Mairiuna, imagine receiving an enveloppe in the mail on which you would find postage stamps depicting Dragons, Unicorns, Pixies, Giants, Mermaids and Fairies ??!!!

It could happen for real you know, because Great Britain recently issued  a collection of six stamps, depicting “Mythical Creatures” found in British folklore.

These stamps were created exclusively for Royal Mail by Dave McKean, one of the most talented fantasy artist in the world.

Dave McKean’s imagination crafted intricate details on these dramatic stamp images and they would make a great gift for anyone appreciative of fantasy art.

Dave McKean

The essence of these mythical creatures are not only brought to life by Dave McKean’s great talent but short stories  for each stamp of the serie have also been created by fantasy author Neil Gaiman.

Even if Gaiman were making all this up, you would be inclined to believe him. But all his stamp stories, which are published here for the first time, start with long-held British folk beliefs as their original source.

“I felt that, if I was going to do this, I had to get my mythology right,” he says. “Days of research went into the unicorn story and the history of the ‘unicorn horn’ in the Tower of London. Plus there is that relationship throughout Britain between geography and mythology, which is why I loved doing the giants story. When you’re walking on English hills, you may actually be walking on them.”

Source:  Timesonline.co.uk

Photo Copyright: Paranormaldatabase.com

The beautiful dragon stamp reminds me of the story  The Meister Stoor Worm, a malevolent dragon-like creature in Orkney’s mythology.

Orkney - Scotiana.com - 2003

“In Orkney, off mainland Scotland (UK), the ‘Meister Stoor Worm’ menaced the local people but was finally overcome when an unnamed local threw a blazing pitch tipped with a spearhead down the throat. According to legend the corpse of the dragon was huge, so big in fact that as it was dying it spat it’s teeth out which became the Faroes it’s body became Iceland.”

It starts like this:

An air of mystery surrounded the origin of the Stoor Worm but it was generally believed that he had been hatched into life by a malignant spirit.

Wherever he came from, he was placed in the depths of the sea, where he was destined to become “one of the nine curses that plagued mankind”.

The Stoor Worm’s fetid breath was poisonous to any living thing, and he destroyed ships like eggshells.

Orkney Traditional Tales - Book 3 Source: Amazon.co.uk

With his massive forked tongue he could, at a whim, sweep entire cities into the sea or crush the largest castle and suck every living thing into his gaping mouth.

Whenever the Stoor Worm lay with his head near a kingdom it was expected that the people of that unfortunate land had to to satisfy his terrible hunger and supply the creature with food.

Every Saturday at sunrise, the Stoor worm would wake, open his cavernous mouth and yawn nine times. He would then demand a meal of seven virgins for as the old tales records: “although he was a venomous beast he had a dainty taste.”

Now, a long time ago, the Stoor Worm set his awful head near the shore of an ancient country and as usual, the folk of that country had to feed the beast every Saturday at sunrise.

Needless to say the unfortunate people of this land soon grew tired of giving up their daughters, watching them being devoured in the pitiless jaws of the worm so they took the advice of an old wizard. This wizard said to the folk that if the King’s daughter were fed to the Worm, he would leave and trouble them no more.

Talk soon,

Janice

In fact Mairiuna, it was Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria ( later King George V ) that started the Royal Philatelic Collection.

His enthusiasm about stamp collecting was shared with his brother, the Prince of Wales ( later King Edward VII) who bought Prince Alfred’s collection just a few years before he died. In turn, he offered same to his son, the Duke of York, who had spent many hours with his uncle enjoying the hobby.

And from one generation to another, the Royal Philatelic Collection is now in the hands of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth.

By the way, did you know that Great Britain is the only country that does not print it’s name on postage stamps ?

Look carefully…the only way to identify a British stamp, is to find the Queen’s profile adorning one of the corners.

Great Britain Stamps - Folk & Fairy Tales

As you share the same thematic approach to stamp collecting as I do, we both happily undertook a philatelic quest to find as many postage stamps and other philatelic document that relates to Scotland in any shape or form, and I have to tell you Mairiuna..I find  it’s a very thrilling adventure !

Let’s turn another page of our “Scotiana on Stamps” album to view more stamps about Scottish philately.

The Cairngorms… home to five of the six highest  mountains  in Scotland,  all munros .

Quiz Time !  Can you name them ?

Who volunteers to take a guess?

Click on  “Leave a Comment” down below the post and submit   your answers. We will unveil correct answer on the blog.

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This one from Monaco commemorates Sir Athur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, famous fictional detective, who appears in four novels and fifty-six short stories all together.

Arthur Conan Doyle - 2009 - Sherlock Holmes

Mairiuna, since we are in Edinburgh, would you like to walk down the avenue towards Picardy Place where the statue of Sherlock Holmes was erected close to the house where he was born?

Talk soon,

Janice