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derivation of the word might, because of the mysterious and sudden appearance of the mushroom, look upon its coming as a kind of miracle, a word which in common usage might well become “merkle."
When 1 could find no solid support for this theory, I carried my study further to the conclusion, sustained by the Oxford Dictionary, that “morchel”, the Teutonic word for morel, somehow was transported to Rappahannock County, and at some point changed to “merkle.”
Distracted by the appearance of wood violets, blood root, and the stalks and drooping leaves of Mayapples, and the buds on cherry trees, signs of Spring I had known in Minnesota, I was not alert to the fact that the time of the merkles had come, until one Sunday morning in April of 1980 I noted a few cars stopping at unusual places along Route 618, and persons, alone or in pairs, slipping out of the cars and then into the woods, some in their best Sunday clothes, evidently just come from church. I concluded that the merkle waits for no man or woman nor for a change of clothes, nor does it respect the Sabbath.
For hours I waited patiently for the merkle seekers, for I assumed that this is what they must be, to emerge from the woods and drive off in their cars.
Then I, in early afternoon, entered the woods, expecting at best to find merkles in great profusion, not unlike the Biblical “manna from heaven," or at worst, in scattered numbers for gleaning.
No such luck. I did not find a single merkle. I tried again the next morning, with no success, and concluded that for that year the merkle season was over, and that I must be more alert, and better informed before the next season came around. I had, I concluded, been over-confident and taken the merkle for granted.
Well in advance of the 1981 merkle time, I began to make more subtle inquiries about the ways of the merkle.
When?
“What was the best time to find them?” I asked whenever I found anyone with an interest in merkles. There was almost unanimous opinion that the best time was early April, on a warm clear morning, following a day or two of rain, and before the trees had begun to bud.
There was less than unanimous agreement as to just where one might find the merkles. Some said that the south side of a ridge was best. Others said the north
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