Myths and Legends from Around the World Read online

  Re-told by Robin Brockman

  Illustrations by Michael McLellan

  This edition published in 2011 by Arcturus Publishing Limited

  26/27 Bickels Yard, 151-153 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3HA

  Copyright © 2000 Arcturus Publishing Limited

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person or persons who do any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  ISBN 978-1-84837-436-2

  Contents

  Introduction

  An African Genesis

  Beowulf

  The Spider Grandmother

  Gilgamesh and Enkidu

  Osiris, Bringer of Civilization

  Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady

  Thor, Loki the Trickster, and the Twilight of the Gods

  The Death of Tutunui

  Zeus

  Big Trouble with Little Gods

  Sedna, Mother of Sea Beasts

  Hercules and His Labours

  Doctor Li Hollow Eyes

  Mamadi Sefe Dekote

  The Knight and the Lady of Loch Awe

  Izanagi and Izanami

  Amaterasu and Susanoo – The Sun and The Seas

  Roland

  Son of the Morning Star

  The Sacrifice of Countess Cathleen

  Tlazoteotl and the Price of Temptation

  St. George and the Dragon

  The Adventure of Goroba-Dike

  The Example of Miao Shan

  To Anne and Peter Jousiffe

  for their friendship, courage under fire

  and the loan of so many

  invaluable books.

  Introduction

  Perhaps a more apt title for this volume might have been ‘Favourite Myths and Legends’, or better still, ‘Selected Myths and Legends From Around the World’. This is above all meant to be an easy to read, accessible book, while being faithful to its subjects. Inclusion has depended entirely on what in my own opinion makes a good, rousing, edifying, amusing, charming or frightening story. References to time, context, location and ethnic origin are contained within the tales so that each one can stand alone, as a short-story, without explanation or elaboration.

  It is my hope that this book will encourage many readers to study the original or earlier versions of the stories, as well as other tales from the great wealth of world myth and legend. This volume will best serve as a general overview, perhaps even a primer. Cultural balance of a sort has been easy to achieve because nearly every part of the world and every ethnic strain of man has its gods and heroes, monsters and magicians.

  In retelling these tales I have tried to make each one memorable and relevant to the modern reader, whether that reader is new to them entirely or encountering them here reborn. None of the hard information in them has been changed, though. Myth, after all, and even that close relation of it, legend, has far more importance in societies than that of simple entertainment. The very wisdom of the ancients, perhaps the Creator's instructions to humanity, may well be wrapped up in certain of our most universal myths. Memory experts attest that even the most mundane or very practical information is best retained by people if it is presented to them in the form of a story.

  Partly for this reason common threads abound in tales from the most widely dispersed cultures. This is the case in even the least cosmic, most uninstructive myths. Just being human, living in these bodies on this earth, provides unlimited universal commonality of experience and imagination. This fact constantly highlights, if not some high-minded message of the brotherhood of man, then at least that the world – which we like to think became so much smaller in modern times – has always been pretty tiny.

  There is much that was always pure allegory, of course, or meant to be wondrous explanations to impress the masses, while the ruling class or priest caste were the only ones privy to really important information about the nature of this life on earth. There is, therefore, plenty of magic of a far-fetched and supernatural kind in these stories. This is not restricted to the very early ones of how the universe was formed or how life began, nor is it confined to tales of gods and monsters. Of course, even the beliefs of the cognoscenti, the high priests and members of mystery cults, were fantastic by any modern standards. Some people see this as reflecting humankind's greater gullibility in days gone by, during the so-called ‘long childhood of man’.

  The myths and legends of our own age tend only to exaggerate what we see as reality, and, with a few exceptions, very little of the magical seems to creep into them. We are not even sceptically religious these days. No longer do we accept, for instance, as the Victorians did, so much as the mere tenets of the established faith of the land. And we reject all others with even greater ease. More than any of our predecessors in the recorded and unrecorded history of our species, we demand ‘proof’ of everything.

  However, if pre-history and ancient civilizations constituted the “childhood of man”, as some call it, I maintain that our era is surely its adolescence. We believe nothing, doubt everything, and deny all that cannot be seen and measured by the yardstick of our own limited point of view. Nothing exists if science cannot verify it. But science operates in only three dimensions: on this plane, in the present time, among what we call the living, natural world. Human experience tells us repeatedly, and has always told us, that, in reality, there is so very much more.

  This takes us into the realm of metaphysics, which all ages have produced. Practical, scientific and intelligent men of logic made as much a study of the unseen and unexplainable in ancient times as they did of the more conventional things many are known for today. Indeed, humanity's greatest minds were more open to such matters in the past than they are now and only a fool would say this was purely out of superstition, naivety or ignorance.

