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The Hedgehog Queen Of Glastonbury · Mooney's Mythic Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hello,
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: hello darlings,
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: hello sweetmeats,
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: hello delicious little morsels,
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: hello great giants,
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: hello great hearts,
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: hello dry,
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: dry people,
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: hello big bouncy people,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: hello to all of you and welcome to Mooney's Mythic Podcast and this podcast is
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: sponsored by
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: by water oh yes every single drop of water that has ever entered your system that
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: is ever coming out of your system that has fallen from the sky that has risen up
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: from the earth that has waved across our beaches every single drop of water wants
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: us to thrive and in that way this podcast is sponsored by water
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is sponsored by the water that we drink,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: the water that we take into our bodies that cleanses and cleans us,
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: that floods ourselves.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is sponsored by the water that we wash and we clean and we clear ourselves in.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I wonder where you are right now.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I wonder where the source of water, where the closest source of water is.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Where did the ancestors of the land that you are standing on, where did they go and gather water?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Have you been to that place?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Have you looked at an old map and seen where the springs are?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: And here I am in Glastonbury and I'm thinking of the White Spring and I'm thinking
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: of the Red Spring and I'm thinking of Dalting Spring and a couple of other springs
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: around me and as I'm imagining them,
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: the water dripping down through the earth and coming up out of the earth,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about my own fertility and my own flow.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm remembering about the story that I told in the last episode about the sister of the swans.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And as soon as I finished the podcast, or that night after I'd finished the podcast, I had a dream.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I dreamed of this stretch of water.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a stretch of water that's familiar to me because it's where I grew up.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's the Slapton Lee.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the swans, the swan brothers, they were all on the water and they were slowly transforming.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And some of them were kind of looking like beautiful swans on the water,
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: but then I could see under the water and I could see their feet moving furiously,
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: furiously,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: furiously.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking about transformation, about the times in my life when I've
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: changed patterns or changed things in my life and sometimes things just change
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: really quickly you know like snap you're just in another realm or you make a
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: decision you don't want to do something anymore but more often than not for me
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: transformations have been cyclical they've taken seven years lots of lots of
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: changes in my life have taken seven years so I was thinking about this seven year
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: journey
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: of the woman in the story and thinking about what we need to gather when we know we
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: want to make a big change in our life that's going to take time.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking about what she was gathering.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so she gathered the herbs.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So what do we need to sustain us?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: What herbs,
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: what medicines,
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: what gifts from nature can we use to support us if we want to do things differently?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: And she picks them by the moon
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: So there's trust,
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: trust in something,
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  SPEAKER_01: kind of going into the dark places,
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  SPEAKER_01: into the instinctive places to allow ourselves to be guided.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's this moon, sun, rising, falling, dawn, dusk.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: These movements of light and of the planets around us, they can give us rhythm.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: They can give us a rhythm that means we can follow our own internal patterns and
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: we're not looking for patterns on the outside,
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: the kind of clock watching and week watching.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: We can go into our own timeline, our own time source, so that we can really grow and become ourselves.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking about her making, her slow making of the tunics.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it got me thinking about the winter, about autumn.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes,
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: it's like we're approaching the solstice,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: the summer solstice,
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: but there's a part of me that's already gathering stories and gathering kind of
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: dreaming materials and crafting materials for the winter.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Already sort of feeling the thrill of
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: that when the summer is ended, we will be going into these warm times, these cozy times by fires.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because of course, that is the natural habitat of a storyteller.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been doing quite a bit of storytelling
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: this week and on Friday night was the famous I know I've talked about it a few
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: times on this podcast but it was the actual date of the Hedgehog gig and that was
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: really exciting
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: So how this came about was that my friend Sarah Curtis,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: who's an amazing,
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  SPEAKER_01: amazing singer,
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  SPEAKER_01: touches me in places that have felt unreachable.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: We'd done a gorgeous gig for Winter Solstice last year and I hope we do more this year.
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  SPEAKER_01: And she'd asked me if I would do a story about a hedgehog.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I was feeling uncertain because I always feel a bit,
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: this time of year always just feels a bit like scattered.
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  SPEAKER_01: Especially in Glastonbury when everyone's getting ready for the festival.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: But also because it's the solstice and it's like there's just so much energy moving.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I was a bit uncertain.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, oh, I don't know any.
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  SPEAKER_00: stories about hedgehogs and she sent me one and it was really good.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, you've got me.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I did.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: I said yes.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so it came about on Friday that we did this gig with another musician called
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Paul Thompson and also a violin player called Ishtara.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, both of you.
