read by Anne Maria Clarke audio production David Johnson
The darkest and shortest days of winter are upon us once again - the farthest we ever get from mid-summer and the Solstice at the other end of the year, when the sun appears so early and departs late at night. I have always associated the Piper at the Gates of Dawn with this time of year - when nature is in it's fullest, lushest, scented bloom as the author so evocatively describes - so it somehow seems fitting, as the Winter Solstice heralds the return of the light, that we curl up around the fire, much as our ancient ancestors might have done - and re -call the high summer.
With this in mind and to celebrate this Winter Solstice we decided to record a chapter from Kenneth Grahame's classic Wind in the Willows remembered so fondly from our childhoods - which although not from the collective lore of Wonder Tales as such, draws so deeply and sweetly upon it that, as with all good tales it succeeds in returning us simultaneously to both the innocence of childhood and to the threshold of the mythological and numinous.
It was read to me recently on a course I was attending and I found it utterly enchanting. I read it to my husband on his birthday this year which he adored almost as much as I had adored it being read to me.
This chapter The Piper at the Gates of Dawn has sadly been abridged from many children's versions in spite of the fact that the author himself regarded it as quite central. It has certainly been the inspiration for countless other artists over the years who have paid it rightful homage in their derivative outpourings. We are privileged in its retelling to bow down low to it too.
Solstice Greetings
much love
Anne Maria Clarke
x x x
With this in mind and to celebrate this Winter Solstice we decided to record a chapter from Kenneth Grahame's classic Wind in the Willows remembered so fondly from our childhoods - which although not from the collective lore of Wonder Tales as such, draws so deeply and sweetly upon it that, as with all good tales it succeeds in returning us simultaneously to both the innocence of childhood and to the threshold of the mythological and numinous.
It was read to me recently on a course I was attending and I found it utterly enchanting. I read it to my husband on his birthday this year which he adored almost as much as I had adored it being read to me.
This chapter The Piper at the Gates of Dawn has sadly been abridged from many children's versions in spite of the fact that the author himself regarded it as quite central. It has certainly been the inspiration for countless other artists over the years who have paid it rightful homage in their derivative outpourings. We are privileged in its retelling to bow down low to it too.
Solstice Greetings
much love
Anne Maria Clarke
x x x
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More fairy-stories, myths & legends by
Anne Maria Clarke
http://www.archivepublishing.co.uk
www.annemariaclarke.net
http://www.youtube.com/c/annemariaclarke
More fairy-stories, myths & legends by
Anne Maria Clarke
http://www.archivepublishing.co.uk
www.annemariaclarke.net
