ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on ‘flights of fancy’, learning to fly with our imagination. The imagination needs a boost, in order to explore and improvise. The metaphor of a shield is very important in our play work and in all our work with young children and vulnerable people. The word shield first appeared in about 1450 and it has Icelandic and Nordic roots. Gods in many belief systems are meant to be a shield and protect mortals from dark influences or temptation or the devil. Modern riot police wear protective clothing and carry an enormous shield and truncheon and beat out rhythm as they group to charge a crowd. There are many important shields in myth and history and certainly the ancient Greeks would pass down their war shields from father to son. Hephaestus is the only Greek god with a disability. He becomes a craftsman and metalworker and spends a lot of time forging swords and shields.
