters and for children everywhere.

A RIDDLE

To get into this book solve this riddle:

My first is in king, but never in queen, My second’s in river and also in stream, My third is in yes, but never in no, My whole will open where you want to go.

Unlock the door and walk in.

CONTENTS

About the Author

About the Illustrator

Foreword

Introduction

Acknowledgements

1. The Dragon of Winter SCAFELL PIKE

2. The Cat Fishers GRASMERE

3. The Farmer’s Fun-Loving Daughter TROUTBECK

4. Mr Coney AMBLESIDE, RIVER ROTHAY

5. The Rum Butter Dish PARTON

6. Farmer Merryweather’s Cow SIZERGH

7. The Magic Orchard LYTH VALLEY

8. The Boy and the Harp GRASMERE

9. The King of the Birds HELM CRAG

10. The Ghost of Grasmere Gables RED BANK, GRASMERE

11. The Hunchback and the Swan GRASMERE LAKE

12. The Star Apple CARLISLE CASTLE

13. Jack Turnip LANGDALE VALLEY

14. The Valley of Two Rivers CARTMEL

15. The Silly Sausage GILCRUX

16. The Fairy Boots THE STORYTELLER’S GARDEN, GRASMERE

17. The Cobblestone Maker HONISTER CRAG

18. The Grasmere Gingerbread Man GRASMERE

19. The Giant Hoad ULVERSTON

20. The Dragon of Rydal Cave RYDAL

The Storyteller poem

... And now finally

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Taffy Thomas has been living in Grasmere for well over thirty years. He was the founder of legendary ’70s folk theatre company Magic Lantern, who used shadow puppets and storytelling to illustrate folk tales. After surviving a major stroke in 1985 he used oral storytelling as speech therapy, which led him to find a new career working as a storyteller.

He set up the Storyteller’s Garden and the Northern Centre for Storytelling at Church Stile in Grasmere, Cumbria.

He was asked to become patron of the Society for Storytelling and was awarded an MBE for Services to Storytelling and Charity in the Millennium honours list.

In January 2010 he was appointed the first UK Storyteller Laureate at The British Library.

He was awarded the Gold Badge, the highest honour of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, that same year.

At the 2013 British Awards for Storytelling Excellence Taffy received the award for outstanding male storyteller and also the award for outstanding storytelling performance for his piece ‘Ancestral Voices’.

More recently he has become patron of Open Storytellers, a charity that works to enrich and empower the lives of people marginalised because of learning and communication difficulties, and also the patron of the East Anglian Storytelling Festival.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

The illustrations have been drawn by young Cumbrian artist Steven Gregg. Steven was born and raised in the Lake District and currently lives in Windermere. He studied graphic design at Nottingham Trent University and is now working in freelance illustration.

When asked to work as illustrator for this book he commented, ‘Cumbria is a county filled with magical places and eccentric people, all of which contribute to a wealth of imagery waiting to be tapped into for creativity, be it storytelling or illustration. Being born and raised here I am proud to be able to work with Taffy to help bring this collection of stories to life.’

FOREWORD

I have a rather unusual job. I make animated films.

I hope you’ve seen some of them: from very short ones like the Amazing Adventures of Morph, which may only last a minute, to middle-sized stories like Shaun the Sheep right up to full-length feature films like Chicken Run or The Pirates. Together with a whole studio full of people, we make beautiful puppets and sets, and we bring them to life through the magic of animation.

You may imagine it’s a very complicated process and needs lots of talented people, each doing extraordinary things. But for all those people and all those skills, the single most important part of what we do – the very heart of it – is STORYTELLING. Without that we have nothing.

An animated film is just a story told in a particular way and watched on a screen. But in this book, you can go back to basics, to pure storytelling, with some beautiful illustrations of course. Because great storytelling is one of the simplest and most magical arts. You can read these stories to yourself, you can read them aloud to others, and you can remember them and tell them again in your own words. They’re timeless, and yet they’re perfectly modern; they can be told anywhere, and yet they belong to a special particular place – England’s Lakeland.

So turn off those screens for a while – even if they are showing Shaun the Sheep – and listen, read and immerse yourself in Taffy’s wonderful stories.

Peter Lord 2016

INTRODUCTION

‘Lakeland can be appreciated by anyone who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy.’

William Wordsworth

Even in the extreme flood conditions of winter 2015/16, when the Lake District lost forty-eight bridges and a major road, and literally thousands of homes and buildings were flooded, many for the second or third time, the prime minister still described Lakeland as ‘a jewel in the crown of English tourism’.

Approximately 16 million people visit the Lakeland counties of Cumbria every year. A third of these visitors are families. So what do they do when they arrive here from the cities? There are no theme parks and whilst there are some excellent visitor attractions, with mountains or fells to climb and scramble, and becks, tarns and lakes for swimming, sailing and canoeing, Lakeland is in fact its own natural theme park.