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  SPEAKER_01: You brought so much.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And the second most exciting thing for me about this night was that in the morning
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: my podcast stickers had arrived.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now these are just kind of teacup sized stickers and they have on them Mooney's
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Mythic Podcast and they've got a QR code like a maze and apparently,
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have a smartphone,
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: but apparently if you take a picture of that it'll take you straight through the
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: portals of life and light to the podcast and i was being very excited about these
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: stickers and so finally they arrived and they look just as good as i wanted them to
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: thank you jaya for designing them um and you you just
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: would not know how many people have told me where to stick them.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: They just, everyone's got an idea about just where I can stick these stickers.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I really thank you for all your advice and, um, all your suggestions.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so, and that's why I just want to open it out to all you great listeners.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: If there's any of you that have got some ideas about where to stick these stickers, do let me know.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And if you want me to post you a bundle, then, um,
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: I will post you a bundle and you can stick them where you like.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'd really, really appreciate that.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: So and even the first couple of people that get in touch with me,
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: I will send you one of Sarah Curtis's amazing hedgehog cards.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: She's made some hedgehog Glastonbury cards and I'll send them along with the stickers.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the first favourite thing about that night was that Sarah Curtis sang her new song,
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: which was called The Hedgehog Queen of Glastonbury.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just like,
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  SPEAKER_01: for me,
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  SPEAKER_01: an instant classic,
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  SPEAKER_01: like narrative poem,
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  SPEAKER_01: beautiful song,
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  SPEAKER_01: just totally amazing and amazing and delicious and delightful.
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  SPEAKER_01: And I adored it.
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  SPEAKER_01: I just absolutely adored it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I broke my agreement to myself that I would give myself until October to have a
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: guest on to sort of get used to all the nobbles and bubbles and twiddles and whittles.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I have invited Sarah Curtis onto this podcast today and we are sitting on a
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: sofa and there are,
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: I know you can't hear her,
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: but she's here and she is fantastic.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: About she's going to sing the Hedgehog Queen of Glastonbury.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now,
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  SPEAKER_01: this program that I'm using,
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: because I'm not very technical,
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: you basically just press play and there's no way of editing.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So how we're going to do it is she's here, she's going to be very quiet and then maybe she'll like.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: crawl out of the room on her hands and knees or sort of slide out like a worm or
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure how we haven't we should have maybe practiced it but anyway if you
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: hear any clunking or glunking then it's Sarah leaving or you know dropping
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: something on her way out but without further ado hello Sarah
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Sarah.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Brilliant.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being my first ever guest on Mooney's Mythic Podcast.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's exciting to have you.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: I feel great.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Honoured.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Honoured to be your first guest.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, would you like to say anything before you sing?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: Gosh, well, it's quite a new song, The Hedgehog Queen.
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  SPEAKER_02: And she goes on a little journey around Glastonbury.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I guess.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's go on a little journey around Glastonbury with you.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
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  SPEAKER_02: In the land of Glastonbury Where meadows bloom so far There lived the eldest
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  SPEAKER_02: hedgehog queen Her crown shone like the stars She roamed the fields at twilight
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  SPEAKER_02: With her crown so fair and bright And sang to all the creatures underneath
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  SPEAKER_02: light.
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  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hedgehog queen of Glastonbury, you dance among the flowers.
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  SPEAKER_02: You roam about this peaceful land, sing for hours and hours.
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  SPEAKER_02: Your heart is pure and gentle, your spirit wild and free.
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  SPEAKER_02: Oh,
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  SPEAKER_02: She shuffled up to Wearyhill Hill where once a tree did stand.
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  SPEAKER_02: The holy thorn of Glastonbury echoed out the land.
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  SPEAKER_02: And then one night some wicked men, they killed and choked it.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: The hedgehog queen was so upset, it almost broke her crown.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hedgehog queen of Glastonbury, you dance among the flowers.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: You roam about this peaceful land, sing for hours and hours.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Your heart is pure and gentle, your spirit wild and free.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hedgehog queen.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Many years before she heard King Henry took his reign And ordered for the Abbey to
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: go up in fire and flame She told the other hedgehogs there to move to somewhere
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  SPEAKER_02: safe The Abbey stands in mystery even to this day,
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  SPEAKER_02: this day
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  SPEAKER_02: The queen went up to the tower The moon was full and bright She meets the friendly
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  SPEAKER_02: dragon Then he flies into the night And then to Chalice where she goes And sips
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  SPEAKER_02: from red to white
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  SPEAKER_02: healing all her broken spines, giving her such light.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, Hedgehog Queen of Glastonbury, you dance among the flowers.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: You roam about this peaceful land, sing for hours and hours.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Your heart is pure and gentle, your spirit wild and free.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, Hedgehog Queen.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: King Arthur and sweet Guinevere,
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: the knights at the round table,
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  SPEAKER_02: met with the hedgehog queen and all her subjects who were able.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: She spoke of where to hide an ancient goblet with such powers.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: Eternal life was granted for the hedgehogs and the flowers.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: So if you find a hedgehog walking through the lanes at night, remember of the hedgehog queen.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: of stars so bright and maybe she will tell you of adventures and of tales or even
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: where the hedgehog hid the secret holy grail oh hedgehog queen of Glastonbury you
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: dance among the trees you roam about this peaceful land
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  SPEAKER_02: Sing the songs you please.
