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® Br ca ti anni LEARNING L I B R A R Y Legends, Myths, and Folktales Celebrate the stories that have moved the world for centuries CHICAGO LONDON NEW DELHI PARIS SEOUL SYDNEY TAIPEI TOKYO PROJECT TEAM Judith West, Editorial Project Manager Christopher Eaton, Editor and Educational Consultant Kathryn Harper, U.K. Editorial Consultant Marilyn L. Barton, Senior Production Coordinator Editors Theodore Pappas Anthony L. Green Mary Rose McCudden Andrea R. Field Michael J. Anderson Colin Murphy Locke Petersheim Indu Ramchandani (Encyclopædia Britannica India) Bhavana Nair (India) Rashi Jain (India) Design and Media Specialists Nancy Donohue Canfield, Design Megan Newton-Abrams, Design Karen Koblik, Photos Joseph Taylor, Illustrations Amy Ning, Illustrations Jerry A. Kraus, Illustrations Michael Nutter, Maps Copy Editors Barbara Whitney Laura R. Gabler Dennis Skord Lisa Braucher, Data Editor Paul Cranmer, Indexer ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA PROJECT SUPPORT TEAM EDITORIAL Linda Berris Robert Curley Brian Duignan Kathleen Kuiper Kenneth Pletcher Jeffrey Wallenfeldt Anita Wolff Charles Cegielski Mark Domke Michael Frassetto James Hennelly Sherman Hollar Michael R. Hynes Sandra Langeneckert Gene O. Larson Michael I. Levy Robert Lewis Tom Michael Janet Moredock DESIGN Steven N. Kapusta Carol A. Gaines Cate Nichols ART Kathy Nakamura Kristine A. Strom Nadia C. Venegas ILLUSTRATION David Alexovich Christine McCabe Thomas Spanos MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT Jeannine Deubel Kimberly L. Cleary Kurt Heintz Quanah Humphreys COPY Sylvia Wallace Jennifer F. Gierat Glenn Jenne Mary Kasprzak Thad King Larry Kowalski Joan Lackowski Dawn McHugh Julian Ronning Chrystal Schmit Sarah Waterman INFORMATION MANAGEMENT/ INDEXING Carmen-Maria Hetrea Edward Paul Moragne Marco Sampaolo Sheila Vasich Mansur G. Abdullah Keith DeWeese Catherine Keich Stephen Seddon EDITORIAL TECHNOLOGIES Steven Bosco Gavin Chiu Bruce Walters Mark Wiechec COMPOSITION TECHNOLOGY Mel Stagner MANUFACTURING Dennis Flaherty Kim Gerber INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Leah Mansoor Isabella Saccà ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. Jacob E. Safra, Chairman of the Board Jorge Aguilar-Cauz, President Michael Ross, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development Dale H. Hoiberg, Senior Vice President and Editor Marsha Mackenzie, Managing Editor and Director of Production © 2008 BY ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. International Standard Book Number: 978-1-59339-508-7 No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. BRITANNICA LEARNING LIBRARY: LEGENDS, MYTHS, AND FOLKTALES 2008 Britannica.com may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.britannica.com. (Trademark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.) Printed in U.S.A. Legends, Myths, and Folktales I N T R O D U C T I O N What was Excalibur? Who stabbed a one-eyed man-eating giant? Where do Jataka tales come from? Was the “Trojan horse” really a horse? Legends, Myths, and Folktales, you’ll In To help you on your journey, we’ve provided the following guideposts in Legends, Myths, and Folktales : ■ Subject Tabs—The colored box in the upper corner of each right-hand page will quickly tell you the article subject. discover answers to these ■ Search Lights—Try these mini-quizzes before and after you read the questions and many more. article and see how much—and how quickly—you can learn. You can even Through pictures, articles, make this a game with a reading partner. (Answers are upside down at the stories, and fun facts, you’ll learn about the bottom of one of the pages.) ■ Did You Know?—Check out these fun facts about the article subject. With these surprising “factoids,” you can entertain your friends, impress exciting, magical tales your teachers, and amaze your parents. that have entertained us ■ Picture Captions—Read the captions that go with the photos. They for centuries, taught us provide useful information about the article subject. right from wrong, and ■ Vocabulary—New or difficult words are in bold type. You’ll find explained the many them explained in the Glossary at the end of the book. mysteries of the world. ■ Learn More!—Follow these pointers to related articles in the book. These articles are listed in the Table of Contents and appear on the Subject Tabs. Br ® ca itanni LEARNING L I B R A R Y Have a great trip! © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Legends, Myths, and Folktales TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 MYTHS AND LEGENDS, FOLKTALES AND FABLES: Stories of Wonders and Everyday Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 From the Kalilah wa Dimnah: The Poor Man and the Flask of Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 A Cambodian Myth: Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Atlas: The Bearer of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Dragons: Beasts of Fire and Mist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 AUSTRALIA An Asian Folktale: Who Will Marry Mousie? . . . . . . 12 An Australian Tale: How Kangaroo Got His Tail . . . . 42 Aesop’s Fables: Animal Stories That Teach . . . . . . . 14 AFRICA EUROPE A Story from Ghana: Ananse and the Wisdom Pot. . . 44 A European Folktale: A Nigerian Folktale: The Monkey Court . . . . . . . . . . 46 The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse . . . . . . . 16 A Zulu Story: Jackal Gets Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 A Jewish Legend: The Golem of Prague . . . . . . . . . . 