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140 pages

English

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Introduce a young reader in your life to the unparalleled thrill of legends and folk tales with this globe-spanning collection from Hamilton Wright Mabie. With tales from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, it's a comprehensive and easy-to-read compendium of the rich tradition of myths, legends, and folklore that will enchant audiences of all ages.

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Publié par	The Floating Press
Date de parution	01 février 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776530335
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0134€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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LEGENDS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW
A SELECTION OF THE GREAT LEGENDS OF ALL TIMES
* * *
Edited by
HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE

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Legends That Every Child Should Know A Selection of the Great Legends of All Times First published in 1906 Epub ISBN 978-1-77653-033-5 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77653-034-2 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Introduction Chapter I - Wigwam Legend of Hiawatha Chapter II - Beowulf Chapter III - Childe Horn Chapter IV - Sir Galahad Chapter V - Rustem and Sohrab Chapter VI - The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus Chapter VII - Guy of Warwick Chapter VIII - Chevy Chase Chapter IX - The Fate of the Children of Lir Chapter X - The Beleaguered City Chapter XI - Prester John Chapter XII - The Wandering Jew Chapter XIII - King Robert of Sicily Chapter XIV - The Beato Torello Da Poppi Chapter XV - The Lorelei Chapter XVI - The Passing of Arthur Chapter XVII - Rip Van Winkle Chapter XVIII - The Gray Champion Chapter XIX - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Endnotes
Introduction
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If we knew how the words in our language were made and what they havemeant to successive generations of the men and women who have used them,we should have a new and very interesting kind of history to read. Forwords, like all other creations of man, were not deliberatelymanufactured to meet a need, as are the various parts of a bicycle or ofan automobile; but grew gradually and slowly out of experiences whichcompelled their production. For it is one of the evidences of thebrotherhood of men that, either by the pressure of necessity or of theinstinct to describe to others what has happened to ourself and so makecommon property of personal experience, no interesting or influential orsignificant thing can befall a man that is not accompanied by a desireto communicate it to others.
The word legend has a very interesting history, which sheds light notonly on its origin but on early habits of thought and customs. It isderived from the Latin verb legere , which means "to read." Aslegends are often passed down by word of mouth and are not reduced towriting until they have been known for centuries by great numbers ofpeople, it seems difficult at first glance to see any connection betweenthe Latin word and its English descendant. In Russia and othercountries, where large populations live remote from cities and arepractically without books and newspapers, countless stories are told bypeasant mothers to their children, by reciters or semi-professionalstory-tellers, which have since been put into print. For a good manyhundred years, probably, the vast majority of legends were not read;they were heard.
When we understand, however, what the habits of people were in the earlyChristian centuries and what the early legends were about, the originalmeaning of the word is not only clear but throws light on the history ofthis fascinating form of literature. The early legends, as a rule, hadto do with religious people or with places which had religiousassociations; they were largely concerned with the saints and werefreely used in churches for the instruction of the people. In allchurches selections from some book or books are used as part of theservice; readings from the Old and New Testament are included in theworship of all churches in Christendom. In the earliest times not onlywere Lessons from the Old Testament and the Gospels and Epistles of theNew Testament read, but letters of bishops and selections from otherwritings which were regarded as profitable for religious instruction.Later stories of the saints and passages from the numerous lives whichappeared were read at different services and contributed greatly totheir interest. The first legends in Christian countries were incidentsfrom the lives of the saints and were included in the selections madefrom various writings for public worship; these selections were called legends . The history of the word makes clear, therefore, theorigin and early history of the class of stories which we call legends.
