Bevan Thomas

"Speaking of livers," the Unicorn said. "Real magic can never be made by offering up someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back. The true witches know that."
- Peter S. Beagle, "The Last Unicorn"
🎨 John William Waterhouse

#BookWormSat #NationalReadingMonth #Literature #Fiction #Fantasy #PeterSBeagle #LastUnicorn

In Scottish folklore, selkies are intelligent seals who often become fascinated by human life. They can remove their seal skins to temporarily become beautiful men and women, and will have romances with the local humans. However, eventually all selkies return to the ocean.
🎨 Nataša Ilinčić

#FairyTaleTuesday #Mythology #Folklore #Scotland #Celtic #Monster #Wereseal #Fairy #Faerie #Seal

In British folklore, when King Gorlagon discovered his wife was having an affair, she used sorcery to turn him into a wolf. However, the king kept his intelligence and used his lupine body to protect his kingdom and harass his wife. After many years, Gorlagon regained his human form, and told his story to King Arthur.

#FairyTaleTuesday #Mythology #Folklore #KingArthur #Arthurian #Arthuriana #Wolf #Monster #Werewolf

Lares were guardian deities in ancient Roman mythology. A specific lar could be the protector of a road, field, town, etc. Domestic lares protected everything in a particular house. Their presence and blessing was required at all important family events; a lar’s statue was even placed at the table during family meals.

#MythologyMonday #Mythology #Folklore #Rome #Italy

According to an English legend, when the 10th-century saint Dunstan was working as a blacksmith, Satan asked him to shoe his horse. However, Dunstan instead nailed the shoe to the Devil's hoof. The saint only released him when Satan swore to never enter a house with a horseshoe nailed to the door.
🎨 George Cruikshank

#MythologyMonday #Mythology #Folklore #Catholicism #Saint #Demon #Devil #Satan #Horseshoe

In "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E. T. A. Hoffmann, the Mouse King goes to war against a human king and queen after they exterminate most of his family. The Mouse King's seven heads is a reference to real "rat kings" - groups of rats or mice whose tails have become permanently entwined together.
🎨 Svenja Muche (Cidaq)

#FolkloreSunday #Mythology #Folklore #FairyTale #Literature #Fiction #Nutcracker #Monster #RatKing #Mouse

"Here my bluest veins to kiss - a hand that kings
Have lipped, and trembled kissing."
- William Shakespeare, "Antony and Cleopatra" (Act 2, Scene 5)

#ShakespeareSunday #NationalReadingMonth #Book #Literature #Poetry #Theatre #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #Antony #Cleopatra

In European folklore, hares and rabbits were often linked to the Devil and witches, due to the animals' lustfulness and to how they often broke into gardens. If cows gave no milk or butter refused to churn, a nearby hare would often be blamed, thought to be a witch in disguise.
🎨 Trevor Boosey.

#FolkloreSunday #Mythology #Folklore #Devil #Demon #Occult #Witch #Animal #Rabbit #Hare

"Footprints?"

"Footprints."

"A man’s or a woman's?"

Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered.

"Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Hound of the Baskervilles"

#BookWormSat #NationalReadingMonth #Literature #Fiction #Mystery #Crime #ArthurConanDoyle #SherlockHolmes #Monster #Dog

The only other creature allowed at the Pack Council - Baloo, the sleepy brown bear who teaches the wolf cubs - rose upon his hind quarters and grunted.

"The man’s cub?" he said. "I speak for the man’s cub. There is no harm in a man’s cub. I have no gift of words, but I speak the truth. Let him run with the Pack, and be entered with the others. I myself will teach him."

- Rudyard Kipling, "The Jungle Book"

#BookWormSat #RudyardKipling #JungleBook #Book #Fiction #Literature #Animal #Bear

In the original short story by Washington Irving and the Walt Disney movie, the legend of the Headless Horseman says that he carries his own severed head. That Ichabod Crane gets hit by a pumpkin instead is a big clue that he's being attacked by a disguised Brom Bones instead of by the real Horseman.
🎨 John Quidor

#PhantomFriday #GothicSpring #NationalReadingMonth #Book #Fiction #Literature #WashingtonIrving #Disney #Ghost #Monster

“Oh, Mole! The beauty of it! The merry bubble and joy, the thin, clear, happy call of the distant piping! The call in it is stronger even than the music is sweet! Row on, Mole, row! For the music and the call must be for us.”

• Kenneth Grahame, “The Wind in the Willows” 🎨 Troy Howell

#BookologyThursday #NationalReadingMonth #Book #Literature #Fiction #KennethGrahame #WindInTheWillows

"The History of the Kings of Britain" by Geoffrey of Monmouth is a medieval book that recounts the mythic history of the British monarchy, starting with Brutus the Trojan (great-grandson of Aeneas). It inspired many British legends, and features the first known biography of King Arthur.