With its exposure to the North Atlantic, Lakeland can seldom promise fine or dry weather. Every year there is a handful of dry days with crystal-clear air and perfect light. It is this air and light that has attracted artists, authors and poets for more than 200 years, and it is some of the best works of these artists that continue to attract others to this day.

Local legends inspired the poet Wordsworth as did the landscape itself. The crystal-clear waters of the lakes and their mysterious islands inspired the author Arthur Ransome to write Swallows and Amazons. Author Beatrix Potter, descendant of Lancashire cotton mill owners, left her home in London to settle in the Lake District and became a successful farmer. Inspired by the beauty and wildlife of Lakeland, she created a rabbit called Peter, a frog called Jeremy Fisher and various other enchanting characters. I’m sure families try and catch a glimpse of these creatures on their Lakeland holidays to this day.

Whilst this storyteller and author would not claim to have either the celebrity or literary prowess of Potter or Ransome, it is my hope that this collection of stories, gathered over forty years immersed in the beauty of Lakeland with farmers, shepherds and fishermen or just allowing my own imagination to run free, will find a place on the bookshelves of both visitors and those lucky enough to live here. These families may look for Mr Coney on the riverbank, the dragon at Rydal Cave or even the swans on Grasmere’s lake. On this treasure hunt you may also bump into a rabbit called Peter on a grassy bank or row next to swallows and amazons on a boat trip.

Because I am first and foremost a storyteller I speak directly to you, my readers, in the introductions to the tales that follow, and after each story title I name the place in which the story is set.

If you enjoy the stories please pass them on and share the love of this unique and beautiful part of England and its entrancing tales. Those who love this land will help to care for it.

Taffy Thomas The Storyteller’s House, 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For these stories to reach the printed page I am reliant on the help of a number of ‘electro scribes’ to whom I half tell and half dictate from the handwritten notes in my pile of exercise books. These helpers include my wife and muse Chrissy, my daughter Rosie, and Tony Farren. I hope this verbal communication between us allows my storyteller’s voice to come through to you, my reader.

Many of these tales started their lives in the minds and mouths of Lakeland farmers, housewives and fishermen. In putting these together I have been a collector. Some of them, however, have been the construct of my own creative brain steeped in more than fifty years of the style and conceits of folk song and folk tale. It is the fact that my young readers are absorbing them and passing them on that makes them the next generation of folk tales from the storytellers of the future.

To everyone who gave me stories or ideas I am hugely grateful. As I grow older I am hopeful the stories will outlive me in the hands of you, my readers.

Nicola Guy and the team at The History Press have been, as ever, supportive. Children’s author Helen Watts has been a writing mentor to me, as well as allowing me to use ‘The Boy with the Harp’, which was our collaboration, in this collection.

Steven Gregg returned to his native Lakeland after completing an art degree in the Midlands. Drawing on the culture and scenery he grew up with, he continues to produce illustrations of the highest quality that always delight and occasionally surprise me. Thanks Stevo.

In conclusion, none of my extensive storytelling performances, books or audio recordings would reach fruition without the selfless support of my wife, Chrissy.

SCAFELL PIKE

Despite the efforts of St George, every part of England boasts a dragon story or two. The tale that follows is one that I have brought home from my travels. It seems to live happily here, even changing to feature ‘a host of golden daffodils’, the Lakeland sign of spring.

It was the iron winter. The Dragon of Winter had curled itself around Scafell Pike, with its icy scales and tail sliding down into Lakeland and towards the Furness peninsula. The rivers Duddon and Greta were frozen solid; even part of the sea was frozen at Whitehaven and Maryport. Wastwater, the deepest lake in the country, was frozen so solid that the good people of Wasdale were able to safely skate on it from end to end. Ships couldn’t sail into the port of Whitehaven with food from foreign parts. All the people who lived in West Cumbria fell on hard times.

They went to the pompous mayor and told him that he would have to do something about the situation. The mayor knew he would have to go and reason with the dragon and persuade him to fly elsewhere. He put on his climbing boots and warm clothes. Slipping and sliding he climbed up Scafell Pike, until he was staring into the icy blue eyes of the Dragon of Winter.

He told the dragon it was upsetting local folk as they were not getting enough food and they were freezing. Because of this the dragon would have to go elsewhere.

The dragon told the mayor he was reluctant to leave as he loved Cumbria and the Cumbrian folk, and especially his lofty perch.

Regretfully the mayor insisted that the dragon would have to leave. The dragon asked where he might go. The mayor suggested the dragon could fly to the frozen north and make a home with the polar bears and the Inuit.

A tear came to the dragon’s icy blue eye. This was his place; he didn’t want to go. The mayor, although pompous, was kindly, and realised a compromise was called for.