Tikumu's Letter

Press, 24 May 1977, Page 20

Tikumu's Letter

Dear Children, If you see anyone carrying ’stinging nettles on Sunday, watch out. Run as fast as you can. For May 29 is called Oak Apple Day, when Englishmen used to wear a sprig of oak to show their loyalty to the king. Those who forgot risked being punished by a beating with nettles. The origin of Oak Apple Day goes back to the seventeenth century during a troubled period of English history. Oliver Cromwell was leader of the country. He and his supporters had chopped off the head of the king and did not want his son, Charles 11, to rule over them. Then Charles, with Scottish soldiers, invaded England. They met Oliver Cromwell’s army in a great battle at Worcester and were defeated soundly. At night, however, Charles managed to flee from his enemies and he found friends who helped him hide. He disguised himself and cropped his hair, stained his face and hands brown, and wore rough clothes. For a while he pretended to be a woodcutter. Meanwhile soldiers of Oliver Cromwell were searching for him everywhere, looking in houses and on boats; they were guarding every bridge. Charles had to move about constantly, sheltering in different places. Once he slept in a loft, concealed beneath a mound of hay. Another time he hid in the forest. There, a big old oak tree helped save his life. All one day, while soldiers rode their horses backwards and forwards, he lay quietly in its branches, not daring to move. The soldiers beat at the boughs of the trees, but they did not discover him. It was early autumn, and luckily for Charles, the leaves had not yet fallen from the oak, and they concealed him well. In the end Charles found safety in France; many years later he returned to England to become king. He arrived in London on May 29. Tikumu