Leicestershire Legends Retold by Black Annis

Folklore, Dec, 2005 by Jacqueline Simpson

Leicestershire Legends Retold by Black Annis. Anonymous. Loughborough: Heart of Albion Press, 2004. xiv 99 pp. Illus. 6.95 [pounds sterling] (pbk). ISBN 1-872883-77-X

This anonymous booklet takes an unusual and lively approach to publishing local legends, for the tales are woven into monologues by Black Annis, or conversations between her and her friends. Annis herself, of course, is one of the most famous figures in Leicestershire traditions: a blue-faced, long-clawed hag, witch, or bogey living in a cave in the Dane Hills, first mentioned in 1797. She appears here as a more amiable figure, fond of a good gossip, and with an endless fund of stories.

Within this framework the reader will find the usual topics of local legend: witches, ghosts, saints, Black Dogs, standing stones, wells--and, more unusually, strange lights in the sky. It is clear that the writer is familiar with modern folklore scholarship, since alongside all the humour there are plenty of throwaway remarks debunking foolish theories, past and present. There are no precise references for individual items, but there is a chapter-by-chapter source list, by which one can generally work out what comes from where. The Introduction discusses the main features of Leicestershire dialect; the tales are rendered in a moderate and perfectly comprehensible form of this speech. This reviewer suspects that "Annis" conceals the identity of one or more members of the Leicestershire Dialect Study Group.

The striking illustrations are by Jenny Clarke, a tattoo designer, and are both elegant and sinister.

Jacqueline Simpson, The Folklore Society, UK