THE STORY OF THE WISE OLD BOAR

In Bar Carmen, one of Guájar Alto’s restaurants famous for traditional, home cooking, the wall of the dining area is decorated by an enormous wild boar’s head. I once asked José, Carmen’s grandson, where it had come from.
‘Arriba!’ he replied, pointing in the direction of our cortijo. His grandfather had shot it, he added.
It must have been a fearsome beast, the like of which you certainly wouldn’t wish to encounter on a dark night. Its curved tusks are long and pointed and it has a thick ruff of coarse hair around its powerful neck, typical of a mature male boar. Even though it is stuffed and harmless, it still might alarm some people were it not for the comical appearance bestowed on it by the adornment of a Mexican sombrero and a pair of round, black-framed spectacles with very thick lenses. Contemplating it last New Year’s Eve, while waiting for the midnight chimes, it occurred to me that Carmen’s stuffed boar’s head would make a good subject upon which to base a character for a chidren’s book. With a rough idea of how my story was going to be constructed, I began work on the first illustrations in January.
The story begins: ‘Far away, in a land of mountains and forests...’ a setting which, of course, is the beautiful, mountain scenery surrounding my home; the animal characters, too, are all inspired by the creatures which live here. I decided to make Bruno, the hero, into a conceited, self-important animal who deludes not only himself, but also the other creatures, that he is very erudite and wise, hence the title. It’s a simple tale with an element of repetition which children like. The animals seek the counsel of the Wise Old Boar and even though the advice he gives them is silly, they follow it faithfully, trusting in his wisdom. The climax of the story is a terrible storm (a sumbliminal reference to climate change, perhaps?) in which the animals are in fear of losing their lives. Unintentionally, Bruno saves the day and even though he’s revealed as a fraud, he’s hailed as a hero by the grateful animals.
My intention is that the story should be read aloud by, say, a parent at bedtime or a teacher in class. A different voice should be assumed for each of the characters, for example, a deep, pompous voice for the boar; a gruff voice for the badger; a fluttery, agitated voice for the partridge. The illustrations are detailed and as realistic as I could make them. From my experience as a teacher, I’ve found that children prefer realism to flat, cartoon-style illustrations. A child too young to read could look at the pictures and, perhaps, make up his or her own story about each one.
All the illustrations were painted in watercolour with the addition of a touch of casein bodycolour here and there. Some of the full page illustrations can be seen on my web site www.margaretmerry.com.

THE ARRIVAL OF SUMMER IN GUAJAR ALTO

They say in Guájar Alto that the weather doesn’t settle until the fortieth of May. Sure enough, at the beginning of the second week of June, summer arrived, bringing with it hot days and balmy, flower-scented nights. This is the season of outdoor living, with the (quite exhausting!) succession of fiestas (parties) and barbecues which are a way of life in our village.
The family paid us a visit in May and, as usual, our two little granddaughters blossomed in the sunshine and healthy mountain air. We took them on a trip up to the big reservoir, Pantano de los Bermejales, Granada’s ‘inland beach’, which is ideal for the entertainment of young children. The shore is sandy and the water clean, with no jellyfish or dangerous currents to worry about. The drive, too, is enjoyable because of the wonderful scenery encountered on the way. The wild flowers of the higher altitudes (1000 metres and above) are gorgeous; we saw orchids, wild roses, irises, asphodels and, most spectacular of all, wild paeonies. The colours were stunning, not least the swathes of heavenly blue which turned out to be large-flowered flax, something I’ve never seen before. As we descended towards Arenas del Rey, the surrounding landscape blazed with red poppies and golden stipa grasses, a truly lovely sight. The little girls slept most of the way but they woke up in time to see the snow on the distant Sierra Nevada of which there is a lovely view glimpsed through the pine trees.
At Bermejales, we enjoyed a picnic and for a long time the children were happily absorbed playing with their buckets and spades. We returned via the Lecrin Valley, through the village of Restábal and along a winding, leafy lane which leads to Guájar Faragüit. A most pleasant trip.
As a result of the alarming rise of the cost of diesel, we’ve had a national strike of lorry drivers in Spain. Garages quickly ran out of fuel and supermarket shelves were emptied. There were no fish, meat, fruit or vegetables in the shops on the coast. We’re fortunate in Guájar Alto because, since Moorish times, this valley has been self-sufficient. Dani, who runs the village supermarket, did a valient job in keeping the shop well stocked and Jean-Pierre, the French baker, supplied us with fresh bread as normal. Our vegetable garden is very productive all year round so in our house there is always something to eat in an emergency.
As well as the lorry drivers making the headlines, much attention has been paid by the media regarding an incident in Motril last week involving a snake. In March, the Junta passed a law forbidding the keeping of dangerous pets. Typically, they failed to take into consideration what would happen as regards households which already owned these animals and as a result, many have been dumped. In Motril an apartment block was terrorised by the appearance of a 2.5 metre long snake which eventually took refuge on the roof and had to be retrieved by experts. It was then discovered that the snake, a female, had produced young which were so numerous that they couldn’t be retrieved. In the end, the tenants had to be evacuated and a team sent in to fumigate the block with powerful chemicals. Dogs and other unwanted pets are habitually abandoned in our village so, perhaps, due to this new law, we shan’t be surprised to see crocodiles swimming around the reservoirs or giant iguanas roaming the mountains. It would make a change from the nightly rampages of the wild boar!