The Story of the Cerne Abbas Giant

There are many tales about how the Cerne Abbas Giant came to be.  I will let you decide whether it is true or not.

 

Many, many years ago, the local village and surrounding areas was one of peace.  The locals ploughed their fields, built their houses and helped one another.  But from the East came a threat – a Danish giant. The giant carried a huge club that could smash the village tythe barns – and being mostly made of wood and thatch these offered little resistance.  The giant quickly cut a swathe of destruction across England.

 

The little village of Cerne heard about this threat coming their way – and they all wondered what they could do.  They decided to hold a village meeting.

 

“Even the big towns are no match!” the villagers cried “We will surely be next!”

Even the Squire had no answer.  But at the back of the hall sat the village Cunning Man (a person who was knowledgeable in herbs and was thought to possess magic).  He quietly said “I can help – but you need to know what the effects will be”

 

And then to a quitened hall, he explained that he would mix some herbs and add it to the highest streams.  Then, when the giant drank the water he would become sleepy.  With no other option the villagers agreed.

 

The cunning man then created his potion and took it to the source of the water.

 

Sure enough, the giant drank from the waters and fell to a heavy sleep.  The villagers approached the sleeping giant and with a large felling axe chopped off the giants head.

 

They then decided that should another Giant ever decide to invade these shores, they needed to tell these possible threats what would happen to them – and so they carved the giants outline in the chalk.

 

But – remember the Cunning Man added the herbs to the water?  Well, that had an effect on the villages as well.  If you go to small towns now, you will often hear the term “the sleepy village of.” which means that the pace of life of the town is a little slower, or the buildings look a little older etc.  Well those towns are still drinking the water that the Cunning Man added his herbs to..

 

 (photo source: www.stone-circles.org.uk)

 

For more information on the Cerne Abbas giant, go to http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/cerne.htm

Green and Brown

The trees stand proud – brown against the blue

The grass lies flat – green against the brown.

The snow lies quiet – white against the green

The ice floats on the water – white against the blue.

The colours of winter.

- by Mab, Jan 2009

The second last

Mab    and   HP

“Oh crikey, not again!” exclaimed Granger “we might as well throw the book out of the window!”

But this time of course, Granger was much less forceful.  This time of course, he would have his own Travelling Companion and would not seen to share.

“Do you mind particularly?” I asked – keen to use EA myself.

“No, I think if EA and HP are happy to be our companions, then I don’t see a problem.  I suspect that they may travel more than we do given their general size.  But hey, we can focus on order duties then.”

“But - I like travelling and getting out!  I don’t want to give it to them”

“Don’t worry” Smiled Granger “I think Frog will take us all – but possibly not actually ALL of us, he may choose depending on what he’s doing.”

Granger turned to leave.

“But of course, HP and EA will still need to produce their story”

And then he walked out of the door.

“So, ” I said to EA and HP “it would seem that you guys have some work to do. Any problems?”

“Nope” they chorused – happy that they would now be part of the famous order (news of the group was starting to circulate far and wide).

“But” asked HP “What about Mab?”

“Ah yes” I said “Mab.  Mab already has provided us with sufficient information to enable his full membership to the Order and I will publish these shortly.  I hope that we can learn from Mab’s knowledge – it may even help me to enjoy the weather that ‘HE’ keeps subjecting me to!”