Saturday 29 January 2022

If You Go Down To The Woods Today...

In 1932,  Walt Disney decided to make a short children's animated cartoon. He called it 'Babes In The Woods' and introduced the dwarf characters who were precursors of the seven in Snow White. The Babes Story had gained popularity in the Victorian Era, as one of Randolph Caldecott's illustrated picture books. Disney decided to merge the traditional English 'Babes ' story [published 1595] with the German 'Hansel and Gretel' tale [collected by the brothers Grimm around 1809] 

That's right, Mr D added in H&G - because after all, don't all parents want their children to know about a cannibalistic witch, whose dwelling is liable to induce a diabetic coma, if hungry and lost children start eating it? Oh, its OK, these two German tots escape and rush home safely to mother, and never stray from their kindergarten again. Not so for the babes in Britain - they wander, lost and helpless, die of starvation, and the kindly robin redbreast covers their bodies with leaves. Maybe Disney wanted to sanitise the ending so his audience did not have nightmares. The original ballad said...
"No burial these prettye babes of any man receives, till Rpbyn Redbreast painfully did cover them with leaves"

But where did our Babes-in-the-Wood story come from? answer - Norfolk! In 1595, A guy called Thomas Millington published a ballad, telling the gruesome tale of how a wicked uncle hires two thugs to murder his orphaned niece and nephew, so he can inherit his brothers estate. But the men just leave them in the nearby wood - and they cannot find the way out, so they die. 

The estate in question was said to be Griston Hall - now a farmhouse just outside Watton, and the woods in question were the Wayland Woods close by, now under the management of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. We went for walk there one afternoon this week. "Feel the apricity!" I announced as the winter sun shone warm on my face. 

The woods are truly beautiful - they are well managed, and have been regularly coppiced for over a thousand years- records go back to the 10th century. Mainly oak, but also ash, hazel and hornbeam. 

Beautiful wide aisles to walk down, with plenty of benches if you needed to stop and sit. These have all been given in memory of others who loved the woods - and have appropriate plaques.

This should be read in the proper local accent! I was intrigued by the ladder, with the sign at the top "No Access"

As we did the circular walk, we saw a team of people sawing trees, and lots of tidy woodstacks. The moss growing on some of the felled wood was a vibrant lime green, stunning against the dry brown leaves, silvery bark, and vivid white lichens.

I remarked to Bob that nowadays the children would not have been lost- they could have followed the sounds of traffic and easily made their way to the busy A1065!

It was muddy in places, but not difficult walking and the circular route takes around 45 minutes. [no dogs allowed though] Afterwards we went into Watton and had a coffee at our favourite Portuguese Café 

The town sign in the High Street shows the babes lounging naked under an oak tree [we have no evidence that they died of hypothermia] Below them is a hare leaping over a barrel representing the towns name. Watt  is a local dialect word for hare, and of course tun is a barrel. 

Locals will tell you that many people call it Wailing Wood, because on dark night's you can hear the ghosts of the distressed children wailing. Historians on the other hand, say that the name comes from Waneland which is a Viking word for a place of worship.

I think I like that explanation - the wide green aisles, beneath the towering trunks reaching up to the heavens, a verdant green cathedral. For me it was a blessed spot, a place where praising God for the beauty of Creation seemed a right and appropriate response to my surroundings.

I will definitely visit again and re-do the circular walk - the wildflowers in the early spring are said to be lovely.


15 comments:

  1. I remember as a child reading the entire collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales and a lot of them had a bit of a gruesome ending. Definitely not the sanitized versions that we see today on Disney movies.

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    1. If Disney made a film about the Titanic, it probably would not sink!!

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  2. Thank you for sharing the story. Those poor babes! I hope the uncle got what he deserved!

    The coppicing was really interesting as well. Have you seen Ruth Goodman's the Domestic Revolution? She talks a little about coppicing and fireword and traces the reasons for changing to coal and the impact it had on life and links the change with the industrial revolution.

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    1. I haven't seen that RG programme, will look out for it. Despite her fondness for bizarre orange garments, I really like her historical stuff.

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  3. What a great post! People are always shocked when they realize how violent and grim some of those "original" fairy tales really were!
    How lovely to see so much green! I went for a walk in the woods on Thursday but I could only manage it because the plows had been out to clear and flatten the snow. Instead of salt they are putting down what I believe is supposed to be volcanic "sand" - better for the environment. As long as you stayed on the trail it wasn't so bad walking but I had a bit of a struggle at the end as we made our way back to the car because the last bit hadn't been plowed but just tramped down by earlier walkers. It was a very narrow path and tramping down nearly two feet of snow hadn't been easy! Needless to say - I slept well that evening.

    Must see if the RG program is on Youtube - love her historical stuff!

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    1. They said there might be snow here this week, but there hasn't been any (yet)

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  4. What a sad and interesting tale. Always a treat to get out and walk through woods. I'm sure the spring wild flowers will be worth seeing. We are surrounded by wild trees and plants and it is a joy to see the spring flowers coming up in order, without having to do any gardening to produce them!

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  5. Oh but that's such a sad story. Makes me think of the legend we heard when we visited the Silent Pool distillery in Surrey. I'm glad you left us in the forest sanctuary, and not the wailing wood!

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  6. Those early stories weren't very kind to the poor children, were they?

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    1. I think they were "cautionary tales" designed to frighten the kids into good behaviouf

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  7. Thank you for this post. Watton was my home town and I've visited Wayland Wood many times, thankfully never hearing the wailing.

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    1. Oh I am so glad to find another reader who knows the town! It is changing a lot [much new building going on] but there is still a lot of affection for the place

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