Stories, legends, and lore from the world of mythical creatures
I often go out to the countryside to visit my mother. Her home is like a magnet; it draws you in from the street. Walking up to her porch, one cannot mistake how the air sparkles. Even the cares of the world seem to melt away along the pathway like rainwater. Several years ago mother came upon an old, out-of-print fairy book at a library book sale. Within these pages she learned how to attract fairies. Since then, her home has been the refuge of human and fairy alike.
Read full article →Deep in a crevice in the rocky mountains that now border France and Spain, a swarthy, ugly race of fairies came into being. Undetected at first, the diminutive creatures spread throughout Europe, dwelling in the mossy cracks of rocks and tree roots. Finding humans, they ventured into villages. Hiding away on boats, they made their way to England. As people began to spot them, their reputation grew — ill-mannered, poorly-behaved, with putrid breath, goblins began to populate stories and folklore.
Read full article →The first dragon story on record is found in the Babylonian creation epic, Enuma Elish. First called Labbu by the Sumerians in 3000 BC, this dragon came to be known as Tiamat when that civilization gave way to the Babylonians. Broken down, Tiamat's name means "life-mother," and this she-dragon was indeed the creator of all. Part animal, part serpent, and part bird, Tiamat was revolting in appearance — she and her husband Apsu were terrible, vengeful, and full of malice toward the gods.
Read full article →Perhaps the dragon that has had the most influence on Westernized Christian thought is the red dragon that dominates the last book of the New Testament. The author, who identified himself as John, had been exiled to the Isle of Patmos — a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea — where he received a brilliant vision and was commanded to write what he saw. It is at the very end of the seventh portion that we find the story of the red dragon.
Read full article →Frances Griffiths and her cousin Elsie Wright had been teased about their stories of playing with fairies, but in 1917 all this changed. Borrowing her father's camera, Elsie set out one afternoon with her younger cousin for a romp in the nearby woods. When Mr. Wright developed the picture later that evening he would get a shock — there in the frame, dancing around his ten-year-old niece were the forms of four female fairies.
Read full article →If your path takes you near a riverbed or across a stream, you'd best look out for Jenny Greenteeth. A water witch of greenish tinge with frog-like, yellow eyes as big as two lamps, Jenny dwells beneath the river's surface — darting like a fish across the muddy bottoms, and feeding upon the misfortunate who stumble and drown in her waters.
Read full article →Before scientists conceived of the periodic table, ancient teachers held that the earth was made of four basic elements: water, air, fire and earth. Paracelsus, a fifteenth-century alchemist, took the idea one step further — theorizing that each element was composed of nature spirits called elementals. These creatures, made of unique ethereal substances, could live only in the element to which they were born. As guardians of all nature, they lived and acted as humans, although they had no souls.
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