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16 OCT 2019

The truth about fairies

And breath fresh enough for an emperor

Anton continues his look at dolmens by searching the annals of history for local folktales about them. What he discovers is the dark truth about fairies. I subject him to another spice - this one fit for the emperor of China!

Full show notes coming soon.

Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated so may contain errors.

Hello, this is one of our old episodes where are sound quality isn't quite so good, every bit amateur.

Yeah, now we're pros and we've spoken about a lot more things and ohh sound quality is a lot better as you can hear currently.

Yes, so enjoy the show. Anyway, thank.

You for show.

Welcome to the curiosity of a child.

This week we visit the Spice Isles.

And on Anton investigate, I look at local folklore.

And we both tell a dramatic Storey were now on Twitter at Q HR Pot. Hopefully our website will be coming soon to thank you for listening to our second show. Now if you listen to the first one, you would have noticed that I've recovered from the brain surgery that we performed live on air. So you did a good job actually there.

Yeah, considering that we didn't have the.

Actual thing, we just had a kids book Sue. Face it off.

Amazing, we can learn from books, yeah.

And now time for another spice.

Let's see what Antar makes of this one.

Got a little party with the spice and and and Everton. He looks a little bit apprehensive but also quite eager to get going so I've covered up with some foils. If you take the top off.

Ohh I recognise that.

Give a good smile.

And I think that's from Mummy's Curry's.

Was it spikes quite strong?

How to describe it?

Right now you can actually.

Pick one up and stick in your mouth.

Go back and see.

Oh my God.

Thus.

Strong, definitely. From yes, definitely. One of the sizes from hang.

That's stronger than I was expecting.

Right, we have a little pause here.

Okay, we're back antennas and both of us actually just remastered, sassy.

Very strong, isn't it?

Doing grinds tomorrow. She got person water here.

He's one of these before.

You've actually used at school Cos we're learning about shooters and we're doing through the medicines. They brought my own herbs in and my own personal water, and I was grinding it up and then it made it very dusty. So I'm just gonna pull.

Looking forward to using this honey. Yeah again, where are you going to do that? Do you know what this place is called? No, it's clothes clothes.

Not in the shop the other day as.

Richly not listening, yeah.

Say once you're grinding these up and King of the smelly, so tell you about them. Now let's see the aromatic flower buds of an Evergreen tree. Native to the Maluku items, which in Indonesia, which is also known as the spice items on display that the oldest train running there might be 400 years old.

Really smell it. Now that is amazing. 400 years old? Yeah, that's older than my granny. Hey just.

And do you think they look a little bit like rusty nails?

Yes, I'd say, and that's actually better. Get their name from please. The Latin word for nail is clavus.

Drunk because he wet leaves come from that. Now, what's really cool nappies is there actually a member of the mighty Sia or Myrtle family?

Nursery yeah yeah Mercer.

Yeah, I was not expecting that.

So here's a photo I.

Sort of ****** green at the end and I lovely ready pink.

Yes, these are the buds. I think it's going to be for the Flowers about seeing him drop.

Okay, so the bonds that they come for change colour becoming bright red when they are ready to harvest them are picked and they left to dry in the sun. Now the clothes they used in Asian, African, near and Middle Eastern cuisine. I mean, you have probably seen them use before is Christmas oranges.

Ohh there cool cool patterns there.

And there's lots of.

What they done with them there?

So they I think they put them into the orange is stuck them into the orange and maze like some patterns, and they're also carved it.

Always a bit like pumpkins.

Yes, its traditional Easter Christmas decorations there actually.

I seen those and you sometimes you can actually get them as little things to hang up and they smell nice at Christmas. Yeah, cause with the pine cones and and the smell of that it's nice.

Like traditional ***** yeah, yeah. He's never been very exotic. So can I smell your breath? Please see I deliberately not Skeena teeth this morning. Didn't think this may be bad parenting, but actually it's for good. Reason is in the 3rd century.

BCE, anyone who wanted to talk to the Hand Dynasty Chinese emperors had to two claves and freshen their breath first, so you can now get chat to a Chinese emperor.

I wonder if people they thought it was maybe like a spice or Wonderland's cause they don't know where it's wrong and I thought it's like the magic spice so it can I try the ground up.

So yeah, sure, okay.

You don't, good job brining this up.

Your mouth actually feels like after you brush your teeth, doesn't it also have your mouthwash?

Haha yes, well that's just kind of used traditionally. As for dental hygiene.

We told that plays retrained by the 1st century. See by the natural philosopher and military commander Pliny the Elder. This was before he died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, then papers berries.

