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Ciapek
Is a wholly true story a folk tale? Well, no, not according to most definitions – but what if that story involves a folk hero? And what if that folk hero isn’t human, and is personified in literary accounts, requiring extrapolation akin to that common in legends? Ciapek was a small stray dog found near…
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Old Mother Nightshade
Old Mother Nightshade was a witch, feared by all apart from the young and foolish John Culpepper, who sought her counsel after being rejected by a potential lover. She gives him a box of sweetmeats to present to the girl, and tells him to return in three days’ time…
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The Lad who Went Looking for Fools
This story tells of a young man called Jack, due to marry a young woman called Polly. One day, he finds mother, father and daughter in tears: there is a well in the garden, and the three are terrified that, should Jack and Polly have a child, it will fall in and drown…
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The Lindsey Leopard
Sightings of the Lindsey Leopard have mainly been in the north, hence the name. Big cat sightings (or imagined sightings) are common in other places too, of course, but there does appear to be credence to some of these sightings, which began in the 1990s…
Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project 