History

Enemies (and Friends) in Unusual Places

” “Tell me, what have I done to you, Infantes of Carrion? I have kept faith with you and in return you have plotted my death. If I did not forbear for the sake of the Cid, Rodrigo of Vivar, I should exact such vengeance as would startle the world.” […]

Human Affairs

What To Do After a Wet Dream

“One day, when I was the guest of the sister of this amir, she said to her brother: “Lying with my husband, he ejaculated in his sleep. Ask this man if I ought to perform the ritual ablutions.”” […]

Britons and Celts

Corineus the Giant-Killer

” Once, when [the king] was celebrating a day dedicated to the gods in the port where he had landed, this creature, along with twenty other giants, attacked him and killed a great number of the Britons.” […]

Britons and Celts

Ancient Aliens

“Near this place are seen some very ancient cavities, called “Wolfpittes,” that is, in English, “Pits for wolves,” and which give their name to the adjacent village. During harvest, while the reapers were employed in gathering in the produce of the fields, two children, a boy and a girl, completely green in their persons, and clad in garments of a strange color, and unknown materials, emerged from these excavations.” […]

Eastern Europe

Beavers Society Explained

“This is because the slave beaver cuts the wood of the khalanj and other trees with its teeth, and as it gnaws them, they rub its side and its hair fall off right and left. Hence they say, “This pelt is from the servant of the beaver.” The fur of the beaver who owns slaves, on the other hand, is perfect.” […]

History

Pride Goes Before a Horn Blow

“Count Roland, racked with agony and pain and great chagrin, now sounds his ivory horn. Bright blood leaps in a torrent from his mouth. The temple has been ruptured in his brain. The horn he holds emits a piercing blast.” […]