Sea Stories - The Serpent and The Saint

When the Tall Ships first arrived in 1999, we were just beginning our local research into folklore and heritage, and we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to get involved in a number of the local art projects organised for the Tall Ships Celebrations. The first involved us creating an illuminated medieval manuscript, with celtic knotwork borders designed by local schoolchildren, stories we collected from the community, and a hand carved wooden cover. It's still one of the most enjoyable things we've ever done.

The other was to write and illustrate a short story in a single afternoon, which was then published in a book produced to commemorate Tall Ships 1999, Tall Ships, Short Stories.

We chose to create a traditional fable or parable involving one of the Saints associated with Greenock, and a mythical encounter he had with our local sea serpent. The story was eventually reworked and expanded for our book of folktales and fables "Tales of the Oak" (available this weekend at Tall Ships!)

This is a recording of that story.