Folks of All Mythology

 Carrying the Family Mantle     Ava looked at the fur mantle spread proudly on the wall above the fireplace. "You've never told me about this, Mary."     Mary shuffled next to her and looked up at it. "My family and I tend not to talk about out of doors," she said. "Most people don't believe the story behind it anyway."     Ava shifted. "What's the story?" she asked, though she already knew it.     "One night, 500 hundred years ago, twelve witches came to the house. Long story short, my ancestor drove them out of the house with a trick. When they came back she had already protected the house, so they couldn't get back in. They fled again, and one of them left her mantle."     Left?  Ava frowned. "You're sure it wasn't stolen?"     Mary rolled her eyes. "Why would anyone want to steal a witch's mantle?" She shook her head. "Anyone with any sense knows that would be a terrible idea....

  Farmer talking to Ivan. 1892. John D. Batten. (Source:  Celtic Fairy Tales )     The Tale of Ivan     Out of all the stories of Part B, maybe even the whole unit, "The Tale of Ivan" was my favorite. I liked Ivan as a character, which is not always something that happens with fairy tale characters for me. I might like the story, but the main character themselves I won't like. Ivan is more of a human in this story, rather than an idea in human form as is usually the case with fairy tales. The farmer is also a very curious character. His name is never mentioned, and all the advice he gives Ivan leads Ivan into success, a steady income, and saves his life more than once.     It's true Ivan had to follow the farmer's advice in the first place for it all to work, but the farmer gave very situationally specific advice. It makes me wonder if the farmer was really a farmer or perhaps some entity. He doesn't seem to match the typical idea of fairies, but ...

  The Horned Women. 1892. John D. Batten (Source: Celtic Fairy Tales )     I've been really excited to read this unit! I'll be continuing with Celtic fairy tales next week, and I'm looking forward to it so much. The majority of my family history and ancestors are from Ireland, so I love learning everything I can about the country. Reading through these, I wondered how heavily they were Christianized. I know there's relatively nothing pre-Christianity in regard to mythology, folklore, and fairy tales, so I really wonder how some of these would've red without that influence entirely.     The story that caught my interest and held my attention the most was "The Horned Women." Seeing the title and knowing Irish fairy tales, I had no idea what direction it was going to go in. The direction ended up being witches, to which I replied, "Yeah, that's fair." I wonder why each witch has a different number of horns. The first witch has one, the second tw...