The Snake Whistle

Jackanory stories

by Margaret Greaves, Gareth Floyd (Illustrator)

As told in Jackanory by Christopher Blake.
Magnus found the snake whistle -- an old carved piece of horn -- on the long barrow of Belas Knap. It had the power to make his wishes come true, but its magic had evil aspects as well.

96 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1980

About the author

Born 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

Reviews

[Capn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magnus was alone when he found it. Idly scrabbling in the grass on the long barrow of Belas Knap he came upon a piece of horn. It was a strange object, carved roughly like the head of a snake - primitive, somehow indefinitely old, and yet strangely alive. He could almost have sworn that it moved in his hand as he watched Pen and Barney searching for a flint arrow head down below. "I wish Barney could find one," he said to himself.
Barney's joyful yell of discovery shattered the peace of the afternoon. It was a good flint, almost perfect, yet Magnus seemed unable to join in his small brother's delight. He felt a strange unease, a sense of foreboding. Was his find connected with Barney's good luck?
It was. Soon Magnus discovered that the ancient relic gave him power over animals, people, even the elements themselves. Yet, as the snake whistle granted Magnus all of his wishes, who was really the master, and who the servant?
Margaret Greaves's story is full of the strange magic which haunts ancient places, and she combines fantasy and reality in a manner which wholly convinces.

Gosh, almost a 5 star for me - packs quite a punch in 91, heavily-illustrated pages (Gareth Floyd is illustrator). After a brief but unwise foray into adolescent realistic fiction, I'm back where I want to be - Folk Horror Junior. Long barrows, flint arrowheads, stag-horned shadows and ghostly warriors, and latent, ancient evil. Marvellous stuff.

Working against this is the very dated feel of the story and illustrations (bell-bottoms, digital watches an object of envy). It's set in Gloucestershire, in the 'Coltswolds' (I can't honestly decide if that's a typo or a deliberate choice - leaning towards typo, because Gloucestershire and the Severn estuary are mentioned, and shared is once spelled 'shahared', among other misprints. It's also too short: "As told in Jackanory by Christopher Blake", tells you that if the page count didn't.

Still, some of the black and white sketches are surprisingly scary, and the climax itself is exactly the sort I'd hope for (remember 'the Sleer' in Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book? That sort of barrow-mound, druidic horror. Lovely stuff). Favourite line: I am ambition and the dust that it ends in.

Worth it if it's cheap, or you want a short read-aloud in the classroom (I'd skip the illustrations, except maybe the really pithy ones). What's the price of power? Who grants power (and why)? One of those 'be careful what you wish for' stories, but much more fun than most, I thought. A little depressing regarding the neglected elderly and their horror of nursing homes, though. Didn't love that bit.