George Quayle, author of ‘Legends of a lifetime’ tells the story of the ‘bumbee’ cage thus: -
The old people would tell the children that ‘Bumbees’ (bumble bees), were bad fairies, fairies that had been naughty and because of this had been turned into ‘bumbees’.
The children would make a ‘bumbee’ cage, which was traditionally made out of rushes. Just prior to completing it, the children would wait beside a foxglove for a ‘bumbee’ to go inside. Quickly they would pinch the end, trapping the ‘bumbee’ in the foxglove flower and then would transfer the bumbee into the cage, this would give them a rattle to play with.
At night, a parent would undo to top of the cage and set the ‘bumbee’ free, a stone would be put in place of the bee. In the morning the children would be told that the ‘bumbee’ had been taught its lesson, and it had changed back to a fairy. The fairy would then have it’s magic again and would be able to escape leaving a stone in its place.
The children would make a ‘bumbee’ cage, which was traditionally made out of rushes. Just prior to completing it, the children would wait beside a foxglove for a ‘bumbee’ to go inside. Quickly they would pinch the end, trapping the ‘bumbee’ in the foxglove flower and then would transfer the bumbee into the cage, this would give them a rattle to play with.
At night, a parent would undo to top of the cage and set the ‘bumbee’ free, a stone would be put in place of the bee. In the morning the children would be told that the ‘bumbee’ had been taught its lesson, and it had changed back to a fairy. The fairy would then have it’s magic again and would be able to escape leaving a stone in its place.
Watch videos of bumbee cages being made HERE
| bumbee_cage.pdf |
