Tadpoles in the winter pond
In the winter of 1962/63, the Cregan children had a very happy time sliding on the frozen pond. On their farm, they called it the winter pond. When spring came and the ice melted, the frogs made it a nursery for their large brood of tadpoles. But the children knew that as soon as spring came, the pond would dry up and all the tadpoles would die. So Sarah got her brothers to gather the spawn in a bucket and put it in a bog hole close by. But during that afternoon, Sarah hatched a plan with her brother Joe to try and resolve their dreadful dilemma at home. This happens in the chapter entitled Sarah the thief.
Wrenboys
The Wrenboys visited the Cregan Home in 1962 and entertained the family including Eileen Darcy who was visiting for Christmas. It ended with disastrous results which were the beginning of a chain of events which led to other adventures and disasters for the family during 1963. The tradition of wrenboys comes from an old tale which relates to the death of the first Christian Martyr St. Stephen. Legend has it that he was hiding in a thicket of bushes when his hiding place was found, as a little wren flew out of the foliage. Shortly after that, he was stoned to death. In Ireland in olden days a little wren was hunted, killed and hung on a stick and brought from house to house with music, song, and revelry, ending with payments of food, drink and maybe coins for the revelers. Such a practice is outlawed as the little wren is a protected species.
Where to get the book on the World-Wide-Web.
#amazon.com
The Plight of the King of Diamonds.
In the chapter entitled, Christmas 1962, Meg’s friend Eileen entertains the children with stories, games and card tricks. It is one of the happiest chapters in the book, soon more dreadful things would arrive on their doorstep to haunt them. One of the stories relates to the plight of the King of Diamonds. It poses the question, why is the King of Diamonds looking the other way? But in order to find that out, one has to read the book. Those who have read the story, please don’t give the game away.
Wrenboys
The Wrenboys visited the Cregan Home in 1962 and entertained the family including Eileen Darcy who was visiting for Christmas. It ended with disastrous results which were the beginning of a chain of events which led to other adventures and disasters for the family during 1963. The tradition of wrenboys comes from an old tale which relates to the death of the first Christian Martyr St. Stephen. Legend has it that he was hiding in a thicket of bushes when his hiding place was found as a little wren flew out of the foliage. Shortly after that, he was stoned to death. In Ireland in olden days a little wren was hunted, killed and hung on a stick and brought from house to house with music, song, and revelry, ending with payments of food, drink and maybe coins for the revellers.
The Lake
The lake in the story is a mixture of two. It could be either Lough Ennel or Lough Owel near Mullingar. This photo is of Lough Ennel. It was among the reeds that Dónal Ryan found a body while fishing with Joe and Tom Cregan. It was on Lough Owel that some local people drove a Volkswagen car during the big freeze-up of 1962/63. A similar incident was observed by Pat Rearden on the lake in the story.
Pipe smoking
In The Spindle Tree, John Cregan, Pat Rearden, and Dónal Ryan, the young schoolmaster were all pipesmokers. Pipe smoking was very popular among men in Ireland during the 1950’s and 1960’s. There were no worries regarding lung cancer or other respiratory ailments during those years. Both Pat Rearden and John Cregan lived till they were ninety years old.
Sputnik
Sputnik the dog was named after the first artificial satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere. Sputnik is a border collie and they are used widely on Irish farms even to the present day.
The Spindle Tree 