Folklore Books

Book Summary: For 75 years readers have chosen this book above all others to discover the thrilling, enchanting, and fascinating world of Western mythology-from Odysseus’s adventure-filled journey to the Norse god Odin’s effort to postpone the final day of doom. Book Reviews: This is a great book to read either for an introduction or as a review of the many fascinating tales and legends of.

English folklore consists of the myths and legends of England, including the English region's mythical creatures, traditional recipes, urban legends, and folktales. English folklore encompasses the traditional Robin Hood tales, the Brythonic-inspired Arthurian legend, and the more contemporary urban legends and monsters such as the Beast of Bodmin Moor. English folklore takes a heavy influence from Pagan tradition, with a number of figures, ledgends, and creatures being adapted from the pre-Christian traditions of the region. This Pagan influence means that English folklore generally differs between regions in the country, however some myths pervade most of the country.

Folklore found throughout much of England[edit]

• Black dog – Often said to be associated with the Devil, and its appearance was regarded as a portent of death. It is generally supposed to be larger than a normal dog, and often has large, glowing eyes. It is a common feature of British Isles and Northern European folklore.
• Boggart – A boggart is, depending on local or regional tradition, either a household spirit or a malevolent genius loci inhabiting fields, marshes or other topographical features. The household boggart causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee. In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, for when the boggart was given a name, it would not be reasoned with nor persuaded, but would become uncontrollable and destructive.
• Brownie – In folklore, a brownie is a type of hob, similar to a hobgoblin. Brownies are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. However, they do not like to be seen and will only work at night, traditionally in exchange for small gifts or food. Among food, they especially enjoy porridge and honey. They usually abandon the house if their gifts are called payments, or if the owners of the house misuse them. Brownies make their homes in an unused part of the house.
• Chime hours – According to English folklore, those born at certain hours could see ghosts.
• Countless stones – Associated with megalithic monuments
• Corn dolly – Corn dollies are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before mechanization. Before Christianization, in traditional pagan European culture it was believed that the spirit of the corn lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless.
• Cunning folk – The term 'cunning man' or 'cunning woman' was most widely used in southern England and the Midlands, as well as in Wales. Such people were also frequently known across England as 'wizards', 'wise men'.
• Dragons- Giant winged reptiles that breathe fire or poison. There are many dragon legends in England. Somerset and the North East being very rich.
• Drake's Drum – Shortly before he died, Drake ordered the drum to be taken to Buckland Abbey, where it still is today, and vowed that if England was ever in danger someone was to beat the drum and he would return to defend the country. According to legend it can be heard to beat at times when England is at war or significant national events take place.
• Dwarfs- a dwarf is a human-shaped entity that dwells in mountains and in the earth, and is variously associated with wisdom, smithing, mining, and crafting.
• English Country Dance – English Country Dance is a form of folk dance. It is a social dance form, which has earliest documented instances in the late 16th century.
• Four Winds – Shown on old maps they are usually shown as faces blowing out wind from their mouths. There are generally 4 of them (North Wind, South Wind, East Wind and West Wind) although in some cases only 2 are shown and in others the whole outside of the map has been surrounded by smaller heads with 4 larger ones.
• Green Man – A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves.
• Hag Stone Hag Stone is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it. Such stones have been discovered by archaeologists in both Britain and Egypt.
• King Arthur Legendary king of the Britons, the Once and Future King and True Born King of England.
• Legend of the Mistletoe Bough – The Legend of the Mistletoe Bough is a ghost story which has been associated with many mansions and stately homes in England.

The tale tells how a new bride, playing a game of hide-and-seek during her wedding breakfast, hid in a chest in an attic and was unable to escape. She was not discovered by her family and friends, and suffocated. The body was allegedly found many years later in the locked chest.

