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Mythology, Legends & Folklore — page 10
546 public-domain mythology, legends & folklore books, summarised. Page 10 of 12.
The Norse king's bridal
E. M. (Eleanor Mary) Smith-Dampier
The dark, resonant echoes of ancient Northern folklore find new life in this collection of verse, where the veil between the living and the dead is always thin. These poems explore the high-stakes world of gods, giants, and mortal lovers caught in the inexorable pull of fate.
Battle Out of Time
Dwight V. Swain
A modern archaeologist finds his obsession with ancient Crete leads him into a literal clash with legend when he steps through a time-inverter to confront the truth behind the Minotaur.
Yosemite Legends
Bertha H. Smith
Before the white man came with new names, the sheer cliffs and mist-veiled falls of Ah-wah-nee held the lore of the Ah-wah-nee-chees. These six traditional stories preserve the valley's sacred memory.
Deirdre wed and other poems
Herbert Trench
A woman chosen by a king flees into the wild with the warrior she loves, pursued across a mythic landscape where ancient earth-spirits witness their tragic, glowing fate.
Poems from Eastern Sources: The Steadfast Prince
Richard Chenevix Trench
The ancient echoes of the East meet the steadying hand of Victorian faith in these meditative verses, exploring the soul’s arduous journey toward humility.
Legendary Tales of the Highlands (Volume 1 of 3): A sequel to Highland Rambles
Lauder, Thomas Dick, Sir
The rugged peaks and mist-shrouded glens of Scotland serve as the stage for these atmospheric tales, where local folklore and hard-won history bleed into the lives of those who wander the Highlands.
The Arabian Nights Entertainments
Jonathan Scott
A desperate wife, a choked diner, and a trail of panicked suspects turn a single evening into a brilliant tapestry of urban farce.
Fenris, the Wolf: A Tragedy
Percy MacKaye
An ancient, celestial tragedy re-enacted in the harsh landscapes of Iceland, this work explores the heavy cost of seeking divinity in mortal forms. It is a dense, lyrical drama that blends Norse mythology with the complexities of human passion, sacrifice, and the search for liberation.
The Substance of a Dream
F. W. (Francis William) Bain
Ensnared by a vivid dream of a peerless beauty, a wandering prince renounces his birthright to pursue an elusive star, only to find that his dream made him a helpless pawn in a cruel game.
A dramatization of Longfellow's Hiawatha: A spectacular drama in six acts
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Through the quiet grandeur of North American forests and the terrible quiet of winter starvation, a prophet of peace unites warring nations before embarking on a celestial journey beyond mortal suffering.
Hymen
H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)
Bright floral hues and stark marble contours collision in this modern re-imagining of ancient Greek ritual and myth, turning classical figures into conduits of sharp, modern desire.
In the Desert of Waiting: The Legend of Camel-back Mountain
Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston
A merchant’s journey toward prosperity is abruptly halted by the collapse of his camel, forcing him to learn that the most profound gains often arise from our deepest delays.
Tales from the Arabic
John Payne
These tales reveal the intricate art of Middle Eastern storytelling, where wit, cunning, and the unpredictable turns of fate converge in a tapestry of moral lessons and vibrant human experience.
Heel
Philip José Farmer
A starship hanging hidden inside a storm cloud directs the Trojan War as a high-budget galactic film, using tech-rigged armor, Hypnos-inducing gas, and manufactured divine intervention to manipulate mortal armies into cinematic magic.
Elfin land: and other poems
Benjamin West Ball
Elfin land is a mid-nineteenth-century collection of poetry that seeks to reclaim the majesty of classical mythology and medieval romance. Its verses act as a bridge between the fading wonders of antiquity and the anxieties of a modern, industrializing age.
Etain the Beloved, and Other Poems
James Henry Cousins
An epic retelling of Irish myth gives way to quiet lyrics of nature and devotion, mapping the soul's journey through love, sacrifice, and spiritual awakening.
