Mistham

Mistham was a small village on the edge of the Slough. It also included some scattered farms which were located to the east, along the ﬁne pastures of the Formennin. Around ten dairy farmers resided here, while another few kept sheep on the margin of the marsh and inland. Other than these landowners, the principal residents included a number of hunters and trappers. Some of these rugged rovers even dared Snakesmere, a notori- ously dangerous stretch of bog, where they caught snakes and lizards for their highly prized skins. Mistham made a rich, golden-red cheese known to all sensualists.


 * "Look out for the farmers' friends, they'll bring you good luck. At
 * harvest time they're made from corn, tall ﬁgures wreathed about
 * and plaited from stalks with fanned hair and skirtles. When the cold
 * months come they dress a tree, hang ribbons and painted bobbins on
 * it. With winter snows they build snow bears, sturdy images of the
 * fabled northern bears that drive back the wolves and protect all from
 * the cruel hunger of ice. In spring, the green friends appear, woven
 * from withies: the biggest of them is the Greenwitch of Northwash,
 * sunk by the womenfolk on Summer's Eve."