When the hen asks a cat, dog, and mouse for help planting some wheat, she gets no takers: "‘Not I!’ said the cat. ‘Not I!’ said the dog. ‘Not I!’ said the mouse." They won’t water, cut, or grind the wheat . . . or help bake a cake with it, either. So guess who eats the cake by herself in the end? The Caldecott Honor artist Paul Galdone’s delightfully detailed ink and wash illustrations—packed with charming details—add plenty of sly humor to the well-loved story that not only offers a sage message but also shows children what it takes to make a cake from the ground up!

    He is a rogue, a mischief maker, and a wise, lovable creature who triumphs over larger foes.In this traditional Ashanti tale, Anansi sets out on a long, difficult journey. Threatened by Fish and Falcon, he is saved from terrible fates by his sons. But which of his sons should Anansi reward? Calling upon Nyame, the God of All Things, Anansi solves his predicament in a touching and highly resourceful fashion.In adapting this popular folktale, Gerald McDermott merges the old with the new, combining bold, rich color with traditional African design motifs and authentic Ashanti language rhythms. Anansi the Spider is a 1973 Caldecott Honor Book.

    Lore Segal and Maurice Sendak jointly culled 27 from the 210 in the complete collection, and their contents page presents a fascinating critical statement. The translations are another distinguishing quality of the Segal/Sendak edition. Both translators have been painstakingly faithful to the German texts; they have not cut, "retold," or bowdlerized. In addition, Segal and Jarrell bring to their renderings of Grimm the grace and precision that are characteristic of their own original prose.· One of the most acclaimed Grimm collections published in English, available again· An elegant, must-have edition for every home library· New lower-price of $19.99, formerly $28.00· Includes standards such as "Hansel and Gretel," "The Fisherman and His Wife," and "The Frog King" as well as lesser-known masterpieces such as the title story and "The Goblins"· Each story contains a full-page picture by Maurice Sendak· Four stories translated by Jarrell, the rest by Segal

    It's a bit like a massive folklore magazine, rather than a book you'd sit down and read from cover to cover. The book is split into three parts - the first covers ancient superstitions, creatures, plants and festivals. The second (largest) section covers regional stories from across Great Britain and the Isle of Man, such as alleged hauntings, origins of place names and local festivals. The final section describes key figures in British folklore. It's a huge book but very easy to read and illustrated with drawings and black and white photos throughout. The book summarises stories and describes myths and folklore in a highly readable, matter-of-fact way. There are lots of interesting explanations about how current day festivals, phrases and superstitions may have developed.

    Adam and Eve, Abraham and Moses, Peter, John, and Jesus are all vividly portrayed in wonderful detail. The original Bible text captures all of the drama of the best-loved stories from the Bible, including Noah and the flood, Jonah's encounter with a great fish, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here is a beautiful collection of Bible stories, perfect for gift-giving."An excellent choice for family or group use, as well as for independent reading." (School Library Journal, starred review)

    The legendary, epic novel tells the story of four generations of the Washo in Nevada and Eastern California--a story of dreams, dying, the loss of power, death and apotheosis.

    Retells ten myths involving the gods, ancient kings, and simple folk heroes of the Celts.TABLE OF CONTENTS:IntroductionThe Swan ChildrenThe Champion of IrelandHow Finn Mac Cool Got His Wisdom ToothThe Poem of FinnDermot in the Land-under-WaveTam LinTo the Sun/To the New MoonThe Lad of Luck and the Monster of the LochThe Bells of YsMerlin the MagicianHow Gareth of Orkney Won His SpursThe Last BattleThe Isles of the HappyBibliography

    

    Writer/naturalist Henry Beston, a founding father of the environmental movement, believed that a strong connection to nature is essential. "It is only when we are aware of the earth and of the earth as poetry that we truly live," Beston says in his now-classic Herbs and the Earth . In this book, Beston shares one of those connections as seen through the oldest group of plants known to gardeners. "A garden of herbs," he writes, "is a garden of things loved for themselves in their wholeness and integrity. It is not a garden of flowers, but a garden of plants which are sometimes very lovely flowers and are always more than flowers." Whether you are already a committed herbalist or just dreaming of planting your first small garden, this book is a powerfully rich source of inspiration and information. As Roger B. Swain observes in his moving introduction, Herbs and the Earth has an intensity that evokes the herbs themselves, as if, pressed between the pages, their aroma has seeped into the pages.

    Ruth Underhill published the songs she heard sung by Tohono O'odham [Papago] elders more than half a century ago, and Singing for Power has since become a classic of Native American literature.

    For these are the last remaining drops of the living essence of English country life.”This begins SONGS AND SOUTHERN BREEZES, the story of Bob Copper’s wanderings in Sussex and Hampshire in search of old songs and stories of the English countryside. By now [1973] the last generation of country people to be brought up in a way unchanged in centuries has begun to die out; there is a danger that the wealth of spoken dialect anecdote and old songs handed down from father to son might disappear with them – for what has been a living tradition is now rapidly becoming history.A well-known countryman and folk singer, Bob Copper makes vivid portraits of some of the men and the women he has met; the story-tellers like ex-steam threshing machine driver Len Page, for example, who could make a mousetrap of his shirt whilst still wearing it; Frank “Mush” Bond, fairground hand and casual farm labourer who turned out to have been a startling literary magpie and home philosopher in his spare time; and splendid old Fanny Thorn who, awarded the British Empire Medal for a lifetime of service on the land, was still going strong at ninety-three.Then there are the singers; fishermen of Hastings recalling contemporary accounts of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow in their songs; the council hedger keeping alive memories of long forgotten crimes such as a young girl’s murder in ‘Poison in a Glass of Wine’, and many others. Fifty songs are collected with full words and music at the back of this book, some wistful, some earthily comic, telling of the old life, its hardships, its rewards, and perhaps, most appealing of all, the rich sense of fun of the people who lived it.

    . . they stand to reason.' The author, an intimate friend of Yeats and a friend too of the great folklorist Douglas Hyde and the myriad-minded mystic G.W.Russell ('A.E.'), was a staunch believer in 'the ancient and continuing spirit life of the countryside'. Writing not as a folklorist but as a historian, Diarmuid MacManus records in factual detail many manifestations of the Irish faery world early in the twentieth century. He tells how the Thornhill fairy appeared to two sisters in their room, and the Mount Leinster fairy to a young woman as she was taking the cows home, and a young girl tried to pat the Wicklow pooka as it walked beside her, but her hand went right through it. This is a strikingly persuasive book, tackling in a serious and intelligent manner a subject that has a strong romantic appeal. The author set out to write the book with certain principles in mind: first, that a central character in each incident was still alive at the time the book was first published (in 1959); second, that he could vouch for their reliability; and third, that each agreed to stand up, if asked, and vouch for the truth of the experience. Except in a few instances, those telling the stories had been friends of the author for many years. Since its publication forty years ago it has retained its uniqueness as the only collection of true Irish fairy tales.

    

    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.