Myths Of Great Britain.

[BIAD]

For purely selfish reasons, the next participant for the British myths comes from a place quite close
to where I live and among the many supernatural entities that haunt the North-East of England.

This one is a Bogle -a term that comes from Scotland and is the name of a Goblin-like creature
that some have the power to shape-shift. In my neck of the woods, one of these grotesque beings
is known as 'The Hedley Kow'.

Before you query that I misspelled the name, I haven't. I suspect one of it's manifestations was
an actual cow and being a legend from way before writing abilities reached the northern environs
of Britain, the tale used a phonetic title.

The legend. (Well, one of them!)

Along the unpaved country lanes of Hedley on the Hill - a village of Northumberland, it is said an
old lady was out collecting sticks for her fire when coming across a favourable twig, she picked
it up and placed it in her basket.

Before long the basket became heavier and heavier until she could no longer carry it and the old woman
dropped it to the ground in exhaustion, spilling the load out across the road.

The stick that had earlier caught her eye then jumped up and began to gambol away in the style of a folk
dance, swaying side to side and after some distance from the old women the lively branch gave out a
hoarse laugh before fading away.

Fine... but no cow.

The Legend. (Take Two)

Ebchester is a small village in County Durham that existed though the times of many reigns of control.
The church in Ebchester is said to be founded by Æbbe of Coldingham, the daughter of Æthelfrith,
the first king of Northumbria. Yet, the hamlet's current name undoubtedly comes from Roman times.

In around 1800, two young men from Ebchester were all dressed up in their best gear and having
arranged to meet their girlfriends down by the river Derwent, they set off into the evening with a
spring in their step and a glint in their eyes.

On reaching the banks of the river, they saw their girlfriends ahead of them walking arm and arm.
However, they were walking away from the two young men. Calling to the girls, the men ran to catch
up, but no matter how much they tried, the girls stayed ahead of them.

Focusing on their goal, the men suddenly found themselves knee deep in slimy mud and as they
struggled, the girls disappeared in a wisp of smoke and the air was filled with booming laughter.

Scrambling out of the mire, the men realised that they had been tricked by the Kow and the frightened
pair ran for home. Stumbling through the darkness, they could hear the Kow pursuing them, laughing
and taunting them all the way.

One of the men stumbled into the river Derwent between Ebchester and Hamsterley Hall and in climbing
out, collided with his friend who was tumbling head over heels down the bank towards the water.
In the gloom, the terrified pair scrambled over each other believing the Kow was on top of them.
Realising what had happened they both got up, found their footing and ran to the safety of home.

The Legend. (Family Friendly!).

A recent tale -or at least spoken of in the last century, was offered that catered more for children than
just a general myth to warn everyone. This involved the old lady again.

Our familiar old woman was once again walking the road that led to Hedley on the Hill when presumably
ignoring any kindling for her fire, her eyes alighted on a pot of gold sitting in the middle of the road.
Looking around and seeing no one near she decided to take it home.

Arriving back at her cottage -which we'll assume had no fire in its hearth, she noticed that the gold had
turned into silver. Her original intentions were to hand the gold over to the local constabulary in case it
was stolen, but now confused by her precious find, she decided to keep it!

Looking at the pot of silver, she sees the metal transform into iron and being ever the optimist, sighs and
believes the block of iron in the pot will be -at least, easier to sell at the market.

With a grunt of resignation, the old woman reaches into the pot and plucking out the iron, the chunk of heavy
metal turns into a stone which begins to wriggle in her hand. In fright, she drops it to the floor and the rock
dances across her floor and laughs as it rolls out of the cottage.

The tale ends with the old women not becoming upset and instead, chuckles to herself thinking how lucky
it was for to finally have met the Kow in person.

I suppose the moral of the tale is either always look on the bright side of life or stay off the 'shrooms'.
.................................................

But the Hedley Kow has some redeemable features, it never encroached on anyone in mourning or dealing
with great sadness. During births, it sometimes showed itself in one form or another, usually frightening the
horse of the soon-to-be father racing for the midwife.

Occasionally, the Kow would also take delight in knocking on the door of the prospective parents and when
the door was opened, the mocking sprite would disappear.

The little sod also liked to mimic voices, appearing at windows of the servant girls in the manor houses of the
area pretending to be their lovers or shouting down the hallways in their masters voices.

And finally, The shape-shifting trickster would sometimes appear as a dairy cow and would continuously avoid
the milkmaids attempt to catch it before disappearing with its familiar laugh.

So maybe that's how it got its name!