Book Sharing Monday (iv)

Our choice of book this week is a very old copy of Six Tales of Brock The Badger, by Alison Uttley. This book belonged to my Father – given to him in 1942, when he was 5 years old. He remembers that he was in hospital with scarlet fever, and this book was waiting for him when he came home. He went on to read these stories to my sister and me when we were children,, and I can still recall lying in bed listening with rapt attention to these magical tales. I loved reading them to my older children, and I am so looking forward to James being old enough to appreciate them.

It was hard to choose one tale from the six to share, as they all have that wondrous otherworldly quality about them The one I have chosen, however, can still make the hairs on the back of my neck rise up with sheer wonder. It is called Magic Water, and is the story of a very rainy day at the cottage. Sam Pig loves the rain and makes up a little song, inviting the rain to stay. And Rain does stay! He comes to visit and spends the night in the cottage, disappearing into a rainbow the next morning. It is then that Brock the Badger realises in awe, the identity of their guest.

“Thank you for your hospitality,” said he, bowing low. “I’ve not stayed under a roof for many a year, but when I heard that fiddle’s music, and when I saw that cap of raindrops, I knew I should be welcome.”

There are other beautiful details in the story, like Ann Pig knitting with flowering blackthorn twigs, trying and succeeding (with Badger's help) to sew raindrops on to Sam's cap, or the descrition of the music when Rain plays Sam's fiddle. A truly magical book.