In the shadows lurking between midnight and morning, the imagination reigns. Real and imagined become simply words with shifting boundaries and slippery definitions.
A collection of authentic stories from the years around 1492. These tales have been carefully crafted to sound as exciting and mysterious as they were when first told five hundred years ago by sailors around a lantern on a ship, shared by explorers reclining around a campfire, enjoyed by Native Americans in a grass hut, whispered inside a stone palace in the Totonac city of Zempoala, or fondly remembered by an adventurer back home in Europe.
When a story shares a universal message, it finds its way into that pantheon of tales that is shared with many diverse cultures. These classic 33 tales, collected from Brazil, China, Korea, Russia, Tibet, Africa, from America's native peoples, and other lands, are chosen for their timeless shared values.
This collection of fifty folktales and parables was selected from diverse story traditions such as Sufi, Zen, Taoist, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, African, and Native American. Comprised of ancient plots both poignant and comical, this anthology contains simple truths, common sense, and the promise that we can benefit from past generations' experience. Wisdom tales offer useful insights into life's joys and sorrows that all of us experience.
Throughout history, Eastern Europe has been a battlefield, a crossroads, a place of conflict, and a place of resolution. The folk stories in this collection tell about challenges and obstacles as well as the strength, wit, hope, and courage necessary to overcome them.
Although the 46 tales in this collection are as varied as their origins, nearly all of these stories have been passed on by immigrants to America. As a result, this collection is a world tour between two covers, but not at the expense of the unifying element common to these stories: their uniquely Jewish flavor of doing the right thing, on surviving by cleverness and kindness and on the need for keeping a good sense of humor." Sherman's collection includes magical tales; stories about clever folks; tales of ghosts, gilguls, and other strange things; fables that deal with doing the right thing; and stories about the delightfully silly Wise Men of Chelm. Entertaining and illuminating story notes give additional information on the origins and different versions of the tales.
This collection of original folktales and stories created the foundation for the most popular films in recent memory including: Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman, and Lord of the Rings.
Maybe it's the king who spills honey, and then says it is not his problem - until it causes a war. Or maybe it's some sandpipers and whales who get into a foolish fight that almost destroys their homes. Perhaps it's the man who thinks that a gun makes him strong or the monkeys who follow their leader into water that's too deep. Peace Tales contains more than three dozen folktales and proverbs that illustrate these choices. Always fun to read these stories also prompt us to think about the seemingly minor events that lead to war and the little events that can also lead to peace. Stories from across the globe are accompanied by generous story notes, source information, and suggestions for further reading on the topic of peace.
Italian-Americans compose one of the largest ethnic groups in the United States.Unfortunately, they have often been portrayed negatively in fiction and film based on stereotypes that are not borne out among the immigrant population. These entertaining stories highlight a rich cultural heritage that has often been neglected.
Mexican-American traditions are richly nourished by the folkways of three cultures: Indian, Spanish, and Mexican. This comprehensive look at the Mexican-American world includes a range of traditional proverbs, riddles, stories and folksongs.
This collection of traditional Jewish-American stories includes lunar holidays and everyday observances; wonder tales from the Sorcerer's Apprentice; a Jewish version of Cinderella; tales of dybbuks, golems and other supernatural beings; and superstitions and traditions surrounding birth, marriage, and death.
When she was a young girl, Barbara McBride-Smith was introduced to the ancient Greek myths but she didn't quite hear right. When her teacher told her they lived in the cradle of western civilization, young Barbara thought she said Western civilization - as in central Texas, around about Waco, where they seemed to fit right in. Ol' Man Zeus, after all, was a gun-totin' Big Daddy, sort of the J.R. Ewing of Mount Olympus. You know Aphrodite, the school basketball queen or Pandora the debutante, the best guitar picker around was Orpheus - Tom T. and wasn't Medusa the one who started the fashion trend known as Big Hair? With her incurable Texas drawl, feminist sympathies, and cheerleader's do-right attitude, master storyteller Barbara McBride-Smith spins the Greek myths as you've never heard them before.
This collection of 30 stories about wise judges, clever lawyers, and deceitful tricksters, were collected from places as diverse as ancient Greece, Morocco, Germany, China, and Ireland. Some date back to pre-biblical days while others come from the American colonies.
In the Native American tradition, a strong connection exists between the spirit world and the natural world. It is believed that what happens in one has a definite impact on the other. In this collection, Choctaw storyteller Tim Tingle draws from the rich heritage of the Five Civilized Tribes - the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole nations.
For the past three decades, Pleasant DeSpain has explored Latin America its people, customs, cultures, and especially the myths and legends. The tales in this collection are full of compassionate souls, tricks and humor, explanations of nature and geography and as always, memorable characters and places. Mario Lamo-Jimnez's Spanish translation that accompanies the English version reverberates with the rich, vibrant quality that has become the bench mark for the best stories from Latin America.
