Nor does it seem right to pass over an unheard of prodigy, which, as is well known, took place in England during the reign of King Stephen. Though it is asserted by many. Yet I have long been in doubt concerning the matter, and deemed it ridiculous to give credit to a circumstance reported on no rational foundation, or at least one of a very mysterious character; yet at length I was so overwhelmed by the weight of so many and such competent witnesses, that I have been compelled to believe, and wonder over a matter which I was unable to comprehend, or unravel by any powers of intellect.
In East Anglia there is a village, distant, as it is said, four or five miles from the noble monastery of the blessed king and martyr, Edmund; near this place are seen some very ancient cavities called “Wolfpittes”, that is in English, “Pits for wolves”, and which gave their name to the adjacent village (Wulpet). During harvest, while the reapers were employed in gathering the produce of the fields, two children, a boy and a girl, completely green in their persons and clad in garments of a strange colour, and unknown materials, emerged from their excavations.
These two poor children were apparently terrified and crying. They attempted to run away but were caught by the villagers. They apparently did not understand the villagers nor could make themselves understood. The villagers took them to the home of their feudal lord, Sir Richard de Calne, who took them under his protection. It is here that another chronicler, Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall takes up the narrative;
No-one could understand their speech. When they were brought as curiosities to the house of a certain knight, Sir Richard de Calne, at Wikes, they wept bitterly. Bread and victuals were set before them but they would touch none of them, though they were tormented by great hunger, as the girl afterwards acknowledged. At length, when some beans just cut, with their stalks, were brought into the house, they made signs, with great avidity, that they should be given to them. When they were brought, they opened the stalks instead of the pods, thinking the beans were in the hollow of them; but not finding them there, they began to weep anew. When those who were present saw this, they opened the pods and showed them the naked beans. They fed on these with delight, and for a long time tasted no other food.
Sir Richard de Calne, who seems to have been a kindly chap for his time, kept the children in his home. But sadly, the little boy sickened and died. The girl however thrived, grew stronger and eventually lost her green hue, apparently as she ate a diet more normal to the times. She also learned to speak English, was baptised into the Christian faith and as she grew older, worked as a servant for Sir Richard for some years before she married a man from King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
Of course, once the girl could speak, there were those demanding answers to questions, such as where did she and the boy come from and how did they come to be in Woolpit? Unfortunately this is where stories begin to differ as the girl apparently recounted her experience to many people. However, the basis of the story was that the boy was her brother and that they had come from an entirely green world, inhabited by green-skinned people and lit by a dim, watery green sun. She went on that one day she and her brother entered a cave they had not seen before and were lured by the sound of bells, which brought them out into the fields near Woolpit. Ralph of Coggeshall takes up the narrative
Being asked how she came into this country with the aforesaid boy, she replied that, as they were following their flocks, they came to a certain cavern, on entering which they heard a delightful sound of bells; ravished in whose sweetness, they were for a long time wandering on through the cavern, until they came to it’s mouth. When they came out of it, they were struck senseless by the excessive light of the sun, and the unusual temperature for the air; and they thus lay for a long time. Being terrified at the noise of those who come on them, they wished to fly but they could not find the entrance to the cavern before they were caught.