How Potatoes got their eyes!
( for ages 4 to 10 years old)
For the tellin'
A long time ago back in the long deep dim past of the hard working farmers of the Celtic lands of the far west of Europe, oh about a thousand years ago, the harvesting of potatoes, called spuds in those days, was done in the fall of the year just before the celebration, and big party of the end of the growing season, where there was music, stories, and great merrymaking. These fun loving people would pick up their wooden and bronze farm tools and their leather spud sacks, as there was no burlap cloth in that long ago time, and start the harvest.
The job of getting the spuds off the fields was hard work but with good weather and lots of co-operation in the small villages amongst friends and neighbours, the crop could be out of the fields in no time at all.
Now in those times as you might have guessed, the spuds grew from the plant, and on top of the ground with the leaves of the plant protecting them from the hot rays of the summer, and late summer sun. The dear spuds had no need for eyes or ears or anything as their life was a lazy warm affair of just laying around on the ground all day. All a Celtic farmer had to do was go out and pick-up the happy spuds when they were ripe.
Of course there were small animals and birds of various sorts that preyed on the spud. But with good shepherding by the farmers, and luck, the plant could survive the year and give up a good yield. Unfortunately one year it was said, there was an over-production of spuds. Spuds were growing everywhere, and in great numbers. It was said that the rains were the sweetest ever, and the sun, well sir the sun shone so brightly and warmly that you could feel the joy of it right inside your house. Now we all know how much the darling spuds loved good weather, well they just exploded in the fields. Now the great western European potato hawk, who lived on spuds, would always take a few potatoes every year, but this year there were so many extra spuds that the hawks were able to breed beyond their normal numbers by eating all the extra ones. They had a grand old time
The potato hawk was a large dark colored bird with swift looking wings, big shinning eyes, and a hooked beak that could tear a spud to small bits in seconds. The call of the potato hawk, oh my, a shrill screaming sound. When a Celtic farmer heard that long lonesome sound from high up in the hills, he would shiver like a freezing wind in his heart.
The next year with all the extra hawks around, the poor Celts could do nothing to stop the devastation of the crop, and not only were there not enough potatoes for the people, but the poor potato was nearly driven into extinction.
continued next week!