Blake's Mythology Blog

Angiola and the Prince (Source) The first story is called “Zelinda and the Monster” and is the retelling of “Beauty and the Beast.” It follows the exact same storyline, although set in Italy, apparently, there is no evil man that is also competing for the beautiful young woman’s attention. The next is titled “The Fair Angiola.”  We may be more familiar with it as the story of Rapunzel, for it follows the exact same storyline, essentially.  Angiola seems to be a very good girl though, while her mother and her sisters all bring about the problems on their own, simply because they wanted jujube fruit.  I researched them, and they do not sound good, so I don’t know what their problem was.  Luckily, everyone lived happily ever after. The next story was a delightful tale of the devil, who decides that it is high time he should marry a young woman.  He builds a wonderful house on top of a portal to Hell, and through his trickery, convinces two of three sisters...

There once was a very happy traveler who had just gone to visit his parents in a far-off province.  He had spent about a week there, a happy time, and was cheerfully returning to his wife and children who were awaiting him at home.  To further bolster his spirits, the weather looked absolutely beautiful.  The sun was shining, but not too harsh, and with the slightly chilly air he felt completely comfortable with his jacket wrapped around his shoulders. While he walked, he marveled at the beautiful scenery around him and listened to the humming of the insects and the sweet singing of the birds.  Before he had departed, his dear mother had given him a heavy travelling coat that she said would be sure to protect him from the rain, cold, and anything else he encountered.  He thanked her at the time but now it looked like her gift would not be required.  He carried on walking, whistling as he went. The harder the wind blew, the tighter the man wrapped his ...

New Holland on an old globe (Source) This Wikipedia adventure began as I encountered the phrase "New Holland" referencing a strange and unknown creature.  The only thing I could associate New Holland with was New Amsterdam (now known as New York) so I was quite confused as to what it could possibly refer to. New Holland  was actually the old name for Australia, called that way because the Dutch were actually the first discover and really map it out, not counting the Aborigines, unfortunately.  Referring to the island as New Holland was actually quite common for many years, with that denomination sticking until well into the 19th century. Australia actually got its real name from the latin phrase " Terra Australis Incognita" which simply means unknown southern land.  It was a proposed landmass in the southern hemisphere that would balance out the excess of land in the northern hemisphere.  A kind of unknown land was actually drawn onto many older world map...

Little mice must always beware of cats- even if they are asleep (Image Source) These stories are more retellings of the classics of Aesop's Fables, as translated from the French poetry into English verse. In the first poem, a brave young mouse goes out by himself to explore the world a bit.  From his sheltered and naive perspective, he comes across two different creatures, one of them harsh and terrifying and the other soft and gentle.  The scary one had great arms that beat and changed the wind, and a sharp mouth that looked as if it could pierce the heart of the poor little mouse in one strike.  It had scaly, clawed feat with fearful talons, and a great red chunk of what looked like raw meat hanging from its head.  Mouse ran as fast as he could from the frightful creature until he came upon another one, sleeping.  It was smooth and soft, with gentle curves and covered in sleek fur.  It was warm and had small paws that did not seem threatening at all ...

These stories are taken from the English translation of a French poetic retelling of the famous Aesop's fables. The first one is the Tortoise and the Hare, then followed by the Ass and the Lion's Skin.  This story is a quick little tale about how it matters what is on the inside, not outside that counts.  Although the donkey was able to scare the other creatures, once he was found out, he could do nothing. The next story is called The Frog in the Bog, and it is about a frog who sees a large ox and becomes jealous of his size.  He resolves to puff himself up, breath by breath, until he explodes.  Lesson learned: don't try to be something you're not. The next story (all of these are titled "Foolish Animals")  is about a dog with a bone in his mouth who sees in the reflection of the river another dog with a bone.  He jumps in and nearly drowns, losing his bone in the process.  Lesson learned here: be happy with what you have Next we have the country m...

 Richard More was a bright and inquisitive young boy.  While his siblings and masters worked busily to cook and hunt, cut trees and dig holes, Richard busied himself in exploring the new land outside the fort.  His older brother Jasper and his mother often cautioned him about the wolves and the Indians, but John took no notice of their warnings.  As his master, John Carver was governor of the new colony, he was often preoccupied with other matters, and was unable to pay little attention to the wanderings of his young servant.  Richard liked running underneath the great blue sky and would often run for as far as his little legs could take him, while he just stared up at the clouds and the sun. Although he was only 6 years old when he and his family first arrived in the New World, Richard was very keen and often heard the adults talking in hushed voices while he was supposed to be sleeping.  They mostly talked about God and the rumors of the colony, so ...

