For the most part, such stories gave parents a bogeyman they could use to scare their young away from the dangers of deep water, for like fire, there is something alluring about water. There’s also a part of me, perhaps a more cynical part, that sees these stories as something else; our loss of connection to these wild spaces.

Folklore and stories can be interpreted in so many ways, the threads woven together in many wondrous and varied colours to form huge tapestries and tales of wonder and that is one part of their beauty and allure. Another is their call to action, for that is what they also are.