This collection of animal fables with a moral was the forerunner of Aesop's fables. The stories were orally narrated by a poet-narrator Visnu Sharma, but the first time they were put down in writing was in the 3rd or 2nd century BC by a Buddhist monk, Purnabhadra.

The myth of the Trickster--ambiguous creator and destroyer, cheater and cheated, subhuman and superhuman--is one of the earliest and most universal expressions of mankind. Nowhere does it survive in more starkly archaic form than in the voraciously uninhibited episodes of the Winnebago Trickster Cycle, recorded here is full. Anthropological and psychological analyses by Radin, Ker nyi, and Jung reveal with Trickster as filling a twofold role: on the one hand he is an archetypal psychic structure that harks back to an absolutely undifferentiated human consciousness, corresponding to a psyche that has hardly left the animal level (Jung); on the other hand, his myth is a present-day outlet for the most unashamed and liberating satire of the onerous obligation of social order, religion, and ritual.

Examines selected Biblical passages for their mythological references and their anthropological value.

From Atlantis to Xanadu and beyond, this Baedeker of make-believe takes readers on a tour of more than 1,200 realms invented by storytellers from Homer's day to our own. Here you will find Shangri-La and El Dorado; Utopia and Middle Earth; Wonderland and Freedonia. Here too are Jurassic Park, Salman Rushdie's Sea of Stories, and the fabulous world of Harry Potter. The history and behavior of the inhabitants of these lands are described in loving detail, and are supplemented by more than 200 maps and illustrations that depict the lay of the land in a host of elsewheres. A must-have for the library of every dedicated reader, fantasy fan, or passionate browser, Dictionary is a witty and acute guide for any armchair traveler's journey into the landscape of the imagination.

The authoritative reader's companion to the ancient Celtic myths in the literary masterpiece, the Mabinogion.

"To quietly persevere in storing up what is learned, to continue studying without respite, to instruct others without growing weary--is this not me?"
--Confucius

Presents a colorful, lavishly illustrated history of the mythic unicorn, covering the lore of ancient Greece, Arabia, India, and the Far East as well as Victorian England and modern science fiction

The deep forest and broad savannah, the campsites, kraals, and villages--from this immense area south of the Sahara Desert the distinguished American folklorist Roger D. Abrahams has selected ninety-five tales that suggest both the diversity and the interconnectedness of the people who live there. The storytellers weave imaginative myths of creation and tales of epic deeds, chilling ghost stories, and ribald tales of mischief and magic in the animal and human realms. Abrahams renders these stories in a narrative voice that reverberates with the rhythms of tribal song and dance and the emotional language of universal concerns.

A vast bounty of tales recounting mystical experiences among the rabbis can be found in the Talmud, the Zohar, Jewish folktales, and Hasidic lore. Now, in Gabriel's Palace, scholar Howard Schwartz has collected the greatest of these stories, sacred and secular, in a marvelously readable anthology.
Gabriel's Palace offers a treasury of 150 pithy and powerful tales, involving experiences of union with the divine, out-of-body travel, encounters with angels and demons, possession by spirits holy and pernicious, and more. Schwartz provides an informative introduction placing these remarkable tales firmly in the context of centuries of post-biblical Jewish tradition. The bodyof the text present spellbinding tales from the Talmud, Zohar, the Hasidic masters, and an enormous range of other sources. Here are stories of Shimon bar Yohai, reputed to be the author of the Zohar; Isaac Luria, known as the Ari, who was the central figure among the Safed mystics of the 16th century; Israel ben Eliezer, known as Baal Shem Tov, who founded Hasidism; Elimelech of Lizensk, possessor of legendary mystical powers; and Nachman of Bratslav, the great storyteller whose wandering spirit is said to protect his followers to this day. Together, these tales paint a vivid picture of "a world of signs and symbols, where everything that took place had meaning, a world of mythic proportions....A world in which the spirits of the dead were no longer invisible, nor the angels," where the master and his disciples labor to repair the world so that the footsteps of the Messiah might be heard.
Drawn from rabbinic, kabbalistic, folk, and Hasidic sources, these collected tales form a rich genre all their own. In Gabriel's Palace, the powerful tradition of Jewish mysticism comes to life in clear, contemporary English.

Mexican-American traditions are richly nourished by the folkways of three cultures: Indian, Spanish, and Mexican. This comprehensive look at the Mexican-American world includes a range of traditional proverbs, riddles, stories and folksongs; folk narrative, from Pancho Villa to urban ghosts, saints to revolutionaries; customs, from household shrines to irrigation rituals to charreadas, or Mexican-style rodeos; children's games, home remedies, folk foods, crafts, dress, and more.Besides its wide range of folk genres, Mexican-American Folklore is also broad-ranging in space--it covers the entire American Southwest, and in time, it includes material from several generations back, as well as very recent adaptations of customs to modern life. These stories teach readers the importance of courage, resourcefulness and respect for Mexican-American traditions.