The Eel Catcher’s Daughter

“The Eel Catcher’s Daughter” Limited edition lino print on paper by Lizzie Ault

Available for sale through Babylon Gallery, Ely.

Along the river Great Ouse, in Cambridgeshire, between the cities of Ely and Kings Lynn lies a place called Littleport. In the 11th century the King of England, Denmark and Norway, King Cnut was travelling through this area which we call the Fens. Night began to draw in and he knew that it was foolish to try and navigate your way through the Fens in the darkness. The land was treacherous and rumoured to be plagued by monsters. Disguising himself as a simple traveller, he took shelter with an Eel Catcher and his son. Early the next morning he awoke and readied himself to leave. He was surprised to see the son bathing in the river but he soon realised that he wasn’t a son at all but a daughter. King Cnut told the daughter who he was and asked her why she was disguising herself. She explained that there was a cruel Abbot in the nearby monastery who was stealing women and enslaving them. In order to protect herself she had been living as a boy. ON hearing this King Cnut took his army to the monastery, freed the enslaved women and as a punishment the monks were forced to build a town for the local people to live and work in. That town was Littleport.

I always loved the name of the shop on the high street “The Eel Catcher’s Daughter” and wondered where it came from. I first discovered this story in “Cambridgeshire folk tales for Children” by Chip Colquhoun and I was really excited to find that folktale reference. The same tale can also be found under the title of “How Littleport Began” in “Tales from the Fens” by W H Barrett told to the author by Chafer Legge, a famous Fenland storyteller.

The Fens are actually famous for storytelling. The Ship Inn at Brandon Creek, near Littleport was so renowned for its tall tale telling that Mark Twain himself is said to have visited there. W H Barret visited there as a young man and heard the stories in his book first hand.

I found this moment in the story where Cnut first realises that the eel catcher’s son is a girl and not a boy, to be the moment when the story really begins to unfold.

The print is available for sale through Bablyon Gallery, ely.