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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Myths & mythology
From Alice Hemming, the bestselling author of The Midnight Unicorn,
comes an exciting unicorn fairytale in the Dark Unicorns series. If
you thought you'd heard every fairy tale, then think again... Long
ago, a cruel winter plagued the land and people started to
mysteriously disappear. A girl called Violet heard all the stories
and the rumours that an evil unicorn was behind it all. Years
later, when a terrible winter descends once more. Violet's True
Love, Nicolas, goes missing. Realising that the old stories must be
true, Violet embarks on a risky journey to the far North, not only
leaving behind her home but her family and wealth too. The journey
will push her to her limits, yet she will also find help,
friendship and comfort in the most unlikely places. And one thing
is for sure: Nicolas is out there and he needs Violet's help. But
how long will he survive in the bitter cold of winter? Enchanting
dark fairy tales with magical unicorns, fearsome villains and
inspiring heroines Perfect for fans of Skandar and the Unicorn
Thief Great for people who love fairy tales, Disney and unicorns
DARK UNICORNS - COLLECT THEM ALL! The Midnight Unicorn Paperback
eBook The Darkest Unicorn Paperback eBook The Cursed Unicorn
Paperback eBook The Blazing Unicorn Paperback eBook The Frozen
Unicorn Paperback eBook
An illuminating look at Native origins and lifeways, a treasure for
all who value Native wisdom and the stories that keep it alive.
Despite being located on the extreme eastern boundary of Europe,
and having been frequently conquered by invading people from Asia,
including Arabs, Turks, Persians, Mongols, and more recently
Russians, Georgians still regard themselves very much as Europeans
and it is to becoming a future member state of the EU that the
majority of the people now aspire. As for the traditional
folk-tales from the region, one of their main characteristics is
that they are packed with action: Whilst a written, 'literary'
novel or short story might devote paragraphs to descriptions of
people or places, these tales usually settle for an adjective or
two; 'a thick impassable forest', 'a handsome stately man', or a
formula such as 'not-seen-beneath-the-sun beauty'. Many of the
heroes and heroines do not even have names (Hunt, 1999, p.8).
Safely cocooned, or so we like to kid ourselves, in our sanitised
western urban environment, we tend to take the elements for
granted. However, tales from a time when the Earth was new help to
jolt us out of our daily lethargy, as do the stories in this
collection - a number of which have never been translated from
Georgian direct into English before.
First published in 1996. The need to write, particularly in
pre-technological recording days, in order to preserve and to
analyze, lies at the heart of folklore and yet to write means to
change the medium in which much folk communication and art actually
took and takes place. In Part I of the collection, the contributors
address literary constructions of traditional and emergent
cultures, those of Leslie Marmon Silko, Sandra Cisneros, Pat Mora,
Carmen Tafolla, Julio Cortazar, Milan Kundera, Franz Kafka, Philip
Roth, Thomas Hardy, and Dacia Maraini. The contributors to Part II
of the collection offer readings of a variety of traditional,
vernacular, and local performances.
Trying to understand the wonders and mysteries of the natural world
has been a human preoccupation since the earliest times. Myriad
myths and legends have subsequently evolved to explain the
existence and power of our fertile planet. At the same time, the
knowledge of which plants to use as essential foods, remedies, and
for construction was of obvious importance, not only to learn but
also to pass on and remember. It is therefore hardly surprising
that from all corners of the globe a wealth of stories, myths and
legends about plants has been passed down to us, gathered together
in this fascinating volume. Here you will discover sound principles
in some of the traditional advice, and wisdom in many of the
observations of the plant world. However there are also highly
fanciful superstitions, intriguing tales and amusing anecdotes,
which any plant lover will truly relish. Discover which trees are
believed to have healing powers? How, in legend, the white rose
turn red? Why the lily is a symbol of purity? Any why is it
considered unlucky to bring some flowers indoors?
Between 1651 and 1740 hundreds of fables, fable collections, and
biographies of the ancient Greek slave Aesop were published in
England. In The English Fable, Jayne Elizabeth Lewis describes the
national obsession with Aesop's fables during this period as both a
figural response to sociopolitical crises, and an antidote to
emerging anxieties about authorship. Lewis traces the role that
fable collections, Augustan fable theory, and debates about the
figure of Aesop played in the formation of a modern, literate, and
self-consciously English culture, and shows how three Augustan
writers - John Dryden, Anne Finch, and John Gay - experimented with
the seemingly marginal symbolic form of fable to gain access to new
centres of English culture. Often interpreted as a discourse of the
dispossessed, the fable in fact offered Augustan writers access to
a unique form of cultural authority.
