From The Land of Green Ginger To Green Caps
Via Phantasmorania, a Cheese Well and a Rosemary & Liquorice Cold Remedy
Hello gentle reader,
Sorry today’s letter is a little late. I was going to blame the hot weather and that is partly to blame but really its because of today’s subject matter. I was going to talk about wild women but I changed my mind. I’m still going to in a future edition of this very same letter but it seems to be one of those topics that takes its own time to leave my brain and arrive on the page. I think it will be all the better for it. So on an incredibly different train of thought, I started thinking about children’s books and I even re-read two of my favourites as a lovely reward after spending some time making things that hot people might like to eat ahead of when the ridiculous temperatures kicked in. Like all the best children books they can be read and enjoyed by adults even if you don’t have small people of your own to read them to.
The first is The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley, the 1966 version with the lovely line drawings by Edward Ardizzone, my version was bought from a jumble sale in the early 1980s somewhere in Devon and it is literally falling apart now. Its a wonderful story, first written in 1937, its full of nonsense and wit and the word-play is just gorgeous with pantomime villains, a brave hero and a beautiful maiden. However it also has a flying paradise (the eponymous land), a button nosed tortoise and the son of the genie of the lamp not to mention a very ladylike mouse, a tent salesman with a very familiar name and a cameo from Sinbad the Sailor. It is absolutely charming and started my love affair with satire, bad puns and not least the Silk Road as it endowed Samarkhand with a reputation that I later found out it thoroughly deserved and was even better than my imagination. This book made itself at home in my brain and anyone who listens to my podcast or storytelling may recognise the following phrase:
‘may my story please you, for it has no other purpose.’
However, no matter how beautiful Silver Bud was in The Land of Green Ginger, I didn’t picture myself as her. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be the princess in a tale its just she was just a little bit too perfect and didn’t get lots to do in the story. On the other hand the heroine of my second story was someone I desperately wanted to be. She was Amy, otherwise known as The Ordinary Princess in the book by MM Kaye. Amy starts off as Princess Amethyst Alexandra Augusta Araminta Adelaide Aurelia Anne of Phantasmorania and looks and behaves like like the seventh and youngest princess you would expect until her christening is derailed by a miffed fairy godmother à la Sleeping Beauty and declares her gift to be ordinariness.Her appearance and behaviour change immediately and she becomes less connected to her family.
She then grows up and gets to have adventures in the faraway forest as no-one pays attention to her until all her beautiful sisters are married off.
Then when princes are put off by her ordinariness a plan is hatched to have a dragon lay waste to the countryside to attract a prince who will then have to marry her once he has slain the dragon.
“For though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world.”
When Amy finds out about this she escapes to live in the forest with animal friends for company. When her clothes start falling apart she finds work in the closest castle as a kitchenmaid where she meets a man of all work. I won’t spoil it for you but lets just say I hate unhappy endings.
It’s also the reason I love the song ‘Lavender’s Blue’
Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen:
Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?
'Twas mine own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so.
These books were only two of many books I read but they were possibly the first ones both made me feel that it was fine, perhaps even better to be different. Different meant you got to follow your own direction, have adventures and be happy. It also allowed me to travel to wondrous places without leaving home. The one thing that really surprised me was that neither of these stories really contain much in the way of food. I read a lot of Edwardian children’s stories that were chock full of eating so I must have carried that over to these books in my head. I’m definitely going to have to write to you all about picnics sometime.
Time for some food folklore, I think its been long enough since my last cheese folklore so here we are. Did you know that on the top of Minch Moor (Minchmuir) there is a spring called the Cheese Well. According to Lewis Spence, writing in the 19th century, the well is thought to be in the charge of a fairy, to whom some offering must be made, typically a piece of cheese, to placate her so that travellers would receive no trouble on their route. There are probably tales of what happened to those that were less than giving with their donations.
I know, I know but colds can happen in the summer too and they always feel worse in my experience. I love Rosemary and liquorice so I think I’d find it cheery any time. This is from the Complete Housewife or Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion by E Smith in 1773.
Do you think you’d fancy this? When I first read about codlings I thought they were like baby cod but thankfully I soon discovered they were a type of apple. So essentially what you have here is baked sparkly apples with custard decorated with flowers. What’s not to love? This is another from The Experienced Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (10th Edition) of 1786.
I have been using homemade iced tea to get through the heatwave and I’m very happy to provide my secrets to anyone who would like to give me some feedback (be gentle please) or who shares this newsletter with friends and lets me know. You can reach me via @FairytalesFood on twitter or in the comments.
I also released a bonus interview episode with historian Emma Kay about her brand new book A History of Herbalism: Cure, Cook and Conjure. We had a lovely chat and I asked some slightly impertinent questions. All I can say if you are interested in Herbalism for any reason, go and get this book as its a fascinating read and we only really touched the surface or you can hear more here.
So, we come to an end, gentle reader. If you have enjoyed this and would like to read further such nonsense, please don’t hesitate to subscribe for free at the button below. You’d be very welcome and it would be a joy to write to you.
Delightful entry, I really enjoyed hearing about your childhood books 😊 Illnesses in summer are miserable, as are heatwaves (I’m currently getting over both). Drink lots of that delicious iced tea and take care of yourself!