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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Fiction & Literature

Literature & Adult Fiction

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Mythology & Folklore

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Legend & Romance

Mythology

- Asian Myths & Fairy Tales

- Celtic, Viking & Norse Mythology

- Egyptian Mythology

- Greek & Roman Mythology

- Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series

Fairy Tales & Fables

- Andersen's Fairy Tales & Stories

- Grimm's Fairy Tales

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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) $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
	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
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	Bokuden and the Bully A Japanese Folktale by Stephen Krensky (adapter), illustrated by Cheryl Kirk Noll from Millbrook Press for 1st-3rd grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $4.80 (1 in stock)
	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)
	Chinese Mythology: The Four Dragons from PowerKids Press for Kindergarten-2nd grade in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC) $4.00 (1 in stock)
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	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)
	Legend of El Dorado by Written & Illustrated by Beatriz Vidal, Adapted by Nancy Van Laan for 1st-4th grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $7.20 (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)
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	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
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	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)
	Lon Po Po A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young from PaperStar Books Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-4th grade 1990 Caldecott Medal winner in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $5.94 $3.60 (1 in stock)
	Lon Po Po by Ed Young from Philomel Books for Preschool-3rd grade Caldecott Medal Winner 1990 in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $6.00 (1 in stock)
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	Magic Fan by Keith Baker from Sandpiper Books for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $7.64
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	Ming Lo Moves the Mountain by Arnold Lobel from HarperCollins for Nursery-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $8.49
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	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)
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	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: 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
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	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
	Usborne Illustrated Stories of Greek Myths by Usborne writers & illustrators from Usborne for Kindergarten-2nd grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $16.99
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	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)
	Wings by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Dennis Nolan from Harcourt Brace Jovanich for Preschool-2nd grade in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE) $7.20 (1 in stock)

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