• Lob – The lubber fiend, Lob, lubberkin, lurdane or Lob Lie-By-The-Fire was a legendary creature of English folklore that was similar in attributes to the 'brownie'. He is typically described as a large, hairy man with a tail, who performs housework in exchange for a saucer of milk and a place in front of the fire. One story claims he is the giant son of a witch and the Devil.
• Redcap a groups of trolls, gobins, and even ugly elves with red caps.
• Robin Goodfellow is a troublesome elf or hobgoblin
• Robin Hood – a legendary English outlaw and hero who supposedly lived in Sherwood forest along with his merry men. He was known for his skill with the bow and stealing from the rich in order to give back the poor
• Sin-eater - a person who would 'eat' the sins of a recently deceased person and take them upon themselves so that the deceased could go directly to heaven. This custom existed in many parts of England, but particularly in the Marches.
• Saint Swithun – English weather lore
• Standing stones and chalk figures are the focus for folktales and beliefs.
• Well dressing – An ancient practice of decorating wells in the Peak District and surrounding areas.
• Will-o'-the-wisp A folk explanation of strange lights seen around marshes and bogs.
• Wyvern – Smaller relatives of dragons with two legs rather than four.

Folklore of East Anglia[edit]

Folklore of London and the South East[edit]

Folklore of the Midlands[edit]

Folklore of Yorkshire and the North East[edit]

Folklore of the North West[edit]

Folklore of the South West[edit]

Folklore in song[edit]

Remnants of paganism[edit]

Many parts of English and British folklore still contain evidence of Europe’s pre-Christian past. In common with most other regions of Europe, some aspects of past Pagan religions survive in English Folklore.

Examples of this include the Wild Hunt and Herne the Hunter which relate to the Germanic deity Woden. The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance may represent a pre-Christian festival and the practice of Well dressing in the Peak District, which may date back to Anglo-Saxon or even Celtic times. May Day celebrations such as the Maypole survive across much of England and Northern Europe.

In other media[edit]

English folklore crops up in books, films and comic books and these appearances include:

• Lancre and The Chalk, the settings for the Witches and Tiffany Aching story arcs of the Discworld fantasy book series, are heavily inspired by British mythology and folklore, described by author Terry Pratchett as 'solid folklore'.
• Characters such as Jenny Greenteeth, The Black Shuck and Black Annis have made an appearances in the comic 2000 AD, and in the short story London Falling by Simon Spurrier and Lee Garbett.
• Herne the Hunter and other references to English folklore and Arthurian legend can be found in Susan Cooper's books, The Dark Is Rising.
• The name Springheel Jack is used in the Bethesda Softworks game Oblivion in a Thieves Guild Quest line
• There are several mentions of British folklore creatures in the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling such as Boggarts and Redcaps.
• The 1989 manga Berserk takes inspiration from various aspects of English folklore.

See also[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Hutton, Ronald, The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England, 1999
• Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie, The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, 1959
• Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, (2nd edn) 1997
• Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatem, A Dictionary of Superstitions, 1989
• Paynter, William H. and Jason Semmens, The Cornish Witch-finder: William Henry Paynter and the Witcher, Ghosts, Charms and Folklore of Cornwall, 2008
• Roud, Steve, The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Great Britain and Ireland, 2004
• Simpson, Jacqueline, and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore, 2000
• Vickery, Roy, A Dictionary of Plant Lore, 1995
• Westwood, Jennifer, and Jacqueline Simpson, The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's legends, 2005
• Wright, Arthur Robinson, English Folklore 1900
• Fee, Christopher R, Gods, Heroes, & Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain, 2004

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales (1849), by James Halliwell, a discussion on the origin of English folk tales and rhymes.
• Weather and Folk Lore of Peterborough and District, by Charles Dack, 1911, from Project Gutenberg
• Project-IONA a repository of folk tales from England and the islands of the North Atlantic

I am a major fan of folklore and superstition, especially folktales from around the world. There are so many lessons you can learn from fairy tales, and loads of fairy tale retellings that can twist and turn the classical into something totally fantastic and different. I’m personally a fan of Arthurian legend myself, which is a giant folktale constructed over years and years of telling and retelling, but I also can totally get into the dark and dirty of some creepy fairy tales. My favorite fairy tale just so happens to be “The Girl Without Hands,' because there’s something super chilling about the fact that someone’s dad could easily sell their daughter to the devil.. even going so far as to cut her poor hands off in order to make it easier.

