Myths and Legends

Myths and Legends

From Cherokee Dances to Voodoo Trances

Copyright

© 2013 Canary Press eBooks Limited

This 2013 edition published by Canary Press eBooks Limited

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ISBN: 9781908698117

Cover & internal design: Anthony Prudente

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CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE: EUROPE

THE ANCIENT GREEKS

The Greek Creation Myth

The Odyssey

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Orpheus in the Underworld

Pandora’s Box

Theseus and the Minotaur

Icarus

Atlantis

THE ANCIENT ROMANS

Romulus and Remus

Cupid and Psyche

Hercules

Vulcan

THE CELTS & THE BRITISH

Heroic Cuchulainn

Finn MacCool

Banshees

The Stone of Scone

The Blarney Stone

The Loch Ness Monster

The Mabinogion

Pryderi

Merlin

King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table

The Holy Grail

The Legend of Robin Hood

Saint George and The Dragon

The White Horse and Epona

Beowulf

Legendary Lost Islands of Britain

OTHER EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY

Norse Creation Myth

Odin

Thor

Loki

Yggdrasil - The World Tree

Valhalla and Ragnarök

Finnish Mythology

Slavic Mythology

Tatar Mythology

Mythology of the Lowlands

Saint Nicholas

Basque Mythology and Legends

The Green Man

PART TWO: AFRICA & THE MIDDLE EAST

ANCIENT EGYPT

Egyptian Creation Myths

Thoth

The Eye of Horus

Ancient Egyptian Underworld and Afterlife

The Sphinx

The Curse of Tutankhamun

THE MIDDLE EAST

Ancient Mesopotamia

Gilgamesh

Ishtar and Inanna

Persian Mythology

Rostam and Sohrab

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

African Creation Myths

The Elephant

The Chameleon

Olorun and Olokun

Mawu and Lisa

The Tokoloshe

The Malaika

The Queen of Sheba

OTHER AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

African Pygmies

The Bambuti

Voodoo

Timbuktu

PART THREE: THE AMERICAS

NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

Apache

Scarface

Blue Jay

Gluskap

Napi

Coyote

Changing Woman and Other Female Spirits

OTHER NORTH AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN MYTHS & LEGENDS

Inuit Mythology

Sedna

Adlivun and Quidlivun

The Sasquatch

The Mexican Day of the Dead

Caribbean Myths and Legends

Caribbean Voodoo

MESOAMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

Mayan Mythology

The Maya Hero Twins

Aztec Mythology

Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl

Human Sacrifice in Aztec Culture

Montezuma II

Inca Mythology

Inti and Inti Raymi

Catequil

Human Sacrifice in Inca Culture

Nazca Mythology

Moche Mythology

PART FOUR: ASIA & OCEANIA

INDIA

Indra

The Trimurti

The Mahabharata

The Ramayana

Kama

The Kama Sutra

CHINA

Chinese Creation Myths

The Jade Emperor

Sun Wukong - Monkey

Journey to the West

The Chinese Dragon

Yu The Great

Chinese Zodiac Story

The Secret History of the Mongols

Tibetan Myths and Legends

JAPAN

Japanese Creation Myth

Izanagi’s Journey to the Land of Yomi

Amaterasu and Susanowa

The Yamato Cycle and the Izumo Cycle

Emperor Jimmu

Prince Ousu

Chushingura

INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA & PACIFIC ISLAND MYTHOLOGY

Aboriginal Creation Myth

The Two Wise Men and the Seven Sisters

The Rainbow Serpent

The Bunyip

The Moon

Thukeri

Uluru

Polynesian Creation Myths

Wondjina

Dudegera

The Two Trees

Maori Myths and Legends

The Cannibals of Vanuatu

The Huli People

Sido

The Birdman of Rapa Nui - Easter Island

Introduction

The impulse to create myths seems to be inherent in all cultures, uniting peoples from every corner of the Earth and from every period of human history. That the stories gathered together in this book have survived to the present day is testament to the importance our predecessors placed upon them. The authors and custodians of these works valued them as highly as any treasure, protected them as fiercely as any territory or ruler. Across the ages, humankind has sung these sacred words by camp fires and gravesides, carved them in tombs and temples, recited and re-enacted them at festivals and ceremonies, and scratched them with quills on papyrus, vellum and paper.

