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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

amerce: (transitive) To impose a fine on; to fine. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amerce

___________________________ 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)