Yeah, yeah, we learned about at school as well delivery.

Stage very famous.

Then in the 1700s, the Dutch East India Company tried to control the slave market and there do you sailing ships to go around the southern coast of Africa so they could bypass the silk right? So that way they could move it fast and didn't have to rely on Arab traders or people carrying across. They tried to avoid the silk trade because the closure say viable so valuable, in fact, that sometimes sailors you try and steal a sackful of him because even a single sax worth is viable enough meaning would never have to work again. A sack for a big soccer imagine.

Yeah, so you can see why Sai might try a ship.

So obviously other people wouldn't want this Dutch monopolising something say viable, so in 1770 a Frenchman named Pierre Hoover stole some seeds, but she took to Mauritius so they could grow them out. It's the right kind of climate now. Apparently these seeds were actually from the 400 year old tree that I mentioned earlier.

As well as being used in cooking spice of many other uses, they contain a chemical called you general which gives it its fragrance and was also said to repel answer mosquitoes.

I need some of the history I guess or Franz.

Yeah, it's also used as an antiseptic and anaesthetic for fish fish fish. You can put it in the water.

And then it was also used in dentistry and and the think and tell lies like we said, it tastes a bit like mouthwash.

You sound awful, but you can get some flavours coming through. However, if you have too much, the chemical can be toxic, can make you sick.

You haven't got that much.

Now there was a remarkable lady called Elizabeth Blackwell and she was an 18th century English position and she had this to say that lives in her book Curious Herbal.

The trunk of the tree greys about the bigness of a man's waist. Billy's resemble those of you. Pay in shape, size and colour. The flower is red and the seed of reddish Brown clothes. Rs team at healing, drying cordial self. Alec and stir Matic.

In love, this is a good voice.

Being good to stop vomiting. Strengthening a weak stomach expel wind.

You get that vent.

Eating a malignant distemper the disturbed oil is said to cure the toothache. Bitter flying being dipped in it and put into the hollow tooth and now into the present day. The grain in many places these days where the climate suitable such as Zanzibar. Yeah, they harvested between September and November, and they're actually still picked by hand and the farmers have to climb the trees and reach out to the graffiti here.

So we're in the perfect harvest.

Season right now yeah.

Yeah, we're right in the middle of army. Actually speaking, there's probably people climbing up trees right now.

Yeah, getting forward this is actually a family. Kind of everyone has to help out in even the young children now smudge, you collect the food and flavours from the ground.

Offer chimney no yeah by intentive.

Believes in the pubs are then separated and both are kept. The leaves can be crossed in used for perfumes or in dentistry. Perhaps the Chinese emperor was right in his idea about chewing claves. The clothes are then left to dry outside for three days and their aim of fills the air. They are then collected, cleaned and checked for quality. Now today at 90 kg sack is worth about 500 pounds, so not exactly enough to retire on, but they are exported around the world and many actually go back to Indonesia where they came from originally.

Now that's the history of claves. I've no idea they are flower buds and who first thought to try kicking with him.

I'm just going to go back to my house and put this that I have no idea what it is and cook it and then he said maybe.

Anton investigates fairies. So our school we had a project on Guernsey folklore. We chose to do fairies and then we told a Storey and explained what some of the fairies Dayton who they were.

So different types of fairies and.

Fairies and then at the end you got just a list of various and what to do with them.

The storage of the fairies may actually surprise some of you be there, often seen as sort of friendly and maybe slightly playful creatures, aren't they? But that's not always the case, is it? I've gotta find out as we go into this, yeah?

So types of fairy vigour brownies are kind, helpful fairies who lurk around the house doing effectively their chores.

No sounds helpful. Could do with one of those.

Leprecorns are mischievous and cheeky, but they got a heart as well as a pot of gold, and gnomes are just generally nice written. There aren't evil knows as well so.

Let's see what's next.

Type Safari the bad. So first one is Hob Goblins. They are very cheeky criminal like things and then the complete opposite of brownies. Trying to mess everything up, throwing everything.

Yeah, I'm stealing things.

Yeah.

Now redcaps, they are very scary.

Horrible and they are murderous, generally horrible.

Hey, what do you have next? They've had the good, the bad and the.

Ugly, so types of fairy the ugly.

Pixies says this is a cute little things.

You may think that, but they're not, as will tell you in this Storey the Pixie invasion of guns. So let's go into that now.

One day a beautiful maiden finds the King of Pixies under a hedge who falls in love with her.

The King takes her to Fairyland on his boat.

When the other fairies see her beauty, they are jealous and will once again see why for themselves. Say they plan in an invasion Dun Dun Dun.

