Folklore Friday: arguing with the fey (& sisters)
plant folklore of my own creation part II
Hi, friends. Usually I take inspiration for Folklore Friday poem from, you know, actual folklore that’s been around for a century or two, but today I’m frolicking off the beaten path…again. And not for the last time, either.
I’ll be honest. Like most of us, I’m exhausted. I’ve hardly written this week, and haven’t had the time to write the post I had in mind for today. So I decided to slow down and have some fun with the remaining two made-up plants I want to share, rather than rush and try to cram them into one post. It’s Shademint this week, and Quin’s very own apple lore next week (from The Secret Heart of Maeve MacGowan).
Shademint
I picked up one of the steaming cups and inhaled the fragrance. It smelled of shademint and chamomile, both of which Patience grew in her herb garden. I took a tentative sip. The warm, clean-scented tea felt like a taste of home, a humble reminder of all that was at stake.
“It’s very good,” I said. “The tea. I’m sorry. Arguing doesn’t serve us.”
The tea underwent my full inspection, and I heard the chair creak when Armand sat back down.
-from Double Alchemy: A Clear Star Romance
At this point in the story, Beauty’s deal with the fey prince is tested when her pride clashes with his (selfish) need to be needed. He promises that she will not be trapped in the fey realm forever if she takes refreshment. To her surprise, among the refreshments offered is a small, poignant reminder of home.
I like this scene as a turning point in their relationship. It was also fun to create a little twist on a well-known and beloved herb. There’s no mention of the folklore of shademint in Double Alchemy, so let’s invent some!
How is shademint different from, say, peppermint? As the name suggests, it must be grown fully in the shade. It has bluish-green leaves and tastes sweeter than regular peppermint, though it has a sharp aftertaste.
It is said to bring clarity and sweetness to those who prepare and ingest the herb. Usually consumed as a tea, some who don’t mind the bitter aftertaste may add the leaves straight to summer salads. It grows in the late spring and early summer. One of the few herbs known in the human realm to also grow in the fey realm, various bits of lore exist that explain shademint’s existence.
For example, in the fey realm of Clear Star, the shademint plant fell to earth when a star rose too hastily in the night sky and accidentally crossed paths and briefly collided with the moon. The sweetness was a gift, the bitterness a reminder of what happens when you stray from your intended path.
One piece of lore from the human realm that Beauty has had to hear from Patience on more than one occasion concerns a different, more terrestrial source. A woman was promised to a man she feared and was forbidden from seeing her true love. When she wept at the forest’s edge, her tears fell to earth and grew up into shademint. The woman served shademint to her intended. He was so disgusted by the bitter aftertaste, and, when informed that the woman had made the dish, decided he couldn’t be married to someone who was such a terrible cook and severed the engagement. The woman joyfully met with her lover, a witch, and the two lived happily together.
At this point, Beauty always liked to mention that the story had several flaws. How on earth did the woman know to serve shademint? Was the man really that picky? Shademint isn’t bitter enough to cause a broken engagement, etc. To which Patience told her it was a story and not to poke at it too much, have you met many men, maybe her witch lover told her what to do, etc., before throwing her hands up in sisterly frustration and going to work out her annoyance in her garden.
Shademint
a human woman,
ruby-edged and bright,
clashing words like swords
with clinging shadows,
a fey man who
absorbed the dark.
Sometimes a clash
brings a new story.
If they cannot avoid the bitterness,
at least they will know sweetness
a flavor that crosses
boundaries.
©Stephanie Ascough 2025.
Next week is the post for paid subscribers, including a story and an update on the Rose & Mirror course!
Thanks for reading, friends.
Meet you over the orchard wall.*
*One of my wonderful early readers for my book started signing her emails like this. I like it.
Thanks for being here. My AuDHD brain is a bit scattered and prone to change things last minute, but here in The Purple Vale you can count on reflections on folklore, fairy tales, and the seasons from my little corner of East Tennessee–which is unceded Cherokee and Muscogee land.
