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Magic From The Ground
presents children's tales of 12 stories to weave a spell of ancient charms and magic.
95 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 1990
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About the author
Margaret Greaves
78 books5 followersBorn 1914. Margaret Greaves was educated at St. Hugh's College, Oxford, and taught English in schools and at St. Mary's College of Education, Cheltenham. She died in June 1995
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November 9, 2022
Short stories of fairies and witches, potions and charms, and the herbal folklore of England (Somerset, specifically).
Twelve short stories set in the fictional village of Peckington Parva, a warning about not making any of the described potions or charms (many which would be dangerously toxic!!!), and a Glossary of the plants mentioned.
In The Green Child, a poor villager named Comfrey shows kindness to a forlorn fairy son. This story gives a recipe for an ointment 'that gives the sight of fairies', and discusses seed-sowing by auspicious lunar phase.
In Neighbours, there is a shape-changing witch and a potion of aniseed and laurel to help her to change back to her rightful state, as well as a potion to cure whooping cough (herb-twopence, honey, and wine... though I must point out that thanks to modern medicine and a long-established and highly efficacious vaccine, your child need not rely on luck and folk cures to prevent a life-long disability due to bronchiectasis or, you know, death...). If you read the Read this first! bit at the start of this book, hopefully you'll have the wider context set in your mind. ;)
The Master of Bees just made me want to plant juniper around and between the hives, and to make sure the bees get their daily news and gossip, to keep them happy.
Birch, Ash and Elder is a darker story, with a young orphan who either turns to witchcraft or was born a witch (I wasn't clear on that - they are snappy little stories, after all).
Night Riders is another story of the Little People:
The spores of fern gathered at the full moon with the left hand only feature in A Pocketful of Magic, where a greedy miller learns a valuable social lesson.
The Grateful Mermaid has one of the most beautifully described mermaids I can think of, and a lovely little illustration of a topless mermaid, which I prefer to the prudishly covered ones because, c'mon, they're sirens there to tempt sailors into the water after all.
The Loving Cup is a story about a white witch, a poor schoolmaster, a rich farmer, the most beautiful girl in town (named Lizzie), a love potion (made of pink and white cyclamen petals, among other ingredients), and some very important wisdom that all those in love and thinking of marriage really ought to hear and consider. This one ends well for everyone, and it might not have, without said wise advice.
There's a toxic-plant-made-me-trip-badly story in The Mountains of the Moon. This is the only one that made me a little nervous about my offspring reading it (so much so, that I did the unthinkable and made a small note in pencil on the final page warning about the potentially fatal toxicity of Monk's Hood / Wolf's Bane / Aconite to anyone who ingests it!). But in all seriousness - a stranger tricks an old man into thinking that he flew to the mountains of the moon by squeezing a little juice from these HIGHLY toxic plants into his cup of cider. It's also mentioned that witches use the juice on their brooms.
The story of Blackdown Market is set upon Blackdown Hill in Somerset, and is another Midsummer-night-fairies-festival cautionary tale, though a more pleasant one. It features oak leaves and four-leafed clovers.
Finally, Visitors is right back into Changeling-territory, with a man desperately warding off repeated attempts at child-napping by the Fair Folk (spindle, rowan, and iron to the rescue here).
The glossary is concise and not especially helpful. Illustrations would have been nice, but most of all, CLEARER WARNINGS ABOUT THE TOXICITY of these plants, some of which could be fatal poisions, should really have been reiterated, I thought. Maybe they don't want to give specific knowledge of poisonous plants to children, either. Spindle berries are especially toxic, and there was no mention of that anywhere, which irked.
A few typos: seen for see, if for is, in my edition (which was the Dent File Copy, according to a stamp placed awkwardly on the title page) - ISBN 0-460-88088-8, not yet on Goodreads. It's the green cover with the agrimony and magenta goblet, with pink text and herbaceous border (in colour). I'll photograph it and add it to my Goodreads photos. Perhaps a kindly Librarian will add it. Details are: ISBN 0460880888, 1991, Dent Children's Books, 89 numbered pages (95 if you include glossary and a map at the end).