Many of the cultures that produced these works have themselves long since vanished but, through the myths and legends presented here, the gods and demons that sprang from their imaginations – and maybe even their realities – live on.

What Is A Myth – and What Is A Legend?

Though it was the ancient Greeks who gave us the word we use to describe these stories mythos, myths themselves did not begin with the Greeks, and many of the narratives collected here predate them by several centuries. Indeed, it is probable that myths are as old as human thought itself, inspired by the desire to answer such universal questions as ‘where did we come from?’ and ‘what happens when we die?’.

Myths and legends, then, offer a way of understanding the world through metaphor and analogy. The meanings of myths can change according to the cultural beliefs of the reader, but the questions they seek to answer remain the same, which is why so many common themes recur in tales that are separated by thousands of years and thousands of miles. Many of the similarities in the myths are highlighted throughout this book, though readers will doubtless find many more of their own.

Academics divide stories of the imagination into categories such as myth, legend and folklore, in order to distinguish between the vast array of tales that have been created by humankind. In truth, all such categories are fluid and likely to overlap at times. Myths tend to deal with the unknown and the supernatural, whilst legends tend to relate to the lives and achievements of real-life individuals, and folklore often focusses on aspects of morality. Many stories, however, refuse to sit neatly within one particular rigid definition, weaving historical fact with invention or exaggeration, melding real events and locations with imagined plots and fabled dreamlands. That countless stories from the world’s great religions appear also (albeit often in modified form) in the canon of mythology only adds to the difficulty of categorization.

This book seeks to gather as wide a collection of stories as is reasonably possible within the confines of a single volume, and purists may thus find that some of the tales included here lie beyond a strict definition of either myth or legend. The author will be content if readers simply discover stories that are new to them, or rediscover stories that were familiar to them only in part. The intention is to kindle an interest in these remarkable tales, in the belief that readers whose thirst has been whetted will seek out for themselves further resources that relate to the fields that interest them the most.

The narratives in this collection have thus been selected in order to amaze, intrigue and delight, as well as educate and inform. For, when all is said and done, the ancient authors of the myths and legends themselves must surely have had that same aim in mind.

Common Themes

Myths and legends reflect our collective dreams and fears, reminding us of the shared experiences that unite us as a species. The characters and settings of the stories in this collection vary widely, yet beneath the surface many common patterns emerge. In this sense, myths represent the ‘collective unconscious’ posited by Carl Jung, tackling themes that are universal and eternal. Jung identified certain archetypes that recur in almost all myths, allowing peoples from very different cultures to find some mirror of their own selves in the characters portrayed.

It is certainly true that most modern readers will be able to instantly identify with the heroes and villains of these tales, and recognize in their stories dilemmas and questions which still trouble humankind today. For hidden somewhere within these fabled histories and outlandish prophecies, these tales of epic heroes and treacherous villains, this litany of mighty gods and fearsome monsters; somewhere within these soaring dreams and lonely nightmares lies our best collective attempt to answer the question of what it means to be human.

Creation and Destruction

Perhaps the greatest single mystery for ancient human beings was the question of how the world began, and the associated question of where human beings first came from. Almost all cultures have some explanation for the events that occurred before the arrival of humankind. Most focus on a benevolent ‘creator god’ fashioning humans from clay, wood or some other natural material, and frequently separate processes are described for the construction of men and women.

Often destruction appears hand in hand with creation, as angry gods destroy early or unfinished versions of humans. Tales of floods can be found from every corner of the Earth, leading some to suggest that they may all relate to a single real world event. We will probably never know the truth behind such stories, but the reader cannot fail to spot the astonishing similarity between many flood myths from the disparate cultures represented here. In all versions of the story, the destruction wrought is catastrophic, and threatens the very future of humankind – though in most cases one or two virtuous individuals are preselected to survive and propagate the species.

Death and Underworld

Closely linked to the ubiquitous creation myths are tales about how death first appeared in the world, and what happens to humans when they die. A common motif is the idea that humans were originally godlike, immortal, and living in some form of paradise. Humanity’s ‘fall’ takes different forms – sometimes it is an act of disobedience – as in the myth of The Two Trees from Micronesia – and sometimes it is pure bad luck – as in the African myth of The Chameleon, but the result is always the same. Human beings become mortal, and the pain of losing a loved one is introduced to the world for the very first time.

