←  The Carpenter and the Oak Tree

William, the Carpenter, was very much in love with his wife, Mary. He wanted to give her the most desirable present any woman of that era could have, a magnificently carved and canopied oak bed. To create this he would need to buy a whole tree but ever since the terrible famines of 1316 and 1317 times had been hard in Leicester. He could only just afford to buy wood for the small items his few customers requested.

Although there were many trees in a hunting forest a few miles from the city they belonged to the king and anyone found cutting them down without permission would be guilty of treason. Even if he obtained permission to fell a tree the cost of transporting it to his workshop would have been beyond his means.

William remembered the large oak tree growing on Danes hill. If he felled this tree he could saw the timber into sections on site and fetch it back in his cart.

He decided to ignore tales of the Evil Black Anis and cut down the tree.