I visited Lilleshall Abbey again today as I'm currently writing about it. A strange atmosphere drowned the ruins, shapes moved in the shadows, and a heaviness pervaded. It's a very spooky place 🌿
In #Shetland, bog cotton is known as Lucky Minnie's Oo (wool). A witch from Shetland folklore, Lucky Minnie was said to roam the hills in summer collecting this plant. She then processed it on a card from the fairies and used to #knit her clothes
This mirrors the practice at the time where folk without #sheep
would search the landscape for small pieces of #wool cought in fences or in the heather. If they gathered enough they could make a little knitwear #folklore
On a wild island he meets a woman whose upper portion is like a fish and below like a human. She asks if he will have her. “No, I can’t have you, the way you’re formed,” says the boy. Later he meets another, whose nether portions are like a fish and upper like a human being. “Yes, since there are no other folk here, then I may as well have you,” says the boy.
“Oh yes, you may certainly have me,” says the woman, “for I own the gilded castle. But first you must lie in my chamber with me for three nights.”
“The legend is the mother of history; the folktale is a relative of both. All three are the dearest friends of youth.”
– Guldberg & Dzwonkowski (the earliest publishers of #Asbjørnsen & #Moe)