One thing that seems a bit odd about this book is that it was first published in 1990. Now I know that's 'olden days' to many readers now, but to me this book felt more contemporaneous with the 60s or 70s, with its nature lore and juvenile earth-magic themes. Has that mid-century magic that I adore, despite being only about 30 years old.
All in all, a story collection I thoroughly enjoyed and will keep with my other folklore and nature guides - might even use it as a guide for wassailing the apple tree this year, as it has another version of the Wassail Rhyme to that of Feasts And Festivals and more detail and dates. :) Depends on how much cider / Apfelwein / Schörle I've consumed, naturally.
Twelve short stories set in the fictional village of Peckington Parva, a warning about not making any of the described potions or charms (many which would be dangerously toxic!!!), and a Glossary of the plants mentioned.
Contents
Read this first! 1
The Green Child 13
The Apple Tree Man 19
Neighbours 25
The Master of Bees 33
Birch, Ash, and Elder 39
Night Riders 45
The Grateful Mermaid 59
The Loving Cup 65
The Mountains of the Moon 71
Blackdown Market 77
Visitors 85
Glossary of Plants 90
In The Green Child, a poor villager named Comfrey shows kindness to a forlorn fairy son. This story gives a recipe for an ointment 'that gives the sight of fairies', and discusses seed-sowing by auspicious lunar phase.
"Apple trees are special trees, touched with magic. Years ago and years ago everyone knew that. Their owners tended them and talked to them, they asked them to bear fruit and they thanked them for the apple harvest."The Apple Tree Man concerns two brothers - a kind-hearted and generous older brother (Giles), and a greedy, miserly but successful younger brother, Jack, who is the father's favourite and inherits the farm in its entirety. This story depicts Twelfth Night wassailing and sprinkling the trees with cider (also water on St. Swithin's Day, and special treats on Christmas Eve). It also repeats the myth of the animals speaking on midnight of Christmas Eve.
In Neighbours, there is a shape-changing witch and a potion of aniseed and laurel to help her to change back to her rightful state, as well as a potion to cure whooping cough (herb-twopence, honey, and wine... though I must point out that thanks to modern medicine and a long-established and highly efficacious vaccine, your child need not rely on luck and folk cures to prevent a life-long disability due to bronchiectasis or, you know, death...). If you read the Read this first! bit at the start of this book, hopefully you'll have the wider context set in your mind. ;)
The Master of Bees just made me want to plant juniper around and between the hives, and to make sure the bees get their daily news and gossip, to keep them happy.
Birch, Ash and Elder is a darker story, with a young orphan who either turns to witchcraft or was born a witch (I wasn't clear on that - they are snappy little stories, after all).
She did as she promised, and Simon watched her that evening as she made the broom. She had found a straight thin branch for the handle, and plenty of good strong twigs, with thin whippety young shoots to bind them all togehter. But after everyone had gone to bed, Simon waited until all was quiet and then crept down to the kitchen and looked carefully at the new broom.
Besoms are nearly always made of birch, but this was different. Birch twigs had indeed been used for the brush itself. But the handle was of ash wood, which protects witches from drowning, and the twigs were bound together by shoots of willow - most sinister of all trees. People said that on a dark night a willow would uproot itself and follow muttering behind a solitary traveller. Simon's heart turned cold as he looked, for birch, ash, and willow together make up a witch's broom.
Tomorrow would be May Day Eve, the last night of April, that the witches call Walpurgis Night. All the witches for miles around would mount their broomsticks and fly to a great meeting on top of the highest hill. He was sure that Maisie meant to join them. He was very afraid, for he knew now that Maisie's quiet ways were trickery, while in her secret heart she really hated her foster-parents.
...
The moon was full that night. It filled every open space with light and cast long shadows from every bush and tree. Maisie was in the middle of the garden, striding the besom that she held with both hands. Close to her crouched the cat, its back arched and its fur all on end, yowling as it watched. Her eyes glittering in the moonlight, Maisie cried the command that every witch broom must obey.
'Horse and hattock! Away! Away!'
