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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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Active Filters: Fairy Tales & Fables, 1st grade (Ages 6-7)
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)
$6.79
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Macmillan
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$12.74
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Safaya Salter
from Gulliver Books
for 1st-4th 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)
$6.79
Buckwheat
Scandinavia Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Word Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.40 (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
Clod Hans
Scandinavia Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Word Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.40 (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)
Donkey Trouble
by Ed Young
from Atheneum
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
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)
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)
Emperor's New Clothes
by Virginia Burton, illustrator
from Sandpiper Books
Fairy Tale/Allegory for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Emperor's New Clothes
Folk Tale Classic Library
by Virginia Lee Burton (designed and illustrated), Hans Christian Andersen
from Clarion Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.49
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, illustrated by Edward J. Detmold
from Gramercy Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
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
Fir Tree
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Nancy Burkert
from Harper & Row
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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
by Naomi Lewis retelling Hans Christian Andersen
from Simon and Schuster
for K-3rd
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Fox & the Cat
by Kevin Crossley-Holland, Susan Varley (Illustrator)
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
Animal Fables for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Val Biro
for 1st-4th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Don Daily
from Applesauce Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.11
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
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger
from Minedition
for Preschool-2nd grade
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Val Biro
from Gramercy Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
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)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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)
$3.20 (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)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
How the Moon Began
by James Reeves, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
from Abelard - Schuman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Johnny Crow's Garden / Andersen's Fairy Tales
by L. Leslie Brooke & Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Rose Dobbs and illustrated by Gustav Hjortlund
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$4.80 (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)
$11.20 (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)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Little Mermaid
by Freya Littledale, adapted from a story by Hans Christian Andersen, and illustrated by Daniel San Souci
from Scholastic Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Little Mermaid
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Charles Santore
First Edition from Gramercy Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Little Red Hen
by Evelyn M. Begley, reteller, illustrated by Carl and Mary Hauge
from Whitman Publishing Company
for Preschool-1st grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$4.00 (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)
$6.79
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)
$7.64
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)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
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 Demi
First Edition from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 1st-3rd 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)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
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)
$6.40 (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)
$6.76
Puss in Boots & Rumpelstiltskin
by Jane Resnick (reteller), illustrated by Anastassija Archipowa
from Derrydale Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Rapunzel
by Paul Zelinsky
from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-4th grade
1998 Caldecott Medal winner
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.49
She Was Good for Nothing
Scandinavia Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Word Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.40 (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)
Sleeping Beauty
by K. Y. Craft
from Chronicle Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Sleeping Beauty
by Charles Perrault & Madame d'Aulnoy, illustrated by Edmund Dulac, Gustaf Tenggren and William Robinson
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 1st-6th grade
Snow Queen
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)
$15.29
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold and illustrated by Richard Hess
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Jean Hersholt and illustrated by Sanna Annukka
from Ten Speed Press
for 1st-3rd grade
$13.60
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Tasha Pym
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Susan Jeffers
from Dutton Children's Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Anthea Bell and illustrated by Yana Sedova
from Minedition
for 1st-3rd grade
$16.99
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Naomi Lewis and illustrated by Angela Barrett
from Henry Holt and Company
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Snow White
by Brothers Grimm & Trina Schart Hyman
from Little, Brown & Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
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)
$14.41
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)
$8.49
Snowdrop
Scandinavia Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Word Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.40 (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
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)
$16.99
Steadfast Tin Soldier
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by P. J. Lynch
from Gulliver Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Story of the Tooth Fairy
by Tom Paxton, illustrated by Robert Sauber
from Morrow Junior 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)
Tales from the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, compiled by Cooper Edens
from Chronicle Books
for 1st-6th grade
Three Gay Tales from Grimm
by Wanda Gag
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 1st-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Two Brothers
by Eugene Schwarz, illustrated by Gabriel Lisowski, translated by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood
from Harper & Row
for 1st-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (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)
$16.99
Ugly Duckling
by Hans Christian Andersen
from C. R. Gibson
for Nursery-1st grade
Usborne Beauty & the Beast
Usborne Peek Inside a Fairy Tale
from Usborne
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Board Books (Location: PIC-BOARD)
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)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Wild Swans
Scandinavia Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Word Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Wild Swans
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Susan Jeffers
from Dial Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
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