From: <akt@attglobal.net>
Subject: (urth) Green children
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2001 08:51:41 


> From: Jeff Wilson <jwilson@io.com>
> Subject: (urth) Greening, was Names for Green Men

I'm awfully glad this came up because I have a completely unrelated
question that I'd like to throw out--perhaps anyone with an answer could
contact me by email rather than clog up the list (I'm also going to
query alt.mythology). John Crowley has a very short story, virtually a
vignette, called "The Green Child" that he says is based on accounts by
Ralph of Coggeshall and William of Newbridge, both of whom say that it
took place about the middle of the 12th c. in West Suffolk. Two pale
green children, a girl and a younger boy, appear at a place called the
Wolf Pits. A kind woman takes them in; the boy will eat only beans and
eventually dies; the girl also drinks milk, survives, becomes less green
and eventually marries someone.

Well, I have heard this story before. Has anyone else? I even know where
I read it, though I recall neither the title not the author of the
book--it was a novella from a small press by a Brit sometime in the
early 80s. And I conclude that it is a real West Suffolk legend. Can
anyone help? Crowley barely bothers to embroider--the tale could be from
a very good travel guide, though it has his customary poignancy.

-alga




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