LAST THIS YEAR AT CRANBORNE

Not many of us braved the wind and rain to journey to darkest Dorset [actually, when it was all over, the full moon diffused by clouds made it very nearly as light as day – that's the good thing, when there aren't any street lights]. Taprisha told the tale of Ben, who became an Indian Scout for Custer [though actually of Scottish ancestry], whose love for Whispering Wind, the Crow Maiden, stretched across a century. Jill told us the Inuit tale of Kakuarshuk, who had to dig for a child, and eventually found one [thanks to a white fox – and if you want to dig for the tale, you can find it in The Virago Book of Fairy Tales, edited by Angela Carter]. Suzanne told us about Mrs Beppo and Her Bag [and I think you could find a version of it in Brian Patten's The Story Giant, if that, too, hasn't ended up in Mrs B's capacious reticule]. Graham's personal revenge on drama-teachers displayed a dark edge that he often keeps hidden when telling to infants. Finally, Mike and Laura together told the tale of Geat and Maethhild, mentioned in Deor, one of the Anglo-Saxon poems in the Exeter Book, and reconstructed by Kathleen Herbert in Spellcraft, partly on the basis of Harpans Kraft, a Scandinavian ballad, which exists in various versions – and then adapted by Laura and Mike. Now for next year!