My Good Friend,
I am writing to you in my present which will be your past when this letter finally arrives into your hands, in due time, in the future.
Olde England is steeped in myth and tradition and in English folklore there are many wonderful events, marvellous people and strange stories springing from the depths of the rich history of this ancient land. I have travelled much and have come across many outlandish stories and when the time is right you will receives my accounts of these.
One of the strangest tales I have encountered in English folklore is the story of the Green Children of Woolpit. From the great encyclopaedia of you day, Wikipedia, you will read
“The only nearly contemporary accounts are given in the chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall and William of Newburgh's Historia rerum anglicarum,[1] book I, xxvii, De viridibus pueris”
and the following account is based on their chronicles. Please bear in mind it is often the case with traditions and folklore that through time events become changed and confused as will probably be the case when this eventually reaches you. Therefore you must make up your own mind to the authenticity of the story.
This story is the told by Ralph of Coggeshall as I understand it.
One day during harvest-time, the inhabitants of the village of Woolpit in Suffolk were out harvesting their crops. It was a bright clear day and as they worked they became aware of the sound of crying and weeping of someone in great anguish and pain. The cries seemed to have words but the villagers could not understand what they meant.
Looking around they found two children, a boy and a girl, who had seemed to wander from out of the entrance of a cave. The children were in great distress and weeping bitterly and becoming aware of the approaching villagers took fright and ran off trying to escape. Now the villagers of Woolpit were poor but kindly and wanted to help the children so they ran after them and caught them to see what could be done for them.
The villagers found the children were very much the same in body to ordinary children but they were different from all the children of the village and none had seen there like before. The children spoke a strange unknown language and no one could understand a word they said. Even stranger their skin was tinted green all over their body.
Not knowing what to do the villagers took the children to home of the knight, Sir Richard de Caine. The children were terribly upset and fearful and continued to weep bitterly. Although they were famished with great hunger, as the girl was later to admit, they would not take a bite of the food that was offered them. No matter what Sir Richard and his household did to try to coax them or what food was placed in front of them they refused to eat.
Sir Richard, not knowing how to help them and out of desperation, had some fresh cut beans brought before them. This immediately awakened their interest and eagerly they indicated by gestures that they would like them. But when they were placed before them the children opened the stalks rather than the pods. They looked for the beans in the hollow stalks, but of course, there were none to be found.
The children were terribly disappointed and began their weeping and crying anew. When it was seen what had happened the pods were opened and the beans in the pods were showed to the children.
Seeing this the children stopped weeping and with great delight quickly fed on the beans straight from the pods. For a long, long, time thereafter the children would eat no other food other than the beans.
The little boy was always sickly and seemed of a low-spirited and despondent nature. Very sadly he took ill and died within a short time.
The little girl flourished and became strong and healthy as she slowly became acquainted with eating different types of food. As she grew stronger she slowly lost the green tinge to her skin.
Slowly as she became more accustomed to the speech of Sir Richard and his household she began to learn how to speak English. Naturally, Sir Richard was curious about her background and often asked her about her where she had come from.
The girl would tell him about her past always insisting that she had come from a far country and that all who dwelt there had green skin. She claimed there was no sun but that there was twilight such as in England just after the setting of the sun but the light was a greenish tinge. She insisted everything was tinged with green in her land: people, animals, rocks, stones, trees. She said the sky was made of stone arched over the land and that a green light emanated from it. The girl told them that there was a wide river that bordered her land and on the other side was a silver shore and a bright land. She did not know the name of this land though.
Sir Richard asked how she and the boy had managed to find their way to England. She would always reply by saying that they had been tending their flocks. When these had entered into a large cave they had followed as their duty required them to keep the sheep safe.
Inside the cave the children became aware of the sound of bells whose ringing was the most wonderful and delightful sound they had ever heard. Enchanted by the sound they forgot their flocks and wandered along the cave enthralled following the wonderous ringing of the bells until they came to the entrance of the cave.
As they left the cave and stepped into the bright sunlight their senses became disorientated as their eyes were not used to such light. When they first saw the villagers who had found them they had become terrified and tried to escape back to the cave but they had become lost and could not find its entrance.
Despite the strangeness of her tale Sir Richard allowed her to stay in his home in his service for many years and had her baptised though he often noted her behaviour could be rather free and immoderate.
According to Sir William of Newbridge all this happened when King Stephen was the ruler of England. The children had been found at harvest-time coming out of the Wolf-pits four or five miles from Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Although the boy had died they had both lost the green tinge to their skin, learnt how to speak English and been baptised.
The girl had thrived and grown up to marry. She would always claim they had come from a place where St Martin was worshipped and their country was called St. Martin’s Land. There were churches and the people were all Christians. She asserted that in that country the sun did not rise and that they could see in the distance, across a very wide river, a bright country.
A strange and outlandish story indeed but could there be in any truth in it? Many think that the story is a folk tale in the English tradition that describes the meeting of the human world with the fairy world. While there are those who think that the story may indeed have elements of truth that have become obscured or twisted through the mists of time.
Rather than offer an explanation I would urge you, my Good Friend, to investigate this and follow the links below to make up your own mind.
Your Good Friend
Doctor Plott
References
I am writing to you in my present which will be your past when this letter finally arrives into your hands, in due time, in the future.