A farmer spots horde of Pixie ships approaching Vazon Bay. He speedily warns the other girls you into reinforcement the defences.

So the guys here and on our warns of the ferry attack, the Pixies demanded the guns men to hand over their wives and bring them to Lacrue FA also known as the Fairy Cave.

So what's that?

Then okay, so the fairy Cave is a dolmen, and it's meant to be the entrance to the Fairy World tour fairy dance.

The men refused and armed themselves. This resulted in massive battle en route through the battle lasted all day and it was very violent. Brutal battle against you and were no match for the superior strength of the Pixies and lost the violent battle. The blood of men run down the Hill of Rouge Rue and that's how the road got its name. Okay, so that was the end of the Storey and I hope he likes it.

Beware of the fairies.

Similar storeys are told all over the world and fairies go by very different names, but they all seem to be the same creatures. Does this mean there real up to you?

So these are some of the names. These are just three of my favourites, so one of them is the Russian one. Bhangi Nick.

Another ones, Devils Dandy dogs, and then my last one is finally the swag.

So what do we do then? If there's these ferries? I mean, I'm worried they're going to come back and invade us again.

So if we encounter ferries, this is the ferry defence.

If you do believe in fairies, you have to stay safe and this is how never accept food from from a ferry. Why not? But it could speak magical cost.

Hang a horseshoe on your door. Keep them happy with gifts of fruit juice in Aegon caps.

Since then, anything else we can do you.

Complete Marsh marigolds outside your door.

Okay, don't have a good days.

We don't have any of those, no O.

Windows in a minute Okay?

And now you know the truth about fairies and how you should handle them.

We're on site again, so where are we aren't on there. In Nick's room FA, what does that mean?

It's means fairy Cave in Guernsey front.

Yeah, so this is the place where the fairies hit out here whilst waiting for the label. Going to man to bring their all their women fake, the fairies could take them away. How many fairies he could fit in here?

Yeah, it says you walk around. Sometimes you see a little fleeting glimpse or something flying and thinks that a fairy is that month. I don't know, so we're going to try and catch one, aren't we, yeah.

We're just walking around the outside of the fairy cave. Now see if you can find anything.

Does very dull.

Oh yeah, how old would you say that is?

575 centimetres

that's pretty cool, good spot.

Hey, there's not too windy can hear us but we just discovered.

We have just discovered.

If you got a photo of them having better in this show nights, and I don't know it's definitely not human.

Well, they were really close together so round is.

Quite small hopping, maybe like some sort of MP4 on type.

Flip hello.

What could it be?

They have just very suddenly stopped. Now this is very, very strange.

Not just disappeared as he recorded at last on, and they've actually vanished.

Baby, let's just be certain discrete before our very eyes.

Two days when it was.

We are now hunting fairies. The deep inside the fairy cave.

Can you see anything?

Just the big hairy spiders.

Keep looking around.

She saw a lot of flushing in here before.

Saswati corpse

so gone deeper into.

Door.

She's like a door here.

Into Fairyhouse that way through think it could be.

But is shaped like a door handle thing.

Baby.

Okay.

Look up there.

Can you see that?

Also, maybe it's that stings that sort of got.

Actually, yeah, that could be the way, and you could imagine that opening up actually they could get hold of that there's.

Not underneath there is nothing underneath it. You can try open it.

Nice difficult. Maybe you need to say some incantation or something.

To do that?

Did some sort of magic touch.

There's another Storey as well.

Thus.

Nass and the nurse.

Yet so I'm Mr. Poop which is gone again, see what ferry then they cool they.

Ask her to come into here to tender Charles. He was sick and then one time the charge was sick into her eyes and then then they could sit. Then she could actually see the books, but most people can't that, but there's actually two versions.

For the Storey, but that they sold the same.

And yeah, and then one then a few weeks later she saw the puke in the shops just helping himself to.

With the groceries like shoplifting and stealing, yeah.

Yeah, and then the nurse says.

How dare you do that? And then I can book said can you see me? And then and now she's like yes with my eyes and then the peak was like where you shall know more in this spot in her eyes and she was blind.

Well, probably blind. See that's the thing with them. They ask for help. Sometimes they we have a good relationship with them and other times the storage than being mischievous or naughty. And yeah, it's an odd relationship we have with them.

Come back Anton. Don't leave me there, come back.

Anton's runaway.

But fear not in the history of this place.

And what the fairies did?

To the Guernsey fake previously, I'm still deep within The Cave, scouring the rules for any sign of movement.

What was that? I think about something.

I'm gonna run this something in hell.