Stone dreams

Stone dreams

did old gargoyles used to have livelier lives?

As we get set for our cascade of workshops through July and August, we thought it might be fun to start posting some "things to think and do"…ideas you might like to use in creating your own stories, drawing your own pictures, acting out your own plays….

From Medusa's petrifying stare to the White Witch of Narnia's cruel wand to the Weeping Angels from Dr Who, turning people to stone has been a theme in lots of stories.

even if the actual story is quite
straightforward, you could always
tell a different tale!

Sometimes, our Stone People were being punished, were victims of cruel spells or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Here in Derbyshire we have the Nine Ladies who were turned to stone for dancing on a Sunday and became the Nine Ladies Stone Circle on Stanton Moor (but who is Stone Number 10?). Then there is Hulac Warren, the giant who was turned to stone for kidnapping a young princess. His rocky body now sits in the middle of the River Wye between Buxton and Ashford, being slowly eroded by years of rushing water.

Turning things round, there is Berlie Doherty's story of Blue John, the boy born of stone who follows a group of children out of a cave under Mam Tor (Blue John, ISBN-10: 0140568727).

"Stone" might just be the doorway
through to a wonderful world

So why not take a walk with some paper and a pencil and look for a statue in your local park, or a face on a wall, a gargoyle on a  church. Draw a picture? Write a story? Take a photo? Take another photo of yourself being that character? Take a film of you being turned to stone? What happened? Bring your ideas with you if you come to one of our workshops - or just tell your story to a friend!

You could even try the spell that delightfully crazy Saxon magician Catweazle* tried, hoping to release a king from his woeful predicament (or that's what Catweazle thought when he found a room full of statues).

Breathe again and melt the stone

Be thou once more flesh and bone

 

you may not need to go far! This elegant lion
watches a friend's front door

* a delightful TV series from the 1970s (ran for two seasons). Books are out of print now but the series are out on DVD - or maybe on Youtube, or something similar