Myth and Folklore

“It’s her.” These were the simple words going through Britomart’s mind as she gazed at the fair maiden before her. The wicked Enchanter turned and raised his staff to deliver a death blow to his prisoner, the maiden who stood bound to a pillar by magic rope. Britomart lunged between them in the nick of time, raising her sword and mortally wounding the Enchanter with a fierce blow. As he fell to the ground and life slipped away from him, the ropes around the maiden went limp and slipped off her frail body. Her skin had turned blue where the tight bonds dug into her skin. “Noble knight! You have freed me from a life of misery in this vile place. How can I ever repay your kindness?” Britomart heard these words, but could not comprehend them as she stood gazing at the maiden through the metal plate surrounding her eyes; she had seen this face before. Many months prior, Britomart’s father, the King, had given her the gift of a magic mirror, which he had gotten from ...

"Mom, can we have some cookies?" Zara looked at the eighteen children prancing around her, their eyes filled with a youthful longing for sugar. She had already baked sixty trays of cookies that day, and it hadn't been enough for even half of her children. She had so many children by now that she couldn't remember the exact number, although it totaled somewhere in the 4000s. Her apron was covered in ribbons of butter and dusty trails of flour, and she couldn't fathom rolling out one more ball of dough. "Tomorrow I will have cookies for you my children. Now run along to your other siblings." With disappointed sighs, the pack ran into the woods, where they knew they could find several hundred of their brothers and sisters. Zara's overzealous fertility had been the result of seemingly benign encounter with a fish. As the first woman of earth, Zara had lived peacefully among the valleys and hills that rolled across the land. All was quiet and still ...

Long ago, a man named Sribatsa and his beautiful wife Ayana set out on a journey to traverse the lands of the earth. The evil eye had been cast upon Sribatsa due to an unfortunate run in with Saturn, the god of bad luck, and he and his wife had decided to leave their home in search of safe lodgings until the eye turned away. But one day as they were making their way through the woods, a horrible fate befell Ayana.  While Sribatsa and Ayana were crossing a river among the trees, Ayana slipped on a rock and fell into the water. She did not know how to swim, but the waters had mercy and did not drown her; her beauty was too rare and too pure to submerge forever beneath the river's rippling surface. The waters instead gently cradled the water-logged woman and placed her on the shore. A group of nearby sailors observed this incident, and believed the woman had special influence over the river. They were envious of her power to control the waters, and kidnapped Ayana to steal t...

Mole Rat and a Snake worked together as servants on a farm. Snake was not allowed inside the farmhouse on account of the unsightly skin that covered her body; it was pale, wrinkly, and hung off her bones at strange angles. She worked in the fields, weaving her way through the stalks of wheat and corn to catch intruding mice, always out of sight of the other animals and visitors of the farm. Mole Rat's coat was made up of a beautiful array of scales, which shone in the sunlight and reflected a vibrant prism of colors. She was thus employed inside the farmhouse, where she helped the farmer's wife in the kitchen. In the heat of the day, when poor Snake lay under the mercy of the sun, Mole Rat could be found chopping onions and humming along to a tune the farmer's wife liked to sing as they cooked together. Although the farmer's wife was very kind to Mole Rat, the farmer was cruel and never missed an opportunity to jeer at Snake and make fun of her appearance. Snake passe...

It was a lovely spring day on Holloway Farm. The sun was shining, the breeze was crisp, and not a single cloud broke the crystal expanse of the sky. But the silence was cut by a loud and persistent bickering: the spinach just wouldn't seem to shut up. "Really, I don't know who came up with the layout this year. I can hardly breathe with all these tomato plants so close by! And the roots of the cabbage keep creeping up; I'm tired of having to shoo them away." The other vegetables rolled their metaphorical eyes (except for the potatoes, who could actually claim to have eyes). The rutabaga was particularly irked. She was an elderly plant who lived on the other side of the garden, and wished only for calm and quiet in the garden. The whining of the spinach had completely disturbed the serenity of the patch the vegetables called home.  "And the soil this year, it's terribly uncomfortable! Last year's tilling was so soft I might have imagined I w...

"Well, this doesn't bode well for the empowerment of women in the coming centuries." Sarah sat huddled in the corner of a dark wooden box being pulled along by two donkeys. She and her husband Abraham were fleeing to Egypt, and as one of the original patriarchs of Judaism, Abraham's beliefs about women were deeply entrenched in the emerging pattern of patriarchal norms. Sarah made a mental note to talk to God later about how this was unfolding.  Back in the present situation, Sarah bemoaned her husband's need to conceal her in a box. Abraham feared that when the Egyptians gazed upon her beauty, she would be snatched away for the king's harem. This was problematic for two reasons: firstly, because anyone who tried to mess with Sarah, be it a peasant or a king, would find themselves in for a fierce battle. She would not be dragged anywhere without a fight. The neighbors joked that her spirit was like Moses’ burning bush – endlessly fiery. Secondly, be...

There once was a little girl named Maya who lived with her family at the edge of the wood. The forest surrounding the cottage they called home was lush and extended as far as the eye could see. Maya loved weaving through the trees and wandering between the twists and turns of the brambles. But although she felt at home in the forest, she always wished for a playmate to explore with her. There were no other children for miles.  One day Maya decided to create her own playmate. She gathered sticks and leaves, and grasses and mud, and slowly layered the elements of the earth together to create the image of a young girl. She stacked the sticks as sturdy bones, wove the leaves and grasses together as delicate tendons and muscles, and smoothed the mud over the exterior. She found two shiny black pebbles that she pressed gently into the mud for eyes, laid a soft bed of moss for hair. Maya adored her new friend. She sat with the earthen girl for hours beneath the trees in the ...