Myths and Legends Myths and Legends What Is a Myth? It Is a Story

Twin Cat Readers Twin Cat Readers Myths And Legends Myths And Legends What is a Myth? It is a story. A made up explanation for things that Myths happen naturally. Even today when we know how the world works we and still like to think dragons and elves and fairies are real whereas to the ancient people they were the Legends spirits that dwelt in the earth and air around them. The myth was important especially to the early hunters and gatherers. They became gods and of course behaved like people do today. What is a Legend? An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical. Legend comes from the Latin "for reading, to be read," which referred only to written stories, not to traditional stories spoken from generation to Generation. My mum’s A legend when it was first used in a legend! the late 14th century referred to written accounts of saints' lives. Greek Legends The Golden Fleece, was the magic fleece of Legend of Sleepy Hollow , "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is among the the winged ram that saved Phrixus and Helle, earliest examples of American fiction with the children of Athamas, from the enduring popularity, especially during jealousy of Athamas' second wife. Halloween because of a character known as The ram flew to Colchis, but Helle fell into the the headless horseman believed to be a sea, which was later known as the Hellespont. hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannonball in battle. Phrixus arrived safely, sacrificed the ram, and hung its fleece in a wood guarded by a dragon. The ram became the constellation Aries. Phrixus married and had Argus and three other sons. The quest of Jason and the Argonauts was for this fleece. Jason was smuggled away and reared by a Centaur. Arthurian Legend Celtic Myths and Legends Deirdre of the Sorrows Arthur was the illegitimate son of Uther Pendragon, The story Deirdre of the Sorrows is king of Britain, and Igraine, the wife of the king of recorded in the Ulster Cycle of Irish Cornwall. Mythology. After the death of Uther, Arthur, who had been reared in secrecy, won acknowledgment as king of It’s a tale of beauty, lust, and death. Britain by successfully withdrawing a sword from a stone. The child was beautiful and the druid, Cathbad, made the prophecy that as the Merlin, the court magician, then revealed the new infant grew, her beauty would increase king's parentage. until she was the most beautiful woman Arthur, reigning in his court at Camelot, proved to be in all of Ireland. a noble king and a mighty warrior. He was the possessor of the miraculous sword However the child would, because of Excalibur, given to him by the mysterious Lady her beauty, bring sorrow and war upon of the Lake. the country. Roman Legends Romulus in Roman legend, The Willow Pattern was the founder of Rome. Mai with black hair like silk and al- When Amulius took the throne of his brother mond eyes, as sweet as honey she Numitor, he forced Numitor's daughter, Rhea, was but she had a secret,she and the to become a vestal virgin ( something like a gardener Chang were deeply in love. nun)so that she would bear no children. On the day of the wedding Chang had However, she became the mother of twin sons, plans of his own dressed as a bus Romulus and Remus, by the god Mars. boy, he came into Mai's chamber and Amulius then imprisoned Princess they ran to a far land down south. Rhea and set the infants adrift in a basket on the Tiber. The king found them and they were thrown into a labyrinth where they They floated safely ashore, where a she-wolf died in each others arms. But the suckled and tended them until the royal gods resurrected them in the form of shepherd and his wife , found and reared them. two doves. They rescued their mother and later built the city of Rome. Why are there Myths and Legends? By telling and listening to stories, people European Legends confirmed their ideas about the world around The wandering Jew, in literary and popular them. legend, was a Jew who mocked or mistreated Jesus Things that people found scary, infuriating or while he was on his way to the cross and who was desirable all found their way into the stories and condemned to a life of wandering on earth until they were passed on, because people wanted to Judgment Day. be assured that other people around them were thinking along the same lines. The story of this wanderer was first recorded in the chronicles of Roger of Wendover and Matthew of To strengthen a community and provide a common understanding. Paris 13th century, but not until the early 17th Stories often reflect the beliefs of the people who century. was he identified as a Jew. tell them. The popularity of any story depends on whether those listening approve of the values underlying it. Regardless of why they were told, many of the stories still remain popular today and, although we no longer swap stories around the fireside, the tradition of storytelling still continues in the form of urban legends. The Holy Grail Why the Sea is Salt. It appears variously as a chalice, a cup, or a dish Why the Sea Is Salt is a Norwegian fairy tale and sometimes as a stone or a caldron into which a collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and bleeding lance drips. Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. It was identified by Christians as the chalice of the Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Last Supper brought to England by St. Joseph of Book. Wikipedia. Arimathea. It could provide food and healing. However, it would be revealed only to a pure knight, and the Grail Quest appears in different stories. The Rainbow Serpent Johnny Appleseed The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a 1774—1845, American pioneer, more familiarly known common deity, often a creator god, in the as John Chapman, b. Massachusetts. mythology and a common motif in the art From Pennsylvania where he had sold or given of Aboriginal Australia. saplings and apple seeds to families migrating Westward. He travelled in 1800, to present-day Ohio, It is named because of its shape and colour sowing apple seeds as he went. Some scholars believe that the link between For over 40 years Johnnyapple seed continued to snake and rainbow suggests the cycle of the wander up and down Ohio, Indiana, and seasons and the importance of water in human W Pennsylvania, visiting his forest nurseries to prune life. and care for them and helping hundreds of settlers to establish orchards of their own. When the rainbow is seen in the sky, it is said to be the Rainbow Serpent moving from one water- His ragged dress, eccentric ways, and hole to another, and the divine concept explained religious turn of mind attracted attention, and why some water holes never dried up when he became a familiar figure to settlers. drought struck. Scores of legends were told of him after he died. Asian Legends Hiawatha Abominable snowman This story was adapted from Henry or yeti , a humanlike creature so named because it is Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 poem, associated with the perpetual snow region of the "The Song of Hiawatha." Himalayas. The real Hiawatha (whose name A figure unknown except through tracks ascribed to it means "He Who Makes Rivers") lived and through alleged encounters, it is described as around 1570 and was known to have being 6 to 8 ft tall and covered with long, dark hair. been a statesman, a lawgiver and unifier of what were once known as Attempts after 1950 to verify the authenticity of its the Five Nations of the Iroquois tracks (notably by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1960) have (eventually Six Nations) yielded no conclusive results..

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