This books explores varying conceptions of the Nightmare hag, mara,
in Scandinavian folk belief. What began as observations of some
startling narratives preserved in folklore archives where sex,
violence and curses are recurring themes gradually led to questions
as to how rural people envisaged good and evil, illness and health,
and cause and effect. At closer reading, narratives about the mara
character involve existential themes, as well as comments on gender
and social hierarchy. This monograph analyses how this female
creature was conceived of in oral literature and everyday ritual
practice in pre-industrial Scandinavia, and what role she played in
a larger pattern of belief in witchcraft and magic.
In a magisterial work, Jaan Puhvel unravels the prehistoric
Indo-Euopean origins of the traditions of India and Iran, Greece
and Rome, of the Celts, Germans, Balts, and Slavs. Utilizing the
methodologies of historical linguistics and archaeology, he
reconstructs a shared religious, mytholoigcal, and cultural
heritage. Separate chapters on individual traditions as well as on
recurrent thees-god and warrior, king and virgin, fire and
water-give life to Comparative Mythology as both a general
introduction and a detaled reference.
This is the history of the development through the ages of Plato's
"Atlantis" story - the imperialist island state that disappeared in
a cataclysm, leaving Athens to survive it...Instead of simply
focusing on the various attempts to 'find' Atlantis - all of which
are futile for the very good reason that Plato made the island up -
the author re-examines the very different uses made of the myth in
different contexts and periods. He shows how Plato's myth was
reinterpreted in the medieval period and after through conflation
with the search for the lost tribes of Israel; how it became
involved with the debate about whether Europe should look back to
its origins in the Classical or Biblical worlds; how the myth was
reinterpreted with a more geographical emphasis following Columbus'
discovery of America; and how it was used in the "Enlightenment" to
add colour to nationalist attempts to claim antiquity by finding
unrecognised origins. Written in a clear and interesting way,
Pierre Vidal-Naquet's original ideas rest on deep knowledge
supported by primary references and illustrations.
This book is an ambitious and wide-ranging social and cultural
history of gender relations among indigenous peoples of New Spain,
from the Spanish conquest through the first half of the eighteenth
century. In this expansive account, Lisa Sousa focuses on four
native groups in highland Mexico-the Nahua, Mixtec, Zapotec, and
Mixe-and traces cross-cultural similarities and differences in the
roles and status attributed to women in prehispanic and colonial
Mesoamerica. Sousa intricately renders the full complexity of
women's life experiences in the household and community, from the
significance of their names, age, and social standing, to their
identities, ethnicities, family, dress, work, roles, sexuality,
acts of resistance, and relationships with men and other women.
Drawing on a rich collection of archival, textual, and pictorial
sources, she traces the shifts in women's economic, political, and
social standing to evaluate the influence of Spanish ideologies on
native attitudes and practices around sex and gender in the first
several generations after contact. Though catastrophic
depopulation, economic pressures, and the imposition of
Christianity slowly eroded indigenous women's status following the
Spanish conquest, Sousa argues that gender relations nevertheless
remained more complementary than patriarchal, with women
maintaining a unique position across the first two centuries of
colonial rule.
Greek myths are among the most complex and influential stories ever
told. From the first millennium BC until today, the myths have been
repeated in an inexhaustible series of variations and
reinterpretations. They can be found in the latest movies and
television shows and in software for interactive computer games.
This book combines a retelling of Greek myths with a comprehensive
account of the world in which they developed their themes, their
relevance to Greek religion and society, and their relationship to
the landscape. "Contexts, Sources, Meanings" describes the main
literary and artistic sources for Greek myths, and their contexts,
such as ritual and theater. "Myths of Origin" includes stories
about the beginning of the cosmos, the origins of the gods, the
first humans, and the founding of communities. "The Olympians:
Power, Honor, Sexuality" examines the activities of all the main
divinities. "Heroic exploits" concentrates on the adventures of
Perseus, Jason, Herakles, and other heroes. "Family sagas" explores
the dramas and catastrophes that befall heroes and heroines. "A
Landscape of Myths" sets the stories within the context of the
mountains, caves, seas, and rivers of Greece, Crete, Troy, and the
Underworld. "Greek Myths after the Greeks" describes the rich
tradition of retelling, from the Romans, through the Renaissance,
to the twenty-first century.
Complemented by lavish illustrations, genealogical tables, box
features, and specially commissioned drawings, this will be an
essential book for anyone interested in these classic tales and in
the world of the ancient Greeks."
For almost 3,000 years apocalypse prophecies have convinced people
all over the world that the future is about to give them the world
they want instead of the world they've got. All the end time
prophecies splashed across the media in every age have had
something else in common: every one of them has been wrong.
"Apocalypse Not" is a lively and engaging survey of predictions
about the end of the world, along with the failed dreams and
nightmares that have clustered around them. Among the stories
highlighted in "Apocalypse Not" are: the birth of the apocalypse
meme out of archaic star myths in the ancient Middle East; the
failed end time prophecies of Nostradamus, Mother Shipton, and
other famous prophets; the long and murky road from the Great
Pyramid to today's Rapture beliefs; and the real origins of the
belief in apocalypse in 2012 (hint: it's not originally Mayan at
all).