Olde England is steeped in myth and tradition and in English folklore there are many wonderful events, marvellous people and strange stories springing from the depths of the rich history of this ancient land. I have travelled much and have come across many outlandish stories and when the time is right you will receives my accounts of these.
One of the strangest tales I have encountered in English folklore is the story of the Green Children of Woolpit. From the great encyclopaedia of you day, Wikipedia, you will read
“The only nearly contemporary accounts are given in the chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall and William of Newburgh's Historia rerum anglicarum,[1] book I, xxvii, De viridibus pueris”
and the following account is based on their chronicles. Please bear in mind it is often the case with traditions and folklore that through time events become changed and confused as will probably be the case when this eventually reaches you. Therefore you must make up your own mind to the authenticity of the story.
This story is the told by Ralph of Coggeshall as I understand it.
One day during harvest-time, the inhabitants of the village of Woolpit in Suffolk were out harvesting their crops. It was a bright clear day and as they worked they became aware of the sound of crying and weeping of someone in great anguish and pain. The cries seemed to have words but the villagers could not understand what they meant.
Looking around they found two children, a boy and a girl, who had seemed to wander from out of the entrance of a cave. The children were in great distress and weeping bitterly and becoming aware of the approaching villagers took fright and ran off trying to escape. Now the villagers of Woolpit were poor but kindly and wanted to help the children so they ran after them and caught them to see what could be done for them.
The villagers found the children were very much the same in body to ordinary children but they were different from all the children of the village and none had seen there like before. The children spoke a strange unknown language and no one could understand a word they said. Even stranger their skin was tinted green all over their body.
Not knowing what to do the villagers took the children to home of the knight, Sir Richard de Caine. The children were terribly upset and fearful and continued to weep bitterly. Although they were famished with great hunger, as the girl was later to admit, they would not take a bite of the food that was offered them. No matter what Sir Richard and his household did to try to coax them or what food was placed in front of them they refused to eat.
Sir Richard, not knowing how to help them and out of desperation, had some fresh cut beans brought before them. This immediately awakened their interest and eagerly they indicated by gestures that they would like them. But when they were placed before them the children opened the stalks rather than the pods. They looked for the beans in the hollow stalks, but of course, there were none to be found.
The children were terribly disappointed and began their weeping and crying anew. When it was seen what had happened the pods were opened and the beans in the pods were showed to the children.
Seeing this the children stopped weeping and with great delight quickly fed on the beans straight from the pods. For a long, long, time thereafter the children would eat no other food other than the beans.
The little boy was always sickly and seemed of a low-spirited and despondent nature. Very sadly he took ill and died within a short time.
The little girl flourished and became strong and healthy as she slowly became acquainted with eating different types of food. As she grew stronger she slowly lost the green tinge to her skin.
Slowly as she became more accustomed to the speech of Sir Richard and his household she began to learn how to speak English. Naturally, Sir Richard was curious about her background and often asked her about her where she had come from.
The girl would tell him about her past always insisting that she had come from a far country and that all who dwelt there had green skin. She claimed there was no sun but that there was twilight such as in England just after the setting of the sun but the light was a greenish tinge. She insisted everything was tinged with green in her land: people, animals, rocks, stones, trees. She said the sky was made of stone arched over the land and that a green light emanated from it. The girl told them that there was a wide river that bordered her land and on the other side was a silver shore and a bright land. She did not know the name of this land though.
Sir Richard asked how she and the boy had managed to find their way to England. She would always reply by saying that they had been tending their flocks. When these had entered into a large cave they had followed as their duty required them to keep the sheep safe.
Inside the cave the children became aware of the sound of bells whose ringing was the most wonderful and delightful sound they had ever heard. Enchanted by the sound they forgot their flocks and wandered along the cave enthralled following the wonderous ringing of the bells until they came to the entrance of the cave.
As they left the cave and stepped into the bright sunlight their senses became disorientated as their eyes were not used to such light. When they first saw the villagers who had found them they had become terrified and tried to escape back to the cave but they had become lost and could not find its entrance.
Despite the strangeness of her tale Sir Richard allowed her to stay in his home in his service for many years and had her baptised though he often noted her behaviour could be rather free and immoderate.
According to Sir William of Newbridge all this happened when King Stephen was the ruler of England. The children had been found at harvest-time coming out of the Wolf-pits four or five miles from Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Although the boy had died they had both lost the green tinge to their skin, learnt how to speak English and been baptised.
The girl had thrived and grown up to marry. She would always claim they had come from a place where St Martin was worshipped and their country was called St. Martin’s Land. There were churches and the people were all Christians. She asserted that in that country the sun did not rise and that they could see in the distance, across a very wide river, a bright country.
A strange and outlandish story indeed but could there be in any truth in it? Many think that the story is a folk tale in the English tradition that describes the meeting of the human world with the fairy world. While there are those who think that the story may indeed have elements of truth that have become obscured or twisted through the mists of time.
Rather than offer an explanation I would urge you, my Good Friend, to investigate this and follow the links below to make up your own mind.
Your Good Friend
Doctor Plott
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_children_of_Woolpit
http://www.castleofspirits.com/greenmyst.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00slvqh
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/suffolk/folklore/the-green-children-of-woolpit.html
http://www.mysteriouspeople.com/Green-Children.htm
