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''The doors were all bolted and the windows all pinned,

Long Lankin is a folk ballad about a bogeyman that lives on the edge of society in wild, desolate places and preys upon children. In this story, he lives out in East Anglia in the marshes outside the village of Bryers Guerdon. It's post-war Britain and when Cora's mother suffers a breakdown, she and her younger sister Mimi are sent to stay with their Auntie Ida in the manor house there. They don't know it - Auntie Ida does, though - but Long Lankin is attracted to young children.