We started with a quote from C.S. Lewis “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again”. Lizzi , an East Anglian poet, is interviewing Rosie, who has now come to writing fables for adults and children, having in the past written articles and collaborated on a textbook about complementary medicine.

Rosie told us a bit about her books Songs of the Trees and The Lost Key and we also talked about the meaning and purpose of fables and legends. Songs of the Trees is the first fable she has published. It is beautifully illustrated by Paul Jackson, who really understands her intention. She has based it around six lyrical pieces, the story actually came later. Like her later books, it is based on a real place, Staverton Thicks, and refers to local stories and customs. The character of Aelfwynn, retreats into woodland as a place of healing, and subsequently finds herself walking a labyrinth, which has its own metaphor and symbolism. Paul’s illustrations are delightfully detailed and complex and sometimes contain hidden features. They certainly repay looking at closely.

The Lost Keys is Rosie’s second fable. It has strong roots in East Anglia’s Anglo Saxon heritage and is set in the Saints, a strange and interesting area north of Halesworth with many beautiful churches. It is a little darker than the first. The central character goes on a journey and has to solve various riddles in order to find his true self. Rosie has with permission, used translations for two of the riddles from Anglo-Saxon, The Exeter Book, and one translation from Latin from Saint Aldhelm’s Riddles. The Key within the story contains the symbol of the snake, a metaphor for change and transformation. The Green Man features a great deal, a well known local figure in mythology, often appearing on carvings in East Anglian churches. Both fables contain much analogy.

Fables traditionally have a moral to them. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries they were largely written for adults. It was only with the advent of Grimm and Andersen that they became part of children’s reading. Indeed in the 17^th century they were often written by women and dealt with topics such as feminism and women’s rights, in a suitably coded way.

Rosie and Lizzi suggested that fables and folk tales may represent a response to dark times. We may use them as a way to deal with topics that are too hard to hear otherwise. They might be a way to deal with our fears and make sense of difficult things in a safe way. Do we need new fables for today’s issues? Indeed, Andrew Simms has written a book of modern fairy tales dealing with issues like climate change: Knock Twice – 25 modern folk tales for troubling times. They do seem to play a vital part in our understanding of real life as we grow up. To quote Einstein: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales”.

 In wider discussion, we talked about: the use of fairy stories and legends in treating mental illness; the archetypes that occur again and again in legends and fables from very different cultures; Aborigine song lines; the way the Bible deals in fables; cave paintings; and using writing and other creativity, for working with prisoners. Rosie is currently planning a third fable. It will deal with the theme of grief and loss and is set a little further north of the county where villages have disappeared.