Myths and Legends from Around the World

375 Pages·2000·5.98 MB·English

by  Robin Brockman

Re-told by Robin Brockman
Illustrations by Michael McLellan
Published by
Arcturus Publishing Limited
for Bookmart Limited
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This edition published 2000
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ISBN 1-84193-014-8
Text and jacket design: Chris Smith
Printed and bound in Finland
Contents
Introduction 7
An African Genesis 13
Beowulf 19
The Spider Grandmother 53
Gilgamesh and Enkidu 57
Osiris, Bringer of Civilization 95
Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady 101
Thor, Loki the Trickster, and the Twilight of the Gods 125
The Death of Tutunui 153
Zeus 161
Big Trouble with Little Gods 171
Sedna, Mother of Sea Beasts 181
Hercules and His Labours 187
Doctor Li Hollow Eyes 225
Mamadi Sefe Dekote 229
The Knight and the Lady of Loch Awe 243
Izanagi and Izanami 265
Amaterasu and Susanoo – The Sun and The Seas 271
Roland 277
Son of the Morning Star 313
The Sacrifice of Countess Cathleen 317
Tlazoteotl and the Price of Temptation 339
St. George and the Dragon 343
The Adventure of Goroba-Dike 353
The Example of Miao Shan 371
To Anne and Peter Jousiffe
for their friendship, courage under fire
and the loan of so many
invaluable books.
Introduction
Perhaps a more apt title for this volume might have been ‘Favourite Myths
and Legends’, or better still, ‘Selected Myths and Legends From Around
the World’. This is above all meant to be an easy to read, accessible book,
while being faithful to its subjects. Inclusion has depended entirely on
what in my own opinion makes a good, rousing, edifying, amusing,
charming or frightening story. References to time, context, location and
ethnic origin are contained within the tales so that each one can stand
alone, as a short-story, without explanation or elaboration.
It is my hope that this book will encourage many readers to study
the original or earlier versions of the stories, as well as other tales from
the great wealth of world myth and legend. This volume will best serve
as a general overview, perhaps even a primer. Cultural balance of a sort
has been easy to achieve because nearly every part of the world and
every ethnic strain of man has its gods and heroes, monsters and
magicians.
In retelling these tales I have tried to make each one memorable
and relevant to the modern reader, whether that reader is new to them
entirely or encountering them here reborn. None of the hard
information in them has been changed, though. Myth, after all, and even
that close relation of it, legend, has far more importance in societies
than that of simple entertainment. The very wisdom of the ancients,
perhaps the Creator’s instructions to humanity, may well be wrapped up
in certain of our most universal myths. Memory experts attest that even
the most mundane or very practical information is best retained by
people if it is presented to them in the form of a story.
Partly for this reason common threads abound in tales from the
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MYTHS AND LEGENDS
most widely dispersed cultures. This is the case in even the least cosmic,
most uninstructive myths. Just being human, living in these bodies on
this earth, provides unlimited universal commonality of experience and
imagination. This fact constantly highlights, if not some high-minded
message of the brotherhood of man, then at least that the world – which
we like to think became so much smaller in modern times – has always
been pretty tiny.
There is much that was always pure allegory, of course, or meant
to be wondrous explanations to impress the masses, while the ruling
class or priest caste were the only ones privy to really important
information about the nature of this life on earth. There is, therefore,
plenty of magic of a far-fetched and supernatural kind in these stories.
This is not restricted to the very early ones of how the universe was
formed or how life began, nor is it confined to tales of gods and
monsters. Of course, even the beliefs of the cognoscenti, the high priests
and members of mystery cults, were fantastic by any modern standards.
Some people see this as reflecting humankind’s greater gullibility in days
gone by, during the so-called ‘long childhood of man’.
The myths and legends of our own age tend only to exaggerate what
we see as reality, and, with a few exceptions, very little of the magical
seems to creep into them. We are not even sceptically religious these days.
No longer do we accept, for instance, as the Victorians did, so much as
the mere tenets of the established faith of the land. And we reject all
others with even greater ease. More than any of our predecessors in the
recorded and unrecorded history of our species, we demand ‘proof’ of
everything.
However, if pre-history and ancient civilizations constituted the
“childhood of man”, as some call it, I maintain that our era is surely its
adolescence. We believe nothing, doubt everything, and deny all that
cannot be seen and measured by the yardstick of our own limited point
of view. Nothing exists if science cannot verify it. But science operates
in only three dimensions: on this plane, in the present time, among what
8
INTRODUCTION
we call the living, natural world. Human experience tells us repeatedly,
and has always told us, that, in reality, there is so very much more.
This takes us into the realm of metaphysics, which all ages have
produced. Practical, scientific and intelligent men of logic made as much
a study of the unseen and unexplainable in ancient times as they did of
the more conventional things many are known for today. Indeed,
humanity’s greatest minds were more open to such matters in the past
than they are now and only a fool would say this was purely out of
superstition, naivety or ignorance.
Myth and legend do not grow out of metaphysics, however. They
are most often the tools of religion and race or exercises in raising
national consciousness. One definition of myth might be the beliefs of
defunct or otherwise distant, usually foreign, religions. Legends are
notably the stuff of group identity, shining example, nostalgia and folk
history. They tell a people who they used to be and what the best of
them could achieve. They speak of what a group stands for and what
sort of champions they look to see return in times of need, either in the
character of their sons and daughters or out of the mists of the world of
magic, mystery and divinity. Always these forces favour one’s own band,
tribe, nation or race over all others.
One of the reasons myths and legends endure, however, is because
they are not the true property of any group. This is not only because of
their universality, but because they feed on one another, become
appropriated by conquerors, immigrants, the oppressed or newly
formed groupings. Theft, mixing, regurgitation and incorporation all
happen constantly even today.
Along with this process certain parts of history or religion pass into
myth and legend. Legend can become myth in this way, though myth
seldom becomes legend. The people of a defeated race, who have
perhaps been driven into the wilds, develop skills that seem magical, and
just in order to survive may become pixies, elves and leprechauns. It
happened in Ireland, Scotland and Wales and we can see it happening
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MYTHS AND LEGENDS
even now in North America, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere
around the world. Population shifts and the passing of peoples and
cultures inevitably invite this transmigration.
We can gain insight, too, from the increasing disappearance of
animal species. Because of their absence or loss we find ourselves
creating mythical beasts to replace them. Perhaps we can see in this
process how our ancestors accepted the existence of rare or supposedly
recently extinct animals such as unicorns and dragons.
Many in our society hold that the city of Atlantis existed and some
believe it may yet be found under the ice of Antarctica. If such a thing
should ever happen, it would not be the first time that myth has become
history or reality. It is wise to remember that until very recent times, any
suggestion that giant lizards had dominated the earth before mankind
would have been regarded as mythological fancy. The existence of
dinosaurs is taken for granted now, and most people do not realize we
ever doubted it.
Though it is often misused, the term legend can well be applied to
many figures in recent history. As the expression has it, these people
sometimes achieved this status in their own lifetime, and some became
legends for performing one brief act. Myth is another matter but that
too is forming constantly. Larger issues, mass opinion, delusion or
propaganda fall into the category of myth. Legend, on the other hand,
is about a person or individual groups of people. What baby boomer,
especially one who has bothered to read history, can deny that the deeds
of the generation who fought the Second World War have taken on
many of the qualities of myth in our culture? The Old West, too, has
long been the subject of myth, and it has also produced its fair share of
legends.
All this would have been the case even without Hollywood films
accelerating the process. Movies have nevertheless helped propel a
higher percentage of subjects, times, heroes and monsters from history
into myth and legend than any other medium.
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