As to what happens to the departed, most cultures have a separate spirit realm for the good and the evil – a paradise and an underworld. For the ancient Egyptians it was necessary to negotiate the latter in order to reach the former, whilst in many other myths the gods, or a gatekeeper acting on behalf of them, would choose in which of the realms the departed would spend eternity. In many cultures it was believed that the dead could return, to console, advise or terrorize the living. What is shared across all myths is the belief that death is not the end of existence, but merely a different realm that the living cannot reach.

Heroes and Quests

Heroes come in many different shapes and sizes, but almost all are male, and mortal rather than divine. Indeed it is the flaws within heroes that makes their stories so compelling, and allows the reader to share in the triumphs and disasters of the hero’s journey. Often the hero has some special power – either an object given to them by a supernatural deity, or a natural attribute derived from a divine lineage (heroes who are half-mortal and half-god are commonplace).

In many myths, a hero arrives to save a culture, vanquish a demon, or monster, bring a new gift (fire is a recurring motif), or lead a people to some new promised land. Heroes are frequently depicted as great teachers, providing humankind with the skills to hunt, fish, heal, or set down their thoughts in writing. The births of many of the first great civilizations are attributed to heroes who excel at construction, or at leading armies in triumphant battles.

In quests, heroes are given seemingly impossible tasks and undertake perilous journeys to find a sacred object or defeat a fearsome foe. The hero is tested to breaking point, and often requires outside assistance to achieve his goal. Love is perhaps the most common motivation, but glory and duty are also recurrent themes. Fate and destiny almost always result in the hero triumphing, though often at some significant cost.

Of all the similarities between the myths of cultures separated by vast geographical and historical distance, perhaps the most striking is that of a ‘hero quest’ to the underworld. Stories of journeys to a land of the dead appear in the mythologies of almost all ancient cultures, illustrating that for as long as humankind has had to face mortality, it has also sought to conquer death and make contact with those who have been taken from the land of the living.

Trickster Figures

One clearly identifiable archetype that makes an appearance in many mythologies is the ‘trickster’, someone or something that breaks the normal rules of behaviour. Often the trickster is a deity, such as Loki in Norse myth, but just as often she or he is a type of hero, such as Blue Jay in Native American myth. Tricksters can be wise or foolish, and their mischief can be deliberate or accidental. Ultimately, however, their trickery tends to produce positive results, either for themselves or for humanity in general. The tricks they play teach human beings valuable lessons, whilst also reminding them of the capricious nature of the universe.

Frequently tricksters are also shape-shifters, capable of taking on many different forms, and also of changing gender. They are often presented as comic characters, though the tasks they undertake may be sacred or sombre.

Structure and Sources

This book groups the world’s myths into four geographical regions in order to provide an easy-to-follow structure for the reader. Myths from neighbouring countries often share distinct similarities, but it should be noted that many of the cultures featured here were separated by vast periods of time, even though they may have been close to one another upon a map. Approximate dates are provided wherever possible in order to help the reader distinguish between myths of different periods, though in many cases historians can only guess at the real age of a belief system. Some tales can be dated from their linguistic style or from references within the text, but in most cases we can only be sure of the date of the earliest written source of the myth. Since the vast majority of myths were passed down orally before the widespread adoption of writing, it is likely that some of the myths collected here are many thousands of years older than the official written sources.

It is also important to point out that explorers, missionaries, and conquering armies are responsible for many of the written accounts of past cultures’ belief systems. These settlers often had their own agenda, and their own prejudices regarding the cultures they reported upon. Stories may thus have been distorted, exaggerated, or misunderstood.

Language, too, evolves and changes over time, and this often results in the same mythological figure having several different names, spelt in slightly different ways. This book uses the most widely accepted spellings for the names of characters and stories, and indicates the most frequently used alternative names or spellings that the reader is likely to encounter.

PART ONE: EUROPE

Before the advent of Christianity, Europe was a place ruled by strange and capricious gods who seemed to toy with mankind for their sport. In their desperate attempt to make sense of an often cruel world, the Europeans devised a pantheon of deities and mythical creatures who did endless battle across the skies, the Earth and the underworld. Great heroes set off on daring adventures and