Season 3 Episode 3: A Poultry Offer - Chickens in Folklore

Merry Met virtual traveller and welcome to Stories From Lore. A monthly podcast that invites you to ‘Rewild Yourself Through Story,‘ by exploring nature, folklore and the stories it inspires. My name is Dawn Nelson and I am an author and professional storyteller.

For episode 3 of Season 3 there was a tie between ‘The Dreadful Wind & Rain' and ‘A Poultry Offer’ and so I made the executive decision to go with ‘A Poultry Offer’. It may amuse listeners to know though that I recorded the outdoor chat with the chickens during the tail end of Storm Awen so in a way the two themes have ended up combined in this episode. 

For this episode I'm introducing you to my three pom poms of peril, also known as bantam chickens, singing an amusing ballad about a fox out hunting for his dinner,  talking about the folklore of geese, turkeys and chickens, and telling the epic story of Chanticleer & Partlet, two dark and murderous chickens.

A Little Note - On occasion there are dark folkloric characters explored in this podcast and so, as always,  I would recommend that you should listen through first before listening with younger members of your household.

To 'Rewild Yourself Through Story', join me on patreon for digital zines, a book club, audio stories, previews, earlier extended versions of this podcast and online workshop.

www.patreon.com/ddstoryteller

For more stories woven with folklore and the old ways you can find me via the following channels:

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References

Books

Barber, Richard, (1993) Bestiary MS Bodley 764, Boydell Press. 

Dent, Susie (2018) Brewers Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (29th Edition), Brewers, Edinburgh

Norman, Mark & Norman, Tracey (2021) Dark Folklore, The History Press

Nozedarr, Adele (2005) The Secret Language Of Birds, Harper Element.

Simpson, Jaqueline & Roud, Steve (2000) A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Stephenson, Tom, The Countryside Companion, Odhams Press LTD, London

Swainson, Charles, The Folk Lore and Provincial Names Of British Birds, Kessinger Publishing.

 

Websites:

Poultry Farming statistics: 

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/692890/poultry-statsnotice-22feb18.pdf

Dance Macabre - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyknBTm_YyM

History Of The Goose Fair - https://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/features/2002/09/goose_fair_history.shtml

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust - 

https://www.gwct.org.uk/wildlife/species-of-the-month/2017/turkey/#:~:text=The%20first%20turkeys%20are%20believed,for%20tuppence%20each%20in%20Bristol.

 

Music Attribution:

Intro & Outro Music: Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

 

Sound Effects via www.orangefreesounds.com

 

With thanks to Clare Mansell for production.

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