Sixteen Poems
William Allingham
A sea-washed Irish coast frames fleeting mortal loves, ancient ruins, and spectral midnight visitors that drift endlessly through human memory.
Winona, a Dakota Legend
E. L. (Eli Lundy) Huggins
A woman of the Dakota nation faces a dark legacy of violence and spirit forces, choosing murder to defend herself only to find that blood cannot wash away fate.
In Great Waters: Four Stories
Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone) Janvier
The tides of the human heart are as treacherous as the North Sea, and these four narratives chart the wreckage left behind when obsession meets the shore. Driven by fierce, possessive love, the characters in these stories find that the very depths they rely upon for their livelihood are the ones that eventually…
Sea curse
Robert E. (Robert Ervin) Howard
A seafaring bully and his accomplice face the retribution of a grief-stricken woman, whose curse summons a spectral galley from the abyss to deliver a final, bloody judgment.
Aus meinem Königreich: Tales from the Carpathian Mountains
Carmen Sylva
In these lyrical tales, the rugged peaks of the Carpathians serve as a theater where ancient folklore and the harsh realities of history collide. They capture a vanishing world of mountain spirits, lost kingdoms, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
The Legend of Kupirri, or, The Red Kangaroo: An Aboriginal Tradition of the Port Lincoln Tribe
W. A. (William Alexander) Cawthorne
This narrative poem captures a foundational Aboriginal tradition from the Port Lincoln region, blending the mythic origins of the landscape with the daily rhythms of tribal life. It serves as a poetic preservation of a story told to account for the presence of certain animals and the geography of the South…
Elves and Heroes
Donald A. (Donald Alexander) Mackenzie
This collection of poems and tales breathes life into the vanishing folklore of the Scottish Highlands, blending the ethereal world of spirits with the tragic grandeur of ancient heroes.
Scots proverbs, ancient and modern, selected from Allan Ramsay and others
Allan Ramsay
A community's sharpest wisdom rarely lives in long treatises; it survives in the crisp, rhythmically turned phrases passed across hearths and livestock pens.
The Dangerous Scarecrow
Carl Jacobi
Two children imbue their farm’s scarecrows with the sinister, long-buried history of the men who once owned the land. A playful afternoon leads to a chilling realization that the past is never truly inanimate.
Heroic Romances of Ireland, Translated into English Prose and Verse
Arthur Herbert Leahy
These translations capture the primal energy of ancient Irish legend, where kings, heroes, and supernatural beings collide in a landscape of magic, cattle raids, and broken oaths.
'Round the yule-log: Christmas in Norway
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
A young officer, confined to a gloomy city lodging by illness during his first Christmas away from home, finds his solitude transformed by the shared folklore of his landladies and their young guests.
Betelguese
Jean DÉsque
A vision of damnation located within a dying star, where sinners endure endless torment among grotesque monsters, ruined temples, and subterranean seas of blood.
A Legend of Goat Island
Peter A. (Peter Augustus) Porter
This narrative poem explores the intersection of European missionary zeal and indigenous folklore at the dawn of colonial contact. It centers on a courageous, solitary priest who risks death to dismantle a local superstition, ultimately transforming a landscape into a site of spiritual conversion.
Ballads from the Danish and Original Verses
E. M. (Eleanor Mary) Smith-Dampier
The past is never truly buried, as it rises from the stone and the sea to demand a reckoning from those who walk the earth today.
Fables
Ross, Ronald, Sir
These playful, satirical verses blend classical mythology with sharp wit, inviting readers to laugh at the pretensions of the powerful and the absurdities of human belief.
Hawaiian idylls of love and death
Herbert H. (Herbert Henry) Gowen
These stories capture the fading sunset of an ancient, isolated kingdom, tracing the rise of a legendary monarch and the quiet, personal tragedies of those living in his shadow. They present a world where gods, volcanoes, and royal decrees collide with the fierce, private loves of common people.
