Library Services
A magical collection of myths and legends featuring witches, wizards, and sorcerers, the most iconic figures in fantasy writing. The supernatural figure of the sorcerer, a man or woman with magic powers for both good and evil, features in storytelling and legends all over the world. Wicked witches and revered wizards have appeared in fairy tales, legends and myths for thousands of years and continue to inspire contemporary fantasy writers. This lively collection brings together ancient stories and famous myths from a range of cultures and eras each carefully chosen and each by a different writer. Some of the nineteen stories come from well-known names such as Irish poet W. B. Yeats, Andrew Lang, and the Brothers Grimm, as well as some intriguing new discoveries from Poland, Russia, India, and many more.
Dragons, wyverns, and serpents inspire awe and wonder on every page of this riveting collection of myths and legends. We've all grown up with stories of magical dragons and mythical winged creatures. This thoroughly entertaining collection of stories draws on such tales from all over the world--from ancient Greece, Egypt and fourteenth-century China to France, Estonia, Ireland, Wales and beyond. Many tales relate stories of bravery and ingenuity against a seemingly indomitable and terrifying creature. There's George and the dragon from England and the famous Norse Myth of Fafnir. Some (but not many!) creatures are benevolent, for example, the sea serpent in the Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Soldier. Each retelling contributes to a fascinating and lively overview of how myriad mythical creatures are represented through time and across the globe.
This comprehensive collection of folk hero tales builds on the success of the first edition by providing readers with expanded contextual information on story characters from the Americas to Zanzibar. Despite the tremendous differences between cultures and ethnicities across the world, all of them have folk heroes and heroines--real and imagined--that have been represented in tales, legends, songs, and verse. These stories persist through time and space, over generations, even through migrations to new countries and languages. This encyclopedia is a one-stop source for broad coverage of the world's folk hero tales. Geared toward high school and early college readers, the book opens with an overview of folk heroes and heroines that provides invaluable context and then presents a chronology. The book is divided into two main sections: the first provides entries on the major types and themes; the second addresses specific folk tale characters organized by continent with folk hero entries organized alphabetically. Each entry provides cross references as well as a list of further readings. Continent sections include a bibliography for additional research. The book concludes with an alphabetical list of heroes and an index of hero types.
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is a previously unpublished work by J.R.R. Tolkien, written while Tolkien was Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford during the 1920s and '30s, before he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It makes available for the first time Tolkien's extensive retelling in English narrative verse of the epic Norse tales of Sigurd the Völsung and The Fall of the Niflungs.It includes an introduction by J.R.R. Tolkien, drawn from one of his own lectures on Norse literature, with commentary and notes on the poems by Christopher Tolkien.
The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red's Saga contain the first ever descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik's son Leif the Lucky's perilous voyages to explore it. Wrecked by storms, stricken by disease and plagued by navigational mishaps, some survived the North Atlantic to pass down this compelling tale of the first Europeans to talk with, trade with, and war with the Native Americans.
In this book, Ronald Hutton brings his wealth of unusual knowledge on Paganism, myth, and ritual to the reader. Hutton is known for having a deep and sympathetic understanding of past and present beliefs that are often dismissed, and an ability to write lucidly and wittily. Witches, Druids, and King Arthur has a unique and accessible flavor and covers elegantly and entertainingly a wide range of beliefs, myths and practices and their place in history.
Those of us who grow up with the stories from myth and legend are left feeling enriched and enthused by character, by deeds of heroism and by emotions engendered by great national heritage. If the stories are faded by time, even embellished by the countless retelling, it does not seem to matter for we seem gratified that history is so diverse and entertaining.
In this volume the author not only investigates the stories behind some of the great myths, legends and real stories but places each within its context to the extent that we are able to distinguish the true elements and separate them from pure fable, are able to learn of lifestyles and other exploits, and truly place the characters within their world, using their weapons, fighting their battles, exercising their power or contesting for good or evil in their world.
Researched with illustrations from diverse sources, and written in a style that will suit historians as well as the newcomer to the subject, this volume will educate and inform but will principally enthuse; the reader will surely be encouraged to begin, or continue, the search for the great personalities of historical myth and reality.