MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ALL NATIONS ***
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Illustration: ELSA ON HER KNEES BEFORE LOHENGRIN]
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ALL NATIONS
FAMOUS STORIES
FROM THE GREEK, GERMAN, ENGLISH, SPANISH SCANDINAVIAN, DANISH, FRENCH RUSSIAN, BOHEMIAN, ITALIAN AND OTHER SOURCES
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY LOGAN MARSHALL
ILLUSTRATED WITH ORIGINAL COLORED PLATES
THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
[Illustration: THEN ARTHUR DREW OUT THE SWORD AND WAS PROCLAIMED KING]
PREFACE
The myths and legends here gathered together have appealed and will continue to appeal to every age. Nowhere in the realm of fiction are there stories to compare with those which took form centuries ago when the race was in its childhood--stories so intimately connected with the life and history and religion of the great peoples of antiquity that they have become an integral part of our own civilization, a heritage of wealth to every child that is born into the world.
The historic basis of the tales is slight; yet who can think of the Greeks without remembering the story of Troy, or of Rome without a backward glance at Æneas, fabled founder of the race and hero of Virgil's world-famous Latin epic? Any understanding of German civilization would be incomplete without knowledge of the mythical prince Siegfried, hero of the earliest literature of the Teutonic people, finally immortalized in the nineteenth century through the musical dramas of Wagner. Any understanding of English civilization would be similarly incomplete without the semi-historic figure of King Arthur, glorified through the accumulated legends of the Middle Ages and made to live again in the melodic idylls of the great Victorian laureate. And so one might go on. In many ways the mythology and folklore of a country are a truer index to the life of its people than any of the pages of actual history; for through these channels the imagination and the heart speak. All the chronicles of rulers and governing bodies are as dust in comparison.
The imagination of the ancients had few if any bounds, and even Athens in the height of her intellectual glory accepted the fabulous tales of gods and half-gods. Today we read and wonder. But the child, who in his brief lifetime must live over in part at least the history of the whole race, delights in the myths and legends which made his ancestors admire or tremble. They are naturally not so real to him as they were to his forefathers; yet they open up a rich and gorgeous wonderland, without excursions into which every child must grow up the poorer in mind and spirit.
To the children of America, wherever they may be, this book is dedicated. It is sure to bring enjoyment, because its stories have stood the test of time.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PROMETHEUS THE FRIEND OF MAN 7
THE LABORS OF HERCULES 11 _From the German of Gustav Schwab._
DEUCALION AND PYRRHA 29 _From the German of Gustav Schwab._
THESEUS AND THE CENTAUR 33 _From the German of Gustav Schwab._
NIOBE 37 _From the German of Gustav Schwab._
THE GORGON'S HEAD 41 _From Hawthorne's "Wonder Book."_
THE GOLDEN FLEECE 67 _From Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales."_
THE CYCLOPS 106 _From Church's "Stories from Homer."_
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