Tales of the Mist - The Girl in the Cabbage Tree

Tales of the Mist was an 80s series for children that dramatised six folk stories by writer Anthony Holcroft. Narrated as a bedtime story, and imbued with animism (the belief that things in the natural world posses a ‘spirit’) each story features an otherwordly encounter. Girl in the Cabbage Tree sees a lonely farmer (Russell Smith) discover a young woman in a giant ti kouka. They marry but she remains a mystery; when she disappears he learns a lesson of freedom and love. The show was directed by NZ kids TV veteran Kim Gabara (Woolly Valley, Count Homogenized).

Why don’t you sleep lying down like ordinary people?

– Charlie (Russell Smith)

Key Cast & Crew

Kim Gabara

Producer

Russell Smith

As: Charlie

Kristen Gillespie

As: Nereda

Murray Wood

Composer

Geoff Clements

Camera

Chris Stanbury

Camera