bevanthomas

bevanthomas, 1 month ago to folklore

In the early stories of Merlin, he would often laugh when his powers of prophecy revealed ironic situations, such as a man expressing love for his "son" without realizing the boy isn't his, or a woman buying a dress even though she'll drown before she wears it.

#MythologyMonday #31DaysofHaunting #folklore #mythology #CelticMythology #Celtic #Wales #KingArthur #Arthuriana #Merlin

bevanthomas, 2 months ago to folklore

"What wilt thou have, Hans My Hedgehog?"

"Father,” [Hans] said, “bring me bagpipes, then go to the forge and get the rooster shod, and then I will ride away, and never come back."

The father was delighted that he was going to be rid of [Hans].

• The Brothers Grimm, "Grimms' Fairy Tales"

#FairyTaleTuesday #31DaysofHaunting #BookChatWeekly #fairytale #folklore #BrothersGrimm #JimHenson

bevanthomas, 2 months ago to folklore

The huldufólk (hidden folk) of Iceland are human-sized fairies whose communities are hidden in the hills. Sometimes they are depicted with cow tails. It is said that if the huldufólk marry a human, their cow tails fall off, and they become human themselves.
🎨 Brett Manning

#WyrdWednesday #GothicSpring #Superstitiology #31DaysofHaunting #folklore #mythology #NorseMythology #Norse #Vikings #Iceland #Scandinavia #fairy #elf

bevanthomas, 2 months ago to folklore

The Welsh hero Lleu was cursed by his mother to never have a human wife, so the wizard Gwydion used flowers from the oak, broom, and meadowsweet to create a wife for Lleu called Blodeuwedd ("Flower-Faced"). However, Blodeuwedd fell in love with another man....
🎨 Jenny Dolfen

#FairyTaleTuesday #31DaysofHaunting #BookChatWeekly #folklore #mythology #CelticMythology #Celtic #Wales

bevanthomas, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to 13thFloor

The cockatrice is a monster of English legend similar to a basilisk. It is born when a rooster lays an egg which is then incubated by a serpent; it resembles a rooster with a snake tail. The cockatrice kills with its gaze and touch, though the weasel is immune.
🎨 Marcus Gheeraerts

#MythologyMonday #31DaysofHaunting #Superstitiology #mythology #folklore #cockatrice #basilisk #monster

bevanthomas, 2 months ago to folklore

The Irish hero Cú Chulainn suffered from the ríastrad, a battle frenzy in which his body transformed, such as one eye getting sucked into his head while the other dangled down his cheek, his feet facing backwards, or the skin pulled back from his lips and cheeks.
🎨 Massimo Belardinelli

#FairyTaleTuesday #BookChatWeekly #31DaysofHaunting #folklore #mythology #IrishMythology #Ireland #Celtic #CuChulainn #comics #Slaine

bevanthomas, 2 months ago to literature

Though in Shakespeare, Cordelia dies before her father King Lear, in the original British legend she outlives him and becomes Britain's ruler. Cordelia is a warrior queen, leading armies. Sadly, she is overthrown by her two nephews, who resent being ruled by a woman.

#MythologyMonday #BookChatWeekly #ClassicLitMonday #31DaysofHaunting #Shakespeare #KingLear #literature #theatre #mythology #folklore

bevanthomas, 2 months ago to 13thFloor

The al-mi'raj from medieval Arabic literature resembles a yellow hare with a black horn. It's so fierce that most other animals flee from it. The inhabitants of an island in the Indian Ocean gave Alexander the Great an al-mi'raj to repay him for slaying a dragon.

#FolkloreSunday #BookChatWeekly #31DaysofHaunting #mythology #folklore #literature #Arabia #medieval #AlexandertheGreat #monster #rabbit #hare

bevanthomas, 2 months ago to 13thFloor

"When they got home, the Rat made a bright fire in the parlour, and planted the Mole in an armchair in front of it, having fetched down a dressing gown and slippers for him, and told him river stories till suppertime."

• Kenneth Grahame, "The Wind in the Willows"
  🎨 E. H. Shepard

#BookWormSat #BookChatWeekly #31DaysofHaunting #WindintheWillows #KennethGrahame #EHShepard #fiction #literature #EnglishLiterature

bevanthomas, 2 months ago to folklore

In one Welsh legend, King Arthur discovered an altar floating in the ocean, and unsuccessfully tried to use it as a table. When Arthur realized the altar belonged to St. Carannog, he returned it in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a troublesome dragon.