#MythologyMonday #NationalReadingMonth #ReadingCommunity #Mythology #Folklore #Book #Literature #KingArthur #Arthuriana

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat. "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

- Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
🎨 John Tenniel

#BookWormSat #Book #Literature #Fiction #LewisCarroll #JohnTenniel #AliceInWonderland

In the Goetia, Malphas is a feared president of Hell who often appears as a raven. He constructs mighty buildings and recruits artificers, and destroys the buildings of enemies and all they've created. Malphas kindly accepts any sacrifices offered, but then deceives the sorcerer.
🎨 Louis Le Breton

#FairyTaleTuesday #Folklore #Mythology #Monster #Demon #Demonology #Occult #Sorcery

Owain (or "Ywain") was one of King Arthur's warriors. He had a strong bond with animals, and his closest companion was a black lion. In Welsh folklore, Owain also commanded the 300 Ravens of Kenverchyn - a host of giant ravens that could defeat almost any human army.

#FairyTaleTuesday #Mythology #Folklore #Wales #Celtic #KingArthur #Arthuriana #Monster #Bird #Raven

The earliest known reference to the modern Tooth Fairy is a 1908 "Household Hints" article in the Chicago Daily Tribune by Lillian Brown. It states that "many a refractory child will allow a loose tooth to be removed if he knows about the Tooth Fairy. If he takes his little tooth and puts it under the pillow when he goes to bed, the Tooth Fairy will come in the night and take it away, and in its place will leave some little gift."

#MythologyMonday #Mythology #Folklore #FairyTale #Superstition #ToothFairy #Faerie #Fairy

The Middle Ages had various superstitions about teeth. English children were told to burn their baby teeth, otherwise they could spend eternity searching for the teeth in the afterlife. Furthermore, witches could supposedly use someone's tooth to control them with magic.

#MythologyMonday #Mythology #Folklore #Medieval #MiddleAges #Occult #Magic #Sorcery #Witchcraft

"What a long night is this! I will not change my
Horse with any that treads but on four pasterns....
When I bestride him, I
Soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth
Sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his
Hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes."
- William Shakespeare, "Henry V" (Act 3, Scene 7)

#ShakespeareSunday #Literature #Poetry #Theatre #Theater #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare

A bwca or bwbachod is a goblin in Welsh folklore who cleans your home. If you want one to live with you, then leave out a cup of cream each night (better yet, a cup of ale). However, bwcas hate teetotalers. If you refuse to drink alcohol, they may kick you or throw plates.
🎨 Brian Froud

#FolkloreSunday #Mythology #Folklore #Celtic #Wales #Faerie #Fairy #Goblin #BrianFroud

Cadborosaurus is a sea serpent with a horse-like head that has often been reported around Vancouver Island, BC - most famously at Cadboro Bay, Victoria. Various carcasses that have washed ashore have been claimed to be a cadborosaurus, but most turn out to be whales or sharks.
🎨 Susan Laurie-Bourque

#FolkloreThursday #Folklore #Mythology #Cryptozoology #Cryptid #Monster #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada

The Gwragedd Annwn are Welsh water fairies who appear as beautiful nymphs in green dresses. They dwell under certain lakes and rivers (most commonly in the mountains), and raise herds of beautiful white cattle whose milk has magical healing properties.
🎨 Lancelot Speed

#FolkloreThursday #Folklore #Mythology #Wales #Celtic #KingArthur #Arthuriana #Fairy #Faerie #Nymph

"It is the bone of a man’s head," [Mowgli] said quietly.

"They came to take the treasure away many years ago." The White Cobra fairly shook with evil delight.... "I spoke to them in the dark, and they lay still...."

- Rudyard Kipling, "The Second Jungle Book"
🎨 David Ljungdahl

#BookologyThursday #Literature #Fiction #Book #England #RudyardKipling #JungleBook #Mowgli

The ceffyl dŵr is a Welsh fairy horse that inhabits mountain pools and waterfalls. In south Wales, it is often benevolent. However, in north Wales, this horse likes to get someone to ride it, fly into the air, and then become mist, so that the rider falls to their death.
🎨 Jaimie Whitbread

#FolkloreThursday #Folklore #Mythology #Wales #Celts #Fairy #Faerie #Monster #Kelpie

In Norse mythology, Loki scandalized the gods by fathering the monsters Fenris, Jormungandr, and Hel with the giantess Angroboda. One source said that Loki ate a witch's heart, and so gave birth to monsters himself. It's unclear if this is the same relationship.
🎨 John Bauer

#LegendaryWednesday #Mythology #Folklore #Norse #Vikings #Scandinavia #Loki #Monster

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War is considered the end of the Age of Heroes. In some versions, it was purposefully instigated by Zeus because he was worried that all these demigods could be a threat to the gods. He caused a war to make them slaughter each other.
🎨 Peter Paul Rubens

#WyrdWednesday #Mythology #Folklore #Greece #Troy #TrojanWar #Zeus #God #Demigod

In one of the Robin Hood ballads, Little John wants to prove to Robin Hood that he's not just dumb muscle but also cunning. Thus, Little John takes on the identity of "Reynold Greenleaf" and convinces the Sherriff of Nottingham to hire him as a forester. Somehow, the Sherriff doesn't find "Reynold's" huge size suspicious.
🎨 Louis Rhead

#FairyTaleTuesday #Mythology #Folklore #Ballad #Literature #England #RobinHood #LittleJohn