  Myth and legend do not grow out of metaphysics, however. They are most often the tools of religion and race or exercises in raising national consciousness. One definition of myth might be the beliefs of defunct or otherwise distant, usually foreign, religions. Legends are notably the stuff of group identity, shining example, nostalgia and folk history. They tell a people who they used to be and what the best of them could achieve. They speak of what a group stands for and what sort of champions they look to see return in times of need, either in the character of their sons and daughters or out of the mists of the world of magic, mystery and divinity. Always these forces favour one's own band, tribe, nation or race over all others.

  One of the reasons myths and legends endure, however, is because they are not the true property of any group. This is not only because of their universality, but because they feed on one another, become appropriated by conquerors, immigrants, the oppressed or newly formed groupings. Theft, mixing, regurgitation and incorporation all happen constantly even today.

  Along with this process certain parts of history or religion pass into myth and legend. Legend can become myth in this way, though myth seldom becomes legend. The people of a defeated race, who have perhaps been driven into the wilds, develop skills that seem magical, and just in order to survive may become pixies, elves and leprechauns. It happened in Ireland, Scotland and Wales and we can see it happening even now in North America, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere around the world. Population shifts and the passing of peoples and cultures inevitably invite this transmigration.

  We can gain insight,
too, from the increasing disappearance of animal species. Because of their absence or loss we find ourselves creating mythical beasts to replace them. Perhaps we can see in this process how our ancestors accepted the existence of rare or supposedly recently extinct animals such as unicorns and dragons.

  Many in our society hold that the city of Atlantis existed and some believe it may yet be found under the ice of Antarctica. If such a thing should ever happen, it would not be the first time that myth has become history or reality. It is wise to remember that until very recent times, any suggestion that giant lizards had dominated the earth before mankind would have been regarded as mythological fancy. The existence of dinosaurs is taken for granted now, and most people do not realize we ever doubted it.

  Though it is often misused, the term legend can well be applied to many figures in recent history. As the expression has it, these people sometimes achieved this status in their own lifetime, and some became legends for performing one brief act. Myth is another matter but that too is forming constantly. Larger issues, mass opinion, delusion or propaganda fall into the category of myth. Legend, on the other hand, is about a person or individual groups of people. What baby boomer, especially one who has bothered to read history, can deny that the deeds of the generation who fought the Second World War have taken on many of the qualities of myth in our culture? The Old West, too, has long been the subject of myth, and it has also produced its fair share of legends.

  All this would have been the case even without Hollywood films accelerating the process. Movies have nevertheless helped propel a higher percentage of subjects, times, heroes and monsters from history into myth and legend than any other medium.

  Good cinema, far more than good literature, demands purer, clearer situations; the stereotypical villains or monsters and archetypal heroes and heroines of myth and legend are far easier to portray in a visual medium than half-truths and ambiguities of plot and character. Few mainstream filmmakers can resist the temptation to smooth out the rough edges of a situation and make characters behave better than most of us can hope to. Even when depicting real events of modern times, let alone those of the recent past or a more distant age, the tendency is to dress up the truth, misleading the general, non-history minded viewer and leaving him with false impressions. Movies, though, like myth and legend, are not about trying to tell literal truths. They are about telling higher truths. They are about challenging, inspiring, cautioning and, yes, sometimes tricking us.

  Most of all, and again like the movies, they are about entertainment. In common with other art forms, which they most certainly are, they serve that function well.

  I hope my retellings of these wonderful tales from around the world has enabled them to speak across time and work their magic on a new generation. If they had not been fun, frightening or exciting to hear or read in the first place, they would have died long ago, despite any other purposes they may have served in society. It is to be hoped that this book will extend their life still further.

  During the process of re-writing these tales my imagination and my hand have been guided every step of the way by far greater story-tellers than myself. All of them have been drawn from oral traditions, academic sources or old out-of-print storybooks. These tales belong to all of us, and will continue to belong to us for as long as we are able to look back at the past in wonder, to stare into the future with hope and into our own hearts with honesty and inspiration.

  An African Genesis

  This myth from the Makoni tribe of Zimbabwe is about the development of the world. Its chief character, Mwuetsi, symbolizes both primeval man and the moon, and the magical ngona oil which makes so much happen in the story represents the spark of life. Its echoes of science, which agrees that life originated under the seas, is interesting.

  When God created the first man he called him Mwuetsi, meaning ‘Moon’. He supplied him with a magical horn filled with ngona oil and then plopped him at the bottom of a lake. This was existence, it was consciousness. After a while Mwuetsi asked God if he could go somewhere else, up onto the earth perhaps, for although no one had told him about this place somehow he knew it was there. God told him this was not advisable, but Mwuetsi grew insistent and eventually God allowed him to go.

  When Mwuetsi arrived on the earth he found a cold, stark land devoid of plants and animals. Bewildered, he walked first in one direction, then in another, and eventually he despaired. Praying to God, he asked how he was to live in such a place.

  “I told you so,” God said smugly from above. “But it is too late to go back now.”

