"There will never be any peace on this earth until we all learn to live, work and think together.” -Jens Jensen
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Jens Jensen’s Council Ring is an important design motif in Prairie Prose, Harvest Dreams, Prairie Fairies, and Princess on the Prairie, in which this ‘magic circle’ becomes part of the rhythm of play.
Jens Jensen’s Council Ring at The Clearing in Door County, Wisconsin.
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Jensen experimented with the council ring design on his nearby property in Highland Park, on Dean Street where he lived until retiring in Door County, Wisconsin. The council ring was made of natural rocks, assembled in the shape of a circle with a small opening for people to enter it. He hoped people would use the rings as an outdoor room for storytelling, conversations, singing, dancing, performing, and enjoying each other’s company. There was a place in the center to kindle a fire, like the Native American Indians and Norse Vikings of long ago.
Prairie Fairies Cooperative Game Set: Jensen orchestrated fairy festivals, theatrical pageants in the local parks, and dramatic masks in the woods to help save the environment.
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Working with the shape of a circle was important instead of a rectangle, where there could not be any single person at the head of a table, like the knights of King’s Arthur’s roundtable in the legend of Camelot. All people were equal, sitting next to one another, arm‐and‐arm, as one group united in friendship. We are all part of the human family - there is no separation, we are all connected as one.
Players enjoy gathering fairy costumes for the Prairie Fairies, inspired by Carl Sandburg’s children story published in 1922 called “How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See ’Em”: “All corn fairies wear overalls. They work hard, the corn fairies, and they are proud. The reason they are proud is because they work so hard. And the reason they work so hard is because they have overalls.”
Prairie Prose, Harvest Dreams, Prairie Fairies, and Princess on the Prairie are available to enjoy from Marigold Games.
