Happy New Year!

Yes, that's right; it's that time again. Time to stay up late and get suitably hammered while you wait for the ball to drop in Times Square. Tomorrow, it will be 2012, and (according to the Mayans) we now have less than a year before the current era is scheduled to end.

Fun times, huh?

If I remember correctly, the last time I gave the Myth Fix spotlight to a particular deity, the subject was from the Roman pantheon. In the spirit of the New Year, I've selected another Roman God: Janus.

Statue of Janus in the Vatican

Unlike many Gods in the pantheon, who were in a large part borrowed from the Greeks, Janus is uniquely Roman.As a God of transition, Janus has quite a bit on his plate. He represents doorways, beginnings, endings, and, more generally, time. He is depicted with two faces, one looking into the past, the other into the future. He also lent his name to the month of January, as it is the first month in the Western year. Rites to Janus were performed by the Romans at the beginning and end of each month, the beginning and end of the military season, and, of course, the New Year. New Year traditions included the giving of gifts and the offering of prayers to Janus.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus

Essential Visual History of World Mythology. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic ;, 2008. Print.

The Bean Nighe

Don't ask me to pronounce it. I'm horrible with Gaelic.

The Bean Nighe, also known as the "Washer of the Ford" (not the car), is a Scottish spirit (or possibly multiple spirits), who many say was once a woman who died in childbirth. She sits by the river, washing the blood out of the clothes of soldiers who are to die. If you come across a bean nighe, chances are you won't last through the day. Imagine many a Scotsman's surprise when he went out to take a drink (or a leak) and stumbled upon such a spirit.

In the story of Cuchulainn (the Ulster Cycle), Morrigan takes the form of a bean nighe in order to inform our hero that he is to die. The story of his final battle (well, his whole life, really) is an interesting one, and I suppose I'll have to share it one of these days.

Sources:
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/bean_nighe.html
http://www.morrigan.net/morrigan.htm

How Very Childish.

I've been in a traditional music kind of mood for the past two weeks or so; it's all I've been listening to. I enjoy folk music. The natural rhythms and heavy reliance on vocal and instrumental talent are quite relaxing. I find it's a welcome break from all the auto-tuned techno crap ol' Chainsaw Charlie's been churning out lately (It's a W.A.S.P. reference). So, anyway, I've been listening to a ton of folk music. And then I got to thinking, "Hey, this stuff's loaded with references to local legends and superstition--just the kind of stuff this blog's supposed to be about." Then I decided, even though I'm supposed to be doing driver's ed (I'll get to that later), I should really post something. My absence isn't fair to the five people out of our world's seven billion who actually read this blog. I figured I could make this one about the stories told in a few popular (and not-so-popular) folk ballads. I'm starting with the collection of Francis J. Child, hence the title of this entry.

"Scarborough Fair," or "The Elfin Knight"

The details of the song vary from version to version, but the gist is the same: A man tells a woman that he'll marry her if she can perform several impossible tasks, such as making a cambric shirt without any seams, washing it in a dry well, and finding an acre of land between the sea and the shore. The progressive metal band Queensryche did an awesome cover of the ballad, which was where I first heard it:

http://youtu.be/lcwQlGjNqrs

"Lord Randall"

I had to write a report on this one, so I know it like the back of my own hand. Lord Randall comes home tired and desperate for a bed, only to have to suffer his mother's incessant interrogation. He answers her inquiries about his whereabouts with short, blunt sentences, stating that he'd been in the greenwood eating dinner with his true love. A little later, he reveals that he fed his leftovers to his hawks and hounds, who sickened and died. At this, his mother exclaims, "I fear you've been poisoned, Lord Randall, my son!" And he answers, "Yes, I've been poisoned; mother make my bed soon..." His mother then wants to know what he'll leave to his family when he dies. He gives his brother his lands, and his mother and sister gold. His mother asks what he'd leave to his true love, and he replies, "I leave her hell and fire". There is some speculation that it was actually a fairy in the guise of his true love who poisoned him, as punishment for trespassing in the greenwood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VKzcUU8uaQ

"The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry"

A traditional ballad from the Orkney Islands, the song starts off with a woman singing to her young child that she doesn't know who his father is. That night (or soon after), a strange man enters her house, introducing himself as the  father of her child, and he is, in fact, a silkie, a mysterious being that takes the form of a man on land and a seal in the water. He asks the woman to marry him, and she refuses. He then gives her a nurse's fee for raising his child and takes the baby with him, but not before telling her that she'll eventually marry a gunner who will one day kill him and their child. Broadside Electric did a really cool cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDbTnLhlLfM

"Geordie"

"Geordie" is Child Ballad 209, in which a woman laments the arrest and pending execution of her true love, Geordie, for one of a number of crimes, depending upon the version (poaching, theft, murder, treason, etc.). She goes to the judge to plea for a pardon, saying that she'd freely part with every single one of her children if he'd only "spare the life of Geordie." The judge tells her that he cannot pardon Geordie, and the man must hang. In some versions, however, gracious people donate money to help pay his ransom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNRjPBc9rbQ

The Origin of Halloween and Halloween Traditions

Halloween, originally Samhain, is a holiday with its roots firmly entrenched in paganism. It is said to be the time of year when the veil between the land of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest, and the spirits of those long departed can travel back and visit those of us still breathing. The reason this is said to happen at this particular time of year is because of its position between summer and winter, the seasons of life and death, respectively. Many of the Halloween traditions we take for granted have been passed down from the pagan celebration.