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  SPEAKER_02: Your art is pure and gentle.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Your spirit wild and free.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hedgehog green.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: For all eternity.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Eternity.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Eternity.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: For all eternity Eternity Cool Cool, thanks You're welcome
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: Hope you enjoyed it.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Can I ask you a couple of questions?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sure.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: You can make this sign like kind of like a knife going across your neck if you just want me to stop.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So how do you feel when you're singing?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I'm flying, really, with the hedgehog queen, you know, or whatever I'm singing.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's really nice to just kind of,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: yeah,
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: be in harmony with yourself and you're just singing and flying off with the sound.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: And when you wrote that song, what was the feeling or purpose or...
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well,
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: we had the Hedgehog gig coming up and Paul Thompson,
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: the other singer-songwriter,
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: he wrote a song called The Baby Hedgehog and so I thought it only apt that I try
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: and make something up about a hedgehog.
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  SPEAKER_02: And just thought it'd be really good to have a hedgehog queen and to go around
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  SPEAKER_02: Glastonbury and put a bit of truth into the songs.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: There's one bit,
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: about the tree getting chopped down,
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: which is true because there is a tree on Wirial Hill,
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: which is very special and
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: is meant to be the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they put a stick of it in the wreath at Christmas at Buckingham Palace.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do they?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: They did before it was chopped down.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just so sad that some vandals went and just chopped it all down for some reason.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, for what reason?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, just out of...
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: boredom and spite and nastiness so yeah it was nice to put that in you know the
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: justice well not justice but how the hedgehogs feel about that you know and um well
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: it's not it's good to not suppress when things happen for whatever reason because
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: we don't know you know who did it or or why they did it but it's it's just good to
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: kind of know healing comes from
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: bringing things up and out, doesn't it?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've been thinking a bit about that recently.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's a classic.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: It touched me in lots of different ways.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and it just kind of builds and builds in my heart as you sing.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for, yeah, thanks for bringing it.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for singing it.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I just hope that you get lots of different opportunities.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that you sing it at the Abbey and I hope you sing it at Wirral Hill.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you sing it at Buckingham Palace.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you, yeah, I hope lots of people get to hear it because it's a gorgeous song.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I know Sarah because I have known her since before the days of the choir,
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: but we are in a choir together,
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: the Avalonian Free State Choir.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, one day maybe my living room can be filled with people.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: everyone from the choir and we could have us have a sing on the podcast but um I
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: was just thinking about the last choir rehearsal that we had because um I was
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: really hungry it's always like that for me it's like
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: One o'clock, choir start, 1.15.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I've usually had a busy morning and I'm rushing to choir and I'm thinking,
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to be really hungry in choir.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's hard for me to concentrate.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I went to the chippy, which is just around the corner from when we rehearsed.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I went to the chippy and I went in the chippy and a guy had a kind of tin hat on.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how I knew it was D-Day.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I think about D-Day.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: more than you might think that a person thinks about D-Day for a few reasons.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: But when I saw him there behind the chippy with his tin hat on,
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I immediately thought about my grandparents,
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: about my two granddads,
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: who they were both in the war,
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Second World War.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking about the look that they had that was similar in their faces.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the word I came up with that my mind threw up was haunted.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: they had this haunted look in their faces and they never really talked about the war.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: People didn't talk about the war.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then unbidden,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: I got this random memory come up that my granddad,
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Goo,
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: we used to call him Granddad Goo,
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: he was looking after me one day.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: He was about five.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: He lived in West Ham.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: He played football for West Ham United.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And anyway, he was looking after me once, and I was about five.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: And he took me to the betting shop, and he had this little dog, Jack Russell.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: And he asked me to hold on to the dog whilst he put a bet on.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think he must have watched the race because I was outside the betting shop for ages.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: He told me not to speak to anyone.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: And people kept coming up and talking to me because obviously it's quite unusual to
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: see a five-year-old standing,
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: or maybe it wasn't at that time,
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: standing outside the betting shop with a dog.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: But people were like, hello, are you with someone?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I was...
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I just followed the rules,
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: and he said don't speak to anyone,
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: so I was just not speaking to anyone.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't speak to anyone anyway.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: He finally came out.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: And my other memory of that day was that he bought this cake.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: He bought, like, a big Victoria sponge cake, and he gave me a slice, and then he ate the rest of it.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway,
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: when I told my mum about this day,
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: I never went to...
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: He never looked after me again,
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: which I thought was a sort of mixed blessing,
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: because...
