Friday 4 October 2013

Playing with words


My boys were watching Peppa Pig the other day (not as unusual as it ought to be) and I heard her ask, "What is a mist-story?"

This mispronunciation of the word has stuck with me, I find it thought provoking. Thefreedictionary.com's definition for a mystery is: One that is not fully understood or that baffles or eludes the understanding; an enigma. So what, then, is a mist-story?

The phrase itself makes me think of mists travelling across a landscape allowing us to peek through the veil occasionally to see what lies beneath. It makes me think of legends, hills and Arthurian tales. It reminds me of childhood and the view from my icy bedroom window on a winters day in which Glastonbury Tor would be in the distant background, peeking out above the fog of the land. It reminds me that I grew up rich in the lore of the local landscape with myths that I need to share with my children.

A mist-story, a tale in which some of the events are hidden, leaving you guessing. Secrets, whispers and fantasy. Will o' the wisp. It all circles through my mind with ghostly trails.

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