The Costume
To the pagans, dressing up on Halloween was a bit more than good-natured frivolity. This was a time when spirits and demons were all too real to the general populace, and the people dressed themselves up like spirits or fairies in order to confuse the true spirits and avoid being dragged off to the Underworld.

Trick-or-Treating
This popular Halloween ritual probably began as a practice called "Souling," where the poor went door-to-door, praying for the dead of each family in exchange for food and drink.

Jack-O-Lanterns

No, the pumpkin thing didn't start out in Europe. Pumpkins were a product of Central America, originally, like corn, squash, and potatoes. The tradition began with a hollowed-out turnip. People only began to use pumpkins after the Europeans came to the Americas.


Sources:
www.history.com
http://www.albee.org/halloween/jackolantern.htm
[Jack-O-Lantern carved by Yours Truly]

"His fur was the color of a starless night, and his eyes like burning coals."

Okay, it's about time I posted SOMETHING. I put up a poll on the Facebook page promoting this blog, asking whomever cared, from whence I should draw my next myth. The vote was nearly unanimous: Japan. Now, I don't know very much about Japanese folklore, so a relative of mine suggested I research the kitsune.


The kitsune are, to sum it up in a couple of words, Japanese fox spirits. That's the Mythology-for-Dummies version. Some stories portray them as trickster spirits, as foxes are often portrayed in myths throughout the world. Other myths tell of them as fiercely loyal companions, and even wives or lovers.They are said to be very intelligent and possess magical powers. They also live a very, very long time. Oh, and they can have up to nine tales.

Kitsune have the power to shapeshift into human form. They often use this power to change into young girls, old men, or beautiful women (in which form they often marry men and even bear children). Some tales say that even though a transformed kitsune looks nearly identical to a regular human being, there is some trait (usually the tail) that it retains. Dogs seem to be able to sense whether a man or a woman is actually a fox in disguise, and often the very presence of a dog can make a kitsune change back to its original form and flee.


Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsune  (Okay, I know it's not the best source, but I was lazy.)

Song lyric in title:
"The Black Fox" by Heather Dale

Disney Movies: Not as accurate as you may think.

What? Children's movies, not accurate? But how could this be?

Don't get me wrong; if there's one thing I love, it's Disney. Ol' Walt was a brilliant man. He took old fairy tales and gave them a new life. But in order to be able to market them toward children, he had to change them a bit, as they weren't exactly child-friendly in their original forms. Here are a couple of films with inaccuracies.

Cinderella
We've all heard at least one version of the tale; nearly every culture has one. I've even written one of my own. Girl's mother dies, father remarries, stepmother and stepsister are cruel...there's a ball, girl goes in secret, girl meets Prince, girl flees before getting caught...Prince finds girl, they live happily ever after.

How did the Prince locate his true love in the original version? She left a fur slipper at the ball in her haste to escape. You heard me: not glass, fur. She also had very small feet, as we all know. It was mentioned in the movie. But where was the part about the stepsisters chopping off their toes with an axe so the shoe would fit them? You guessed it--not in the movie. Too much blood.

Hercules
A more modern work, but Disney nonetheless. It (more or less) tells the story of the Greek hero. First inaccuracy:

Hera was not Hercules' mother. Alcmene was. But they couldn't so much as imply that Zeus had fathered children with mortal women. (I dare you to look up the family tree associated with Greek mythology. It's insane.) Hera was, in fact, the main antagonist in the myth (not Hades).

Oh, another fun fact: Hercules  actually did marry a woman by the name of Megara, and had children. But during a fit of temporary insanity, he murdered the lot of them. Nothing is ever easy for the hero.

New name; same posts (only less frequently)

I'm back from my vacation. Actually, I've been back for a few days now, but I haven't had the desire to post a myth a day. So I decided to change the name of the site so that I'm not forced to stay true to the name and post a myth every day. No folktale is enclosed in this entry; I'll post one as soon as I can.

Vacation and The Twelve Brothers

I am deeply sorry, but I will be gone for a couple weeks, most likely with no Internet access. And without Internet, as you know, I cannot write any posts. But I promise you I will be back! I'll use the time to plan out my next entries. But before I go, here's a folktale for you.

