Myths, Fairytales and Legends
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Myths, Fairytales and Legends’
A council of mice comes up with a plan to outsmart the Cat, but volunteers are a bit thin on the ground.
This tale dates back no earlier than the thirteenth century, though it takes the form of one of Aesop’s Fables from ancient Greece. The author was Odo, a clergyman from Cheriton in Kent, who spent several years on the Continent before coming home in 1233 and settling down to his family estates. His fable reflects, he tells us, his experience of monks chafing under corrupt abbots.
Paris, prince of Troy, takes the not unwilling Queen of Sparta back home with him, and sparks ten years of diplomatic tension and ten of war.
The Siege of Troy is the heart of two of the greatest works of classical literature, Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. The details, especially the squabbles, sulks and strategems of the gods, are pure myth of course, but the strife between the Greeks of Achaia and the city of Troy may be rooted in fact; if so, a date around 1200-1180 BC is possible — just after the Exodus, in fact.
The oldest surviving heroic legend in English begins with a wild creature of the fens that hunts men for prey.
‘Beowulf’ is the oldest surviving epic in English. Set in Scandinavia, it tells of a hero who pays off a debt of honour, by helping a family friend to rid his neighbourhood of a wretched but deadly enemy.
A tale of two friends with complete confidence in each other, and loyal to the death.
Dionysius, tyrant of the island of Sicily (probably Dionysius I, r. 405-367 BC), was deeply impressed by the bond of trust shared by Pythias and Damon. Given how he came to find out about it, though, it is understandable that they thought three would make a crowd.