Episode 5 – The Faerie Thorn

Welcome to the next episode of Dragonfly Tales, a story podcast for children of all ages.
 
 This episode is a tale from Northern Ireland about the mystical and magical Faerie Thorn tree.  I first heard the wonderful Liz Weir MBE tell a version of this at the Glens of Antrim Story Festival.

Here is an extract from Jane Talbot’s wonderfully dark collection of fairy tales, The Faerie Thorn:

‘Now, if you don’t know about faerie thorns, you should. The Big People call these trees hawthorns, and in May you can see them scattering snow-blossoms in every direction. The Big People know that the Little People live in the roots of these trees, so the wisest Big People make sure that the faerie thorns are left well alone.   

Here are the instructions for making Leo’s fairy tree:

You will need:

·        A big sheet of blank paper  and a pencil

·        Some prittstick or gloopy glue

·        Some twigs and branches

·        Lots of different sized leaves

·        Some little gems or shiny buttons

·        And some glitter

First, draw an outline of a tree in winter on your paper.  Try to make your branches nice and big and do lots of them.

Next, using your glue, stick your twigs down over your outline so you have a winter tree.

Next turn your tree into a summer tree by sticking on your leaves.  The more leaves you add the fuller your tree will look.

You can also add little flowers to your tree too – to make it more spring like.

Finally, to make it a fairy tree, stick some gems or buttons onto your tree and then shake over some glitter.         And now you have a magical fairy tree!

You can find photos of Leo's tree and the REAL Faerie Thorn in our Dragonfly Tales Podcast Group.

If you would like a shout out, the best thing to do is join the Dragonfly Tales story chat on Facebook.  However, if you don't use Facebook, you can email us at [email protected] and we will try our best to give you a shout out.

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Thanks for listening!
 
Theme Music by Leo Grazebrook on GarageBand
Storytelling and songs by Dragonfly Tales
Fiddle Music by Slainte on Free Music Archive
Produced by Andy Grazebrook
Art by Light Creative
Sound effects by Zapsplat