Dark and Twisty Tales: folk stories and fairy tales for the unafraid.

Belching up toads, paper dresses, beheadings and murder, this story has them all. I love this Grimm fairytale from the Philip Pullman collection, and I hope you do too?
This is the last episode in Season Three, so please write me a review and remember, storytelling is thirsty work!
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An old man in velvet pantaloons is befriended by a little boy with a toy soldier, however the soldier is NOT happy about this, has a tantrum and finds himself lost in the cracks and buried in an open grave, only to be found years later.

Reynard the Fox is a bit tricky and tricks his wife that he's dead to see if she'll marry again ... never a good plan.

Childhood sweethearts Tamlane and Janet were all set until he 'disappeared' before their wedding day. He was off with the fairies (that's what you get for riding your horse 'widershins' around the hill), but it's OK, because she rescues him, by knocking him off his horse and holding on really tight while he changes into lots of things, then she chucks him in a pond. Perfect love story on so many levels. 
The actual Scottish story is as deep and dark and twisty as you like with green kirtles being lifted and babies born of fairy fathers etc, but this version is the one from Joseph Jacobs 'English Fairy Tales', so apologies to all my Scottish friends. 
As usual I improvised the melody over the verse, in this instance it was the Elfin Queen singing.  If you want to listen to a classic rendition of this story in song, have a listen to Fairport Convention's  Tam Lin.

A very clever and vengeful sparrow gets his own back after his buddy the dog comes a cropper. Many things get chopped with an axe by accident and many other things get pecked out ... corks and eyes mostly. The moral? Please feed your dogs yummy things ... and don't underestimate a sparrow!