The thought started with Robin Hood. Wondering if it has any basis in pieces of reality, thinking through the storyline put forward in the film Prince of Thieves. Of the crusades, the absent king, hiding in the woods, and the fight to save England, apparently. But it wasn’t to free England, was it? No, it was to fight to save it for sovereignty and free it from the grip of greedy usurpers they say. Taxing the very soul out of the people and creating unneccessary poverty. That tale was set in the late 12th century, but it could be today, couldn’t it? And because so many things have been twisted to fit the narrative, or simply changed to rewrite reality I can’t help rethinking old stories, sayings and things that once seemed just as they were.

Robin Hood – there have been a few people throughout the centuries that have apparently fought and won certain battles for this country, for justice and for freedom they say. Covered in my article When Someone Else Saves the Day, sharing my speculation about these all being fabricated and used for purpose as a beacon perhaps, to pretend the people won through sheer courage and luck. Or maybe they did, and the myths and legends just sprung up thereafter to make sure people wouldn’t forget it can be done, who can say for sure.

Because it is such a good story, I wondered if maybe it helps to conceal its real meaning, purpose or foundation. Making me think of a forest related saying ‘when you can’t see the wood for the trees’. That we are so used to it, and like to believe it might be real, that we miss the real lesson.

Fairy Tales – many of these are set in forest locations, which make for a good creepy setting once daylight fades away, or such thick coverage provides a gloomy atmosphere. Where I then think of another saying we have about being ‘out of the woods’ when it comes to being in peril or at risk. That in many instances, it is the woods themselves that becomes the oppressive environment, rather than an being an escape from one. A few of the films I mention in my articles Urban Myths and Gateway Trees give examples of how the woods can be used for effect when telling a tale. Again, maybe that’s why stories often have dark and creepy forests; to try and give you a preset psychological idea that being in the woods can be a bad thing. That nursery rhyme of ‘If you go down to the woods today’ providing a bigger and perhaps more terrifying surprise than you would like, if you believe such things.

In real life however, it seems that forested areas are on the list to be restricted and removed for the general masses. They wouldn’t want you to have access to something that provides shelter, is a resource for building and heat, can provide food, creates an ecosystem and can offer you safety off the ground. Trees really are wonderful, and grouped together provide an awesome network which nature manages itself, and continues to provide all of the above as long as it can. We would do well to look after them…

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