Dragon Legends: Myth or Half-Truth?
Dragons play a popular role in legend, Where might their origins have begun, and can we see parallels between them and other creatures, mythical and real?
Tapping the Admiral: Nelson, Trafalgar & the Corpse in the Cask
The phrase “Tapping the Admiral” originates from a piece of folklore surrounding the death of Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in October of 1805.
Bold Sisters in Fairy Tale Families
Fairy tales often focus on relationships within families — interrogating the many ways in which these can break down, but also celebrating family.
The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales
Like many people, I thought the Grimm brothers had lived long ago & travelled around Germany collecting stories from old women hunched over spinning wheels.
Was it Really East of the Sun and West of the Moon?
The Norwegian folktale, “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” in which a white bear comes to take a poor girl away, is loved by people the world over. It is also part of a huge cycle of folklore and myth that has spanned Eurasia in the last 2500 years.