Folk tales are an interesting mix of fact and fiction. The older the tale, the more fantastical it tends to become, and the harder it is to separate the truth. I recently learned an old legend about two green children in England, dating back to the 12th century.
During the reign of either King Stephen or King Henry II, a young boy and a girl were found near the edge of the village of Woolpit at harvest time. The children wore clothes made of a material the villagers did not recognize, they spoke a language no one knew, and, most notably, they were green. Despite their starved appearance, they would eat no food except raw green beans.
Sir Richard de Calne took in the children. Their green hue disappeared as they began eating a more normal diet. The boy sadly died of illness not long after being baptized. The girl, however, grew up and integrated into society.
Once she learned sufficient English, the girl was able to tell their story. She claims they came from the land of St. Martin, where it was always twilight and everyone looked like them. From their home, they could see a bright country situated across a great river. One day, she and her brother were tending their father’s flocks when they heard the sound of bells. They became entranced by the sound and then found themselves in the fields of Woolpit.
The account was recorded by two chroniclers of the age, Newburgh and Coggeshall. While the tale seems very fanciful, its inclusion in these works suggests there is likely some truth to it. The suspected identities of the children have changed over the ages, in keeping with popular superstitions. Some thought them to be fairies. Others believed they came from an underground land. More recent explanations would say they were aliens.
A less otherworldly explanation is that they were the children of Flemish immigrants who King Stephen had persecuted. This would account for their strange clothes and language. The green skin could have been due to malnutrition or hypochromic anemia.
Others have argued that the story is purely made up. Perhaps it is an allegorical tale about strangers integrating into society, or maybe it is a case of truth being stranger than fiction. As with all folk tales, the truth of the story matters less than its cultural value and the fun of shared imagination.
Crystal Kelly is a feature writer for Bizarre Bytes with those unusual facts that you only need to know for Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy, or to stump your in-laws.
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