Le Coq d'Or (The Golden Cock): An Opera in Three Acts
Unknown
This opera presents a dark, ironic fairy tale where a gluttonous king’s desire for an easy life leads to his undoing. It is a sharp, satirical fable about the folly of rulers and the danger of ignoring reality.
The legend of the blemished king, and other poems
James Henry Cousins
This collection of verse captures the Irish landscape and spirit at the turn of the twentieth century, blending ancient folklore with a profound, restless desire for spiritual renewal. It is a work of lyrical introspection, written in a time of shifting traditions, that seeks to find the eternal pulse of love…
The Fairy Changeling and Other Poems
Dora Sigerson Shorter
The sorrow of the sea and the weight of unseen worlds haunt these pages, where the living and the dead reach for one another across the thinnest of veils.
The Gold Horns
Adam Oehlenschläger
A pair of ancient golden relics re-emerges from the earth to test a nation's soul, only to vanish forever when met with idle greed.
Famous stories from foreign countries
Edna Worthley Underwood
A collection of international voices captures the fragility of human dignity, exploring how societal upheaval and personal hardship define the lives of the forgotten and the powerful alike.
Stories of the Prophets (Before the Exile)
Isaac Landman
The prophets of ancient Israel emerge here not as distant, mythic figures, but as human souls struggling to uphold justice, morality, and national conscience during the twilight of their kingdoms.
The Tale of Brynild, and King Valdemar and His Sister: Two Ballads
George Borrow
These two stark, ancient ballads capture the violent intersection of courtly duty and personal ruin. They explore the tragic consequences of betrayal and the swift, unforgiving hand of medieval justice.
Hephaestus, Persephone at Enna, and Sappho in Leucadia
Arthur Stringer
These three dramatic monologues reimagine the lives of mythic figures and poets, tracing the heavy, transformative burden of love and its inevitable collision with mortality.
Tales of Ind, and Other Poems
T. (Thottakadu) Ramakrishna Pillai
These verses bridge the gap between two worlds, weaving the rich tapestry of Indian folklore and history into the measured, rhythmic language of late Victorian English poetry. They offer a rare, intimate perspective on the enduring strength of the human spirit amidst famine, war, and the silent passage of time.
The Bride of Huitzil—An Aztec Legend
Hervey Allen
The story of a king’s final, prideful days and his descent into the underworld unfolds as a haunting exploration of power, divine judgment, and the heavy price of ambition.
The Secret of Kralitz
Henry Kuttner
A young aristocrat descends into the bowels of his ancestral home to claim a horrifying birthright, discovering that his family’s legacy is not merely one of blood, but of eternal, damnable communion with the outer dark.
The Talisman, from the Russian of Alexander Pushkin
George Borrow
A collection of translated verse capturing the dark, elemental power of Slavic folklore and the fatal allure of the unknown. These poems dwell in the space between historical violence and spectral longing.**
Houlihan's Equation
Walter J. Sheldon
A brilliant nuclear engineer discovers a colony of leprechauns building a spaceship to flee a self-destructive humanity. He uses their desperation to solve a critical scientific problem, ultimately deciding the fate of both his civilization and theirs.
Uttara, the Legend of the Turquoise
Carlo de Fornaro
A celestial love triangle descends from the heavens to Earth, where the immortal obsession with a mortal woman culminates in a singular, crystalline transformation. This narrative reimagines the origin of the turquoise stone through the lens of ancient mythic longing.
The mermaid's prophecy, and other songs relating to Queen Dagmar
George Borrow
A royal bride sets sail across stormy seas to meet her unknown groom, unaware that her arrival will alter the fate of an entire kingdom.
Grimhild's Vengeance: Three Ballads
George Borrow
In these three stark, fatalistic ballads, a doomed hero ignores supernatural warnings to confront his treacherous sister, meeting a bloody end that demands a bitter, long-deferred retribution.