Jenny Green Teeth"

Jenny Green Teeth

In Lancashire, Cheshire, and Shropshire, from the 19th century to within living memory, children were threatened that if they went near pools the waterspirit Jenny (or Ginny) Greenteeth would catch them; some said she also lurked in the treetops, where she could be heard moaning at night (Wright, 1913: 198-9). According to Charlotte Burne, this bogey was 'an old woman who lurks beneath the green weeds that cover stagnant ponds; Ellesmere children were warned that if they venture too near such places, she will stretch out her long

arms and drag them to her' (Burne 1883: 79). A Lancashire contributor to NAQ recalled:

'Further, I have often been told by my mother and nurse that if I did not keep my teeth clean I should some day be dragged into one of these ponds by Jenny Greenteeth, and I have met

many elderly people who have had the same threat applied to them' (NAQ 10s:2 (1904), 365).

As recently as 1980 a Merseyside woman aged 68 recalled what she had heard about her as a child: 'pale green skin, green teeth, very long green locks of hair, long green fingers with long nails, and she was very thin with a pointed chin and very big eyes.' Another informant, however, said Ginny 'had no known form, due to the fact that she never appeared above the surface of the pond.' She was especially associated with stagnant water deceptively covered with thick algae or duckweed; in fact, to some, 'Jenny Greenteeth' was simply a name for duckweed itself, and the horror consisted in the way this weed would close over anything that fell in.

Jenny Greenteeth is a figure in English folklore . A river hag , similar to Peg Powler or a grindylow , she would pull children or the elderly into the water and drown them. She was often described as green-skinned, with long hair, and sharp teeth. She is called Jinny Greenteeth in Lancashire , but in Cheshire and Shropshire she is called Ginny Greenteeth, Jeannie Greenteeth, Wicked Jenny, or Peg o' Nell.

She is likely to have been an invention to frighten children from dangerous waters similar to the Slavic Rusalka , the Kappa in Japanese mythology, or Australia's Bunyip , but other folklorists have seen her as a memory of sacrificial practices.

A similar figure in Jamaican folklore is called the River Mumma (River Mother). She is said to live at the fountainhead of large rivers in Jamaica sitting on top of a rock, combing her long black hair with a gold comb. She usually appears at midday and she disappears if she observes anyone approaching. However, if an intruder sees her first and their eyes meet, terrible things will happen to the intruder.

The name is also used to describe pondweed or duckweed , which can form a continuous mat over the surface of a small body of water, making it misleading and potentially treacherous, especially to unwary children. With this meaning the name is common around Liverpool and south west Lancashire.

In popular culture

Jenny Greenteeth inspired the lake monster (Meg Mucklebones) in the 1985 Ridley Scott fantasy film Legend .^

Jenny Green Teeth (note the words are separated) is the title character in a book of short stories, Jenny Green Teeth and Other Short Stories (Palmerston North: Totem Press, 2003.

ISBN 0-9582446-3-4 ). by New Zealand-born English writer and Scholar Joel Havward . 141

Jenny Green Teeth is also the main subject of a poem , "Welsh Maiden," by Joel Hayward in his collection, Lifeblood: A Book of Poems (Palmerston North: Totem Press, 2003. ISBN 0-

9582446-1-8 ).^

Jenny Greenteeth was mentioned in the book The Land of the Silver Apples , by Nancy

Farmer.

Jenny Greenteeth made an appearance in the Hellboy short story Hellboy: The Corpse . She also made an appearance in English novelist Terry Pratchett 's 2003 The Wee Free Men as well as Christopher Golden 's 2006 The Myth Hunters .

Jenny Greenteeth is one of the leading characters in London Falling , a short story in 2000 AD .

The English comedian Dave Spikey mentions Jenny Greenteeth in his stand up act though he was told she would come up through the cracks in the pavement and suck out their bone marrow if you stayed out after dark.

Jenny Greenteeth makes an appearance in the fictional children's story "Nellie Longarms will get you if you don't watch out". M

Jenny Greenteeth features as one of the mythical animated creatures in 'Rumpus Mansion', a haunted house attraction at the Isle of Wight theme park, Blackgang Chine.

In Jim Butcher's Dresden Files , Jenny Greenteeth appears in the form of a beautiful young woman, the handmaiden of Maeve , Winter Lady and youngest of the Unseelie Queens of

Faerie.

The first issue of the comic book anthology PopGun contains a story called "Jenny

Greenteeth" by Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix . m

Jenny Greenteeth is Monster in My Pocket #108.

Jenny Greenteeth is referred to in the Torchwood novel "Something In The Water" by Trevor

Baxendale (BBC Books / Ebury Press) along with other ideas about the Water Hags.

Jenny Greenteeth appears as a character in Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. She is part of the

Dark Faery Court.

Ginny Greenteeth and Jenny Greenteeth are words for persons in Scribblenauts one can spawn.

Ginny Greenteeth, also known as 'The Witch', is a character in Gerald Brom 's The Child Thief

Ginny Greenteeth is also the dark ambient cassette collage recording project of New Jersey musician Mike Bruno, known for his acoustic folk ventures.^

Greenteeth is a basis for the song by Noel Street.

Jenny Green Teeth is also a song by a band named The Mustard Men.

In the novelette "Water Babies" by Simon Brown , Jenny Greenteeth is mentioned as being one of many names for a child-snatching water-demon. In the novella, an Australian police officer investigates a series of drownings that turn out to be predatory attacks by a seal-like creature.

