Long-Imagined Fairy Tale Offers Timeless Lessons
For nearly 50 years, a story sat with Sarah Clayton —waiting for its moment.
She first imagined Duncan of Pigweed Manor in her early 20s, driving the backroads of Caroline County as a young reporter when a single phrase arrived unbidden: “Duncan of Pigweed Manor … it just popped into my head.” Five decades, three sons, and several careers later, that spark has finally become a finished book, thanks to a collaboration that blends local lives, lifelong experience and a distinctly Rockbridge County ethic: “figure it out.”
Clayton, now 73, calls the book “fairy tale and fable … and there’s another thing in there —it’s got all those characteristics of teaching something put in a fairy tale context.”
Its hero, 10-year-old Duncan, begins the story under a spell cast by the witch Ogwen, unaware that his home and animal companions are enchanted.
When Duncan learns he must travel to “The Land Beyond the Rising Sun” to break the spell, his kindly mentor —Reuben the Bear — prepares him only as far as time allows. Reuben dies before the task is complete, leaving Duncan with the guidance Clayton believes is essential for any child, or adult, coming of age: learn from everyone you meet, stay calm in fear, and “when you get in a tight spot, don’t panic. Figure it out.”
“I used to just say to my sons, ‘figure it out,’” Clayton said. “Don’t panic. The minute you start panicking, you’re lost.”
That theme runs through every stage of the book’s creation. Clayton drafted the earliest version while raising young children and freelancing
