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Merlin The Green Man

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“The Green Man”
A folk tale by Imogen McCarthy, September 2013
(Inspired by Tove Jansson’s novel “the summer book”)

Once upon a time there was a boy called Merlin, and he loved to wear green; he wore a green cape and a green hat.

Everyone in the village called him “The Green Man”, and made fun of his funny clothes.

Merlin didn’t mind, he would walk out of the village and into the woods; sit in the trees, talk to the birds and sing to himself. He was happy and content in his world of green.

Time passed, and he grew to love the woods more than the people in the village; the trees understood him and the plants accepted him in his green cape, and his green hat. He understood the language of nature and felt at home, so he built himself a tree-house and this is where he lived.

He sang songs to the birds and made little nests;
“Wind send me a feather
For a little bird’s nest.
Shake me down some twigs,
And I’ll do the rest!
Weaving and winding,
Around and around,
Making a circle of moss,
Twigs and tuft.
A feather here,
A feather there,
Little bird your nest is ready,
Come stay now it’s spring!”

One day, some boys from the village came into the woods, they wandered right into the middle of the trees, where Merlin lived. The boys did not look up so high, and did not know about Merlin’s house.

They began to kick and fight each other, as boys do, and then they began to kick the trees, and pull at the grass. Merlin watched them from his tree-house quietly.

One boy said, “these flowers are silly”, and began to stamp and stomp them flat. Another boy said, “who needs trees!” and began to rip at all the leaves he could reach.

This made Merlin sad, the woods were his garden and his home. Then he felt something new; he felt angry! As if the boys were trampling his own feet and pulling at his own hair. He decided to protect the woods and plants and flowers, and so shouted down in a loud voice “Stop! You are hurting me!”

The boys all stopped and looked around, they could not see who had shouted at them.

One boy looked at the ground with the trampled flowers and thought it must have been they who had called out in pain. Another boy looked at the handful of leaves he had just ripped off a branch and dropped them quickly, thinking that they had shouted out.

They became quite pale and ran away in fright, back to the village and told all the people; “the trees can speak and shout! Don’t go into the woods.”

The wise grandmother said; “what happened to make the trees shout out?”

And the boys looked down at their boots and said nothing.

“I see”, said the wise grandmother… and she said nothing else.

The next day, the wise grandmother went for a walk. She walked deep into the woods. She was looking for someone.

Right in the heart of the woods she walked, looking through the trees, and saw Merlin, tending to the moss, his tree-house nearby.

“Hello” she called to him, “you must be Merlin.”

“Yes grandmother”, he called back, “I am he.”

“I cannot see you well, all dressed in green, you look so much at home in the trees!” She said with a laugh. “Are you happy?” She asked.

“I am happy when the boys don’t come and break my trees and trample my flowers.” Said Merlin. “Do you know grandmother, moss is very old; step on it once, and it will spring back in the next rain storm; step on it twice and it might recover in time, but step on it three times and it is gone forever…”

“That is wisdom”, said grandmother, thoughtfully. “Do you know how to tend to the plants, garden the herbs and grow seeds in the earth?” She asked.

“I do”, Merlin told her; and he sang her a song;

“There is green in the world,
The grass under foot,
The leaves on the trees,
And the moss on the rock.
The flowers each one,
Are starting to bloom,
Their beautiful petals
Cover the ground!”

This song pleased grandmother very much, and she said; “Dear Merlin, you must become the guardian of the woods”, she said; “will you do this task?”

“Yes I will!” called Merlin with joy, for he could think of nothing better he would like to do.

“Very well”, said the wise grandmother.

She returned to the village and called a meeting; she told them all of a great guardian of the woods who would protect the plants and trees from harm; who would sing to the seeds and help the flowers grow.

“You will respect his home” she told them all sternly; “each leaf and bud is special to him, and not to be picked unless for food, and after you have asked permission from the tree first; remember, the guardian is watching and will make sure you do no harm.”

The villagers knew how wise the grandmother was, and so did not question her.

And so Merlin lived in peace, and still lives there to this day; although many people call him by a different name; they call him The Green Man, and say he wears a cape of green leaves and a hat of green moss, and his home is in the oldest tree in the heart of the woods… and sometimes, if you are quiet and still, you can hear him singing a song or playing his wooden flute in the trees.

The End…

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