There once lived a King, a Queen, and their twelve sons. They loved each other very much, but sorrow shadowed them, for the King had been told that should a daughter be born, all twelve Princes would be killed, and the Princess would become the sole heir.

The King had twelve coffins made, which he filled with shavings and the Princes' burial clothes, and locked in a storeroom in the castle, in case the next child born was a girl. The Queen, saddened, wept for a whole day. The youngest prince, Benjamin, noticed her sorrow, and asked to know the cause of it. Of course, the Queen did not want to tell her son the truth, for fear of alarming him. But the boy was persistent, and finally she gave in and showed him the coffins, explaining their purpose. As she wept, Benjamin consoled her and said, "Do not weep, dear mother, we will take care of ourselves, and be far away from here before that time arrives."

The Queen decided that his idea was a good one, and said that it would probably be for the best if they went away and stayed in a nearby forest, so that they could still see the castle. If the Queen's next child was a son, then a white flag would be hoisted at the top of the tower, and the Princes would be safe to return. If the baby was a girl, however, a red flag would be shown, and the boys would be encouraged to run for their lives.

With their mother's blessing, they went off into the forest. Eleven days passed, and when Benjamin climbed a tree so that he could see the tower, he saw--go figure--a red flag. The elder brothers were irate and irrational, and thought it injust that their lives as they knew it would be destroyed by the birth of a little girl, so they vowed to kill the first maiden they saw in the forest.

They fled deeper into the woods and eventually came upon an abandoned cottage. They resolved that this would be their new home, and delegated Benjamin to do the woman's work and keep the house all tidy while the rest of them hunted for food, water, provisions--that kind of thing.

So they lived in the cottage deep in the forest for ten years with no news of what was going on in the castle. Meanwhile, the young Princess was growing into a beautiful maiden, dressed in beautiful clothes, with a golden star adorning her forehead. When she was ten years old, she was snooping around in her mother's wardrobe and discovered twelve shirts. They were way too small to have belonged to the King, so she asked her mother whose they were. The Queen told her that they were once worn by her twelve brothers. Must have been quite a shock for the girl, to be told that she had any siblings at all, let alone twelve! She asked where they were, and why she had never heard of them.

The Queen explained to her that she did not know where they were, but that the girl's birth would have been their death if they had not left the castle. The Princess then decided that she would go and find her brothers, wherever they may be. She traveled all that day, and at last found the cottage. Although she didn't know that it was inhabited by the Princes, she was feeling tired and knocked on the door. Benjamin answered, and recoiled at seeing a lovely maiden with a gold star on her forehead standing across the threshold.

"Who are you," he asked her at last, "and what do you want?"

"I am a King's daughter," she replied, "and I seek my twelve brothers, and I intend to search for them in every place under the sun until I find them. And these are their shirts," she added, showing him the contents of her bag.

Benjamin realized that here, standing before him, was his sister, and said, "I am your youngest brother, Benjamin."

They embraced each other, and he ushered her inside and bade her sit and rest by the fire, and gave her food and drink. Then, he recalled his brothers' vow to destroy the first maiden they should see. Benjamin explained to her that she was in danger, but the girl told him that she was willing to die if it would make everything better for her brothers. But Benjamin told her that he did not fear that they would kill her if he told them that she was their sister, and ordered her to hide until after supper.

When the meal was prepared, the brothers asked Benjamin if he had any news. Benjamin replied that he had, but he would share it with the rest of them on one condition: that the first maiden they saw within the forest would be shown mercy. They all agreed, eager to hear what had gone on that day while they were out hunting. Benjamin then informed them that their sister was in the cottage. Benjamin led her out to see her other brothers, and they were overjoyed that she had found them, and kissed and embraced her with much love and affection.

For a time she stayed with them, assisting Benjamin with the housework. She tended a garden, in which grew twelve lilies, one for each of her brothers. One day, she decided that they were ready to be picked and placed beside each of the young men's plates. When she brought them inside, however, her brothers were transformed into twelve ravens, and they flew away. If that wasn't bad enough, the house and garden disappeared, too. Grief-stricken, the girl turned to go when an old woman appeared to her and said, "My child, what have you done? Why didn't you leave those lilies to grow on their stems? They weren't merely twelve flowers; they were your twelve brothers, and now they will remain ravens for all time."

"Is there no way to set them free?" wept the maiden.

"No way," replied the woman, "but one, and you would never be able to perform the task."

"Tell me!" the Princess cried. "I am sure I can do it, if only you would tell me what it is."

The old woman then told her that in order to break the spell, the girl would have to remain mute for seven years. She could not speak to anyone, or even laugh, or her brothers would die. The girl agreed, and the old woman left her. The Princess, having no home now that the cottage had vanished, climbed up into a tree and started to knit. For three days she lived in the tree, not speaking a word, eating the fruits that grew on the branches. On the third day, a neighboring King's hunting party discovered her. The King was struck by her beauty, and asked her to come down and be his bride. The Princess merely nodded her head. The wedding was celebrated, but she neither spoke nor laughed.

