A Thousand Years Before Tolkien: The Original Evil Magic Ring
An evil magic ring, associated with dwarf and dragon – what a great idea Tolkien had for his books! But he actually borrowed it from ancient Viking legends…
Snow Queens and Winter Witches from Around the World
Through myth, fairy tale and legend, powerful women are depicted as dark, cruel and calculating, and they are often naturally associated with winter – a season where all warmth withdraws, and the land is covered with snow and ice, and life is no more than a battle of survival against the elements.
Welsh Mythology and Storytelling: Telling the Mabinogion
In the nineteenth century, Lady Charlotte Guest (with a team of Welsh scholars) translated a series of stories from Welsh into English. It was she who gave them the collective title ‘The Mabinogion’.
British Legends: The Origin of Albion and the Bloodlust of Albina and Her Sisters
According to British medieval legend and myth, the island now known as Britain was once named Albion after an exiled queen named Albina.
Fairy Folklore: Come Away, O Human Child
To be led astray, Peter Pan style, by a fairy – ‘pixie led’ – is an old fear from isolated communities where weather and terrain seemed to judge and punish.