#TempleThursday #31DaysofHaunting #FolkloreThursday #folklore #mythology #Celtic #Wales #KingArthur #Arthuriana #saint

bevanthomas, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to folklore

Though the Norse term "Jotun" often gets translated as "giant," the Jotnar could be many different sizes, and many of them (Loki, Skadi, etc.) were no taller than the Aesir. They often seemed less like giants and more like simply a competing faction of gods.

#WyrdWednesday #31DaysofHaunting #Superstitiology #LegendaryWednesday #folklore #mythology #NorseMythology #Norse #Vikings #Jotun #giant

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

Many of the prophecies of the British mystic Myrddin Wyllt (the inspiration for Merlin) are monologs told to his only friend - a wild piglet he fed and befriended while living in the wilderness. Geoffrey of Monmouth changed the piglet to a wolf when he wrote Myrddin's biography.
#FairyTaleTuesday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

In many stories, Domdaniel is a cavern at the bottom of the ocean where sorcerers and spirits meet. In T. H. White's "The Sword in the Stone," Merlin says his duel with Madam Mim will test if a magic degree from Domdaniel (Mim's alma mater) is superior to tutoring from Merlin's mentor Blaise.
#FairyTaleTuesday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

In Welsh legends, King Arthur had three shapeshifting wizard-warriors in his service: his chief counselor Menw, Eiddilig the Dwarf, and Tristan of Lyonesse. Only Tristan appears in the later Arthurian Romances, though as simply a knight with no magical powers.
🎨 Alan Lee
#FairyTaleTuesday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

The 13 Treasures of Britain from Welsh folklore include several food-related ones, such as the Hamper of Gwyddno Long-Shank (if food for 1 person is placed in it, it becomes food for 100 people) and the Cauldron of Dyrnwch the Giant (which will not cook food for a coward).
#FolkloreSunday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

"Who art thou?" said the Giant. A strange awe fell on him, and he knelt before the little child.

The child smiled at the Giant. "You let me play once in your garden; today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise."

• Oscar Wilde, "The Selfish Giant"
  🎨 Ritva Voutila
  #BookWormSat

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

"[My anger] grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree."

• William Blake, "A Poison Tree"
  #BookWormSat

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

"Footprints?"

"Footprints."

"A man’s or a woman's?"

Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered.

"Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"

• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Hound of the Baskervilles"
  #BookologyThursday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

The Arthurian Romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is about how much someone will sacrifice for honour. Sir Gawain swore an oath to the Green Knight so that King Arthur wouldn't be called a coward, and then was willing to die rather than break his oath.
#LegendaryWednesday #WyrdWednesday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

The city of Troy was considered the epitome of culture and sophistication, so many European cultures (Italians, Welsh, etc.) claimed their ancestors had been Trojans. Medieval Christian Scandinavians even claimed their pagan gods had actually been Trojan sorcerers.
🎨 Giovanni Tiepolo
#WyrdWednesday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

Though Little Red Riding Hood illustrations usually depict the Big Bad Wolf as a regular wolf, he has various human-like features, including hands able to turn a doorknob, the ability to walk bipedally, and startling disguise skills, giving him some werewolf overtones.
🎨 Trina Schart Hyman
#FairyTaleTuesday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

"Little girls, this seems to say
Never stop upon your way.
Never trust a stranger friend.
No one knows how it will end.
As you're pretty, so be wise;
Wolves may lurk in every guise.
Now as then, 'tis simple truth:
Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth."

• Angela Carter, "The Company of Wolves"
  #FairyTaleTuesday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

According to Norse mythology, the Mead of Inspiration was created by two wicked dwarves as they mixed the blood of the dead god Kvasir with honey. Anyone who drank from this mead would possess great wisdom and become a great poet.
🎨 Franz Stassen
#MythologyMonday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

The pwca is the black-furred Welsh version of the pooka - a forest goblin trickster. Sometimes the pwca uses a magic candle to lead travelers off the path, and other times the pwca turns into a black animal, such a horse, and entices travelers to try to catch it.
🎨 Tony DiTerlizzi
#FolkloreSunday

bevanthomas, 3 months ago to random

"The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was."

• William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Act 4, Scene 1)
  #ShakespeareSunday #BookChatWeekly