The King's mother, who was a wicked witch, sought to turn her son against his bride. Why, she said, did the girl remain silent, if not because of a guilty conscience? Gradually she convinced the King to turn against his Queen, and ordered her to be burned to death. He might have thought twice about her guilt had she spoken up in defense of herself, but in order to save her brothers, she was as mute as before.

On the day that she was to be executed, the King sat at a window overlooking the stake, and watched as his beloved wife was brought out and bound, and the fire lit beneath her. Then, suddenly, there was a rustle of wings as twelve black ravens landed around her and morphed into her twelve brothers. The spell had been broken! The fire was extinguished and the Queen led her brothers to meet the King, where they explained to him all that had happened and the reason for her silence.

Furious at his mother for plotting against his wife, the King had the witch thrown into a vat of oil filled with poisonous snakes, where, needless to say, she died.

Everyone else lived happily ever after.


Source:

The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

I'm late! I'm late!

I can't believe I completely forgot about the blog today. Since I have neither the time nor the will to rewrite a folktale, I'll just share with you some verses from the Havamal.


"A kind word need not cost much
The price of praise can be cheap
With half a loaf and an empty cup
I found myself a friend."

"The man who stands at a strange threshold
Should be cautious before he cross it
Glance this way and that
Who knows beforehand what foes may sit
Awaiting him in the hall?"

"WHo travels widely needs his wits about him
The stupid should stay at home
The ignorant man is often laughed at
When he sits at meat withthe sage."

"Of his knowledge a man should never boast
Rather be sparing of speech
When to his house a wiser comes
Seldome do those who are silent make mistakes
Mother wit is ever a faithful friend."

"Fortunate is he who is favored in his lifetime
With praise and words of wisdom
Evil counsel is often given
By those of evil heart."

"Silence becomes the son of a prince
To be silent but brave in battle
It befits a man to be merry and glad
Until the day of his death."

"The coward believes he will live forever
If he holds back in the battle
But in old age he shall have no peace
Though spears have spared his limbs."

"He who has seen and suffered much
And knows the ways of the world
Who has travelled, can tell what spirit
Governs the men he meets."

"An ill-tempered, unhappy man
Ridicules all he hears
Makes fun of others, refusing always
To see the faults in himself."

"The fool who fancies he is full of wisdom
While he sits by his hearth at home
Quickly finds when questioned by others
That he knows nothing at all."

"Wise is he not who is never silent
Mouthing meaningless words
A glib tongue that goes on chattering
Sings to its own harm."

"A small hut of one's own is better
A man is his master at home
A couple of goats and a corded roof
Still are better than begging."

"If you deal with another you don't trust
But wish for his goodwill
Be fair in speech but false in thought
And give him lie for lie."

A Grimm story

It's been a little over a week of slightly stressful, memory challenging mythdom. And I'm still kicking. Though I am contemplating changing the site name so that I don't have to post an entry every day (lazy, huh?).

This one I found a little while back in a collection of Brothers Grimm fairy tales. The title struck me as completely awesome, and just a little...odd for a fairy tale: The Maiden Without Hands.

There once lived an old miller, who gradually lost his business and was rendered penniless. All he had left was his mill and an old apple tree which grew behind it. One day, he went to gather wood in the forest, and an elderly stranger approached him, saying that he would offer the miller great riches if the miller would give the man whatever stands behind the mill. The miller thought, hey, why not? All I have to lose is the apple tree. So he agreed to the bargain. The old man smiled and said that he'd be back in three years to collect his payment, and was gone.

When he came home with his wood, the miller found his wife staring at a mountain of treasure beside the hearth. She asked him if he had any idea where it could have come from, and the miller said, "Oh, an old man promised me riches in exchange for what stood behind the mill. The woman's face paled when she heard this, and she gasped, "It was a wizard who came to you. He was not talking about the apple tree. He meant our daughter, who was sweeping behind the mill." The miller was shocked and saddened at the news, but there was nothing either of them could do; the maiden had been promised to the wizard.

Three years passed, and the day came when the maiden was to go with the wizard. Washing until she was cleansed and purified, she drew a circle of white chalk and stood within it. When the wizard came to collect her, he was enraged to find her there, clean as fresh snow. He ordered the miller to take away all the water so that she couldn't clean herself, because when she washed, he had no power over her.

The miller did as he was told, but when the wizard came for the daughter the next morning, he discovered that her hands were clean--she had wept on them. Still unable to touch her, he ordered that the maiden's hands be cut off. The miller protested, but again did as he was bid when the wizard threatened to carry him off instead of his daughter.

