h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Jack in the Green - A27323651
Author: Tibley Bobley - U170471

A man pushes back the encroachment of the forest .... but what if the forest could fight back?

"The Green Man" and "Jack in the Green" are part of British folklore. I tried to imagine the spirit of the forest reacting to an attack on its trees. Does it work?

Yes, I think it does work. What an interesting picture you've painted.

Thanks Chips

Yes, I think this works well.

I wondered if we needed to know more about the central character, but came to the conclusion that you've got a nice balance between the man and the forest.

Oh, nice. Strong sense of atmosphere, and I love the Green Man showing up.

Two things I'd quibble with: I don't like the dancers showing up in a dream that is essentially described as a flashback. That makes me feel left out of the dream. Could you take out the 'hads' and put it in straight narrative, so that the reader experiences the dream in realtime?

Also, at the end, I'm confused (my natural state, but never mind). The bough 'could have killed him'? So he's okay? So what was the 'sentence carried out'? Was it just a warning not to do it again? Or are we to understand something else?

Sorry for being dense.

Thank you mVpoet and dmitri

It's a job to decide how much detail to put in and how much to leave to the imagination. This is how I imagined it. He's a nice, decent bloke. He's not really guilty of anything from a human point of view. But the forest is threatened. It's being chipped away at all around its edges by encroaching humanity. People are increasing and the forest is shrinking. It's like a beautiful Persian rug that vandals keep cutting chunks from and, having lost its edges, it's beginning to fray and unravel. Those species that are able to, are leaving the forest and those left behind are struggling to survive in a degraded environment. Finally, the spirit of the forest wakes and reacts to the attacks. From the heart of what's left of the green wood he perceives the man hacking away at the margin. His anger rises gradually, stirring up a great wind. The sound and motion of the rising wind, first rustling the leaves, whistling through the branches, then shaking the boughs and roaring through the forest, invade the man's dreams with impressions of music and dancing. His state of mind had been relaxed and content so his dreams were blissful. But as the spirit of the forest gets closer, the atmosphere changes and he become aware of a hostile will beating down on him. The spirit of the forest is not an evil entity. It's one of those earth spirits that our ancestors used to worship. It remembers that it once had a good relationship with Man. Even though it's woken up grumpy and found a man attacking, it's satisfied with teaching him a lesson rather than killing him. When understanding dawns on the man, the sentence is complete (a "short-sharp-shock" type of punishment/lesson). I imagine that the man still has sufficient connection to the land - a spiritual connection - to enable the spirit of the forest to make itself understood. A bit of a fantasy

I'll have a go at making the dream more satisfactory.

Dmitri, I've tried to remedy the problems that gave rise to your two quibbles. The reader should feel less detached from the action now, I hope. And I've added more explanation to the end. What do you think?

I love it. That makes it much clearer, for me at least.

Thank you!

Cheers dmitri. You're too kind!

May all your projects prosper

it is really good. it feels like something out of Narnia or Lord of the Rings. was that what you intended?
it would make a good short film or picture book.

Thanks mouse It wasn't my intention to make it like Narnia or Middle Earth, but if it feels like that to you, I'm flattered to bits. I loved the Narnia books when I was a child and to this day I still read, listen to and watch Lord of the Rings quite often. It's my favourite book. Tolkien seems to have had a great affection for our folklore. I got my idea for this story from The Green Man - a very old character from folklore. I don't know but wouldn't be too surprised if Tolkien was influenced by such stories when he created the characters of Old Man Willow and Tree Beard.

I'm sure you're right. Tolkien was a medieval scholar.

Has anybody read his contemporary (and my personal favourite), T.H. White?

Wow. Long time ago. The Sword in the Stone. I seem to remember it was quite funny. Lots of "buffeting" about the head of a noble knight (and nice old buffer)

Yes. Followed by the trilogy 'The Once and Future King'. Written about the same time as LOTR, but more down-to-earth, using the Arthurian romance as a way of investigating the central problems of mid-20th-Century Europe: nationalism and war.

The musical 'Camelot' didn't do it justice, at all.

Doesn't the trilogy include The Sword in the Stone? Anyway, I think I must have been too young when I read it to understand any of that. I just remember it was funny. There was an almost tame mythical monster that the nice old knight used to chase round and Merlin put a spell on Arthur so that he could experience life as a fish and a bird - all very down-to-earth

Actually, no, the trilogy came after. 'The Sword in the Stone' was a stand-alone.

Yes, the Questing Beast, I remember...

That rings a bell. I think you're right. It was a lady beast wasn't it?

Your man White was the cause of great confusion to me in my understanding of English history. He had Arthur all mixed up with the Norman invasion and the events of 1066. What a rascal!

I read Bernard Cornwell's Arthur trilogy a couple of years ago. That really is excellent.

This has more edge to it for me than Narnia or Tolkein. There's something oldy worldy other-place in those while this is here and now and this Green Man would take no prisoners. I like it very much.


When I read it last week I agreed with Dmitri on the timeline/flashback - I'd say that was very close to sorted now but he is still awake before the dream is described and there's still a touch of confusion as to whether we're flashing back or seeing a new waking dream.

There's a couple of sentences over explanation but otherwise this has impact and a clear focus all the way through.


'The Once and Future King' - I had a copy of that years and years ago, and I can't remember actually reading it. Wasn't very keen on Arthur, really. For daring-do in fancy outfits, I'd take Musketeers anyday .

Thank you so much for your helpful comments. I'll see what I can do to put it in order and make it more clear

I can recommend Bernard Cornwell's trilogy to you. It's not actually the Arthur in the story who will dazzle you, but the narrator, Derfel.

LLwaz, I've chopped, shuffled and added to paragraph 3 to make the end of the dream/beginning of the waking nightmare clearer. Does that work better for you?

I'm not sure about the couple of sentences of over explanation. Perhaps you mean the last 2 sentences? Do you think I should cut out the vision of trees and the intention to plant?