Magic Stor­ies From Around the World (1986)

Here is anoth­er scan of a vintage book I have had since I was a child. This is a collec­tion of myths and legends from around the world. It was origin­ally Czech and trans­lated to English, and has a large selec­tion of cent­ral European stor­ies less known in the UK, along with stor­ies from places like the high Arctic and Poly­ne­sia. There are also illus­tra­tions by three prom­in­ent Czech illus­trat­ors. I’ve included links to some of the stor­ies (albeit not told as well online as they are in the book).

Luděk Maňásek

 Loki and the otter.

The Mice of the Rhein

Karel Teis­sig

Here is an article about Teissig’s poster design. And anoth­er here.

Turtles of Koro– Fiji­an legend

The Dawn of the Norse Gods

Why the Stars Are in the Sky- Inuit legend (same text as is in my book)

Vladimír Tesař

The Rabbi vs the Sorcer­er (one of the many hero­ic legends later attached to real Polish histor­ic­al figure Baal Shem Tov)

Wilma and the Giant (Danish fairytale I cannot find anywhere else online)

The treas­ure of Soest. An an adult who has had to travel via the dull provin­cial German town of Soest on a Sunday sever­al times now, it tickles me that it’s the home of fable treas­ure guarded by a myster­i­ous spir­it.

Be care­ful with your fancy cursed wine glasses.