The Fae Folk of Suð Seaxe
May's Newsletter
It is said that the county of Sussex holds the most reports of fairy sightings in England. Pucks, elves and fae folk have all danced across the barrows of the South Downs and in this month’s newsletter, I’m sharing a few of those stories with you.
The name for the county of Sussex comes from the Old English Suð Seaxe, meaning land of the South Saxons. You can see this repeated across England in the names for Essex (land of the East Saxons), Middlesex (land of the Middle Saxons) and Wessex the old name for Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire (land of the West Saxons). In Sussex, fairies are known as farisees not to be confused with Pharisees, which is a religious term and a story for another day. It is thought that this is a local pluralisation of fairy. Like ghosts and ghosties.
Near Chiddingly to the East of Sussex, there is tell of a farmer who was laid up in bed with a fever and so the fairies helped him out, threshing the corn for him that was stacked up in the barn. The farmer awoke from his deep sleep to hear a little voice saying ‘I tweet; do you twet?’ It was the fairies talking to each other of the hard work and how it made them sweat. The farmer laughed at these tiny voices and it greatly offended the fairies, who from that day forth never helped him again. It is of course not difficult to offend a fairy, never mind a farm fairy which is sometimes known as a hob further north and you can find me telling the tale of a farm hob here.
There’s another tale of sweaty farm fairies across in Washington, West Sussex. This time the farmer cannot understand why his horse is so much healthier than the others. This horse gets to the point where it is so round of stomach that it cannot walk and so the farmer decides to try and work out what is going on.
He is sure it is to do with the farisees and so he stays up late into the night watching the horse and anything that may happen to it. Sure enough some fairies appear with tiny bags of corn which they feed to the horse, one after the other, all night long. Finally one fairy turns to the other and says ‘I tweet; do you twet?’ and as they are catching their breathe the farmer stands up and in a fit of pique exclaims ‘I’ll make you tweet for what you done’.
Of course the fairies flee and the horse is never well again. In fact it wastes away to nothing and it maters not what the farmer does for it. Another lesson in not upsetting the fairies, reminiscent of Yallery Brown, which you can find my version of here.
On Beeding Hill, again in West Sussex, there is a tale of a pair of thieves who stole a pig. To contain said pig they placed it in a sack. Unsurprisingly, the pig kicked and squealed and carrying it was hard work. The thieves sat down for a break and placed the pig in the sack down beside them. What they did not know was that they had placed the sack over a fairy hole.
Whilst they sat catching their breath and bracing themselves for the last leg home with the kicking pig, they heard a voice.
‘Jim, Jim, where are you.’
It was the faintest voice and they could not locate it. A few seconds later there came a second voice - ‘I'm in here’. Louder this time, and there was no doubt as to where the voice was coming from. It came from the sack!
Fearing the pig was a magical one the thieves ran off across the downs and were never seen again.
The voice was that of a fairy that had become stuck on the sack when the thieves placed it on the ground and his friend who had been calling for him, released him from the sack along with the pig who disappeared off back to the farm. You can find me telling this story here.
For me, May is the month of the fae folk, starting with Beltane, the night where the veil between this world and the world of the fae is thin enough for us to cross. Just make sure you are back in our world by sunrise. There are some tips for surviving the world of the fae here.
As you might expect May’s stories are of mischievous and in some cases fearsome faefolk. For Butser Beltane on 4th May, I will be roving the fields with tales. On the 12th I will be joining Jason Buck & Graeme Cooke for an online show that tells tales of the darker side of the fae folk. If you prefer your fairies less malevolent and more tricksy then you can join me for half term at The Weald & Downland Museum for family storytelling told with my Kamishibai theatre. Take a look at the events listing below to join me.
This month, landing in inboxes for all, there will be the usual events updates and ‘Stories From Lore’ will be back with Episode 6, Season 4 ‘The Bells’.
Important Note For Paid Subscribers: I will not be producing any new content for paid subscribers this month or for the foreseeable. I have a few things going on that need my attention (life and work related) and therefore I will be taking a break from paid subscriber content for a while. I’ll be posting a little more about this tomorrow.
In the meantime, I hope your May is full of magic and merriment. Read on to find out where I’m telling stories this month, and what my plant, book and podcast of the month are.
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Plant Of The Month
Cowslip
One of the flowers of the Fae Folk, this year is proving to be a good year for the cowslip down here in the South of the UK.
There were swathes of them in the meadow at Gilbert White’s House and Gardens when I was up there to launch my book and all along the verges they are bursting forth and showing up their smaller cousins the primrose.
