Maldwyn the Mouse is a mischievous mouse who has fun and adventures while learning about the world around him. His human has yet to work out how to add a new section to this website which is why this story is on the Blog strand!
Saints Alive!
“Bleurgh!”
Peter laughed as Maldwyn spluttered his way out of the bucket of water. He did not like his friend’s idea of lunch at all.
“Those apples are devilishly difficult to get hold of.”
“Well, you are somewhat small, and with such a tiny mouth! Let me have a go next.”
Peter leant over the bucket and opened his mouth wide to try his turn at apple bobbing. It was not easy. His mouth was quite big, yet it was hard to bite into the apples. They kept bobbing about in the water. Maldwyn laughed as he watched his friend unsuccessfully trying to eat an apple too. He was feeling happier since his friend explained that trying to grab an apple without using your hands was a game, not a new way of eating lunch. Lunch, Peter had reassured him, was to be a homemade pastie with some salad from his garden. And apple under a crumble to follow.
“This is much more fun than ‘trick or treating’!” exclaimed Maldwyn, as he had another go at trying to grab an apple with his mouth. He thought how scary this time of year was with people dressed as skeletons, demanding sweets or else…he remembered one year opening his door to find the remains of an egg running down it.
“It is a strange time of year,” replied Peter. “Although trick or treating is an ancient tradition, going back many more years than I thought. I thought it was a modern American thing, but it seems to have been around in the Middle Ages in Europe when people went from door to door asking for gifts.”
“Gifts? Why? Can we do that?”
Peter gently explained that the gifts – often of food – were given to people in exchange for prayers for relatives no longer living. He frowned as he struggled to explain this to his eager young friend as he did not really know why the rich people could not pray for their relatives themselves for nothing.
“Anyway,” continued Peter, “over the years the custom has blurred into a festival and celebration for all the saints with a holiday on 1st November. On the following day, 2nd November, there are church services to remember all souls – All Souls’ Day – for all dead people. Samhain…”
“I know Sam!” exclaimed Maldwyn, excitedly.
“Not Sam!” corrected Peter. “Samhain. This was an ancient Celtic festival, long before the days of Christianity, much more than a couple of thousand years’ ago, to celebrate the end of harvest time. It is a bit like Candlemas, a halfway marker, this time between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. Light is again involved too, when people took home a bit of a communal bonfire with which to light their own fires.”
“…but today is the last day of October…”
“Yes…Halloween or All Hallows Eve!” explained Peter, which left Maldwyn none the wiser. These festivals were all very confusing with bits from the past, the very-long-ago-past and everything inbetween.
“In times gone by it was a frightening time when there was a blurring between the present world and the past, when dead and alive could mingle,” Peter added, watching Maldwyn shudder involuntarily.
After enjoying the pasties, with freshly gathered lettuce and tomatoes from Peter’s garden, they appreciated eating apple in a crumble – a much easier and nicer way thought Maldwyn than trying to eat them whole in water. Afterwards, the two friends went for a walk in the late afternoon sunshine, collecting all sorts of autumnal bits and bobs to decorate their home before getting ready for anyone knocking on their door.
“Look at those tasty blackberries! Let’s pick them.”
Peter looked and shook his head, saying something about the Devil being in them now much to Maldwyn’s surprise. Really, his friend had the most unusual ideas sometimes, as he sadly left the fruit of the hedgerow alone. As the sunlight began to fade, they hastened home, shuffling through the crispy autumn leaves. At home, Peter put out the sweets he had bought into a box, while Maldwyn planned his costume so that the trick or treaters would also have a surprise fright when the door opened to them. How could a tiny mouse frighten a group of excited children? Well, wait and see what Maldwyn has made.
Later that evening, during All Hallow’s Eve, loud screams could be heard from outside followed by lots of knocking. Maldwyn cowered by the fire, glad that his friend, Lucy, had joined him and Peter for this scariest of evenings. Lucy looked at Maldwyn, “Let’s give them a fright before Peter gives them a treat, shall we?”
Tonight she was dressed as a witch wielding a large broom, which meant whoever was knocking at their door was guaranteed both a trick and a treat!
Halloween is a really strange time. That old festival of Samhain lingers on in the modern world under the guise of fun and frights. Some people are very scared by strangers knocking on their door. Some people are keen to scare those knocking on doors. Others love the opportunity to see people, especially children, and to give them sweets. Or to scare the trick or treaters even more than they try to scare others. Poor Maldwyn – he was one of the fearful, but he dutifully followed Lucy to the door. She opened the door to a group of trick or treaters who were dressed in all manner of costumes, witches, ghosts, skeletons, and, yes, they also had a shock, not only by the sight of a witch wielding a large broom, but by a fierce looking Rat King.
After their initial shock, and horror, at the sight of Maldwyn’s scary costume, the crowd of trick or treaters began to laugh at having the tables turned on them and appreciatively dived into the box of sweets that Peter had prepared. Everyone had had the time, or rather fright, of their lives with new friends being made.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
*****