  Mwuetsi groaned.

  “You have really started something,” God continued. “You have set off on a journey that can only end in death, but I will give you great comfort on your way.”

  “What is it?”

  “A companion of your own kind.”

  And with that a fine young woman materialized before him. She was called Massassi, which means ‘Morning Star’. Instinctively the couple went into a cave, made a fire, and lay down on either side of the cheerful flames. In the night, however, Mwuetsi awoke and his mind began to dwell upon his situation. Why, he asked himself, had God sent this maiden to be his friend. What exactly was she for, or rather, what was to be done with her? Inspired, he withdrew the stopper from his ngona horn and wet one of his fingers with the oil. Then, jumping over the campfire, he touched Massassi's body with his slippery finger and then hopped back quickly to his own side of the fire. This action seemed to calm him and he settled down to sleep gain.

  When dawn broke, Mwuetsi woke up, stretched, yawned and glanced over at Massassi. He was shocked to see that her belly was massively swollen. As the rays of the sun flooded into the cave, Massassi stirred, moaning softly then groaning loudly. Within moments she was giving birth. Her first children were grasses, bushes and trees and these took root in the barren landscape. The earth became more bountiful as the trees spread their branches and grew high into the sky, bringing down rain.

  Two years went by with Mwuetsi and Massassi living happily, gathering fruits and even starting a small farm. Then one day God took away Mwuetsi's gentle companion, putting her at the bottom of the lake where he could not find her.

  Shouting and crying out to God, Mwuetsi wept tears of loneliness and grief. Again God spoke to him.

  “Didn't I warn you about death? But now I shall give you a different friend.”

  Even as God spoke, Morongo, the Evening Star, appeared beside Mwuetsi. She took his hand in her own and led him into the cave. Here, as was his habit of old, Mwuetsi wanted to bed down in his place on the far side of the fire.

  “Come on now,” smiled Morongo. “Don't be so distant. Lay yourself down over here beside me.”

  Shyly and a touch awkwardly Mwuetsi looked round, wondering where he had put his ngona horn, but Morongo stopped him.

  “You don't need that,” she told him. “I am not like Massassi.” She patted the place beside her and he went and joined her. “There is another horn which nature has suited for a purpose, that you always have about you.” She showed him this purpose, teaching him to make love to her, and when these lessons were done he fell fast asleep.

  In the morning, as the light crept into the cave, Mwuetsi discovered Morongo with an enormous belly, sweating and gritting her teeth as she bore new kinds of young. This first morning she gave birth to chickens, sheep and goats. When Mwuetsi lay with her that night, the next day it was eland, ostrich and cattle. They made love again the following night too. At dawn boys and girls were born to them, and by nightfall had become fully grown adults like themselves.

  Morongo and Mwuetsi derived much fun and pleasure from their couplings, aside from the wonderful things that also sprang from them. When on the fourth night the couple embraced, lightning flashed outside the cave entrance and there were roars of thunder. Mwuetsi interpreted this untimely interruption as a message from God who was telling him to stop making love with Morongo. Reluctant to desist though he surely was
, he was afraid.

  Morongo was unperturbed. “Roll a boulder across the cave mouth,” she whispered, “and God will not be able to see what we are doing.”

  The next morning, lions, leopards and scorpions sprang from between Morongo's legs, then snakes, the last of which was a huge black mamba. Desperately, as these things ran, leapt, scurried and slithered around the cave, Mwuetsi rolled the boulder away from the entrance and let them escape into the world.

  “I told you so,” murmured the voice of God from on high.

  After that Mwuetsi coupled with his grown daughters, whose offspring populated the earth further, until Mwuetsi became the king of a great nation. Nevertheless, it was Morongo he still longed for and thought of daily, but she had become the mate of the black mamba and was content, although she had no more children of any kind.

  Wanting for nothing, lord of creation, surrounded by his progeny and their progeny, Mwuetsi was satisfied in every way but one. Even as years had passed, as the world had flourished and found ways to regenerate itself, he had never lost his desire for Morongo, the Evening Star. Indeed, his lust, fascination, gratitude and desperate longing for her had only increased with time.

  One night, he went to see her, perhaps after imbibing some recently perfected brew, his heart bursting. Pouring out his emotions and eager for the touch of her once again, he took her in his arms and bore her down upon the bed.

  “Please don't,” she said, but in his excitement and hunger for her, he would not be stopped.

  Now, beneath the bed, coiled up and enjoying a nap, lay Morongo's husband, the black mamba. Wakening to the commotion above him, he understood at once and sprang at Mwuetsi, biting him on the thigh. Shocked and quickly growing sick, Mwuetsi limped away, but he was still a very strong man, despite his advancing years, and he did not die at once.

  While he lingered the rain stopped falling, so the streams dried up, crops withered, animals began to perish and in time people started dying too.