The Download Munkey : Finder of Things …

I came across three excellent works by the late poet and novelist Padraic Colum (1881 – 1972) on Greek and Norse mythology recently - The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tales of Troy and The Children of Odin respectively. These books are very readable and serve as an excellent introduction into the fantastic world of mythology.

Cover image of a printed edition of The Golden Fleece @ Amazon.com

The first book The Golden Fleece and the Heroes deals with Jason and the Argonauts’ quest for the Golden Fleece and includes stories about the various heroes who comprise the Argonauts : Hercules, his twelve labours and his ascent to immortality, Theseus and his victory over the Minotaur in King Minos’ labyrinth, Perseus and his quest to obtain the head of Medusa, one of the three terrible Gorgons and more.

The second book The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tales of Troy is essentially about the trials and tribulations that Odysseus (Ulysses) encountered on his journey back to his kingdom of Ithaca after the Greek conquest of Troy under King Agamemnon. This book focuses mainly on Odysseus with only a brief mention of the battle of Troy caused by Paris who incurred the wrath of Spartan King Menelaus and the other Greeks by snatching his wife, the lovely Helen.

If you’re more interested in the siege of Troy, check out Samuel Butler’s translation of Homer’s Illiad since this translation has a very comprehensive (and brutal) account of the famous battle with plenty of details on the feats of mighty kings and princes like Achilles, Ajax and Hector as well as the machinations and interventions of the gods like Zeus (Jove), Hera (Juno), Ares (Mars) , Minerva (Athena) who allied themselves with the various heroes embroiled in this conflict.

The third book Children of Odin is a primer on Norse mythology from the birth of the world to the creation of the gods and their giant rivals, the betrayal of Loki who was half giant half god and the culmination in Ragnarok where the gods led by Odin and their chosen champions fought with giants under Loki and Surtur of the Flaming Sword resulting in the destruction of the world.

I find Padraic’s works a joy to read despite the fact that these books were primarily aimed for younger readers. The different stories and legends have been masterfully retold which makes for very immersive reading unlike some of the other books from Project Gutenberg which appear to be a confusing, incoherent mish-mash of various stories and legends. Admittedly, most of the books that fall in the latter category were mainly direct translations of ancient texts and scrolls into English for academic research and study which probably explains why some of them read like very dry history books.

Below is a selection of other mythology books from Project Gutenberg that I found relatively interesting.

• The Cattle-Raid of Cualnge (Tain Bo Cualnge) (Irish Mythology) : Details the feats of great Ulster warrior Cuchulainn as he single-handedly staved off an massive raid by the warhost of the rulers of Connaught, Ailill and Medb, to capture the mystical Dun Bull. Not exactly exciting reading but I have a soft spot for Irish mythology because of this fabulous Koei game Celtic Tales : Balor of the Evil Eye that I played years ago.
• Myths and Legends of China by E.T.C. Werner (Chinese Mythology) : An interesting compilation of the more famous Chinese myths and the origins of an extensive selection of Chinese deities. However the Chinese names are written in the old Wade-Giles romanization system which will be rather hard to read for readers versed in the modern hanyu pinyin.
• Legends of the Gods by E. A. Wallis Budge (Egyptian Mythology) : A translation of ancient hieroglyphic text and describes the formation of the world as well as legends about the major gods Ra, Osiris, Isis, Horus as well as other minor gods. I find the sequence of stories rather confusing though.

Below is another list of seemingly interesting books that I have just skimmed thorough.

• A Book of Myths by Jeanie Lang : As the title implies, it’s a selection of ancient European myths and legends with the majority being Greek and the rest comprising an assortment of other stories from Norse, Germanic, Norman, Celtic cultures, the famous probably being the Germanic epic Beowulf.
• Roman Antiquities and Ancient Mythology by Charles K. Dillaway : An excellent reference to the Roman pantheon can be perused from page 71 onwards.
• The Mabinogion : I put this on my reading list because I was intrigued to find the names of some of the heroes from Celtic Tales such as Pwyll, Rhiannon being mentioned in this Welsh myth while browsing through it.

Download Padraic Colum’s works or check out the categorized selction of mythology works on Project Gutenberg.

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