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was interesting on some level, but maybe not that safe.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: So then I had the thoughts of D-Day in my mind, which took me home.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And when I say home, I mean to Slapton Sands, which is where I spent a lot of my childhood.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: We moved there.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, we lived in a village about two miles from the beach.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: and when you're young and you don't you know your only way of getting around is bus
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: and walking two miles can be quite a where's the half an hour walk here so I I
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: never really appreciated until I moved away how close to the beach we actually
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: lived because I felt like we lived really inland and my friend Gail who who grew up
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: on the beach um she's got like
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Hair the colour of sand and eyes the colour of the sea.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I just thought that's how people looked when they grew up by the sea.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, I was born in the city and then moved there.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, that's why I didn't have that look.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was amazing that I should be thinking about Gail because I then bumped into her
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: at the Scythe Fair,
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: which was the next place that I did some storytelling at.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I was set to go to the scythe fair on Sunday morning to do some storytelling.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I started thinking about scythes.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: My grandmother, she died about five years ago.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was in hospital,
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: I went to the canteen and I just saw this flash of this figure,
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: all black,
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: holding a scythe.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: I know it sounds crazy, but I did.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: I hadn't had a lot of sleep.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: For whatever reason, I saw that.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: image so I started pondering on this image of the scythe and this image of the
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: scythe as death and Wikipedia will tell you that it comes from medieval times that
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: it comes from the times of the Black Death but I remember the story of um
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uranus and Gaia,
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: there's this story,
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: this Greek myth is from,
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: gosh,
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: it must be from like 700 BC,
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hesiod and Gaia.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: gives birth to Uranus and he kind of wraps around her.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's like the night sky and he wraps around her and he loves being in power and he
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: won't let the children have any power.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: They give birth to Uranus.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: giants and titans the 12 titans and gaia wants him gone you know she wants him out
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: of the way it's like he's wrapped all around her and he's holding all the power and
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: none of the children want to um kill him but it's kronos he's the youngest and she
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: makes this steel scythe for him and um he slashes it through the night sky and
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: kronos goes here there and everywhere his um
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: genitalia.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: I just love that word.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was going to say, I think it's his testicles, but I just love the word genitalia.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: It kind of, I don't know, for me, it's got the same sort of thrill as bunting.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the word bunting, it's like festive.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: There's something festive about the word genitalia.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I must try and stay on some kind of track.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, out of the foam of his genitalia, Aphrodite is born.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: But Kronos becomes king.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: And Kronos,
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: because he's done this action of killing his father,
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: and there's some prophecy about his children overthrowing him,
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: he's completely freaked out.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so he eats all of his children.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: He just, you know, he's doing the same thing.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's the ancestral pattern carrying on of suppressing the young life.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then the mother tricks him by giving him a stone to eat, pretending that it's Zeus.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think he says, oh, feed the baby one more time.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And she feeds it and the milk spurts because it's a stone.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that spur is supposed to have become the Milky Way.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: You see, the gods, the Greeks were at it.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: They went, they segued in their stories here, there and everywhere.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: But Zeus was brought up by nymphs.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then Zeus and Poseidon and Hades, they overthrew Kronos in the end.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how we get that pantheon of gods, you know, Demeter and Poseidon, Hades and all those guys.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: so I was thinking about that image of the scythe as I was going to the scythe fair
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: and I was thinking about tithe barns because around here in Glastonbury there's
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: quite a few tithe barns that are attached to the abbey so it's where supposedly 10%
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: of your harvest would go so that the abbey or the kings or whoever would take it
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: off you your physical taxes
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And whenever I've been in a tithe barn, I felt touched by how holy they are.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: They seem to have this golden, sacred beauty about them.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: I really feel that.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so I started thinking, well...
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's where we still worship the grain and worship the corn and worship the
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: harvest and gave thanks and gave libation and sang the old songs and sang the
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: things that we weren't allowed to do or say when the church got involved with everything.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they were the meeting places.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a huge taking, this harvest, this scything down.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: When I was watching it at the scythe fair, you know...
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: just lopping a whole mono harvest from the land.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it wouldn't have been long that we'd been doing that,
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: that we sort of just grew one crop and then raised it down and took it for ourselves.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I would imagine there was some careful ritual and rite of passage around this
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: that helped us to stay in connection with the balance of the earth.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I was thinking about tithe barns and I was thinking about the scythe fair.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about all those things.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then who should I bump into at the scythe fair?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: But my school friend, Gail.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: And she was with the brothers, John and Freddie, and their mum Di.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: And these were three people that I went on the school bus with.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just so nice and fine to see them at this beautiful place.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: at this fair which celebrates the traditional, lots of traditional crafts there.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was storytelling in the morning and then straight after my storytelling there was
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: some gorgeous singers singing about trees,
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: very beautiful,
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: there are blacksmiths there and woodworkers and yeah,
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: special place.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: So for a moment, it was like walking back in time, walking through all these traditional craftsmen.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then there they were, Gail and John and Fred and their mum Di.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then that got me back round to thinking about
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: D-Day,
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: because where I was born,
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: where I grew up on Slapton Sands,
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: is where the D-Day practices were allegedly held.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: The whole village was evacuated.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: And all the Americans moved in and there were great D-Day practices.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: And there are all these stories that I grew up with about that there were hundreds
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: and hundreds of coffins that were made and that there was a mass grave built and
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: that everything went wrong,
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: that there was friendly fire.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I say that in inverted commas because I wasn't sure what that meant,
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: but it basically means when people mistakenly open on their own side and kill everyone.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: So there was this practice that maybe did or maybe didn't go wrong.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's all been very much covered up.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then...
