They don't make myths like they used to

I have lived here for about half my life, and I have been grateful to call it home.  I did not grow up here, though.  In the little town where I grew up, I know the names of all the streets, because children walked down them.  Here, I only know the names of streets where there are things to be done, errands to run, bread to buy, friends to visit.  Most of the streets, though, are either there for me to drive down on my way to somewhere else, or they don’t show up on my radar at all.  I still have in my memory a fine collection of legends and tales from the district of my childhood, because the older generations loved telling them, and I was at loose end often enough to enjoy listening.  Here, I have worked and raised a family.  It has been great, but I have not yet had opportunities to catch more than odd snippets of local folklore.  Perhaps that is 21^st century life.  Even when long settled, we can still be rootless.

I went to buy a book on local folklore.  I had to try three different places before I found one, and I am proud to say I kept looking, even though it was raining.  That is what I call being proactive.  Now, an armchair and a cup of tea will be excellent aids to study…

Later

We had much better stories where I used to live.  We had a drowned girl, complete with green slimy hair hiding in a mill pond, we had a witch with a ghostly pig, and there was Dick Turpin getting up to mischief.  Our town had a legend in every field.  I am not very impressed with these at all.  Maybe we like these stories more when we are young, or maybe they are more fun heard than read.  At any rate, I read the whole book, and there was only one good one – the devil, it seems, regularly chases people around the Dark Peak.  I must keep my eyes open next time we are there. 

Not one story was relevant to my walk.  Reading the book has not helped me at all.  Looking for the book helped me, though, because now I have found the Local Studies section of the main library.  I have also found plenty of internet sites full of information about myths and legends.  Some of them scholarly, some simple and some perhaps a little extreme.  I have always felt fairly certain, as I believe most people would be, that dragons do not exist.  Now I know some people would dispute that.  Fantastic.  Finding a person who believes in dragons is just as exciting as finding a dragon.

Onwards, ever onwards