Folk tales. Stories told by people and then retold and retold, and told again. Sadly, many of these old stories are teetering on the edge of forgetting, the old aural culture that kept the stories alive itself being on the edge of oblivion. So it’s just as well that story tellers such as Malcolm Green have been collecting these stories and writing them down, that they not be lost entirely.

What’s particularly interesting is how some narratives recur, modified to suit local settings but still telling essentially the same story whether that be in Cornwall or Northumberland. One good example, which Green includes in his book, is the tale of the young man selling a horse who is taken under the hill and sees there sleeping knights and great treasures and, on a table, a sword and a horn. He is told to either draw the sword or sound the horn. If he chooses correctly, then all the treasure shall be his. But should he choose wrongly, then the sleeping knights will wake and he be pursued by them.

What’s interesting is that some versions of the story have the young man drawing the sword while in others he sounds the horn but whichever he chooses, he is always wrong. So, should you find yourself under a hill, surrounded by sleeping knights and glittering treasure, and faced with this choice, then the only way to win seems to be not to play the game at all: I’d suggest pocketing a few diamonds while buying some time and then asking for the way out!

The stories are excellently told; a worthy addition to any library of folk tales.