In many legends, a person is a werewolf by choice, turning into a wolf by donning a magic wolfskin. In some versions, the werewolf also leaves behind their human clothes when they transform. If these clothes are then destroyed, the werewolf can never regain human form. #FairyTaleTuesday
Sometimes in British legends, Fairyland is underground. However, other times it is in the far west, across the Atlantic Ocean, and so must be sailed to. Fairyland being across the ocean inspired J. R. R. Tolkien to have his elves sail west to return to their homeland.
🎨 Darrell K. Sweet #MythologyMonday
Many legends feature someone with no powers recruiting a team of superpowered heroes to help him on a quest (Greece's "The Argonauts," Grimms' fairy tale "Six Servants," etc.). In "Argonauts," the heroes are demigods, but other stories don't explain the powers.
🎨 Lorenzo Costa #MythologyMonday
"It is the bone of a man’s head," [Mowgli] said quietly.
"They came to take the treasure away many years ago." The White Cobra fairly shook with evil delight. "I spoke to them in the dark, and they lay still...."
"There's a snake on the western wave,
And his crest is red.
He's as long as a city street,
And he eats the dead.
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea
Where the snake goes down.
And he waits in the bottom of the sea
For the men that drown...."
Vachel Lindsay, "Sea Serpent Chantey"
🎨 James W. Buel #BookologyThursday
In the "Divine Comedy: Paradiso," Dante sees the blessed souls in Heaven arranged in the shape of an immense white rose that shines with God's light. The queen of the rose is the Virgin Mary, who in Catholic symbolism is often represented by a rose herself.
🎨 Gustave Dore #TempleThursday
In a Czech fairy tale, a childless couple adopts a log and names it "Otesánek." When the log comes alive, the couple is unable to keep their new son fed. Eventually the growing Otesánek starts to eat humans. Czech director Jan Švankmajer adapted the fairy tale into a movie. #LegendaryWednesday
In Norse myths, Garm is the watchdog of the Underworld. Garm and Tyr will kill each other at Ragnarok. Since Tyr had previously lost his hand to the similar Fenris Wolf, some scholars theorize that Garm and Fenris were the same beast in an earlier version.
🎨 Johannes Gehrts #FairyTaleTuesday
King Arthur owned the hound Cavall in Welsh myth. His name is similar to a Latin word for "horse," indicating great size, strength, and speed. While hunting the giant boar Trwyth, Cavall left a permanent footprint on a stone cairn, which is impossible to remove. #FairyTaleTuesday
The phoenix is one of the most iconic symbols of immortality and rebirth - the bird that dies in a burst of fire and then rises from its own ashes. In some versions, the phoenix just spontaneously combusts, but in others it builds and lights its own funeral pyre.
🎨 Friedrich Bertuch #FolkloreSunday
"The Well at the World's End" (1896) by William Morris features Ralph, prince of Upmeads, as he quests for the Well at the World's End. Very influential, arguably the first fantasy novel whose world has a completely invented geography distinct from our own. #BookologyThursday#BookChatWeekly
The early sci-fi novel "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott features an inhabitant of a two-dimensional world (Mr. A. Square) who meets a three-dimensional visitor. Later, Mr. Square meets a 1D being, and has the same power over him that the 3D being had over Mr. Square. #BookologyThursday#BookChatWeekly
In the Welsh Arthurian legend of Peredur (Sir Percival), he falls in love with Angharad Golden-Hand, and swears he will never speak to another Christian until he has proven his love. Ironically, Peredur is the most devotedly Christian of all King Arthur's Welsh knights.
🎨 Newell Convers Wyeth #TempleThursday
According to legend, Alexander the Great flew through the sky on a seat tied to two griffins he had tamed. To entice them to keep flying higher, he placed meat on two skewers which he held above their heads. Some say Alexander also rode a unicorn into battle. #WyrdWednesday
In Welsh myth, King Arthur leads an army to Caer Sidi (Castle Revolving), an Otherworldly castle made of glass and constantly rotating. He battles Caer Sidi's fairy guards to steal a magic cauldron and save a prisoner. Only seven of his warriors return alive.
🎨 Simone Bianchi #LegendaryWednesday
The name of the castle probably inspired Morgan la Fey's Castle Carousel, while the story inspired elements of the Arthurian Grail Quest as well as Lloyd Alexander's "The Black Cauldron" and Grant Morrison & Simone Bianchi's "Shining Knight" comic book.