The wizard came the next day, but the girl had wept over the stumps of her arms, cleansing them. The wizard was livid, but he knew that he had lost all claim to the girl. When he had gone, the girl told her father that she wasn't safe in the mill any longer. So, with some well wishes and a bit of gauze, she set off into the world.

She wandered for a time until she came to one of the royal gardens. Across a river she spotted an orchard of pear trees. Not having eaten all day, she wished desperately for just one fruit. A fairy heard her prayer and opened a channel in the river, so that the maiden could pass on dry land (as she had no hands, she could not swim across). Reaching a tree, and having no hands to pick a fruit, she leaned in and ate the pear right off the branch. The gardener saw this, thought that the maiden was a ghost, and hid in fright.

When the King came the next morning and counted the pears on the tree, he discovered that one was missing and demanded to know what became of it. The gardener recounted the previous night's sighting. That night, the King lay in wait for the "spectre," accompanied by a priest. The girl arrived for another pear. The priest stepped forth, and asked her if she was a ghost or a human being. The girl answered that she was human, and needed help.

The King brought her to the castle, where he had her fitted with silver hands. He soon fell in love with her, and they were married. They conceived a son, and shortly after the pregnancy was announced, the King had to go away to war. He left his Queen under the care of his mother, and asked that they write to him.

When the child was born, the Queen sent her husband a letter. The messenger, however, stopped to rest and the wizard (yes, the self-same wizard who had attempted to claim the maiden all those years ago) swapped the letter with one of his own, which said that the child was a changeling. This was the letter that the King received, and though he was distressed, he loved his Queen so, and wrote that the Queen and their heir be well taken care of. However, the wizard intercepted this letter, too, and replaced it with one that ordered the death of the Queen and young Prince.

The King's mother received this letter and wrote a reply, but all the letters sent back and forth were thus intercepted by the wizard, and eventually the "King" altered his order so that instead of being put to death, the changeling son's tongue was to be cut out and the Queen's eyes removed. The old mother could not do this, however, and so she sent Queen and child away.

The Queen traveled a ways, and reached a cottage. A sign out front announced, "Every one who dwells here is safe." Here she sought refuge for a number of years. Meanwhile, the King returned to the castle and asked about his wife and son. The old mother wept and raved and shouted at him and showed him all the letters she'd received. Upon seeing that he'd been tricked, the King wept so bitterly that his mother told him she'd sent Queen and Prince away rather than kill them. The King vowed that he would not rest until he was reunited with his family.

He traveled for seven years in despair, before he found the cottage. The King entered, and the landlady sent for the Queen, who was still unaware that she'd been tricked by the wizard. When the Queen walked into the room, the covering fell off of the sleeping King's face, and the Queen told her son to replace it. The King, being a light sleeper, heard the voice, and turned his head so that the covering fell off again. The Queen again said to her son, "Cover the face of thy father." The boy replied that he thought he had no mortal father, and that God was his father. The King awoke and asked them who they were. The Queen replied, "I am your wife, and this is your child." The King was skeptical, and said that his wife had silver hands. Her hands (which had somehow miraculously grown back) were normal. The Queen went and brought out her old silver hands to show him.

They embraced each other, made amends and lived happily ever after.


Source:

http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/story091.pdf

Lemminkainen's Demise

Ever heard of the Kalevala? Very few people have, which is a shame. It's the national poem of Finland, comprised of a bunch of myths collected and rewritten by Elias Lonnrot. (It was also part of J.R.R. Tolkien's inspiration for his tales of Middle Earth.)

One of the characters in the Kalevala is Lemminkainen. After kidnapping Kylikki for his bride, he returned home and lived happily for a short time. She turned out to be a bit unfaithful, so he went in search for another. Inevitably, his quest led him to the dwelling of the evil witch Louhi (whose daughter was apparently drop-dead gorgeous, judging from all the others who came to woo her.

Louhi, of course, wasn't going to give her daughter's hand to just anyone. She assigned Lemminkainen three seemingly impossible tasks. The first was to bring back the giant moose of Hisi. Having received some advice from the gods, he lassoed the moose and returned to Louhi.

The second task was to capture and bring a flaming stallion (also of Hisi). Lemminkainen knew he'd be burned to a crisp should he try to approach the horse as is, so he prayed for a little rain. His prayers were answered, and rain fell and quenched the flames. Lemminkainen lassoed the horse and brought it to Louhi, asking again for her daughter's hand in marriage.

Louhi wasn't finished, though. Oh, no. She then gave him the hardest task of all--Lemminkainen was to journey to Tuonela, the Underworld, and kill the swan that swims in the river. To make things more difficult, she gave him a bow with only one arrow, which he must use to slay the creature. Reckless, daring and unbelievably hardheaded, Lemminkainen accepted.

