A collection of folk tales from the southern Appalachians that center on a single character, the irrepressible Jack.

    Essential reading for young and old alike.Among the stories collected here are:• Kate Crackernuts• Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree• Yallery Brown

    Adventure stories, such as The Caledonian Hunt, bring stunning displays of action while the exploits of ancient and Godly heroes such as Perseus and his winged horse relay the elemental power with which the ancient Gods were attributed.Later in the text we find several representative examples of Nordic myth - the valiant story of Roland the Paladin and Freya, the formidable Queen of the Northern Gods are told. The epic story of Beowulf is rendered here in prose form, and all allude to the furious capacities of the Nordic Gods.Compiled and authored by Greek historian and scholar Jeanie Lang, the accounts within this text combine superb research with strong readability, with the freshness and originality of each story easy to behold and enjoy whether you be a student of the classics or a general enthusiast for enduring ancient mythology.

    Brought to life with lyrical text by award-winning author Donna Jo Napoli and stunning artwork by award-winning illustrator Christina Balit, the tales of gods and goddesses such as Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, and Athena and heroes and monsters such as Helen of Troy, Perseus, and Medusa will fascinate and engage children’s imaginations.   National Geographic completes the book with embellishments of each story: sidebars for each god, goddess, hero, and monster link the myths to constellations, geography, history, and culture to help young readers connect the stories to real life events, people, and places. A family tree and a “cast of characters” profile page help make relationships between the characters clear, and a mapping feature adds to the fun and fascination. Resource notes and ample back matter directing readers to more information round out this luminous book. Sure to dazzle all those intrigued with the fantastic tales of Greek mythology and enchant new readers, this vibrant book will soon become a family keepsake.National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

    This volume collects exquisite and poignant tales of true beauty, selfless love, generosity, loyalty, brilliant wit, and moral aestheticism, such as "The Birthday of the Infanta," "The Selfish Giant," The Nightingale and the Rose," and "The Happy Prince," among others.A true classic of wonder for all ages.

    Presents an introduction to Shakespeare's greatest plays including Hamlet Othello, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest and Pericles.

    Little is known of her but she was probably the Abbess of the abbey at Shaftesbury in the late 12th century, illegitimate daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet and hence the half-sister of Henry II of England. It was to a king, and probably Henry II, that she dedicated these poems of adventure and love which were retellings of stories which she had heard from Breton minstrels. She is regarded as the most talented French poet of the medieval period.

    Puck of Pook's Hill is a fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history.

    in this book there are animals who talk, princesses who are locked up at the top of towers, wicked stepmothers and many other themes ... An enjoyable book by a skilled author' Financial TimesThe civilization we know as Ancient Egypt stretched over three thousand years. What was life like for ancient Egyptians? What were their beliefs - and how different were they from ours? Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt uses Egypt's vivid narratives to create a panorama of its history, from the earliest settlers to the time of Cleopatra.Gathered from pyramid texts, archaeological finds and contemporary documents, these stories cover everything from why the Nile flooded annually to Egyptian beliefs about childbirth and what happened after death. They show us what life was really like for rich and poor, man and woman, farmer and pharaoh.Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt brings a long-dead culture back to life.

    There are stories of love and desire, adventure and magic, destructive gods, helpless humans, fantastical creatures, resourceful witches and the origins of birds and animals. This is a world of extremes, and one that resonates deeply with our own: mysterious diseases devastate cities; environmental disasters tear lives apart; women habitually suffer violence at the hands of men.Unlike in many previous collected myths, female characters take centre stage - Athena, Helen, Circe, Penelope and others weave these stories into elaborate imagined tapestries. In Charlotte Higgins's thrilling new interpretation, their tales combine to form a dazzling, sweeping epic of storytelling, and a magnificent work of scholarship and imagination.'Startlingly fresh... This excellent book should delight many generations of story lovers to come.' Guardian

    The author of such acclaimed books as Hero With a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth discusses the primitive roots of mythology, examining them in light of the most recent discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, and psychology.

    You’ve heard about St. George, but how about the Green Man, who was believed to rule over the natural world? Or Black Shuck, the giant ghostly dog who was reputed to roam East Anglia? As well as looking at the history of this subject, this book has a directory of places you can go to see folklore alive and well today. The Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival, for example, or wassailing cider orchards in Somerset.

    The Montgomeries, distinguished folklorists, gathered traditional stories from all parts of Scotland. Their collection, first published in 1956, became a classic of the storytelling tradition, with the stories retold in a simple, dramatic style, appealing to adult and child alike. Now republished by Birlinn Ltd in a handsome gift edition and illustrated with Norah Montgomerie's own original drawings, it is a book to be treasured for years as the key to an enchanted, timeless world.

    As A.S. Byatt renders this relationship with a powerful combination of erudition and passion, she makes the interaction of the natural and the supernatural seem not only convincing, but inevitable.The companion stories in this collection each display different facets of Byatt's remarkable gift for enchantment. They range from fables of sexual obsession to allegories of political tragedy; they draw us into narratives that are as mesmerizing as dreams and as bracing as philosophical meditations; and they all us to inhabit an imaginative universe astonishing in the precision of its detail, its intellectual consistency, and its splendor.

    Broadly labeled yokai, these creatures come in infinite shapes and sizes, from tengu mountain goblins and kappa water spirits to shape-shifting foxes and long-tongued ceiling-lickers. Currently popular in anime, manga, film, and computer games, many yokai originated in local legends, folktales, and regional ghost stories.Drawing on years of research in Japan, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the history and cultural context of yokai, tracing their roots, interpreting their meanings, and introducing people who have hunted them through the ages. In this delightful and accessible narrative, readers will explore the roles played by these mysterious beings within Japanese culture and will also learn of their abundance and variety through detailed entries, some with original illustrations, on more than fifty individual creatures. The Book of Yokai provides a lively excursion into Japanese folklore and its ever-expanding influence on global popular culture. It also invites readers to examine how people create, transmit, and collect folklore, and how they make sense of the mysteries in the world around them. By exploring yokai as a concept, we can better understand broader processes of tradition, innovation, storytelling, and individual and communal creativity.