Well, with a fresh round of fairy tales (quite literally in this case, they all have to do with actual fairies) we learn once again that if you have a good thing going with fairies (i.e. they are hooking you up with free money all the time) you do not spoil that by giving away their secret.  First a man named Robert Roberts (really?) kept digging up gold that the fairies hid for him, but after bragging to his friends about it he never found any more gold.  I guess he deserved that?  The other story was about a pretty girl who walked by herself quite often, and the fairies, seeing that she was alone and pretty decided to have compassion on her and so they put coins along her path.  She figured out that it was the fairies doing this, but after her mom found her gold stash and wanted to know where it was coming from, the little girl told her mother that it was the fairies.  Just like that, no more coins.  That's just what happens. Ok, the next story we have s...

 The first story is called "The Fairies of Caragonan" and has to do with the story of a sick old man and the fairies who cure him.  He has been "witched" by a witch and cannot find any cure until the curious daughter of a fairy queen sees him and entreats her mother to heal the poor man.  This she does, and the man helps to build a fairy circle for them.  It turns out that the fairies and the witch have had a long-standing dispute.  Neither had been able to prevail over the other, and so the fairy turned to the old man to help defeat the old witch. After building the fairy circle, the Queen fairy was able to spy on the witch and enlists the aid of a small boy.  They have a mirror that they set up in order to spy on the witch, but the boy is the one that has to use it.  They trick the witch into changing herself into a rabbit, which the boy chases and kills.  In return for his help, they bless the boy with a wealth of treasure. The next pages ...

Cormac Mac Art was once the king of all of Ireland.  He had a beautiful wife and two wonderful children, but they could no longer bring happiness to his heart.  His lands were great and rich, and brought forth great harvests every year, but this too failed to please him more than a moment.  He looked far and wide for a source of joy again in his life, taking up all manner of sciences and arts, sports and contests, but these all failed to lighten the burden that had settled over his heavy heart. One day, a minstrel came to the court of the king and sang a song that sparked hope in the king’s mind.  His gentle tune told the tale of a magical branch which could alleviate the sufferings of any man, woman or child.  If they were sick, a wave of the branch could alleviate their pain.  If they were sad, they could forget all about their trials and troubles.  King Cormac at once resolved to acquire this mystical balm and thanked the minstrel for his song....

The first story, called The Farmer of Liddesdale, gives a familiar tale of a man being tricked out of work and reward by a fairy-like creature that works and ploughs his whole field, then harvests everything perfectly, and tricks the farmer into taking all of his harvest.  The farmer prays and is blessed with seeing the trickster's bag break and his crops staying in his field.  It was strange. A field in Ireland (Source) The next story tells the tale of a small humpback, who, although ugly, sings sweetly and weaves beautiful baskets.  One day his beautiful singing impresses some fairies, who bless him by taking away his hump and transforming him into a handsome man.  When the townspeople hear about this, one of them becomes greedy and goes to sing the same song to the fairies, hoping for a similar reward.  Instead they are offended by his terrible singing and curse him with the same hump that the hunchback had. Another tale recounted the story of a small b...

One of the introductions to the stories I was reading mentioned the celebration of the holiday May Day.  Although I had heard of this and a Maypole before, I was unsure about what it actually meant, so I went to Wikipedia. May Day : May Day is a traditional holiday celebrated in the Northern European hemisphere, which historically celebrates the Spring season.  It was also chosen by socialists as the day to celebrate international workers.  Now, in the modern age, May Day is celebrated less frequently, or at least without as much celebration, but still is a popular holiday in England and the British Isles.  Learning about the holiday and its name made me wonder if there was any connection to the distress call "mayday," which was conveniently linked at the top of the article. Mayday : The distress call "Mayday" is indeed entirely unrelated to the holiday that shares its name.  It is rather a kind of amalgamation from the French phrase m'aider (which sounds like...

Ruins in Ireland (Source) The first story in this reading is called "The Fate of the Children of Lir" and is about how they are changed into swans by their jealous stepmother.  I may be rewriting the story, so it will be helpful to list the names of the characters and locations.  They are:King Lir, his first wife Ove, second wife Oifa.  His firstborn daughter was Fingula, followed by her twin brother, Aod.  Two smaller children followed, named Fiachra and Conn.  King Lir is the minor king, and King Dearg is the king of all the land.  Much of the action is taking place at the Lake of the Red Eye. Lir goes out to find his children upon hearing of their disappearance, and discovers that they have been turned into swans by his wife Oifa.  King Dearg turned her into an air demon, and she flew away forever.  The swans are near Erin, a town, which comes to love them and their beautiful singing and resolve to never kill a swan. The swans sing quite...