He reached the Underworld and spotted the swan. He readied his bow for the fatal shot. What he hadn't anticipated was Nasshut, Tuonela's protector from all things living. Though Nasshut was blind, he sensed Lemminkainen's coming, heard the creak of his bow. Nasshut sent a serpent to bite him. The venom raced to his heart, stopping it. Lifeless, the hero fell into the water.

The river carried Lemminkainen's body for a stretch, where it reached the son of Tuoni, who cut the body into five pieces, throwing each into the heart of the Underworld.

"Thus, the hero, Lemminkainen,
Thus the handsome Kaukomieli,
The untiring suitor, dieth
In the river of Tuoni,
In the death-realm of Manala."

Source:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/kvrune14.htm

The Scarlet Flower

Privet! So last night I went through a few books and made a list of myths I could share. Makes it a lot easier, since now I can just pick a random one I feel like doing, instead of spending time searching my brain, books, and the Internets for a suitable yarn. This one was near the top, and since it's Russian--and I absolutely adore Russian folktales--it called to me.

Our story starts with a merchant, who had three daughters. I've no idea what happened to the mother, but that's not important to the plot. Presently the merchant prepared himself for a long journey, and as he didn't expect to be back for some time, he resolved to make the wait for his return a bit better by getting each of his daughters a gift. He asked the three girls in turn what they wanted.

The eldest replied eagerly, "I would like a golden crown."

The second-born thought a little before answering, "A crystal mirror would be lovely."

When the merchant reached the third daughter, she said quietly, without hesitation, "I wish for no treasure; only for a little scarlet flower and your safe return."

Requests taken, the merchant set off. It took him no time at all to find the golden crown and crystal mirror, as the cities to which he traveled were not wanting of wealth and finery. The youngest girl's gift, the scarlet flower, however, was not quite as easy to locate. He searched everywhere, to no avail. When the day came for him to return home, resigned, he was thinking of just how he was going to explain his failure to his child when he came upon a forest. Something about the place drew him in, and he ventured through the trees to find a palace deep in the heart of the woods. Seeing no one around, he decided to explore. He reached the courtyard, and was shocked to find, after endless searching, the scarlet flower he so desperately coveted. Looking around, once again, to make sure the place was empty, he reached for the bloom. When he plucked it, however, there appeared before him a hideous creature.

The beast, enraged at the merchant's audacity, demanded that he send one of his daughters to it in return for the flower. Saddened, the merchant returned home and presented his girl with the flower, telling her of the price. Somberly, but without hesitation, she agreed to go to the palace. There she lived in great comfort, as the beast--without having revealed himself to her--showered luxuries upon her. After a while, though, the girl grew curious. Who was it who was taking such good care of her? Why wouldn't he show himself? These thoughts she voiced to the empty courtyard, on the off chance her keeper might be listening. Obliging, the beast stepped from the shadows. He wasn't what she had expected; the girl fled the courtyard in shock and terror.

She had a dream that night, that her father had fallen very ill. The next morning the girl went to the beast and begged his leave so she could see her family. Reluctantly, he agreed, but told her that she must return to him in three days' time.

When she arrived at her old home, and her sisters spotted the fine clothes and jewelry that adorned her, they grew jealous and set the clocks back, so that the youngest girl was late in returning to the palace. Upon entering the courtyard, she found, to her overwhelming sorrow, the beast, dead, the scarlet flower in his hand. Tearfully she ran to her friend and embraced him and admitted that she loved him. By declaring her love, the girl had unwittingly broken a spell. The beast opened his eyes, and in a flash of light, transformed into a handsome prince.

Needless to say, they lived happily ever after.


Source:

http://stpetersburg-guide.com/folk/alenky.shtml

God Profile--By Jove!

When I started this blog, I knew I wasn't going to be able to come up with a myth every day, seven days a week. So I decided to devote every Sunday to a different deity. I've been posting polls on Facebook to decide, since there are so many gods and goddesses out there and it's difficult for me to decide. Majority rules, and a Roman god rules this Sunday.

Most of you know of his greek counterpart Zeus. Or you think of the enormous ball of gas out in space. But Jupiter was the chief god of the Romans, presiding over law and order in the Roman Empire. Following the pattern of chief gods in many cultures, he is a sky god, but he didn't start out as we know him. His worship began as a deified force of nature. As the Romans borrowed more and more from the Greeks, Jupiter gradually adopted the characteristics of Zeus.

And now, everyone sees him as the powerful weather god he's become. Like the Greek gods, Jupiter was given a human personality. He is married to his sister, Juno (known as Hera in Greek mythology), and is the grandfather of Rome's dynamic hero twins Romulus and Remus.


Sources:

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/roman-mythology.php?deity=JUPITER&ds=N

National Geographic essential visual history of world mythology . Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2008. Print.

"They're more like guidelines, anyway."

Happy weekend! I didn't feel like reading through a myth and recounting the entire thing today, but I do have something for you readers. Ladies and Gents, the world's first set of laws.

