How many of your stories are inspired by mysteries, legends, mythologies or ancient tales of societies long gone?
I know mine is. At least, in part.
See:
Excerpt from my book, The Scarlet Flowers of Engelstadt, Chapter 1.
Introducing my female MC, Nola.
As some of you already know, my female main character, Nola, appears in my book in Chapter One as a young girl with silver hair and 'skin the colour of emeralds'. I mean, this is to be expected, it's a fantasy story, after all, right?
But what if I told you that Nola's skin colour was based off a potentially real story? One where youngsters with green skin and speaking in an unusual language were actually discovered in the woods?
Welcome to the Tale of the Green Children of Woolpit!
Location of the town of Woolpit, Suffolk, England.
What is 'The Tale'?
Once upon a time, on a normal day in the village of Woolpit (Suffolk, UK), sometime in the mid-1100s, two children appeared. They looked normal enough in that they had two eyes, hair, two arms and legs, etc., but everyone could tell they were not from Woolpit: their skin was bright green, they wore unusual clothing and they could not speak English. When they first arrived, the children were said to eat only broad beans, and raw ones at that.
Overtime, however, their diets began to change as they ate other foods and, sadly, their green colouring began to fade. Even more tragically, the brother died. His sister survived, learnt English, answered questions about hers and her brother's origins and is said to have eventually got married.
That is the story in a nutshell and it was documented by two individuals: Ralph of Coggeshall and William of Newburgh. I'll come back to these two in a moment.
OK, that's pretty interesting. But, there are many folk tales about unusual people and creatures in the woods. What drew you to this particular story?
This story, in my opinion, anyway, is not like your 'typical' tale or legend, is it? It's not like the unsolved mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, or the mystery of the missing princes from the Tower of London, where only speculation exists in lieu of answers.
The Children of Woolpit is documented; it actually happened. Remember Ralph and William? They were writers (read: men of the Church). They went out, talked to 'reliable sources', which I will argue was the townspeople who discovered the children and documented the story. Not only that but Mr Ralph there? Apparently, he took the children into his own home. It is this dude who fed the children a more normal diet (normal by those days' standards, at least), and observed their colour fading. Furthermore, the children, once they learnt English, were able to answer questions about themselves. They told people where they came from.
So, unlike most mysteries and legends, the main characters were able to give their side of the story. It just fascinates me that those answers simply lead to even more questions.
Such as. . . where did they come from?
"The land of St Martin" was the answer. The children attested to it being in the Earth. Sort of, under the surface that you and I live on. Needless to say, I'm sure those who believe in the 'Hollow Earth Theory' get very excited about the Children's story.
And, if St Martin's Land is real, how is it possible for any living thing to thrive there?
After all, the children explained that their home was lit by a permanent twilight rather than a rising and setting sun. So... how did anything grow there? Is that even possible? I know, I know, there's sulfur vents at the bottom of the ocean which hosts a whole society of creatures, and a huge part of the animal kingdom is nocturnal. What I'm talking about, though, is plants and other vegetation. If there's no sunlight, they cannot produce oxygen or energy to grow. They cannot thrive. And, if they cannot grow, then smaller creatures cannot eat them, which means bigger creatures cannot eat, and so on and so forth.
So how, how, did anything, least of all humans, survive in a place without sunshine?
(Seriously, though, if there's any scientists out there who can answer this, please leave a comment with your hypotheses below!)
Another such legend/mystery is that of Kaspar, the boy who appeared in the German town of Nuremberg in the early 1800s.
There are several accounts regarding Kaspar. I once took a tour of Nuremberg with my family (I grew up in Karlsruhe, about 2.5 hours west of Nuremberg) and there, we were told that a young boy, around 9yo, and unable to speak, one day appeared on the streets of Nuremberg in 1812. He was found knocking on the door of a house and, once he had learnt to speak, was unable to answer exactly where he came from.
Other accounts have Kaspar as a little older and in possession of a mysterious letter regarding his origins. In these accounts, Kaspar appeared in 1828 and was capable of speaking but his abilities we restricted to several prayers, the word 'horse' and the sentence "I want to be a cavalryman, as my father was".
Regardless of which one you believe, a boy named Kapser did show up in Nuremberg under very unusual circumstances.
Ah, I love stories like this. Documented but so warped by time and tongue that it's almost impossible to discern what is 'real' and what isn't. Now, normally, I like to stick to my non-fiction and literary realism, but every so often, just enough fact is blended into an incredible impossibility that I cannot just ignore it. It's probably why I love Cryptid stories so much - there are so many stories out there, all from different parts of the world, yet all sharing similar traits. Surely, there must be some truth in them?
In the case of Kaspar, it's perfectly possible that he was kept in a dungeon and taught a few facts about himself before being expelled into the world. It's also perfectly possible that the Children of Woolpit suffered several vitamin/mineral deficiencies due to their restricted diets, and therefore their skins were a different colour (I, myself, have seen somebody so jaundiced, their skin had a green hue to it!).
Who knows?
I certainly don't.
And I love it.
So, there you have it.
Nola, my mysterious, green-skinned FMC, was directly inspired by the Tale of the Children of Woolpit. And, I suppose in part, a little by Kaspar's story. After all, Nola, wasn't able to speak when she 'woke up' and her skin colour, too, disappeared. At the risk of spoilers, I won't expand on this point any further.
All I will say is that, in my prequel, you will find out exactly who, or should I say, what, Nola is. . .
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-Peace-
Sources
The Green Children of Woolpit by Ben Johnson: https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Green-Children-of-Woolpit/
The Story of Kapsar Hauser Wiki Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspar_Hauser
Kaspar Houser: Forest Boy: Kaspar Hauser: the original 'Forest Boy' | Germany | The Guardian
Hollow Earth Theory: