Mythology & Folklore

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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165 Items found Print
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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
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Harry Rountree
from Gallery Books
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Aesop's Fables
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Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
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Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-Adult
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Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
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by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
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Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
Andersen's Fairy Tales
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
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by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
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Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
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Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Kay Nielsen
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Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
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Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2 Paperback
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Readers #8
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
1954 Edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 1
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 2 (Cover 1)
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 2 (Cover 2)
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 3
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
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Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 4
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
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Andersen's Fairy Tales / Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, Brothers Grimm
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
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Ardizzone's Hans Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
from Atheneum
for 3rd-8th grade
Argosy of Fables
by F. T. Cooper (editor), illustrated by Paul Bransom
from Frederick A. Stokes Company
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$64.00 (1 in stock)
Beautiful Stories of Life
by Cynthia Rylant
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-7th grade
$17.99
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany
from Macmillan
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$40.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Brothers Grimm, retold by Louise Betts Egan, illustrated by Various
from Courage Books
for 1st-4th grade
Classic Tales of Oscar Wilde
by Oscar Wilde, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Egmont
for 3rd-8th grade
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Yearling
Greek Mythology for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.99
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Doubleday Book For Young Readers
Greek Mythology for 4th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$29.99
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths - Audio CD
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Yearling
Greek Mythology for 4th-8th grade
in Audio Books & Dramas (Location: CD-AUDIO)
$25.00
D'aulaires' Book of Greek Myths - Memoria Press Package
from Memoria Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Memoria Press Classical Studies (Location: HISCUR-MP)
$75.64
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$29.95
Deirdre
by David Guard; illustrated by Gretchen Guard
2nd edition from Celestial Arts
for 4th-6th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Demetrius and the Golden Goblet
by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Harcourt
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
ECL: Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Brigitte Bryan
from Classic Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
ECL: Sleeping Beauty and other Tales
by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Wayne Brown
from Classic Press
for 1st-6th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
Egyptian Myths
by Jacqueline Morley (reteller), illustrated by Giovanni Caselli
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
Enchanted Book
by Janina Porazinska, translated by Bozena Smith, illustrated by Jan Brett
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 2nd-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Enchantment Tales for Children
by Margaret Evans Price (reteller & illustrator)
from Rand McNally
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Eric Carle's Treasury of Classic Stories for Children
by Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, retold & illustrated by Eric Carle
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
Eyewitness Classics: King Arthur
by Rosalind Kerven
from DK Children
for 3rd-6th grade
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, illustrated by Edward J. Detmold
from Gramercy Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Margaret Tarrant
from Gallery Books
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Fairy Tales and Stories
by Hans Christian Andersen, Edited by Signe Toksvig, Illustrated by George and Doris Hauman
from Macmillan
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$25.00 (1 in stock)
Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd.
for 1st-6th grade
Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Weathervane Books
for 1st-6th grade
Fairy Tales of Brothers Grimm - Comprehension Guide
by Emily Fischer
from Veritas Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Veritas Press Literature Guides (Location: LITSG-VP)
$19.00 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Fairy Tales of Hans Christen Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Reginald Spink and illustrated by W. Heath Robinson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
$18.00
Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Kay Nielsen
from Viking Press
for 3rd-8th grade
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Fairy Tales: The Brothers Grimm
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by The Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 2nd-6th grade
$19.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Favorite Folktales from Around the World
by Jane Yolen
from Pantheon Books
for 4th-Adult
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Favorite Greek Myths
by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Troy Howell
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Favorite Greek Myths
by Bob Blaisdell
from Dover Publications
for 4th-6th grade
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Favourite Tales from Grimm and Andersen
by Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Jirí Trnka
1983 Printing from Paul Hamlyn
for 4th-8th grade
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Favourite Tales from Hans Christen Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Anastasiya Archipova
from Floris Books
for 4th-6th grade
Gilgamesh (retold)
by Bernarda Bryson
from CreateSpace
for 4th-8th grade
in Classics Retold (Location: FIC-RET)
$26.87
God Beneath the Sea
by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen, illustrated by Zevi Blum
from Pantheon Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Maya
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Holiday House
for 1st-4th grade
in Ancient America (Location: HISW-ANAM)
Greek Gods
by Bernard & Dorothy Evslin, Ned Hoopes, illustrated by William Hunter
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
$2.00 (19 in stock)
Greek Myths
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by Edouard Sandoz
from Houghton Mifflin
Greek Mythology for 4th-6th grade
$10.99
Greek Myths
by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 3rd-6th grade
Greek Myths
by Olivia Coolidge
from Houghton Mifflin
Greek Mythology for 4th-6th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Wilhelm & Jacob Grimm, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Lucille Corcos
from Heritage Press
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Children's Classics
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Noel Pocock
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 3rd-8th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Grimm Brothers, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Viking Press
for 4th-8th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, selected & edited by Louis & Bryna Untermeyer and illustrated by Lucille Corcos
from Easton Press
for 4th-10th grade
in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Grimm Brothers, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from SeaStar Books
for 4th-8th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Readers #4
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
1954 printing from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 1
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 2
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 3
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 4
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Val Biro
for 1st-4th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, selected & illustrated by Elenore Abbott
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimms' & Andersen's Fairy Tales Set
by Hans Christian Andersen & the Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel and Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 3rd-8th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Sterling Classics
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Puffin Classics
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$8.99
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-7th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Calla Editions
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
Calla ed from Dover Publications
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Companion Library
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Adele Werber
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Don Daily
from Applesauce Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$18.95
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Louis Rhead
from SeaWolf Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$11.95
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
Puffin Classics
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Naomi Lewis
3rd edition from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales for 2nd-6th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$7.99
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Louis Rhead
from SeaWolf Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$11.95
Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Michael Adams
from Unicorn Publishing House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories
by Hans Christian Andersen, Translated by Erik Christian Haugaard
1983 Anchor Books Edition from Anchor Books
for 2nd-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$27.00
Hercules and Other Tales from Greek Myths
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by David Lockhart
from Scholastic Inc.
Greek Mythology for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Iliad (retold)
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
Illustrated Treasury of Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Grimm Brothers, illustrated by Daniela Drescher
from Floris Books
for 4th-8th grade
$24.95
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