No, I'm not talking about the Ten Commandments. What I've got here predates that. When doing research for the current writing project I'm working on, I stumbled across L.W. King's translation of the Code of Hammurabi (which I believe I mentioned in my "Sibling Rivalry" post on Thursday). However, since sharing the whole thing would undoubtedly put you to sleep, I'll just post my favorite bits.

You may be asking, "What does this have to do with mythology?" My answer is simple: the Gods played a fundamental role in ancient society. Every aspect of life had its own deity or force behind it. Many kings of the ancient world were also religious leaders. Temples dominated every city. Religion was omnipresent. You get the picture. Let's get on with this entry.

Here's a picture of how law and order in antiquity would have gone.

"If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser."

"If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death."

"If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death."

"If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death."

"If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death."

"If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire."

"If any one "point the finger" (slander) at a sister of a god or the wife of any one, and can not prove it, this man shall be taken before the judges and his brow shall be marked. (by cutting the skin, or perhaps hair.)"

"If a man take a woman to wife, but have no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him."

"If the "finger is pointed" at a man's wife about another man, but she is not caught sleeping with the other man, she shall jump into the river for her husband."

"If any one be guilty of incest with his mother after his father, both shall be burned."

"If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off."

And of course...if you ever wondered where the old sayings came from...

"If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out." ("An eye for an eye.")

"If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out." ("A tooth for a tooth.")

Another interesting factlet about Sumerian society: Divorce was absolutely legal, apparently with no stigma attached.

"If a man wish to separate from a woman who has borne him children, or from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she can rear her children. When she has brought up her children, a portion of all that is given to the children, equal as that of one son, shall be given to her. She may then marry the man of her heart."



Source:

http://public.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM

Greetings from Mother Russia

Okay, maybe I should have saved this one for winter, but it's in the triple digits where I live with no sign of mercy, so I needed something to take my mind off of this insufferable heat. Without further ado, I present to you one of my favorite bits of folklore from none other than the great Russia, that gigantic landmass that covers most of Eurasia, most of which is basically uninhabited--Father Frost.

Father Frost is the Russian version of winter incarnate. He was one of the most respected--and feared--entities in the whole of Russian folklore. And he absolutely can't stand poor manners.

Our story begins with the traditional fairy tale family model--man has wife, man loves wife, man and wife have daughter, wife falls ill and dies, man remarries. And, of course, the new wife has a daughter, and both despise the man's poor child.

The man's daughter--naturally our protagonist--grows up to be kind and beautiful and perfect in pretty much every way. Meanwhile, her stepsister is mean and ugly and good for very little around the home. Not exactly marriage material in those days, especially considering the man and his new wife didn't have two pennies to rub together. So, the stepmother and stepsister grow increasingly jealous and angry toward the man's own daughter. Eventually, this spills over and the stepmother demands that he get rid of the girl. How should he accomplish this? The Siberian winter will take care of her without getting any blood on his hands.

The next morning, he and his daughter tearfully climb into the sleigh, and he drives her out to a frozen field. There, he leaves her--no food, no cloak, just the clothes on her back and a heart-wrenching goodbye. It is the last time he expects to see his beloved daughter alive.

When her father drives away, the girl sits there, shivering for a few minutes before a figure approaches. Tall, cloaked, with eyes like ice, he greets his newest victim, who recognizes him as Father Frost, the spirit of winter. Seating himself adjacent to the freezing child, he appraises her, and inquires:

"My child, are you comfortable?"

Now, we all know what we would say in her situation. We're hungry, we're cold, we're literally growing closer to death by the minute out here. But the girl knew full well that here was Frost's domain, and therefore, he was her host. And you never treat your host with disrespect. So she tried to smile, and through chattering teeth managed to reply, "Yes, Father Frost, I am very comfortable. Thank you."

The spirit summoned a freezing wind to chill her. The force of it hit her and nearly knocked her down. She shivered and pressed her arms tighter against her chest, but said nothing.

"Are you comfortable, my child?"

"Yes, Father Frost, I am. Thank you."

So he made the air around her even colder, and the wind blew harder than ever. Seeing her curled up and shaking uncontrollably, he asked her once again if she was comfortable.

"Yes, Father Frost. Thank you," was her only reply.

Having passed his test, she was rewarded with a gilded trunk filled with priceless treasures, including jewelry and a beautiful new sarafan--the traditional dress of Eastern Europe--but likely the most precious to her was the heavy fur cloak, which she donned immediately.

When her father came for her the next morning, Frost had disappeared, leaving the trunk behind. Astonished at seeing his daughter still alive, and better yet, with a trunk full of valuables, he ran to embrace her. He lifted the trunk into the sleigh and they drove toward home.

