Greek and Roman

The Dolphins and the Fishermen

“They put themselves between the open sea and the shore and drive the mullet into shallow water. Then the fishermen set their nets and lift the fish out of the water with two-pronged spears. The speed of some of the mullet enables them to leap over the barriers, but the dolphins still catch them.” […]

Britons and Celts

The Honorable Weasel

“She went over to a jug of milk, which had been set aside for the man’s son and heir, stood up on her hind legs, spat the venom which she had inside her body into the milk and so infected it with deadly poison.” […]

Medieval Mentality

The City of the Gods

“‘That is a senseless question,’ replied Har, with a smile of derision. ‘Hast thou not been told that the gods made a bridge from earth to heaven, and called it Bifrost? Thou must surely have seen it; but, perhaps, thou callest it the rainbow.'” […]

Medieval Mentality

The Wolves of the Sun

“This old hag is the mother of many gigantic sons, who are all of them shaped like wolves, two of whom are the wolves thou askest about. There is one of that race, who is said to be the most formidable of all, called Managarm: he will be filled with the life-blood of men who draw near their end, and will swallow up the moon, and stain the heavens and the earth with blood.” […]

Medieval Mentality

The Priest of Battle

“When they saw an unarmed priest bravely tearing down the enclosures, they surged forward with their weapons and began striking the palisade with their axes and whatever iron tools they had.” […]

Medieval Mentality

Odin’s Wives

“Earth is his daughter and his wife, and with her he had his first-born son, Asa-Thor, who is endowed with strength and valour, and therefore quelleth he everything that hath life.” […]

Medieval Mentality

When Trial By Ordeal Goes Wrong

“As Grettir was walking down the aisle a young and quite ugly boy ran up to him and said, ‘What a strange custom in this country that call itself Christian, to allow evil-doers and bandits and thieves to go about in peace and undergo ordeals.'” […]

Medieval Mentality

Wisdom of the Snake

“A Norwegian woman, intending to provide for the future good fortune of her son Roller, prepared a dish of food, into which she let drip the putrid saliva of three vipers hanging above it from a slender cord.” […]