This collection of urban myths assembles 50 brief stories from modern oral tradition. Commonly attributed to FOAFs (friend of a friend), they are intriguing and often frightening tales passed along in casual conversation. These tales are the substance of modern folklore, an evolving treasury of narratives. From the famous Vanishing Hitchhiker to incredulous tales of alligators in the New York City sewer system these stories still live in our collective imagination.
This collection of traditional tales and proverbs from over twenty ethnic groups touches upon both human and ecological themes such as environmental protection, the care of other creatures, and the connection of all things in nature.
Appalachian humor can be dry, colorful, and earthy. The chapters vary greatly ranging from topics of Love and Marriage; Schools, Religion; Lawyers; Mountaineers and the Law; Animals and Hunting; Mountaineers and City Folks; Health and Medicine; and Rural Life.
This fifth volume in W.C. Jameson's Buried Treasure series contains 38 tales and legends about Native American Indian hoards, Civil War caches, lost mines, and robbery stashes. Jameson includes classic treasure stories like The Lost Treasure of Pirate William Kirk (Virginia), Chief Sontechee's Silver Hoard (North Carolina), Natchez Trace: Treasure Trail (Mississippi) that are part myth and part history.
The Mid-Atlantic States are rich in history, legends of lost fortunes, and buried treasure stories. This twelfth book in W.C. Jameson's Buried Treasure collection offers thirty tales of this region that have remained largely untold for generations. Lost mines, buried loot, caches of gold and silver ingots, gangsters, Native American Indians, pirates, chests of precious stones -- such are the ingredients of a rich stew of folklore gathered from the melting pot of the Mid-Atlantic region.
Do Native Americans know the location of the cursed Lost Gold of Devil's Sink? Did Sir Francis Drake bury millions of dollars' worth of ancient Incan treasures? Has anyone found the box of gold coins buried by a reputed giant in the Washington rain forest? Is there a noble family's fortune buried near an old log cabin in the Cascades? The Pacific Northwest provides a picturesque backdrop for these stories as it stretches from the rugged coastline east over the snowy mountains and into the vast plateau that leads to Idaho. For over a century, outlaws, prospectors, Russians, Indians, loners, soldiers, and immigrants have thrown themselves into all of the adventure and intrigue money can buy.
These 32 tales from the Backbone of America include The Gold Behind the Waterfall (Arizona), The Treasure of Deadman Cave (Colorado), Lava Cave Cache (Idaho), Henry Plummer's Lost Gold (Montana), The Curse of the Lost Sheepherder's Mine (Nevada), Lost Train Robbery Loot in Cibola County (New Mexico), Eighty Ingots in Spanish Gold (Utah), and Lost Ledge of Gold (Wyoming). As Jameson points out in his introduction, the Rocky Mountains still have many remote areas that even today can only be reached on horseback or on foot. Centuries ago Native American Indians, Spaniards, explorers, prospectors, miners, the occasional wandering cowboy and even outlaws fleeing the law roamed these rugged mountains. Today this land remains laced with hidden treasures just waiting to be found.
The dusty trails heading west of the Mississippi provided intrigue, adventure, and danger for the men and women who set out in search of a new life and fortune. Outlaws along with pioneers and forty-niners traveled this frontier often, finding and losing riches along the way. The Great Plains region - loaded with history from Native Americans, Spanish explorers, and Mexican, German, and Scots-Irish settlers, holds some of the country's most promising opportunities for finding buried treasure. Scattered from North Dakota to Texas, these stories provide a glimpse into the lives of fleeing outlaws, hard-working ranchers, priests, prospectors, and immigrantsall entwined in their search for treasure.
This book is a collection of more than thirty stories about long lost buried treasures and forgotten stashes that are said to be hidden along the Atlantic Coast.
A cedar chest that had been packed with gold coins robbed from a bank just south of Lexington, Kentucky in 1860 was recovered 50 years later by a fishing guide at King's Mill Pond. Only a handful of coins were left in the chest, which had mostly rotted away. Is the rest settled beneath the silt of the pond today? The Appalachian Mountains have witnessed untold fortunes gained and lost. The confluence and clashes of a number of cultures Native American Indian, French, Spanish, pioneer, and Union and Confederate forces - often resulted in struggles over mineral resources or fights about stashes of gold and silver that were hidden for later retrieval. W.C. Jameson gathered his material from journals, maps, on-site research in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and from interviews with people whose lives have been entwined with the search for long lost treasures. This book contains 40 legends with accounts of caves stacked from floor to ceiling with gold ingots; of caches guarded by skeletons and curses; and of Union payrolls scattered to the four winds.
