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A modern-day fairy tale told in conversation between a young girl and the mermaid of Lake Michigan. The Lake Michigan Mermaid is a new tale that feels familiar. The breeze off the lake, the sand underfoot, the supreme sadness of being young and not in control-these sensations come rushing back page by page, bringing to life an ancient myth of coming of age in a troubled world. Freed from the minds of Linda Nemec Foster and Anne-Marie Oomen, the Lake Michigan mermaid serves as a voice of reason...

With introductions and biographies from Jack Zipes, as well as the original illustrations by Violet Brunton, this collection of fairy tales originally published by the award winning Romer Wilson – Green Magic (1928), Silver Magic (1929), Red Magic (1930) – offers a combination of classic fairy tales, alongside lesser known, global and diverse tales. Silver Magic contains classic fairy tales including Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Hawthorne’s The Miraculous Pitcher, as well as several ano...

A reprinting of a 1916 collection of folk and fairy tales from Belgium, France, England, Japan, Italy, and Serbia.

The year was 778. Charlemagne, starting homeward after an expedition onto the Iberian Peninsula, left his nephew, Count Roland, in command of a rear guard. As Roland and his troops moved through the Pyrenees, a fierce enemy swooped down and annihilated them. Whether the attackers were Moors, Basques, Gascons, or Aquitainians is still disputed. The massacre soon passed into legend, preserved but at the same time expanded and interpreted in oral tradition and written accounts. Dormant after the la...

The myths and legends of pre-Christian Ireland overflow with giants and heroes, maidens, battles and brave deeds. The haunting love of Diarmuid and Grania, the epic war fought over the White Bull of Cuailgne, the enchanted world of Tir Nan Og and the boyhood deeds of Cuchulain and Finn Mac Cumhal - these are just a few of the forgettable tales in this superb collection. Translated from Irish by renowned folklorist and writer Lady Gregory, Complete Irish Mythology will give the reader immen...

Wicked stepmothers and beautiful princesses ... magic forests and enchanted towers ... little pigs and big bad wolves ... Fairy tales have been an integral part of childhood for hundreds of years. But what do they really mean?In this award-winning work of criticism, renowned psychoanalyst Dr Bruno Bettelheim presents a thought provoking and stimulating exploration of the best-known fairy stories. He reveals the true content of the stories and shows how children can use them to cope with their ba...

A reprint of the original English translation of Chamisso's romantic novella Peter Schlemihls wundersame Reise, which includes engravings by the 19th-century cartoonist, Cruickshank. Koepke's introduction provides a historical context, information on the translation, and updates critical theory.

Why do contemporary writers use myths from ancient Greece and Rome, Pharaonic Egypt, the Viking north, Africa’s west coast, and Hebrew and Christian traditions? What do these stories from premodern cultures have to offer us? The Metamorphoses of Myth in Fiction since 1960 examines how myth has shaped writings by Kathy Acker, Margaret Atwood, William S. Burroughs, A. S. Byatt, Neil Gaiman, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, Jeanette Winterson, and others, and contrasts...

AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR A droll and dazzling compendium of observations, stories, lists, and brief essays about babies. 'Beguiling ... A wunderkabinett of baby-related curios ... A peculiar book, and astonishing in its effect.' Boston Globe One August day, a baby was born, or as it seemed to Rivka Galchen, a puma moved into her apartment. Her arrival felt supernatural, she seemed to come from another world. And suddenly, the world seemed...

Beginning with a consideration of Malory's ingenious chronology, this study shows that Malory achieved thematic and structural unity by selecting from the great mass of Arthurian legend three narrative strands -- the intrigues of Lancelot and Guinevere, the Grail quest, and the feud between the houses of Lot and Pellinore -- using these to illustrate a single theme -- the rise, flowering, and downfall of an ideal civilization. This selection and use of diverse materials, Charles Moorman asserts,...

Take a step back in time to the origins of Japan's creation myth told here for the very first time in illustrated form. In the beginning there was nothing a void. Then the heavens and the earth took shape, as the ancient gods of Japan breathed the first sparks of life into these islands. The 1300 year-old Kojiki myth traces the beginnings of the Japanese people, following the rise of the Japanese islands from their humble origins as a lump of clay to a great nation that would one day take its r...