These stories come from a variety of Southwestern states - as well
as Latin America - and demonstrate how the magical world of
witchcraft and the supernatural connects Spain to Latin America,
and Latin America to North America. This rich tradition of
supernatural tales illuminates an unexplored aspect of the American
Southwest's Hispanic heritage. The collection also includes
biographical information on the narrators and a glossary
highlighting the regional Spanish dialect of northern New Mexico
and southern Colorado, USA.
A scholarly work that aims to be both broad enough in scope to
satisfy upper-division undergraduates studying folk belief and
narrative and detailed enough to meet the needs of graduate
students in the field. Each of the seven chapters in Part 1 focuses
on one aspect of Russian folk belief, such as the pagan background,
Christian personages, devils and various other logical categories
of the topic. The author's thesis - that Russian folk belief
represents a "double faith" whereby Slavic pagan beliefs are
overlaid with popular Christianity - is persuasive and has
analogies in other cultures. The folk narratives constituting Part
2 are translated and include a wide range of tales, from the
briefly anecdotal to the more fully developed narrative, covering
the various folk personages and motifs explored in Part 1.
The Medusa Reader is the first major anthology of primary and critical material on this enigmatic figure, a symbol of all that is irresistible, fascinating and terrifying. Ranging from classical times to pop culture, this collection will appeal to art historians, feminists, classicists, cultural critics and anyone interested in mythology.
For centuries, unicorns have inspired, enchanted and eluded
humanity. The beast appears in the Old Testament and there was a
brisk trade in unicorn parts in medieval times, with travellers
regularly reporting sightings into the modern era. But by the early
twentieth century scientists had conceded that the unicorn never
existed. It turns out they were a little hasty. Where did the
unicorn come from, and how was it accepted as a part of the animal
kingdom for so long? Chris Lavers argues that although the unicorn
of our imagination isn't real, traces of its character can be found
in existing species. In this lively and vivid exploration of the
natural world, Lavers follows the beast's trail to the plateaus of
India and into the jungles of Africa to unearth the flesh and blood
ancestors of our iconic unicorn.
The sagas of the ancient Narts are to the Caucasus what Greek
mythology is to Western civilization. This book presents, for the
first time in the West, a wide selection of these fascinating myths
preserved among four related peoples whose ancient cultures today
survive by a thread. In ninety-two straightforward tales populated
by extraordinary characters and exploits, by giants who humble
haughty Narts, by horses and sorceresses, Nart Sagas from the
Caucasus brings these cultures to life in a powerful epos. In these
colorful tales, women, not least the beautiful temptress Satanaya,
the mother of all Narts, are not only fertility figures but also
pillars of authority and wisdom. In one variation on a recurring
theme, a shepherd, overcome with passion on observing Satanaya
bathing alone, shoots a "bolt of lust" that strikes a rock--a rock
that gives birth to the Achilles-like Sawseruquo, or Sosruquo. With
steely skin but tender knees, Sawseruquo is a man the Narts come to
love and hate. Despite a tragic history, the Circassians, Abazas,
Abkhaz, and Ubykhs have retained the Nart sagas as a living
tradition. The memory of their elaborate warrior culture, so richly
expressed by these tales, helped them resist Tsarist imperialism in
the nineteenth century, Stalinist suppression in the twentieth, and
has bolstered their ongoing cultural journey into the post-Soviet
future. Because these peoples were at the crossroads of Eurasia for
millennia, their myths exhibit striking parallels with the lore of
ancient India, classical Greece, and pagan Scandinavia. The Nart
sagas may also have formed a crucial component of the Arthurian
cycle. Notes after each tale reveal these parallels; an appendix
offers extensive linguistic commentary. With this book, no longer
will the analysis of ancient Eurasian myth be possible without a
close look at the Nart sagas. And no longer will the lover of myth
be satisfied without the pleasure of having read them. Excerpts
from the Nart sagas "The Narts were a tribe of heroes. They were
huge, tall people, and their horses were also exuberant Alyps or
Durduls. They were wealthy, and they also had a state. That is how
the Narts lived their lives..." "The Narts were courageous,
energetic, bold, and good-hearted. Thus they lived until God sent
down a small swallow..." "The Narts were very cruel to one another.
They were envious of one another. They disputed among themselves
over who was the most courageous. But most of all they hated
Sosruquo...A rock gave birth to him. He is the son of a rock,
illegally born a mere shepherd's son..." In a new introduction,
folklorist Adrienne Mayor reflects on these tales both in terms of
the fascinating warrior culture they depict and the influence they
had on Greco-Roman mythology.
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