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Blackberry Jam.

Under my feet the grass felt damp. A covering of dew lay over the floor of the forest. I was out early, as I wanted to get the best of the blackberries before anyone else had the same idea. I go into the forest every year to pick blackberries to take home for jam making. I like jam with my morning toast and here in the woods I knew where the ripest and biggest berries were to be found. I carried an old-fashioned wicker basket on my arm and slowly wandered from blackberry bush to blackberry bush.

The berries were really big and ripe and I soon filled my basket with the luscious fruit. On my way home I took a different route and came to a part of the woods that I had not been to before. Here a slight mist was rising from the floor of the woods and it gave the trees an eerie look, it was as if the trees were rising from out of the mists and were not anchored by their roots, as I knew they were. The mists were I must admit a little uncanny and I thought to myself I would be pleased when I came to a part of the woods that I know.

It was then that I saw the deer not an ordinary brown deer this one was perfectly white. Ah! I thought to myself this must be one of the albino deer that one sometimes hears about. Walking quietly so as not to disturb the deer I saw that she was not alone. Sitting on the ground opposite her was a small man dressed in green. A Leprechaun was sewing what looked like a leather covering. I was now very curious and walked quite openly up to where the pair were. On seeing me the deer gave a start and I thought that she would run off but the Leprechaun said something to the deer and it relaxed and looked at me rather curiously as I approached. The Leprechaun spoke. “ Hello you must be Bern the friend of Shamus, my brother Shamus.” I said that I was indeed a friend of Shamus and asked him what he was doing.

“ I am making a skin for this unfortunate deer. The leather I am using is magic leather from Her Majesty, Queen Feeana, Queen of all the Fairies.” “This deer has been hunted so many times that I felt that something had to be done to protect her from the eyes of the Huntsmen. And with this magic leather she will look like any other deer.”

I watched the friend of Shamus placing one neat stitch after the other in the magic leather. Soon he was finished and placed the leather around the white deer. Being magical the leather pulled itself tight around the head body and legs of the deer. Now she really did look like a normal deer that one sees in the woods every day.

The friend of Shamus gave the deer a pat on its shoulders and the deer bowed its head and ran off into the woods. All I could see as she ran off was the white of her tail that had not been coloured and if one looks carefully one can still see the white of her tail showing where the brown leather did not quite cover her.

I was asked to tell the children this story by Her Majesty to explain why the deer have tails of white. The tale is also for the huntsmen, please do not try to capture an albino deer and put it in a zoo. It too loves the freedom of the woods and fields so let it live in peace the deer and all of the other wild animals.