Mythology & Folklore - Exodus Books

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It's easy to dismiss myths simply as lies. After all, did Apollo really pull the Sun around in a chariot? Did Coyote really create the Indian tribes by flinging a defeated monster in several directions? Did Onamuji really die twice and have to be rescued by his mother? Who on earth is Onamuji? As children of the Enlightenment we have little patience for such absurd stories, condescendingly studying them (if we pay attention at all) as artifacts of primitive societies, or simply transforming them into comic book adventures.

Which is probably exactly what most of the originators of the myths would have wanted, at least the comic book part. As the great Roman poet Ovid demonstrated in his masterful Metamorphoses, myths aren't about telling what actually happened or describing the physical realities of the world so much as they're concerned with renewal, transfiguration and change.

There is a sense in which myths are intended to explain some perplexing aspect of the known world, as when the Scandinavians attributed lightning and thunder to Thor charging around in his goat-drawn chariot. But there's another sense in which it didn't really matter if they believed the stories they told at religious gatherings or by the fire at night; the mythologies of the Greeks, Chinese, Sioux tribes, Congolese and Slavs were all intended to impart to their listeners particular ideas about the world, about justice, about life and death, and about themselves.

Postmodernists like to call this sort of thing metanarrative, a universal story that imparts meaning on the chaos of existence. Men like G.K. Chesterton and J.R.R. Tolkien preferred to call it a search for truth. It was in this sense that Chesterton called the Christian Gospel a Myth—not because it was in any sense not true; quite the opposite, because it is perfectly true. Old mythologies worked hard to discover truth, while the Christian myth (the only completely true myth, as C.S. Lewis would say) is truth.

This is not to undermine the Christian narrative as found in the Bible, nor is it to apotheosize the ancient myths. There's plenty the old mythologists got wrong, and nothing untrue in the Word of God. Not only that, whereas the old myths are complete fabrications, the narrative of Scripture presents real historical events that actually transpired.

What is also true, however, and what is often ignored, is that what the Bible does for real, the myth-writers were trying to do. They wanted understanding, and the often bizarre stories they conjured weren't weird for the sake of weirdness: they were attempts at building a framework that would make sense of everything they knew existed, its origins, and its ultimate destiny.

Folklore shares a similar goal, though it's generally less universal, more homespun and culture-specific. Zeus is a mythic figure; Paul Bunyan is a folk hero. The folk hero is generally a national symbol, a human distillation of the peoples' spirit, someone they can identify with while looking up to them at the same time. Mythology and folklore often merge, especially in places with a long and deep heritage. The United States has no mythology, but its people have developed a rich folklore to make up for it.

At its best, mythology promotes noble conduct, self-sacrifice, and peacefulness. At its worst, it depicts a universe at the hands of capricious deities with appetites only different from ours in that they're bigger, more depraved, more destructive. We don't suggest building a worldview out of ancient myths, but if you have any desire to understand how people of the past thought and what motivated them, we do suggest starting with their stories.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

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Parent Categories

Fiction & Literature

Literature & Adult Fiction

Literature by Genre

Mythology & Folklore

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Legend & Romance

Mythology

- Celtic, Viking & Norse Mythology

- Egyptian Mythology

- Greek & Roman Mythology

- Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series

Fairy Tales & Fables

- Andersen's Fairy Tales

- Grimm's Fairy Tales

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Kindergarten (Ages 5-6)