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: this guy and his friend come down to Torcross to go on holiday, Ken Small and his mate.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: And Ken Small becomes really interested.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: He hears that there's a tank that has been sunk off the coast of Torcross.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes on through this great, and he's a hairdresser.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: He was a policeman.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: He was a hairdresser.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: He, you know, real individual character.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And he found out who owned that tank, even though it was sunk in the water.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: And he paid some American company $50 for it.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And even though that tank was still in the sea, he now owned it.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: And he spent 10 years getting it out of the sea.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it's now in the car park, Slapton Sands.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this was about the time when I was moving down there that it got it out and he
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: would be by the car,
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: by the tank quite a lot with his boot of his car open.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: And he'd written this book called The Forgotten Dead about these people,
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: about this Operation,
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Operation Tiger,
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: about the D-Day practices that had gone wrong.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: I have not read this book because he was an adult.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was like nine or 10 and he was an adult.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just going through that phase where all adults were just,
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: I just had an absolute allergy to.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm going to read that book.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to see what it's got to say.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember that image of him all in black with a bit of gold around his neck
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: standing by his car selling his books.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, oh, God, what a weirdo.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now I think now, wow, how much courage.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I find it hard to get a book out or a CD at the end of a gig and say,
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've got this to sell or whatever.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: But to stand there and just be willing to talk to strangers about the story that
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: you've uncovered,
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: about truth that you've uncovered,
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think took a lot of courage.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: And also...
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: that all this material was covered up and that he was bringing to the surface all
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: this suppressed material.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's just so important in life.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what, you know, bringing me back to the Kronos story.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's like they're trying to push things down and push things down, push things down.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: It never works.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it has to come up and out and be honored and acknowledged.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, that's how things can move, I believe.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: And our children, they kind of embody their sort of freedom and movement, aren't they, children?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that can be difficult for us adults or definitely for me as a mum.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: There are places where I had to kind of grow in tight,
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: some places that were tight so that I could allow my son to grow as well.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I bump into Gail at the scythe fair.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: And Gail is this guy Ken Smalls.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: Her dad is his mate.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: And actually Gail's mum used to run one of Ken Small's hairdressers.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's how they started going down to Tall Cross in the first place.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: And they were in the pub, the local pub that started being with Ken Small.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they spoke to the owners saying,
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: if you ever want to give up the lease on this pub,
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: we'd love to take it on.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so they did eventually and they had an interview with the brewers and by then
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: Gail's mum was pregnant with Gail.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't want to say anything because she really wanted a pub.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it all went through very quickly and then a great storm brewed.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: This great storm brewed and it was huge.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: There were snow drifts and it wreaked havoc on the village and the villages all along the beach.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Gail's dad was sandbagging the road all night long and just fell asleep there.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: And the next day,
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: when Gail's mum was ringing to say that she was going to have a baby,
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: that she'd gone into labour,
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: and so he missed the labour.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, they just about got Gail's mum to Torbay Hospital, going down the back roads.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: And Gail was born, except she wasn't called Gail then.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: She was called Kirsty May.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: And the butcher, Hannaford, said, you can't, you can't call her Kirsty May.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: Not on a night like this, not to be born on a night like this, you can't call her Kirsty May.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that is why she's called Gail.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I bumped into Gail at the Scythe Fair.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: And what's really exciting for me is that she's been listening to the podcast.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: Gail.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I really thank everyone who has said to me, thanks for doing the podcast.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: And yesterday I was feeling a bit nervous.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how I could be feeling nervous because I knew that Sarah Curtis was going to come and sing.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the great thing about working with musicians or working with other people.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: You can always think, oh, anyway, what I do is terrible.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: They're going to bring it home.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I needn't have been nervous, but I was feeling nervous.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then I saw my friend Sophia and she was like, I'm loving the podcasts.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then I got a message from my friend Siska spreading the podcast joy.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: So just wanting to shout out to those two people to say thank you so much for,
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: yeah,
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: just telling me,
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: letting me know how you're feeling about the podcast.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been doing some research on podcasts, OK, because...
