The story of the Green Children, a boy and girl, coloured green and in green clothing, who appeared mysteriously in the Suffolk village of Woolpit some time in the mid twelfth century has been around for centuries, hovering between folklore, fairy-tale, Forteanism, and most recently ufology. Its first appearance came in two near-contemporary chronicles from the 12th Century, compiled by William of Newburgh, and Ralph of Coggeshall. William was an Augustinian canon at Newburgh Abbey in Yorkshire; Ralph a Cistercian abbot in Essex.
Their two accounts of the events tell a very similar story, but with some important differences, which the author examines in detail. The two versions, in the original Latin and in the author's translation, are given side-by-side as an appendix to the main text of the book.
One of the main differences between the two texts is that in Ralph's version the children immediately they were found were taken to the nearby home of Sir Richard de Calne at Wykes, where the girl lived for some time as a servant. Sir Richard is not mentioned in William de Newburgh's version but he adds the information that the girl later married a man from [Kings] Lynn. Both chroniclers state that the boy, the younger sibling, died not long after the pair were discovered, and before he could be baptised like his sister.
In both cases the stories are only small incidents in much longer historical texts, and Clark suggests that the specific story of the Green Children probably did not circulate in local lore very much after the supposed events themselves. The first specific mention of the story outside the Chronicles was not until it was picked up in the sixteenth century in John Leland's Collectanea, which did not appear in print until 1715. Clark says “Though [the story] was was then taken up by intellectuals speculating about the plurality of worlds, or of worlds within our own, there is no evidence of any popular survival or local circulation”.
Real public interest in the stories did not seem to arise until a combined version of the two stories was published in the 1859 edition of Thomas Keightley's book Fairy Mythology, which brought it to the attention of students in the then-new study of 'folklore'. It is possible that the story “gained prominence among folklorists because of the rarity of early mediaeval evidence of the belief in 'fairies' that they could compare to more recent accounts in oral tradition.”
The tale seems to have re-entered local consciousness through being included in a popular guidebook to East Anglia published in 1875, which itself was the source for a paper published by the Folklore Society in 1893. Gradually it became accepted as on old 'folk tale' and has ben interpreted and reinterpreted by writers, artist, composers – there are two operatic versions - and local historians, often to support a theory, as a moral fable, or just a good yarn. Versions have been particularly aimed at children as a 'fairy story', and it has appeared as a school play, pantomime and comic strip.
But what is actually behind this story? It appears to be firmly rooted in a particular place a a particular time. We see that there are two more-or-less contemporary records of the event which include several checkable historical details. But there are enough differences in the accounts to suggest that one is not a direct copy of the other and the two chroniclers received the details via different routes.
Apart from the curious way they appeared and the odd colour of the children there is nothing in either account which suggests any supernatural origin, and the surviving sibling, the sister, seemed to go on to lead a normal life, disappearing from the record without, for example being denounced as a witch.
When discovered, and eventually being able to understand English, they claimed to have come from the land of St Martin, where everything, including all the people, was green, that it was always twilight and the sun did not rise there. It was a Christian country they claimed, with many churches, St Martin being particularly venerated. They came to Woolpit through caverns by following the sound of bells until they emerged into the unaccustomed daylight. At first they were unfamiliar with the local food. One of the accounts, that of Ralph of Coggeshall, says that they refused to eat anything given them until they saw some freshly cut green beans, which they ate, but only after being shown that the bean was in the pod of the plant, not the stalk.
There is enough in the story to suggest that there may be some historical event behind it, but Clark points out that other elements in the text correspond to motifs which are familiar from fairy and folk tales. Obviously their green skin, but also their strange language, curious clothes, their appearance in a pit, a traditional entrance to a supernatural 'otherworld', and their unfamiliarity with 'human' food. But he concludes that “the presence of traditional motifs or folkloric elements in a story cannot prove that it is fiction.” As he points out, there have actually been wicked stepmothers!
Clark looks at individual elements of the tale, attempting to rationalise them, but this often brings more problems than it solves. Even the question of what is meant by 'green' is something which is discussed in detail, as perception and description of colours has varied over centuries and cultures. However in this case the answer is quite clear, Ralph of Coggeshall described the colour as prassinus color, 'leek-green' - the children were definitely green. Could this have been be the result of a disease? There are a number of possibilities, but none of them seem to fit the description of the children's circumstances.
A number of later commentators have put the sudden discovery and alien nature of the children down to them having strayed from a foreign family - possibly Flemish weavers, who travelled through the region to various markets - which might account for their unknown language and the unfamiliar nature of the children's clothes. Clark considers this a plausible, but not definite possibility. This has become an interpretation that has been very popular with modern re-tellers of the tale who have used it as a parable of immigration and integration.
Inevitably the story has been interpreted as an extraterrestrial encounter, but also as an actual traditional fairy encounter. Despite the original narrative being contained in just five pages of text (in original and translation) the amount of speculation and scholarship that has surrounded it has at times overwhelmed the actual story of two young children in an unfamiliar environment.
This is a extensively researched and referenced study, delving into a huge range of sources and commentaries, from medieval parish records to Fortean Times. It is a fascinating, and despite its deep scholarship, an accessible account of how stories and legends develop and are interpreted and exploited through antiquarian studies and modern re-workings. The only thing that stops me recommending this book to all Forteans is the 'academic' price tag.
In the end it is impossible to say that this is the 'last word' on the Children of Woolpit, for as the author concludes, “And yet we still don't know where the children came from or why they were green”. His italics!
- John Rimmer