18 THE AMERICAS A British Legend: King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table . . . . . . 20 A Mayan Story: Rabbit Throws Away His Sandal . . . 50 A Greek Legend: Odysseus and the Cyclops . . . . . . . 22 Paul Bunyan: The Tale of a Lumberjack. . . . . . . . . . 52 A Story from Ancient Greece: The Trojan Horse . . . . 24 An Inuit Tale: Thor: The Thunder God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 How Crow Brought Daylight to the World. . . . . . . . 54 A Russian Folktale: The Bear and the Old Man . . . . 28 A Native American Legend: Coyote Brings Fire . . . . . 56 A Cherokee Story: Why Possum’s Tail Is Bare . . . . . 58 ASIA A Fable of the Pacific Northwest: A Chinese Cinderella Story: Yeh-Shen. . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Raven and Crow’s Potlatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 A Story from Japan: The Stonecutter . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 A Korean Folktale: The Tiger in the Trap. . . . . . . . . 34 A South Asian Tale: The Monkey and the String of Pearls . . . . . . . . . . 36 Br ® ca itanni LEARNING L I B R A R Y © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. r e s d n o W f o y Life Stor ies Everyda and SE A
T GH RCH LI Which of the following is a story about ordinary people doing unusual things? a) myth b) fable c) folktale 6 © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. MYTHS AND LEGENDS, FOLKTALES AND FABLES KNOWs ?its own ha DID YOoU l probably about a Your scho likely it’s t s o wn for M . d legen acher kno te r o t n e d former stu usual or amazing un room r e h r his o your class h it w k c e s Ch she know behavior. e if he or e s to r e h teac nd. chool lege about a s I n very ancient times, people needed help to explain the mysteries of life. They didn’t have scientists or other experts to tell them why different things happened. So the way they grew to understand these mysteries was through stories called “myths.” Today when we call something a myth, we usually mean that it isn’t true. But that’s often because we don’t believe the very old stories. People used to believe in myths very strongly. Some of the most familiar European myths come from ancient Greece. The gods and goddesses of Greek religion all had stories about them that explained just why things were the way they were. World religions today have their own mythologies. Hinduism, for example, is filled with wondrous tales of gods and heroes, such as the elephant-headed god Ganesha, who represents good luck. One Bible story tells how Moses led the original Jews out of slavery in Egypt. And the famous stories of Jesus stand as examples to Christians of a perfect life. Myths are closely related to several other kinds of stories that teach us lessons. These include folktales, legends, fables, and fairy tales. Folktales are very much like myths, though they are usually about ordinary characters in unusual situations. Legends resemble folktales and myths, but they’re usually linked to a particular place or person, real or imaginary. Fables teach lessons by telling stories with animal characters. Fairy tales sometimes carry a message about right and wrong. But often they’re simply exciting, magical stories. Answer: c) folktale © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ★ LEARN MORE! READ THESE ARTICLES… A GREEK LEGEND: ODYSSEUS AND THE CYCLOPS A JEWISH LEGEND: THE GOLEM OF PRAGUE A NIGERIAN FOLKTALE: THE MONKEY COURT 7 8 © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ATLAS l r d o W e h t SE A
RCH LI T GH r e r T he Bea f o L ong, long ago Zeus, the king of the ancient Greek gods, was very angry with Atlas, one of the Titans (children of Heaven and Earth). He was angry because Atlas had tried to fight with him. So Zeus ordered Atlas to stand Find and forever holding all the heavens and Earth on his shoulders! correct the errors in the Atlas wanted to get rid of his tiresome job. He almost following managed to do it when the Greek hero Hercules came to sentence: ask for his help. Hercules was supposed to get three golden Hercules agreed apples that were guarded by a dragon in a garden. Atlas to get three golden apples for Atlas if agreed to get the apples if Hercules would hold the Atlas would hold heavens and Earth on his shoulders while he was gone. the heavens and Earth When Atlas returned, he told Hercules to keep the on his shoulders job. Hercules agreed. But he asked Atlas to hold the for a while. world for just a minute while he got a shoulder pad for himself. As soon as Atlas lifted the world to his shoulders, Hercules picked up the golden apples and ran away. Some stories say that thunder is Atlas shouting after Hercules to come back. Most pictures of Atlas show him carrying the world. This is an ancient Greek story. But today when we want to learn about the world, we look into a book called an “atlas.” We can see the shapes of countries, see which river flows in which country, and see which continent is where. LEARN MORE! READ THESE ARTICLES… A GREEK LEGEND: ODYSSEUS AND THE CYCLOPS MYTHS AND LEGENDS, FOLKTALES AND FABLES THOR: THE THUNDER GOD KNOWf ?a range of DID YOlsU eo o the nam a. In Answer: Atlas agreed to get three golden apples for Hercules if Hercules would hold the heavens and Earth on his shoulders for a while. © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ★ rn Afric Atlas is a orthweste g of that n in s in mounta the kin Atlas was the one story, was a bad host to e h t u s B area. Perseu Perseus. the Greek hero s by showing him a tl a. A s d u e d h e rM punis vil monste dusa e e th f o head of Me t the head Looking a . e n to ston turned me 9