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: As you know, I love Blind Boy and he talks about hot takes.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: OK, and I was thinking, I don't even know.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know this lingo.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: What even is a hot take?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I've looked it up.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: OK, a hot take.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: A hot take is a piece of deliberately provocative commentary that is based almost
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: entirely on shallow moralising.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: in response to a news story,
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: usually written on tight deadlines with little research or reporting and even less thought.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that is right up my street.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: That, I mean, that has given me the confidence to carry on.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've got to say, like,
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: absolutely absolutely gives me because i just think i don't know enough about
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: something or i haven't thought deeply enough about anything but this notion of the
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: hot take just gives me absolute permission to just keep keep going so thank you for
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: that and it also um
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: means that I can kind of cast about for different things to talk about.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: But right now we're at the scythe fair and I'm going to read to you this poem by
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Lorraine Pickles because it reminded me of being at the scythe fair.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Clarissa the Corn Maiden.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Clarissa the corn maiden set off on her holidays on the Eurostar to France.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: She wanted to experience different ways of being.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: She liked the way the gathered corn was wound round and round in spirals, like an endless dance.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: This was how she wanted to live.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: She danced in the warm summer sun to the song of the cicadas,
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: accordions and Edith Piaf records,
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: being played on wind-up gramophones.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: And she would lie down,
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: looking at the endless sky,
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: drowsed by the scent of lavender,
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: soothed by the poppies and sunflowers,
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: until it grew dark and the sky was full of stars.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: One night there stood in the moonlight a deer with soft eyes who beckoned Clarissa
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: to follow her,
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: past all the wayside shrines,
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: up to the miller's house.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: Clarissa was wary, she heard millers tended to grind you down.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: She had a fear of becoming something different, of losing the essence of herself.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: The miller had a jaunty air and eyed her up hopefully.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: He was enchanted by her long golden hair and perfect ears,
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: and he would watch her every morning from his window,
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: dancing,
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: always dancing.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: He had gathered so many like her, ripened by the summer sun, but this one was different.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted to keep her to himself, to sit beside the fire with her on long winter evenings.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: to hold her in his arms and to read her the writings of French existentialist philosophers.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: He prayed to the Great Mother that he would be saved from himself and that things
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: would not end the way they normally did.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: Clarissa was unaware of the miller's struggle.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: She was just enjoying her ripening and besides, she had a return ticket home.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: On the last day of her holiday,
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: the miller gathered her up and with a tear in his eye,
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: put her back on the train.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thus Clarissa escaped certain death and the miller escaped inevitability.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: Broken-hearted,
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: he gave up being a miller and instead became a poet and wrote endless poems about Clarissa,
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: the lost corn maiden.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: He would give poetry readings in Paris cafes.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: Eventually he became professor of poetry at Sorbonne,
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: but sometimes,
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: on warm summer days,
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: he would see his corn maiden dancing out of the corner of his eye,
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: and he would say to himself,
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: if there was one good thing that I have done with my life,
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: it was to let her go.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: gorgeous isn't it that's a lamass poem a harvest poem by Lorraine Pickles and it
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: really brings me into the golden light to the um yeah to the the tiny let's just
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: visualize now tiny little bit of corn and how it grows towards the sun strong and
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: tall and high and then it's like this
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: hundred pieces of corn can fruit from it and may that be our journey towards the
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: light and this harvest time at this solstice that that those little kernels within
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: us they begin to grow and strengthen and and and give off and they're the children
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: aren't they those bits of corn that are the abundance of corn that arrives they're
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: the children of the corn well i think that's a horror film isn't it but they are
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: the children of the corn and and so um
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: we need to go beyond these stories of cutting down the children and suppressing the
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: children but just to let them up and open and out I wonder if any of you are
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: wondering what was the story that I told
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: on that Friday night when it was all about the hedgehog.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder if any of you are wondering about that.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because the story is arriving in my lap
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: as I am watching the men with their shirts off scything at the fair.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: The story is arriving in my lap as I hear the harmony singing, smoothly echoing around me.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: The story is arriving in my lap as I think of ice creams in the summer sun.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think that's where they met, you know, this couple.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think they met at the scythe fair.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think they had a role in the hay.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: And they were in love.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: A lasting love, you know.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: They tucked down by the fire in the autumn.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: They went through a quiet winter together.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: And in the spring, it was decided that they were going to stay together.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: And they would want for nothing.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's not exactly true because she did want something.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: She wanted a baby.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: She really, really wanted a baby.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it might have just been her hormones because it can be a little bit like that.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: But she was so desirous to have a child and to have a child with him.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: and it wasn't coming.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: month after month,
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: she found that she wasn't pregnant,
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: and so she started to do what he thought were very odd things.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: She started to take her temperature,
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: she started to demand sex at the moment,
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: right in the very moment,
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: and it quite put him off his stride,
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: he liked to take things a bit more relaxed than that.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: She started to eat certain things, and sometimes in bed he would find crystals, and sometimes the
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: windows,
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: the curtains were open so that the moon could pour in and sometimes the fire was
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: lit and there were funny smells on the fire and on and on and on it went until one
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: day he rolled over to give him,
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: give her a cuddle in bed and he found her feet and he was like,
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: what are you doing?
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: What are you sleeping down there for?
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: She said, oh, the midwife said if I just
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: slept like this just for one night and then turned around Widdershins three times
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: and then touched the ground and put the spit of a deer behind my ears.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: He said, enough, enough, I've had enough of this.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, this is ridiculous.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, I want a baby.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the window was open.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: The moon was shining on her face.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: I want a baby, she said.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: I want a baby so much, I shouldn't even care.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: What it was like, she said.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: I want to gather it up.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_01: I want to hold it.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: I want to feed it.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: I want a baby.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: I want a baby and I wouldn't even care if it was like a hedgehog.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: There was a wind that heard her.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: The wind of change.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: There was a wind that was listening to what she wanted.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: And she found very soon that she was pregnant.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: And she was delighted.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: She was so happy.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: She walked about with that great bump and people admired it.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, oh, yes, look at me.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm having a baby.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm having a baby.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: And when the baby came, even though it was furry and snout-nosed, she didn't care.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: She loved it.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: She had her baby that she could snoodle up, that she could cuddle, that she could love.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't care.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: Some people did care.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: Some people noticed.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: They noticed that, was it fur or were they prickles?