'Jenny Greenteeth' was the name of a band in the early 1990s featuring legends of the Vancouver music scene: Ivan Drury (vocals), Happy Kreter (guitars, bass, vocals - formerly of Gob) and 'Space Jeff Johnston (drums - formerly of the Super Chevy Novas) Jinny Greenteeth was the name of a fictional character in DC comics 201 1 crossover title Flashpoint , working alongside characters such as Godiva and Etrigan the Demon to free the British Isles from Amazonian occupation.

Rona Greenteeth, from the MMO World of Warcraft , has a camp in the forest of Darkmoon Island and sells food made from humans as well as other playable races. Jenny Greenteeth is a whimsical once-upon-a-time story about a lonely old water witch who lives down by Lake Ontario in the Beaches area of Toronto. Regretting her lost youth when she used to braid flowers into her hair and teach the local children to swim, she has turned into a hideous hag with green slimy teeth and mean ways. The tricks she plays on the children have made her the terror of the neighbourhood, and the mayor has ordered her capture. But the policeman and the cadets are too scared, and the fire dog succumbs to a juicy bone tossed out by the wily Jenny. Then along comes young David Smith, the new kid in town, with a secret weapon guaranteed to rid the Beaches of Jenny forever. And just what is this miracle? Well, would you believe toothpaste? Yes indeedy, once poor old Jenny takes a squint in her cracked looking-glass and sees that her pearly whites are no longer covered in green slime, she turns over a new leaf, braids her scraggly tresses, smiles broadly at everyone and becomes coach of the Beaches Water Witches swim team.

Children in grades 2 and 3 will likely enjoy this easy-to-read farce so full of local colour, but the toothpaste device seems oddly out of place. It is not easy to introduce contemporary realism into a traditional storyline bearing elements of fantasy, and Downie, who is better known for her work in poetry and history, just does not seem to have mastered the knack. Barbara Reid's black-and-white drawings are attractive and plentiful. In fact, they almost tell the whole story alone.

Jenny Greenteeth is a well known figure that is part of the English folklore. The tradition says it lived in a river in Yorkshire, and that it was a very bad spirit of rivers.

The story tells that some time ago there was a family with a mother, a father, a son, a daughter and a grandmother who was crazy. The mother and children were engaged to collect the vegetables from the fields, the father took care of the wood, to check the traps and collecting any prey to take water from the well, and the grandmother had the task of tidying up the house and cook. During summer the family could get along without much trouble, but in winter the food was scarce and all went hungry.

One day the son asked why it was not possible to fish from the river to have more food and grandmother slapped him and replied that he was crazy and that nobody went into the river because here there was Jenny Greenteeth.

The boy asked who this Jenny Greenteeth was and grandmother laughed at the ignorance of the young man and told him it was a creature that seized and drown anyone looking into the river. Once caught the evil creature killed the poor unfortunates and ate all their meat to the bone. The young man laughed and denigrated her grandmother, who is even more angry and told him to be careful because Jenny Greenteeth was ready at all times. Its skin was completely green, long hair, razor-sharp teeth and very large eyes . Its favorites preys were the young people and children because more tender and tasty to eat.

The boy paid no attention to what her grandmother had told him and as the winter continued to advance and the food scarce, he decided to take care of everything. He took a net and went to the river in order to catch some fish. He remained for some time on the shore, but strangely did not see any fish pass so while he was searching the waters saw one stranded in some green algae. He tried to take it and pull it out of the water, but seemed anchored to the seabed, so he pulled harder and harder until he managed to detach the algae and the fish escaped. He looked at his hands and noticed that the algae were very strange. Looking better he find out that were no algae, but long green arms with long nails and that they were attached to a body under water. He also saw a grinning face and was pulled into the river where he drowned.

This is the legend that tells of Jenny Greenteeth, an evil that drives especially the children in the water to drown and then eat them. Elsewhere in England is also known by other names like Ginny, Jenny Wicked o'Nell or Peg. Its name is also used to identify a type of plant that can completely cover an entire pool of water and that makes it very dangerous, especially for children.

Still today, mothers tell their children the story of Jenny Greenteethto persuade them to stay away from rivers.

The moral of all Jenny Greenteeth stories is to stay away from rivers and lakes, and it is thought that she was the imagined creation of mothers who wanted to warn their children away from the water's edge with frightening tales. Her stories may have also derived from duckweed, an aqueous plant that wraps its tendrils around one's leg and traps them under water.

While most stories paint Jenny Greenteeth in morbid, unredeeming tones, some tales show a somewhat tender-albeit mislleading-side to the

Greentoothed Woman. In these accounts she uses her long bony arms to embrace her victims, stroking them with her sharp fingernails until they fall into a deep sleep whereupon she devours them. Sailors of the past called

Jenny Greenteeth the Sea Hag and believed that she sang as she neared her victims:

"Come into the water, love,

Dance beneath the waves,

Where dwell the bones of sailor-lads

Inside my saffron cave."

~S.E. Schlosser Upon hearing the sad melody, sailors had one last chance to turn back before she would strike. Sailors who disregarded the warning would never be seen again.

Superstitions regarding water have been passed down over centuries, and we may take part in some of these customs without even knowing their origins. For instance, throwing coins into a well in exchange for a wish resembles the custom begun thousands of years ago, when people tossed offerings into the wells to appease the gods and ensure the continuance of

the water. The Tweed River in Scotland was said to be subdued by one casting salt over its waters with nets. There is a tradition of decorating wells with pictures of flowers that may have Victorian origins, or may even trace back to the days of the Black Death. Some villages credited their escape to their sweet water, and to this day they dress their wells to protect it. There is no protection, though, against the wicked Greentoothed Woman once you are within her grasp. Like the tale of Jenny Greenteeth, all these superstitions are messages used by our ancestors to warn us against the danger of water.