	Aesop's Fables Puffin Classics by Aesop Reprint from Puffin Books Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Kindergarten-4th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $7.99
	Atarax the Wolf Tells: Greek Myths by Adam De Gree from Classical Historian for Kindergarten-2nd grade in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS) $7.50
	Atlanta's Race A Greek Myth by Shirley Climo (reteller), illustrated by Alexander Koshkin from Clarion Books for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Bremen Town Musicians by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger Tra from Minedition for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Bremen Town Musicians by Ilse Plume retelling Brothers Grimm Tra from Dragonfly Books for Preschool-2nd grade 1981 Caldecott Honor Book in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $7.99
	Buckwheat Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Clod Hans Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Don't Count Your Chicks by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire from Doubleday & Company for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Emperor and the Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Bill Sokol from Pantheon Books for Preschool-2nd grade in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Fables of Aesop by Aesop, illustrated by Edward J. Detmold from Gramercy Books for Kindergarten-4th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Favorite Greek Myths by Mary Pope Osborne from Scholastic Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Nancy Burkert from Harper & Row for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Fir Tree Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Translated by Hans Henrik Breitenstein, Illustrated by Tiziana Gironi from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Flying Trunk and Other Stories from Hans Christian Andersen Retold by Naomi Lewis by Naomi Lewis retelling Hans Christian Andersen from Simon and Schuster for K-3rd in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Fox & the Cat Animal Tales from Grimm by Kevin Crossley-Holland, Susan Varley (Illustrator) from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books Animal Fables for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger from Minedition for Preschool-2nd grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Val Biro from Gramercy Books for Preschool-2nd grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Jiri Trnka 5th Impression, 1965 from Paul Hamlyn for Preschool-2nd grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Hans in Luck by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, retold and illustrated by Paul Galdone from Parents Magazine Press for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Hansel and Gretel by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Susan Jeffers First Edition from Sun Dial Press for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Hansel and Gretel by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Berta & Elmer Hader from Weiser & Weiser for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Hansel and Gretel by The Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger from William Morrow & Company for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $7.00 (1 in stock)
	Kaleidoscope of Fairies & Fables by Hans Andersen, Aesop, Kipling & the Brothers Grimm, retold by Robert Mathias from Hamlyn for Kindergarten-4th grade in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH) $14.00 (1 in stock)
	King Grisly-Beard A Tale From the Brothers Grimm by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Edgar Taylor, illustrated by Maurice Sendak from Farrar, Straus and Giroux for Kindergarten-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $4.50 (1 in stock)
	Little Claus and Big Claus Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Little Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman, retelling Grimm from Holiday House Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-3rd grade 1984 Caldecott Honor Book in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $7.99
	Little Red Riding Hood by Paul Galdone, Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm First Edition Thus from HMH Books for Young Readers for Kindergarten-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.99
	Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Michael Hague from Henry Holt and Company for Kindergarten-4th grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Alison Claire Darke from Doubleday & Company for Kindergarten-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $6.00 (1 in stock)
	Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev, translated by Maria Carlson and illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak from Puffin Books for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $7.99
	Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev, illustrated by Erna Voigt from David R. Godine for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Pigkeeper Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen & Dorothee Duntze from North-South Books for Preschool-2nd grade in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER) $7.95
	She Was Good for Nothing Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Shoemaker and the Elves by The Brothers Grimm, translated by Wayne Andrews, illustrated by Adrienne Adams from Charles Scribner's Sons for Nursery-2nd grade in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC) $3.00 (1 in stock)
	Sleeping Beauty by K. Y. Craft from Chronicle Books for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Snow Queen A Retelling of the Fairy Tale By Hans Christian Andersen by Hans Christian Andersen, Retold by Allison Grace MacDonald and Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline from HarperCollins for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $17.99
	Snow White by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Charles Santore from Sterling Publishing Co. for Kindergarten-4th grade in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER) $16.95
	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Bess Livings from Laughing Elephant for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Chihiro Iwasaki from Picture Book Studio for Nursery-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm by Brothers Grimm, translated by Randall Jarrell and illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert Sunburst Edition, 1987 from Square Fish Publishing for Kindergarten-3rd grade 1973 Caldecott Honor Book in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER) $9.99
	Snowdrop Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by P. J. Lynch from Andersen Press for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Steadfast Tin Soldier by Adrian Mitchell, Hans Christian Andersen from DK Publishing for Preschool-1st grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Anderson, translated by M.R. James, illustrated by Marcia Brown from Atheneum for Kindergarten-3rd grade 1954 Caldecott Honor Book in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $19.99
	Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by P. J. Lynch from Gulliver Books for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Swamp King's Daughter Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Tomie dePaola's Favorite Nursery Tales by Tomie dePaola from G.P. Putnam's Sons for Kindergarten-4th grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
	Traveling Companion Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, Jerry Pinkney First edition from HarperCollins for Preschool-2nd grade 2000 Caldecott Honor Book in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $17.99
	Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen from C. R. Gibson for Nursery-1st grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Ugly Duckling - Retelling by Hans Christian Andersen, Retold by Catherine Lukas, Illustrated by Jill Bauman from Reader's Digest Young Families for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $3.00 (1 in stock)
	Voyage of Osiris by Gerald McDermott from Windmill Books for Kindergarten-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $20.00 (1 in stock)
	What the Old Man Does Is Always Right Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Wild Swans Scandinavia Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from Word Inc. for Kindergarten-3rd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.00 (1 in stock)

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