The Legend of Igor’s Sunflower

When the nights grow long and mist rolls in, the wind moans through the window frames and bells ring mournfully in the gloom, that is when the old men gather in the taverns and tell their stories.  They tell of smugglers, of witches and evil men, of ghosts and strange happenings in the night.  But as the evening wears on, the drinks get low, the candles start to flicker and the fire dies back to just the glowing embers, the stories get fewer until, as sure as day becomes night, one of them will tell you of the Legend of Igor’s Sunflower.  The young men and women listen intently; they have heard the tale countless times but it still has an awful fascination for them; they don’t want to believe it but can’t be sure it isn’t true.  The old men say that not many have seen it; that it is alone on the Common and stands in solitude amongst thistles and stinging nettles that would come up to a man’s knee, but that those who do see it say it is a wonderful sight.  But then they will tell you never to seek it alone; if you do, you might experience a visitation by an elderly man wearing shorts and a woman with a hound.  Could it really exist?  Is it just a tale told in the night to frighten strangers or a figment of the old men’s imagination?  I had to know, and today my quest took me to the Common to see for myself.  I didn’t go alone; I wasn’t going to risk experiencing the vision of the man, woman and hound and after walking all around the Common I found this.  Is it Igor’s Sunflower?  Can it really exist?  The old men in the tavern will say that it does......