Needless to say, the depraved stepmother was not happy. She demanded an explanation from her husband and his wretched daughter. The girl related to her the whole story, drawing her stepmother's attention to the trunk. One could almost see the gears in her head working out a plan. If her husband's daughter could be sent out and come home rich, then why not her own? She pulled the man aside and asked that the same thing which had been done to his daughter be done to hers. Terrifed of his lunatic wife, the man agreed.

That night the clueless stepsister was left in the same field. She tried to run after the sleigh but wasn't fast enough. Sobbing, she fell to her knees in the snow. Just then, Frost appeared before her.

"Are you comfortable, child?" he asked, just as he had with the other girl.

The stepsister, however, didn't know of a little thing called courtesy. She raised her head to glare at the stranger and snapped, "Do I look like I'm comfortable? I am hungry and my limbs are numb from cold."

Father Frost made the wind blow colder, freezing the girl's angry tears to her cheeks. "Are you comfortable, child?" he repeated in the same even tone.

"I'm even less comfortable!" she shouted.

What followed was cold the likes of which the girl had never felt before. She had no feeling left in her stiff limbs, and her heartbeat grew faint. "Are you comfortable now, child?" inquired Father Frost quietly. But there was no reply.

The next morning the man, accompanied by his wife, set out to retrieve his stepdaughter. Instead of finding her warm and well with a trunk of treasures, however, all that was there was the girl's frozen body. The woman ran to her daughter, weeping bitter tears for the child she'd sentenced to death out of her own greed.


Source:

Folktales from the Russian, retold by Verra Xenophontovna Kalamatiano de Blumenthal

Sibling Rivalry

Ah, yes...the joy of having a sibling. The bickering, the fighting, the knowledge that (for the most part) you would stick by your brother or sister no matter what. I wouldn't know, as I'm an only child. But among my close friends are two sets of twins.

Why am I flapping my jaw about siblings? Because that's what the next myth is about, of course. What do you do when your twin brother won't listen to your ideas? If you're Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome, you kill him.

Seems a bit harsh, but apparently that's the way things were done in the ancient world. Punishments were extremely undesirable. Perhaps I should do a little bit sometime about the Code of Hammurabi, just to show you how gruesome your fate could be if you did wrong by someone else.

Romulus and Remus were, according to myth, twin sons of a  woman (Rhea Silvia) who was raped by the war god Mars. The woman's great-uncle, who also happened to be an extremely jealous and seemingly paranoid king, sought to rid himself of the twins, who were next in line for the throne. However, he couldn't actually kill them because then he'd have their divine father to contend with. So he put them in a basket (sound familiar to any Christians out there?) and threw said basket into a river (likely the Tiber).

Fate was on their side, as the basket washed up on the banks somewhere downriver and a she-wolf heard the babies' cries. She nursed them and cared for them until a shepherd named Faustulus found them and took them in.

Let's fast-forward a few years. Growing to become natural leaders, the boys set out to build a new city for the followers they'd acquired to reside; however, they were at odds with each other concerning the location. Those of you who are not an only child would probably understand--siblings disagree. Especially twins. But these are the sons of a war god we're talking about. During the altercation, Romulus struck Remus down, killing him. He went on to build his city (we're assuming after a bit of mourning had taken place), which he named Rome.

Moral of the story: Don't fight with your sibling unless you're absolutely sure he's not in the mood to murder you.

My source so I could get the details and facts straight, as it has been years since I first read this myth (pretty much a decade):

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/roman-mythology.php?deity=ROMULUS

Jurate and Kastytis

Let's start with something a lot of you may not have heard of. The tale of Jurate and Kastytis, a Lithuanian story about two star-crossed lovers. Ring a bell? Probably not.

I first heard this myth about a year ago, shortly after my grandmother gave me a pendant with a piece of Baltic amber (that is, amber found in the Baltic Sea). I don't know why, but shortly after any time I learn something new, related webpages and books and TV documentaries have a habit of cropping up. It's like I have some sort of psychic connection with the worldwide repository of information we call the Web.

The story begins with a young fisherman named Kastytis. He was casting his nets out at sea (as any fisherman is wont to do), when the sea goddess Jurate rises from the waves and calls to him. He goes to her, and upon taking a closer look at this strange young man (must have been incredibly handsome), she falls head over heels in love.

Well, Perkunas (the chief god of the Lithuanian pantheon, similar to Zeus but not quite the same) was in no way happy about this. He, as a god, believed that gods and mortals had no right to mingle. Divine blood and all that. So he called forth a storm that killed Kastytis and destroyed Jurate's amber palace beneath the sea. The fisherman's body washed up on the shore, and Jurate wept bitter tears (also of amber) for her lost love. I suppose this legend is to explain the abundance of amber in the Baltic. It is said, and I believe, that Baltic amber is magical.

It's also a great story.

The translation to a poem telling the story can be found on this page:

http://members.efn.org/~valdas/maironis.html