|
Showing 1 - 8 of
8 matches in All Departments
Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross and listen to the tales of this
ancient county. Hear how a King and his knights were turned to
stone at the mysterious Rollright Stones; how Dragon Hill got its
name; take the Devil's Highway to the End of the World - if you
dare; or spend a night on the weird Ot Moor; listen in on the
Boar's Head Carol; walk the oldest trackway in Europe in the
footsteps of a Neolithic pilgrim; pause to try the Blowing Stone;
leave a coin for the enigmatic blacksmith to shoe your horse at
Wayland's Smithy; eavesdrop upon the Inklings in the Eagle and
Child; and meet that early fabulist, Geoffrey of Monmouth in the
city of dreaming spires. This collection will take you on an oral
tour across the county - on the way you'll meet gypsies,
highwaymen, cavaliers, a prime minister and a devilish mason.
'The frisky Oss appeared - the dancers and drummers in a kind of
shamanic trance (induced by a day of drumming, dancing and beer).
They were wilder than ever; the atmosphere was positively
Bacchanalian and I felt we had all become lost in a kind of
collective folk consciousness.' On two wheels across Britain 'Bard
on a Bike' Kevan Manwaring searches out the places and people who
mark the seasons and cycles in their own special way - in
ceremonies and festivals both private and public, large and
intimate, ancient and modern. Along the way, he experiences and
relates moments of sacred time found in the unlikeliest of places
and circumstances, showing how it is a state of mind that can be
experienced not only at sacred sites, but in the everyday. A
collection of reflections about being fully alive in the Twenty
First century, as much a useful guide for the curious, Turning the
Wheel is a wise and witty account of a leather-clad time-traveller.
Since Odysseus' curious crew first unleashed the bag of winds
gifted him by Aeolus, the God of Winds, literature has been awash
with tales of bad or strange weather. From the flood myths of
Babylon, the Mahabharata and the Bible, to twentieth-century
psychological storms, this foray into troubled waters, heat waves,
severe winters, hurricanes and hailstones, offers the perfect read
on a rainy day -- or night. Featuring a selection of some of the
finest writers in the English language -- Algernon Blackwood,
Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe and more
-- this collection of weird tales will delight and disturb.
Take a walk through this county in the heart of England in the
entertaining company of a local storyteller. Kevan Manwaring, born
and raised in Northampton, regales you with tales ancient and
modern. Learn how the farmer outwitted the bogle; how a Queen who
lost her head; the Great Fire of Northampton; and the last
execution of witches in England. Along the way you will meet
incredible characters from history and myth: Boudicca, St Patrick,
Robin Hood and Hereward the Wake, Captain Slash, Dionysia the
female knight, beasts and angels, cobblers and kings. From fairies
to wolves, these illustrated tales are ideal to be read out loud or
used as a source book for your own performances. Northamptonshire
Folk Tales is a great companion for any visit to the area, for
fascinating days out and for discovering exciting treasures on your
doorstep. The 'Rose of the Shires' will open before you!
A ballad is a poem or a song that tells a popular story and many
traditional British ballads contain fascinating stories - tales of
love and jealousy, murder and mystery, the supernatural and the
historical. This anthology brings together nineteen original
retellings in short story form, written by some of the country's
most accomplished storytellers, singers and wordsmiths. Here you
will find tales of cross-dressing heroines, lusty pirates, vengeful
fairy queens, mobsters and monsters, mermaids and starmen - stories
that dance with the form and flavour of these narrative folk songs
in daring and delightful ways. Richly illustrated, these enchanting
tales will appeal to lovers of folk music, storytelling and
rattling good yarns.
Author of The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien, talked of 'desiring dragons';
that he would prefer 'a wilderness of dragons' to the bleak
territory of the unimaginative critic. The genre of Fantasy
(including Science Fiction and its various sub-genres in TV, film
& computer games) has never been more popular. This book seeks
to examine why this might be and why so many are tempted to write
Fantasy fiction. Tolkien suggested how 'consolation' is an
important criteria of the Fairy Tale: we look at how writing
Fantasy can be consoling in itself, as well as a portal to
Fantastic Realms for the reader. Along the way famous dragons of
myth, legend and fiction will be encountered - from Grendel to
Smaug. The riddles of dragons will be tackled and their hoard
unlocked.
|
|