The green children of Woolpit is the name given to two children who
reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, some
time in the 12th century. They were of generally normal appearance
except for the green colour of their skin. They spoke in an unknown
language, and the only food they would eat at first was green beans.
Eventually they lost their green pallor, but the boy was sickly and died
soon after baptism. After learning English, the girl explained that they
had come from an underground world whose inhabitants are green. The only
near-contemporary accounts are contained in Ralph of Coggeshall's
Chronicum Anglicanum and William of Newburgh's Historia rerum
Anglicarum, written in about 1189 and 1220 respectively. Between then
and their rediscovery in the mid-19th century, the green children seem
to surface only in Bishop Francis Godwin's fantastical The Man in the
Moone. The story also provided the inspiration for The Green Child, the
only novel written by the English anarchist poet and critic Herbert
Read. The main explanations of the story are that it is a typical folk
tale describing an imaginary encounter with the inhabitants of another
world, or it is a garbled account of a historical event.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_children_of_Woolpit>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1207:
Terra Mariana, comprising present-day Estonia and Latvia, was
established as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Mariana>
1848:
The Mexican–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave 1.36 million square kilometres
(530,000 sq mi) of Mexican territory known as the Mexican Cession to
the United States in exchange for US$15 million.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe_Hidalgo>
1920:
The signing of the Treaty of Tartu ended the Estonian War of
Independence, with Russia agreeing to recognize the independence of
Estonia and renounce in perpetuity all rights to that territory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_War_of_Independence>
1982:
The Syrian army bombarded the town of Hama in order to quell a
revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood, killing about 7,000–25,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre>
2009:
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe devalued the Zimbabwean dollar
(banknote pictured) for the third and final time, making Z$1 trillion
now only Z$1 of the new currency.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwean_dollar>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
amerce:
(transitive) To impose a fine on; to fine.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amerce>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I'm a god — I'm not the God. I don't think. in
--Groundhog Day
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)>