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: That little snouty nose, was it?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: Some people said,
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: that she'd given birth to a hedgehog.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_01: And they laughed at her.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: Not in front of her, you see, but they would laugh behind her back.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: They would laugh at how she caught it up and cuddled it and how she fed it on her breast.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's a hedgehog, they said.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's a hedgehog.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: But they just still, they nodded and didn't say anything when the couple went past.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: But he knew.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: He knew they were laughing at him and he couldn't stand the,
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: way his child looked and you should have seen the way it ate like a hog at the
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: table and the spikes that seemed to be getting longer and darker every day and then
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: when he would go to the pub he'd get the jokes and the ribbing
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: And they would say,
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: all right,
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_01: he said,
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: don't be prickly,
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: they'd say,
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: or you look like you've got a bit spiky lately.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, don't, they said, we're only joking, we're only joking.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he would be eaten up inside with rage until one night he'd had enough and he
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: went home and he threw his hedgehog son out.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: And his hedgehog son said,
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_01: OK,
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: OK,
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: you make me a saddle for the rooster and me and the rooster and a couple of other
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_01: animals will be gone and I'll never see you again.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: And why you didn't need to ask that man twice.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: He made and crafted the most beautiful saddle for the rooster.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: And he gave it to his son and he said nothing about the mother's weeping.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: And Hans, because that was his name, he went up to his mum and he hugged her.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then he dared to go up to his dad and he hugged him.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the moment when his dad realised how soft he was, how soft his prickles were.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the moment when a tiny pencil line cracked
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: in the mother's heart and each day it grew bigger and bigger and bigger until it
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: finally broke apart completely and she died.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: But Hans was long gone by this time.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: He rode his rooster far, far, far away until so much time had passed
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: cycles and cycles and moons and moons and suns and suns twenty years,
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: twenty years had passed and he lived quietly and he lived in a very remote place
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: and he hardly ever saw anybody until one day a king was lost in the woods so,
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_01: so lost
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he found himself at a door.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: And he knocked on that door.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_01: And he tried not to look afraid.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_01: When a kind of a man answered.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: A kind of a man with spikes on his back and a snouty little nose.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, will you help me find my way home?
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: Come in, Hans said.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: And he set food by the fire, and the king ate it.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then Hans, he began to sing a low, slow drone.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: And the king was so weary and he was so grateful to be by a crackling fire that he
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: took the invitation of those long,
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: low notes and he flew with them and what dreams he had.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: Dreams, well, it was the kind of thing you could only ever dream of.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then when he awoke, when he awoke, he found that he wasn't.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: In the hedgeman's home, he was close to his castle.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: So close he could find his way back easily.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_01: And he saw the hedgehog man in the distance and he said,
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: thank you,
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: thank you so much,
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: what can I give you?
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: And Hans shook his head and he said,
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: please,
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: please,
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: let me give you something,
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_01: let me give you something.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, okay, he said, give me the first thing.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_01: The first thing that you see when you get home.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_01: OK, said the kin, quite enjoying the thought of that, the game of that.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_01: And also a little sad because he thought that maybe it would be his trusty dog.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: But perhaps that would be a fine gift anyway.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so he continued on his way.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: And as he continued on his way, the dog was not the first to approach him.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he was frightened off by the scent of hedgehog around him.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_01: but it was his daughter that came.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: And she wrapped her arms around him and she hugged him tight and he swung her around.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: And as he swung her around, he saw the hedgehog man, Hans's eyes, looking at him.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: A year and a day, he said, and the voice was carried on the wind.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: A year and a day and I'll come back for my prize.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so the king went back
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: to the castle with his daughter.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that time passed.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then the queen said, why don't we have a party?
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't we have a party?
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's been nearly a year since you were lost in the woods and we thought you were dead and gone forever.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't we have a party?
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: So they did.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: They had a great party and they had bunting all around and cakes with
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_01: whipped cream and raspberries on top and they had um jugglers and fire eaters and
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: they had a tarot reader the best tarot reader in the land and he said may i read
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_01: your tarot to the king
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the king agreed.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_01: And the first picture was a king.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: And oh, yes, the king said, definitely, that looks like me, strong and gorgeous.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the second one was a queen.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: And what a beautiful queen she was.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: And next to her was a princess.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: And the queen and the princess were on this card.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_01: And they all looked and they laughed at their images and such beauty.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the third card was a hedgehog.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_00: The king smashed up the table and he said, get away.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: What is this?
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_00: Get away.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then in the shadow of the doorway of the castle, he saw Hans himself.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now the princess knew about this promise.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: So when Hans asked her, do you know who I am?
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_01: She said, yes.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_01: And do you know why I'm here?
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_01: You're here to marry me.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: And do you think I am hideous?
