Collectable Mermaids and the Myth of the Merrow

Feejee Mermaid, shown in P.T. Barnum's American Museum, 1842, as leased from Moses Kimball of the Boston Museum, papier-mache - Peabody Museum, Harvard University. By Daderot, Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69554826

The early sirens, the ones Odysseus encountered, were not fish at all but bird-women, but they had those great siren qualities – bewitching songs and the will to lure the unwitting to a bad end.

A Thousand Years Before Tolkien: The Original Evil Magic Ring

Siegfried und Brunnhilde by Charles Ernest Butler (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18935890)

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…

The Fairy Trees: Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Rowan

Hawthorn Blossom © Lisa Schneidau

White blossom on the trees is one of the delights of springtime, but it masks a deeper magic in three of the most charismatic of British trees: blackthorn, hawthorn and rowan. Storyteller and ecologist Lisa Schneidau has some practical tips on navigating plant folklore, bringing you face to face with the fairy realms and the ways of the Other Folk…..

Bold Sisters in Fairy Tale Families

The stepmother creeps after Little Brother and Sister. Arthur Rackham, Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50422017

Fairy tales often focus on relationships within families — interrogating the many ways in which these can break down, but also celebrating family.

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