Night Riders is another story of the Little People:
'The Little People may do good or they may do harm. That is why folk often call them the Good People - as you say 'Good dog' to one that makes you nervous. But Kate heeded no warnings about them. She wanted to see them and see them she would.This one does not have a happy end, and could be a little scary for sensitive kids. It's a cautionary tale about sneaking off alone into the night, really.
On Midsummer Eve, when the fairies ride at midnight, she slipped away from the house when her mother thought she was safely in bed. Quiet as a shadow she crept to the end of the little valley where they were said to ride and hid herself behind a hawthorn bush (and that in itself was follish enough, for hawthorns are sacred to fairies).
The spores of fern gathered at the full moon with the left hand only feature in A Pocketful of Magic, where a greedy miller learns a valuable social lesson.
The Grateful Mermaid has one of the most beautifully described mermaids I can think of, and a lovely little illustration of a topless mermaid, which I prefer to the prudishly covered ones because, c'mon, they're sirens there to tempt sailors into the water after all.
Her hair was green-gold, the colour of unripe wheat, and her eyes glinted like sea sparkles under a midday sun. Her skin was smooth and pale. Below her waist she was the shape of a fish, covered in shining scales of red and gold.Angela McAllister - I think that's the right person, as she does seem to do some illustration as well? - did a lovely job of simple, cartoony figures (not exceptional in their quality; she's no Victor Ambrus) - it's richly decorated throughout, with herbaceous borders or garlands on title pages and headers, a village map, and pictures for each story.
The Loving Cup is a story about a white witch, a poor schoolmaster, a rich farmer, the most beautiful girl in town (named Lizzie), a love potion (made of pink and white cyclamen petals, among other ingredients), and some very important wisdom that all those in love and thinking of marriage really ought to hear and consider. This one ends well for everyone, and it might not have, without said wise advice.
There's a toxic-plant-made-me-trip-badly story in The Mountains of the Moon. This is the only one that made me a little nervous about my offspring reading it (so much so, that I did the unthinkable and made a small note in pencil on the final page warning about the potentially fatal toxicity of Monk's Hood / Wolf's Bane / Aconite to anyone who ingests it!). But in all seriousness - a stranger tricks an old man into thinking that he flew to the mountains of the moon by squeezing a little juice from these HIGHLY toxic plants into his cup of cider. It's also mentioned that witches use the juice on their brooms.
The story of Blackdown Market is set upon Blackdown Hill in Somerset, and is another Midsummer-night-fairies-festival cautionary tale, though a more pleasant one. It features oak leaves and four-leafed clovers.
Finally, Visitors is right back into Changeling-territory, with a man desperately warding off repeated attempts at child-napping by the Fair Folk (spindle, rowan, and iron to the rescue here).
The glossary is concise and not especially helpful. Illustrations would have been nice, but most of all, CLEARER WARNINGS ABOUT THE TOXICITY of these plants, some of which could be fatal poisions, should really have been reiterated, I thought. Maybe they don't want to give specific knowledge of poisonous plants to children, either. Spindle berries are especially toxic, and there was no mention of that anywhere, which irked.
A few typos: seen for see, if for is, in my edition (which was the Dent File Copy, according to a stamp placed awkwardly on the title page) - ISBN 0-460-88088-8, not yet on Goodreads. It's the green cover with the agrimony and magenta goblet, with pink text and herbaceous border (in colour). I'll photograph it and add it to my Goodreads photos. Perhaps a kindly Librarian will add it. Details are: ISBN 0460880888, 1991, Dent Children's Books, 89 numbered pages (95 if you include glossary and a map at the end).
One thing that seems a bit odd about this book is that it was first published in 1990. Now I know that's 'olden days' to many readers now, but to me this book felt more contemporaneous with the 60s or 70s, with its nature lore and juvenile earth-magic themes. Has that mid-century magic that I adore, despite being only about 30 years old.
All in all, a story collection I thoroughly enjoyed and will keep with my other folklore and nature guides - might even use it as a guide for wassailing the apple tree this year, as it has another version of the Wassail Rhyme to that of Feasts And Festivals and more detail and dates. :) Depends on how much cider / Apfelwein / Schörle I've consumed, naturally.
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