Babes in the Wood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Babes in the Wood, also known as Children of the Wood, is a traditional children's tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. It has also been the name of some other unrelated works. The phrase has passed into the language, referring to innocents in any potentially dangerous situation, and a number of child murder cases have been referred to in the media as the Babes in the Wood murders.
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[edit] Traditional tale
The traditional children's tale is of two children abandoned in a wood who die and are covered with leaves by robins.
First published as a ballad by Thomas Millington in Norwich in 1595, the tale has been reworked in many forms. It frequently appears attributed as a Mother Goose rhyme.
The Walt Disney Company re-worked this tale, incorporating some material from Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm and adding a village of friendly elves (a feature not traditionally present in either tale) and a happy ending, and on 1932-11-19 released an animated short film entitled Babes in the Wood.
The story is also used as a basis for pantomimes. However, for various reasons including both the brevity of the original and the target pantomime audience of young children, modern pantomimes by this name usually combine this story with parts of the modern Robin Hood story (employing the supporting characters from it, such as Maid Marian, rather than Robin himself) to lengthen it.
[edit] Folklore
Tradition and folklore has it that the events told in Babes in the Wood originally happened in Wayland Wood in Norfolk, England. It is said that the Uncle lived at the nearby Griston Hall. The ghosts of the murdered children are said to haunt Wayland Wood. The village signs at both Griston and nearby Watton depict the story.
The essence of the lore concerns two children. After the death of their parents, they are left in the care of an Uncle. However, the Uncle resents the task and pays two men to take the children into the woods and kill them. Finding themselves unable to go through with the act, the criminals abandon the children in the wood, where they eventually die being unable to fend for themselves.
[edit] Other works
Babes in the Wood was a story by Michael Arlen.
Babes in the Wood (1859) was a play by Henry James Byron.
Babes in the Wood was a British television situation comedy series broadcast on ITV from 1998–1999. The title was a pun on the pantomime story name, involving a group of attractive women (the "babes") who shared a flat in St John's Wood in London (the "wood").
There have been several songs by this title, at least one of them related to the traditional tale.
[edit] References
- Babes in the Wood. Norfolk Myths. Retrieved on March 14, 2005.
- The Babes in the Wood Legend. Wayland. Retrieved on March 14, 2005. This gives two alternative versions of the traditional tale.
- The Babes in the Wood. The Phrase Finder. Retrieved on March 14, 2005. This includes the text of the Thomas Millington ballad.
- Babes in the Wood. Nursery Rhymes. Retrieved on March 14, 2005. This is the Mother Goose rhyme.
- Babes in the Wood. KIDiddles: Song lyrics. Retrieved on March 17, 2005. Song lyrics, a variant on the Mother Goose rhyme.
- Babes in the Wood. Tom Wilkins, The Encyclopaedia of Disney Animated Shorts. Retrieved on March 14, 2005.
- Babes In The Wood. BBC Guide to Comedy. Retrieved on March 14, 2005. An article on the TV situation comedy.
- Richard O'Brien based The Rocky Horror Show on this tale, making it into a reworking of the story of Adam and Eve and the loss of innocence.
[edit] External links
- The Children In The Woods from Joseph Jacob's More English Fairy Tales, in ballad form
- Script for pantomime based upon this story
- The history of English pantomime
- History of the story and its descendent versions
- The Abandoned Children of Wailing Wood Animated and Narrated version of the Legend