The use of the stories at church services led to the collection, orderlyarrangement and reshaping of a great mass of material which grew rapidlybecause so many people were interested in these semi-religious tales. Inthe beginning the stories had, as a rule, some basis in fact, though itwas often very slight. As time went on the element of fact grew smallerand the element of fiction larger; stories which were originally veryshort were expanded into long tales and became highly imaginative. Inthe Thirteenth Century the Legenda Aurea , or Golden Legend, whichbecame one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages, appeared. Intime, as the taste for this kind of writing grew, the word legend cameto include any story which, under a historical form, gave an account ofan historical or imaginary person.
During the Middle Ages verse-making was very popular and very widelypractised; for versification is very easy when people are in the habitof using it freely, and a verse is much more easily remembered than aline of prose. For many generations legends were versified. It must beremembered that verse and poetry are often very far apart; and poetry isas difficult to compose as verse is easy. The versified legends werevery rarely poetic; they were simply narratives in verse. Occasionallymen of poetic genius took hold of these old stories and gave thembeautiful forms as did the German poet Hartmann von Aue in "Der ArmeHeinrich." With the tremendous agitation which found expression in theReformation, interest in legends died out, and was not renewed until theEighteenth Century, when men and women, grown weary of artificial andmechanical forms of literature, turned again to the old stories andsongs which were the creation of less self-conscious ages. With therevival of interest in ballads, folk-stories, fairy stories and mythscame a revival of interest in legends.
The myths were highly imaginative and poetic explanations of the worldand of the life of man in it at a time when scientific knowledge andhabits of thought had not come into existence. The fairy story was "afree poetic dealing with realities in accordance with the law of mentalgrowth, ... a poetic wording of the facts of life, ... an endeavour toshape the facts of the world to meet the needs of the imagination, thecravings of the heart." The legend, dealing originally with incidents inthe lives of the saints and with places made sacred by association withholy men, has, as a rule, some slight historical basis; is cast innarrative form and told as a record of fact; and, in cases where it isentirely imaginative, deals with some popular type of character likeRobin Hood or Rip Van Winkle; or with some mysterious or tragic event,as Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" are poetic renderings of part of agreat mass of legends which grew up about a little group of imaginary orsemi-historical characters; Longfellow's "Golden Legend" is a modernrendering of a very old mediaeval tale; Irving's "Legend of SleepyHollow" is an example of purely imaginative prose, and Heine's "Lorelei"of a purely imaginative poetic legend.
The legend is not so sharply defined as the myth and the fairy story,and it is not always possible to separate it from these old forms ofstories; but it always concerns itself with one or more characters; itassumes to be historical; it is almost always old and haunts somelocality like a ghost; and it has a large admixture of fiction, evenwhere it is not wholly fictitious. Like the myth and fairy story itthrows light on the mind and character of the age that produced it; itis part of the history of the unfolding of the human mind in the world;and, above all, it is interesting.
HAMILTON W. MABIE.
Chapter I - Wigwam Legend of Hiawatha [1]
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On the banks of Tioto, or Cross Lake, resided an eminent man who borethe name of Hiawatha, or the Wise Man.
This name was given him, as its meaning indicates, on account of hisgreat wisdom in council and power in war. Hiawatha was of high andmysterious origin. He had a canoe which would move without paddles,obedient to his will, and which he kept with great care and never usedexcept when he attended the general council of the tribes. It was fromHiawatha the people learned to raise corn and beans; through hisinstructions they were enabled to remove obstructions from the watercourses and clear their fishing grounds; and by him they were helped toget the mastery over the great monsters which overran the country. Thepeople listened to him with ever increasing delight; and he gave themwise laws and maxims from the Great Spirit, for he had been second tohim only in power previous to his taking up his dwelling with mankind.
Having selected the Onondagas for his tribe, years passed away inprosperity; the Onondagas assumed an elevated rank for their wisdom andlearning, among the other tribes, and there was not one of these whichdid not yield its assent to their superior privilege of lighting thecouncil-fire.
But in the midst of the high tide of their prosperity, suddenly therearose a great alarm at the invasion of a ferocious band of warriors fromthe North of the Great Lakes; and as these bands advanced, anindiscriminate slaughter was made of men, women, and children.Destruction fell upon all alike.
The public alarm was great; and Hiawatha advised them not to waste theirefforts in a desultory manner, but to call a council of all the tribesthat could