Category: Myth and Lore
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The Icelandic Family Sagas: Njál, Egil, and Gísli
Chapter 1: Introduction A medieval manuscript page (folio 13r of Möðruvallabók) containing part of Njál’s saga. The Sagas of Icelanders were preserved in such manuscripts from the 13th century onward. The Icelandic Family Sagas (Íslendingasögur) are medieval prose narratives that recount the lives, feuds, and adventures of notable Icelandic families in the 9th–11th centuries. They…
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The Farmer and the Snake (The Frozen Serpent)
On a cold winter’s day, a kind-hearted farmer comes across a snake stiff and half-dead with cold. Moved with pity, the farmer lifts the frozen serpent and places it in his bosom (or brings it home by the hearth) to warm it back to life. Revived by the warmth, the snake immediately bites the farmer…
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The Donkey in the Lion’s Skin
A vain and foolish donkey finds a discarded lion’s hide. Draping the lion’s skin over himself, the donkey imagines he can now pass as the king of beasts. Indeed, as he walks through the fields, other animals and even people flee in terror, believing a fierce lion is on the prowl. Enjoying this newfound respect…
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The Bundle of Sticks (The Old Man and His Sons)
An aging father with several quarrelsome sons seeks to teach them a final lesson before he dies. He gathers his sons and sets a bundle of sticks (or in some versions, a bundle of arrows) before them. He first asks each son to try to break the bundle when it’s tightly bound together. Despite their…
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The Phoenix: Mythical Bird of Immortality in History and Culture
Introduction Few mythical creatures have captured the human imagination as enduringly as the phoenix – the legendary bird that dies only to be reborn from its own ashes. Originating in classical antiquity but echoing themes from various world cultures, the phoenix has come to symbolize death and resurrection, cyclic renewal, and immortality. This in-depth exploration…
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Herodotus: The Gold-digging Ants of a far-away land called India
Hear then, O reader, a tale that the Persians who trade with the far-flung Indians relate, and that I, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, record as it was told to me—whether it be wholly true the gods alone may know, for I myself have not beheld these wonders with my own eyes. How the Gold Lies in…
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The story of the riddle of the twin winds breathing
Long after the moon had set over Eurotas and Sparta’s spears lay stacked in frustration, word rode south that the Arcadians of Tegea were laughing again—another Spartan expedition broken on their stony fields. Kings grew grim; elders clutched their cloaks as if war-rent cloth could hide the taste of failure. At last the two royal…