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_01: Not as hideous as going back on a promise, she said.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: She held her head high.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: And there was no joy in the ceremony.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was sombre and still.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_01: And although the bunting was still up,
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the balloons were still blown.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_01: They all seemed smaller and to have less colour and less bounce than the night before.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_01: But the dread of the princess was mounting and mounting as evening grew near.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: And she went to the
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_01: bedchamber and she lay in bed and she screwed her eyes closed and pretended to be
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_01: asleep and and there was a tiny feather-like kiss on her cheek and that was all and
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_01: she dared after a while after she could feel the shadow of the hedgehog was not
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_01: over her she dared to open her eyes and
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: She saw something extraordinary, my friends.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_01: She saw this hedgehog man.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_01: She saw him stretch and yawn by the fire that night and become a man.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_01: It was as if he shucked off his hedgehog quills and they lay by the fire.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_01: And she saw him go out of the window and tend to the animals outside.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_01: And she saw by the light of the moon that he was beautiful.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_01: And she dared to creep out of the bed and she lay down on his hedgehog prickles and
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_01: they were soft and they were warm and she could hear him.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: So she ran back into the bed and she pretended she'd seen nothing.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_01: But the next night she waited.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_01: She wasn't so afraid when his dark shadow loomed over her.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_01: And she almost...
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_01: opened her eyes when she felt the kiss on her cheek and she waited and she saw him
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: transform again and she saw him go out of the window and she went and she laid by
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_01: the fire and it was as though his prickles were softer than the night before
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_01: thicker and the scent was heady musk that made her swoon and she
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_01: She fell asleep there by the fire.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where she was when he returned and she woke with a start.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_01: She said, I'm so sorry.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: And she kept on talking because that's what she did when she was nervous.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, I'm enchanted.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm under a spell.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if you say nothing of it,
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: and if you do nothing for one more night,
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: for three nights,
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_01: then that spell will be broken.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll see.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_01: And she promised, of course, that she would say nothing of it and she would do nothing about it.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then we would see.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the next morning she bounced down to the breakfast table and she ate like she hadn't eaten for days.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_01: And when her mother asked if she was OK, she said, I'm fine.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm totally fine.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Everything's great.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the mother said, we have been to see the wise witch in the woods.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: We have been to see her.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, he's not a hedgehog man.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's under a spell.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_01: I know, said the girl.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, no, I didn't mean to say that.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_01: She said, no, I mean, I suppose I assumed.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_01: She said, well, she says that there is a way to break the spell.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_01: That at night he removes his prickles.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: He does.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing, nothing.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_01: At night he removes his prickles.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: And when he does so,
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: you must fling those brickles on the fire and burn them and then the spell will be broken.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's not it at all, she said.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's not it.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so you do know, said the mother.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_01: I know nothing, said the girl, frustrated and frightened and furious.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that was how she was feeling that night where she lay in bed and he kissed her.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_01: She stayed there and she closed her eyes and off he went.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_01: And she went over to the fur.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_01: It smelled stronger that night.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_01: And her mum's words racing and racing and racing around in her,
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_01: an instinct telling her to trust him,
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_01: but not being quite able to trust him.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so she flung his fur on the fire and it crackled and it burnt and it scorched
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_01: and she could hear him screaming.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't come back.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't see him come back.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_01: And she waited.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_01: She waited until she was fit to burst and then she knew.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_01: She would just do nothing but trust her instincts now.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_01: To the deep well of a place inside that knew the answers.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_01: Her own inner compass.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_01: So she went to the blacksmith and she had made three pairs of iron shoes and three
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_01: sets of iron rods and she walked.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_01: And she walked long and she walked tired and she walked resolute and she kept on walking.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_01: And there were times when she could walk no longer and she rested.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_01: When she was ready,
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_01: she got up again and she walked and she wore through that first pair of iron shoes
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: and she put on the second.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_01: And she walked again.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_01: She walked where her belly told her to go.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_01: She walked and she sniffed and she followed and she walked until she'd worn out
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_01: that second pair of shoes and the third pair of shoes she put on and she flagged.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_01: She flagged for some time,
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_01: but then she lifted herself up again with song and with looking up at the moon and
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_01: with watching a sunrise and with drinking from clear rivers and from holding on to
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_01: trees and knowing that their roots were deep,
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_01: deep,
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_01: deep in the ground.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_01: She kept going until she'd almost worn through a third pair of shoes.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_01: when she heard a quiet, low, sonorous sound.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_01: And she looked and she saw her hands, her hedgehog man,
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he looked and when he saw her,
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_01: he tried to run away and she grabbed him and she said,
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_01: no,
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_01: I have worn out three pairs of shoes and three sets of sticks looking for you.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I found you now and I'm going to hold on to you.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, get away from me, get away.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_01: And she held on to him and she held on to him and she held on.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_01: And as she held on, his prickles fell away and fell away and fell away.
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_01: Until they were standing there.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_01: Woman and man.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_01: And now we'll see, she said.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now we'll see.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's how we'll leave them at the cusp of this solstice time,
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_01: holding each other's hands as equals,
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_01: walking towards the bright light of the sun.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_01: everybody this has been mooney's mythic podcast thank you to sarah curtis she is
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_01: still on the sofa i know i should have got to do the hedgehog song next time i'll
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_01: get her to do the hedgehog's music um thank you thank you to everybody remember if
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_01: you want some stickers i'm really happy to um send them to you or if you've got
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_01: some ideas about where i can stick them let me know
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_01: And any other feedback you can give me about the podcast,
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_01: about how to grow it and help it and support it to flourish,
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_01: I would really,
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_01: really appreciate it.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_01: But for now, I will catch up with you again next week.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: All the love, all the blessings.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_01: Happy harvest to you all.