Folktales for Grown-ups
What ever happened to the seven dwarfs after Snow White ditched them? What was life like for the giant above the beanstalk? Readers need wonder no more. Authors include Jane Yolen, Neil Gaiman, Michael Cadnum, Nancy Farmer, Tanith Lee, Garth Nix, and Patricia A. McKillip.
Mules and Men is the first great collection of black America's folk world. In the 1930's, Zora Neale Hurston returned to her native village of Eatonville, Florida to record the oral histories, sermons and songs, dating back to the time of slavery, which she remembered hearing as a child. In her quest, she found herself and her history throughout these highly metaphorical folk-tales, big old lies, and the lyrical language of song. With this collection, Zora Neale Hurston has come to reveal and preserve a beautiful and important part of American culture.Zora Neale Hurston (1901-1960) was a novelist, folklorist, anthropologist and playwright whose fictional and factual accounts of black heritage are unparalleled. She is also the author of Tell My Horse, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Dust Tracks on a Road, and Mule Bone.
This is a study of the literary transformation of European folklore into cautionary and exemplary tales for children by such writers as the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault. Examining these fairy tales from a feminist point of view the author brings a new perspective to the familiar tales.
This is a wonderful collection of 46 short folktales that share the themes of doing the right thing, surviving by cleverness and kindness and always maintaining a good sense of humor. They come from Poland, Central Asia, Iran, Morocco and many other places where Jews have settled. They are excellent choices for reading aloud or telling to a group.
This influential study traces the story of the hero's journey and transformation through virtually all the mythologies of the world. Originally published in 1949, it has inspired generations of students and artists and sold nearly one million copies in various editions.
This collection of 63 folktales from around the world is accompanied with suggestions on using the stories in counseling situations. The introduction includes information on the origins, importance, and "how-to's" of storytelling. The tales are short and easy to tell.
An extraordinary collection of myths and facts about horses, their honored place in human history, and the mystique that has surrounded them in cultures around the globe. Horses have always held a mystical sway over the human imagination; no other creature has inspired the same reverence or cross-cultural fascination. The Mythology of Horses offers a comprehensive look at horse breeds around the world, exploring their heritage, physical attributes, and place in human society, as well as the folklore, popular mythology, and true stories surrounding each breed.
The winter solstice, the day the "sun stands still," marks the longest night and the shortest day of the year (it occurs either on December 20 or 21). Celebrations honoring the winter solstice as a moment of transition and renewal date back thousands of years and occur among many peoples on every continent. The Return of the Light makes an ideal companion for everyone who carries on this tradition, no matter what their faith.
Storyteller Carolyn McVickar Edwards retells twelve traditional tales-from North America, China, Scandinavia, India, Africa, South America, Europe, and Polynesia-that honor this magical moment. These are stories that will renew our wonder of the miracle of rebirth and the power of transition from darkness into light.
From The Epic of Gilgemesh to Jaws and Schindler's List, Christopher Booker examines in detail the stories that underlie literature and the plots that are basic to story telling through the ages. He examines the plots of films, opera libretti, folk tales, myths and the contemporary novel and short story. Underlying the stories he examines are Seven Basic Plots: rags to riches; the quest; voyage and return; the hero as monster; rebirth and so on. Booker shows that the images and stories serve a far deeper and more significant purpose in our lives than we have realised.
In the definition of these basic plots, Booker shows us we are entering a realm in which the recognition of the plots proves only to be the gateway. We are in fact uncovering a kind of hidden universal language: a nucleus of situations and figures which are the very stuff from which stories are made.
The well-known and controversial child psychologist gave readers a moving revelation of the enormous and irreplaceable value of fairy tales - how they educate, support and liberate the emotions of children.
Urban legends--we've all repeated them. The Internet is full of them. This is the book that made the general public aware of this form of folklore. The culmination of twenty years of collection and research The Vanishing Hitchhiker remains a classic. Other books of urban legends by the same author include Curses! Broiled Again! , Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends, and The Encyclopedia of Urban Legends.
"This is a fine collection of Wellman's most recent Appalachian tales written in the 70's and 80's. Tales about Judge Pursuivant, John Thunstone, Silver John and others all make appearances."
Trill Coster’s Burden -- The Spring -- Owls Hoot in the Daytime -- Can These Bones Live? -- Nobody Ever Goes There -- Where Did She Wander? -- A Witch For All Seasons (originally by “Gans T Field”) -- The Beasts That Perish -- Willow He Walk -- Chastel -- Rouse Him Not -- Hundred Years Gone -- Keep Me Away -- Yare -- Chorazin -- The Petey Car -- Along About Sundown -- What of the Night -- Dead Man’s Chair (as “Rock Rock”) -- Lamia -- Caretaker -- The Ghastly Priest Doth Reign -- Goodman’s Place --
