David Francis wrote:
As long as it's not the same as the sleeping Scotsman story... presumably it's aDavid Kilpatrick wrote:maybe the ballads really go back even further to the Bronze Age, and ALL iron is 'metal clear' while those old bronze swords are 'metal broon'...It's an interesting thought, and maybe not so far fetched. Take a look at Alan Garner's essay (he of 'Red Shift', 'The Owl Service' etc) 'Oral history and applied history in East Cheshire' (it's in his collection 'The Voice that Thunders'). Here he proposes the view, based on deductions from place names and topographical evidence in an archetypal 'Sleeping Warrior' story, that the story itself probably has its origins in some of the earliest communities in that part of the world - dated to the Bronze Age around 4,000 years ago. The story is still current in oral tradition around Alderley Edge.
warrior asleep until rewakened to save the world story?
I would have thought that was probably even older still and shares roots with all deist religion, and in turn with the fact of being born and having parents.
I used enjoy Garner's kids books (with small reservations, even as a kid) but haven't seen his other writing and must look.
David
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