Telling
Stories:
the Art of Iain McCaig
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from The Sorcerer's Apprentice © Iain McCaig |
Prologue:
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
by Terri Windling
In the West Country, a small village lies in a crease of land between two hills. East and south of the village are farmer's fields, divided by walls of stone. To the west is open moorland where sturdy sheep and wild ponies graze. To the north is a forest of ancient oak, and hard by the forest is Tinmoor Hall, standing in ruins now, its tall stone walls tumbled into the grass.
Sometimes I take my dog and walk the overgrown paths of the old estate -- through weed-choked gardens, neglected orchards, and over the mossy clapper bridge that crosses the waters of Tincoombe to the dark forest beyond. My dog doesn't like to enter the forest. I call her name sharply and, hackles raised, she follows me into the trees. We pass through oak, rowan and thorn to a small clearing with a bubbling spring. By the edge of the spring is a large, flat stone where someone has left bright wildflowers, a piece of cake on a white napkin, and a rabbit carved from alder wood. These are gifts for the faeries who tend this forest and all creatures within. What? You don't believe in faeries? Sit down here, where the moss is dry, and listen while I tell you a tale. It's about the faeries, a little girl, and the sorcerer of Tinmoor Wood. . . .
-- from The Sorcerer's Apprentice, story by T. Windling, art by I. McCaig, publication forthcoming.
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