The Dancing Fox

The Dancing Fox is a fascinating collection of magical, thought-provoking and often amusing folktales relating, with one exception, to the folklore-rich counties of Kent and Sussex.

Foxes dance on the Ashdown Forest; half human, half hedgehog Pricklebacks are common; animals speak; wishes are granted, and Death cuts a deal with Jack, hero of many British folktales.

If you cross your fingers, touch wood, salute a lone magpie, wear a St Christopher and avoid walking under ladders, you are performing folk magic, prophylaxis, to avert bad luck. Despite a veneer of sophistication and modernity we still share many of the fears and superstitions of our ancestors. The countrymen, women and children who told, listened to, and passed on folktales like these through the generations.

You, as a reader, are the latest link in the chain.