There are countless names for the cowslip across the UK, but there does not seem to be one specific to Hampshire or Sussex. Two of my favourites though are Fairy bells as they are known in Somerset and cow-stropple in the north east.
Cowslip flowers were once collected, tied to string and then bunched into a bal. they were then shown back and forth and used as a divining tool for whom the thrower may marry. A poem was chanted as they did this and the last line of it either listed professions or locations. Whichever profession or location the last flower fell out on indicated who you would marry.
Tisty Tosty is the name of a Lush bath bomb, this time made with rose petals, most likely because cowslips are actually not very common and an essential early pollinator. They are protected in Northern Ireland under the Wildlife Order, 1985. The reason I am lucky enough to see so many is because they like the chalk soil the South Downs offer them
They pop up in story on occasion and The Green Mist is one that springs to mind immediately. In the story the cowslip represents the fragility of life and a change in the seasons and you can find the story in several collections but the one I first read it in was Kevin Crossley-Holland’s, ‘The Old Stories’.
Podcast Of The Month :
Lady Killers from Lucy Worsley has been available via BBC Sounds for a while now, but it was only last month that I started to listen. Although I'm a fan of murder mystery, real crime is not something I've ever felt comfortable listening to; there's only so much death and murder one needs in one's life.
However I had heard, that this podcast is a bit different. And it is. Instead of revealing in the gruesome details of the crime and the madness which must surely reside in the perpetrators subconscious, it takes a look at the background of the women who were accused of murder. As Worsley puts it ‘a feminist look actually’. What might have driven them to commit such a crime and the constraints of the society, Victorian Society, they were living in. It looks at all classes across the Victorian era and is a fascinating social commentary! A little warning though, as you might expect, it does deal with some distressing subjects regarding the lives women, abortion and infanticide. It does so in order to help us to understand the era though and does not dwell unnecessarily on the details.
Upcoming Events For May/June:
4th May - Roving Storyteller for Beltane at Butser Ancient farm - SOLD OUT
9th May - Author Event - Stories Of The Sun - The Petersfield Bookshop
12th May - Fearsome Fae Folk - Online storytelling with Graeme Cook and Jason Buck - Purchase Tickets Here
27th, 28th, 29th May - Summer Half Term Storytelling At Weald & Downland Museum - Tales of Fae Folk - Book here
2nd, 8th, 23rd & 29th June - Creative Writing Workshops - Tales Of The Riverbank Literary Festival - More Information Here
17th June - Portsmouth Pupil Poet Laureate Celebration Event - Private event.
For more information and to book me for your event, visit my events page using the button below.
Stories Of The Sun OUT NOW!
‘Stories Of The Sun’, is out now. For author events check out my events page using the link above for more information.
In Case You Missed It - April’s Paid Subscriber Content:
The Creative Process - The Book List (Behind The Scenes) - Watch Here
Hearths & Halls - Beltane - Watch Here
Walk With Me - London - Watch Here
The Seasonal Altar -April - Read Here
Stories Of The Sun Podcast Extras - Read Here
Stories From Lore - Podcast Extras - Read Here
Continuing archive of content Available here
Thank you for supporting this newsletter through April. Supporting my work in this way allows me to continue to find new stories and research the old ways, and I thank you from the bottom of my storytelling heart.
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May’s Read:
This one’s been on the to be read pile for a while and what better way to celebrate the magical month of May than by exploring the world of tarot, museums and secret circles?
Ok, Ok I read this in April but you could read it in May? Read on first though.
I'm not sure this one deserves the plaudits its cover boasts, however, that said, it was still an entertaining and easy read.
The main character is a bit of a cliche, unfortunately, often becoming flustered by the men she meets, I assume in order for the author to create sexual tension. The other main female character is described as impossibly attractive and enigmatic, which, in my opinion, gets in the way of the story. Why can't they just be academics, passionate about their subject?
On occasion the author uses unexplained, arcane language like ouroboros and seems to like the word parse (not one used regularly here in the UK unless you are in computing). She mentions several artists I've never heard of, not a problem in itself, there are lots of artists I’ve never heard of, but there's no point of reference or any other way to relate to what's being described, which can be alienating for the reader, or for me at least, and I consider myself to be reasonably cultured.
The crux of the story is that finding a tarot deck from the 15th century would legitimise tarot and be a groundbreaking find that would make a career. I’m not sure about that on any level. First of all, tarot has long been seen as a divination tool regardless of any gaps in its use and secondly, history often does have gaps - fashion, governance and religion make it so! That doesn’t make it any less real or legitimate.
If you want an easy read that's reasonably well written, references Renaissance art and tarot, and has a hint of teenage angst in it, then this is the book for you. If not, I think here are better gothic mystery novels out there.
