A Study in English Folklore

Midnight Manor takes place in a world where monsters and legends exist as part of our world but separated by secrecy. So far I've gotten by using basic generic monsters and a few hodge-podge creations of my own from stuff I already knew, but learning more legend and lore wouldn't hurt anything either. I've already thought of a good line, "You know those old wives tales? Those are our history books." And if that's true and since the main bad guy is a creature of legend and history I should have a good idea of other legends and history of the area I'm trying to represent.

So my focus lately has been English, Scottish, Irish, and Greek folklore and legends. But mostly Scottish since that's where the Academy is. I think it would be good to bring in more history and legends into the book to add texture to the culture of the monsters.

So far I've only been able to study English, but they have some really good ones. I'll share my favorite for today. I got it from "English Folktales" edited by Dan Keding and Amy Douglas who went all over England and composed these old oral stories into a book. This is my retelling of one of those stories.

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle

Once upon a time there was an old woman who lived in a vinegar bottle. One day a fairy heard the woman bemoaning her lot in the world so she took pity and granted the woman her wish to have a cottage. The woman, so glad to have her own cottage, forgot to thank the fairy.

The fairy liked to travel and every now and then would stop by to see how the old woman was doing. However; every time the fairy came back it was only to hear the old woman complain about how she still didn't have enough and how happy she would be if only she had a little bit more. The fairy kept granting the thankless woman her wishes to have more and more property and even noble titles until finally she was the queen of a whole country. But it still wasn't enough!

The woman, now so full of pride and entitlement, couldn't see why she should have to look up to or answer to anybody, even other countries. After all her country was so small, why shouldn't it be the biggest country in the world? So the next time the fairy came by and the woman whined that she'd be happy only if she became the empress of the world. The fairy, finally fed up with the old woman’s ungrateful attitude, stuck the woman back into her vinegar bottle where she belonged.

A very good story. I highly recommend getting in touch with the storytellers roots in the old oral traditions. They hold the answers to why we human believe many things and act in many ways. Haven't you ever wondered where the phrase "Knock on wood" came from? You should look it up. Then you'll know why we do it whenever anyone doesn't want to be jinxed.