Wayland’s Smithy
by Kate Everson
Smashwords edition
Copyright 2011 Kate Everson
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. This book is not to be reproduced. Please encourage your friends to download their own copy at smashwords.com


Wayland’s Smithy is a chambered long barrow in Oxfordshire, England. It is surrounded by large beech trees with faces on them. If you take the trail from the Ridgeway near the Uffington White Horse, you might find poppies and daisies in the cornfields and English ivy growing right up to the tops of the trees.
And if you’re lucky, you might get to Wayland’s Smithy and find two ladies there celebrating a birthday with cake and champagne, inviting you to join them.
“Getting there is half the fun!” smiled Rebekah.

A sign pointed the way to the Smithy and she wandered past farmers’ fields gleaming in the sunlight. There was corn growing, already high in August, and with it were bright orange poppies and pretty white daisies!
“Just like in the Wizard of Oz,” laughed Rebekah.
She lay down in the field amidst the flowers, but being very careful not to inhale!
It was a poppy paradise!

Rebekah spent awhile just lying in the poppies and daisies in the field of corn. Then, with flowers in her hair, she walked further down the trail. 
On one side was a grove of tall trees. It was an enchanted forest with English ivy climbing all the way to the tops! Another delightful moment! Only in England, she thought, and marvelled at the beauty of this land.

 “Awesome,” smiled Rebekah.
The tomb itself was dated back to 3,500 BC and had originally been made of wood. The bodies of 14 people had been found inside. Later, sarsen stones were added to the entrance. They named it after a Saxon god, Wayland the Smith.
You could crawl right inside it, and with a flashlight explore its small chambers. Rebekah did just that.
“Ooh, lovely!” she exclaimed in her best British accent.
She spotted a moth or some kind of creature hanging upside down in the chamber. Was it a bat?

She did not touch it!
Some children from a nearby daycare came along just then and delighted in the ancient stones, crawling all over them and running on the grass. The stones did not seem to mind. In fact, the tomb might have been glad for human life after sharing the dead for so many centuries!

At the top were some cup marked boulders, perfect for having a cuppa tea. Others had holes right through them for spying on your friends!

Maybe it was the first cup holder ever invented! 
Rebekah wondered what kind of brew they were drinking back then, whoever they were!
There were no answers, not even from the surrounding beech trees who were not nearly old enough to know any of those secrets. They stood there with their faces peering at the visitors of this age, taking it all in, and smiling to themselves.

Or was that a frown? 
One beech looked like a jester with its hat on sideways and a curious look on its face. Another seemed all tangled up in itself, not sure what to make of it all.
Or maybe they knew more than they were letting on!
Rebekah was glad to be there in this exciting visit to Wayland’s Smithy, across the ocean from her home in Canada. Nothing like that there!

Or, at least, nothing that she knew about! Perhaps they just hadn’t dug it up yet!
Everything in these Celtic lands was a delight to Rebekah and she could not get enough of it.
Even the journey was amazing. She would have to come back again, maybe next year. 
“Oh, well,” she sighed. “If only, I could live here and not have to travel!”
Nearby, Rebekah stopped in to have a look at the Rollright Stones. This stone circle was one of many in Britain and they never ceased to amaze her. She stood inside the stones and listened with her heart. Did they speak?

The lumpy old stones just stood there looking back at her. They were all shapes and sizes, like a gathering of the clan.
“Maybe they talk to each other at night,” Rebekah wondered.
And she secretly wished she could be there then. What would that big one say to the little one? 

Or did they just stand there, speechless at all that had happened in the world for the last few thousand years?
Rebekah loved the stones. This circle was dated from 2500 BC and consisted of the King’s Men stone circle, King Stone monolith and Whispering Knights dolmen with a 5,000 year old burial chamber. The dolmen was all fenced in so people could not disturb the dead!

There were many legends about the Rollrights including the one about a King being turned to stone by a witch so he would not take over England. At night, they all come alive and dance in a circle holding hands.
Another tale says there are faeries living in caves under the stones and come out in the moonlight to dance. This area was the actual meeting place of witches who lived in Long Compton just a mile from the site in the 1500s.
No wonder Rebekah loved it there!

* * The End * *
Read more about Rebekah’s adventures at Rebekah Visits Ireland and Rebekah in Wales and Rebekah and the Green Man and Rebekah and the Powys Prince and Life Lessons from the Celtic Gods.