So what lies behind folktales? There’s clearly a history there, given the fact that some folktales have endured for thousands of years. How did the idea of mermaids come about? It couldn’t just be a bunch of sex starved sailors seeing a manatee. What about King Arthur? How did his half-sister/baby mama Morgan La Fey maintain her identity in a world where a woman’s sexuality is constantly suppressed? Well, I’ve compiled a list of 10 nonfiction books about folk tales that will hopefully answer some of these questions, and possibly a few more. Don’t stop believing!

1. Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Every Woman by Jean Shinoda Bolen

From the author of The Goddess in Every Woman, this book studies the archetype of the fierce, bold woman who refuses to be a victim. In Greek mythology, Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, a virgin by choice who drove the moon in her chariot. Bolen takes a look at the archetype Artemis originates and how it's been used in literature ever since. All of those Arya Starks, Katniss Everdeens, and Princess Meridas of the world have Artemis to thank.

2. From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston

Originally written in the 1920s, From Ritual to Romance inspired a lot of T.S. Eliot's epic poem The Waste Land. This is an academic study of the origins of the Grail legend, which has roots in paganism but was later influenced by Celtic culture and Christianity. Read this one to put the medieval texts you love into really fascinating context.

3. Fairies: Real Encounters with Little Peopleby Janet Bord

Is there a little part of you that still believes in fairies? Of course there is! It's the same part of you that claps to keep Tinkerbell alive. In Fairies: Real Encounters with Little People is not only a study of folklore, but also a compendium that collects sightings of such creatures. Collecting tales of sightings from both modern day and ancient times, this book just might make you a believer.

4.The Myth of Morgan La Fey by Kristina Perez

She's a lot of things: half-sister to King Arthur, sorceress, sometime mother of Mordred. But in this comprehensive investigation of this enchantress's background, she swiftly becomes a force for feminism. In light of Western culture's on-going desire to put a woman's sexuality in a box as either a 'Madonna' or a 'whore,' Morgan La Fey has traditionally refused to fit into either box, and the struggles of her story and image cast a fascinating light onto gender relations today.

5. The Arthurian Handbook by Norris J. Lacy, Geoffrey Ashe, Debra N. Mancoff

Covering everything you need to know about Arthurian legend — from the Tristan and Isolde love story to the hunt for the Grail — The Arthurian Handbook studies the historical basis of King Arthur, investigating whether or not he was actually real. It also includes a glossary full of characters from the legends.

6. American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osbourne

From Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack with the big blue ox to the hammer wielding John Henry to Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, who could “outgrin, outsnort, outrun, outlift, outsneeze, outsleep, outlie any varmint,' this collection explains many of America's most beloved tall tales.

7. The Case of the Cottingly Fairiesby Joe Cooper

While this is a biography, it's still steeped in folklore. Back during the Edwardian Era (think Downton Abbey times), people believed in fairies with an intensity that seemed almost out of place in the face of the Industrial Revolution. In the middle of this, cousins Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths claimed to have truly seen and photographed fairies, a hoax that ended up fooling the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Cooper worked with Elsie and Frances for six years before publishing this book in the late '90s.

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8.Mermaids: the Myth, the Legend, and Lore by Skye Alexander

Who doesn't love a good mermaid story? These sea creatures have been a staple in folklore for centuries. This book is full of fun facts and information about the mermaid myth as spread throughout the world, and is also gorgeously illustrated to boot! Not only is this an interesting look at mermaids, but it's also a super interesting study on how the same myth can pop up in different ways in different cultures.

9. The Book of Yokai: The Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folkloreby Michael Dylan Foster

For those of you who absolutely love Japanese folklore, or want to learn some less Western-centric folklore, there's The Book of Yokai. What's a yokai? It's a relatively broad term that encompasses all the ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural creatures that roam Japan. Based off of years of extensive research in Japan, this book discusses the history of the yokai, while also compiling a glossary of some of the more well known yokai.

10. The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim

Written by a famous child psychologist, The Uses of Enchantment studies the effect that fairy tales have on children. This book studies the dark lessons that early drafts of fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood's story being an exploration of the dark side of her sexuality. If you're interested in both old school psychology and fairy tales, this is the book for you.

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