Favorite Myths and Legends

[K T Ong]

Greetings, everyone. Just curious: what are your favorite myths and legends? I mean those stories from early times, as opposed to modern creations like those of Tolkien etc.

There's a long medieval legend about the exploits and adventures of the Emperor Charlemagne (742 ~ 814) and his knights. Briefly this legend concerns Charlemagne's battles to defend Christendom against Moslem invaders, and it covers an extremely wide geographical scope, ranging as it does from all of Europe through Africa and the Middle East to East Asia. There are even trips to the moon itself. There are dragons, giants, sea monsters, wizards, fairies, angels, valiant knights and damsels in distress, and you'll find Vikings, Moslems and even some Chinese. In fact at the beginning of the story Charlemagne and his court are actually visited by a Cathayan princess -- named Angelica ... Roland, a nephew of Charlemagne, was to fall so deeply in love with the princess that he would lose his sanity later when she spurned him, and another knight had to travel to the moon to retrieve for him his lost sanity -- hence the story of Orlando Furioso, The Madness of Roland. There are several versions of the legend, but the one most readily available is Bullfinch's Mythology: The Legends of Charlemagne.

I think it would be simply great if this legend could be made into a TV series along the lines of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Just imagine: a blend of medieval and Nordic legend, the Arabian Nights, and Chinese mythology and martial arts. What more can you ask for from a fantasy TV series? [img]smile.gif[/img] (I've also come across rumors that the producer of the Hercules series has a great liking for Hong Kong swordplay movies.) Its production would probably have to be a truly international effort in view of the scope of the content, with perhaps the American and European film/TV industry doing the scripts and acting for the medieval and Arabian Nights portions and the Hong Kong TV/film industry doing the Chinese portions, but I think it will be worth it.

Got some other ancient legends in mind, but for now I should like to hear from you folks. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Melusine]

What a great and original topic, K T Ong!
My own favourite legend is......*big surprise*.......
The Legend of Mélusine!
(aka Melusina, aka Mélisande, aka La Fée Mélusine)

Helmas, the King of Albania, who had recently lost his wife, spent a great deal of time hunting alone. On one of his hunting trip he came across a fountain where he saw a beautiful woman, the fairy Pressina. He fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. Pressina agreed to the marriage on one condition: he was not allowed to see her during her lying-in. He consented and in a short time after their marriage, Pressina became pregnant and gave birth to three daughters at once: Melusina, Melior, and Plantina. The King's son from the first marriage told his father the good news, and Helmas, out of the sheer excitement of having triplets broke his promise by rushing into Pressina's room. Pressina became very upset at her husband. She scolded him, took the children and ran way. She escaped to Cephalonia, a hidden island. When her daughters were fifteen years of age, Pressina told them about their father and how he had broken the breach of promise. Out of the three daughters, Melusina was the most angered and sought revenge of her father. She convinced her sisters to help her kidnap the father and imprison him inside of Mount Brandelois. Pressina was enraged at Melusina's cruel behavior and as a punishment placed a curse on her: she would turn into a monstrous half-serpent creature every Saturday of her life.

Emmerick, the Count of Poitou, was a wealthy and generous nobleman with two children, Bertram and Blanifert. One day as Emmerick was coming back from a hunting trip he met another count, the Count de la Foret, who through some misfortune, had lost all of his money. Out of kindness, Emmerick allowed Count de la Foret to live on his land; he also adopted his eldest son, Raymond, as a way to ease Foret's financial burden. Raymond and Emmerick became good friends and went on many hunting trips together. However, on one tragic trip, Emmerick was attacked by a wild boar, and Raymond in an effort to save him, took out his sword and killed the wild boar, yet in the process accidentally killed Emmerick as well. Raymond became extremely distraught by this event. He rode aimlessly for days on his horse, not knowing where he was going, and not knowing how to explain the accident to Emmerick's family. In the height despair, Raymond came upon a fountain in the middle of the forest: Le Fontaine de Soif("the Fountain of Thirst"). Sitting by the fountain were three women dressed in white. Raymond had never seen a sight as beautiful as the three women. One of the women, acknowledged Raymond, and introduced herself as "Melusina." She offered Raymond some water and asked him why he looked so sad. Melusina not only comforted Raymond but also gave him advice on how to explain Emmerick's death to Bertram and Blanifert. While listening to Melusina's kind words, Raymond became enchanted by her beauty and wisdom. He fell in love with Melusina and asked for her hand in marriage. Melusina said she would marry Raymond on one condition: He was not allowed to see her on Saturdays, under any circumstances. Raymond agreed to her terms, and head back home with both good news about the marriage and bad news about Emmerick's death.

Raymond and Melusina married and shortly thereafter. Melusina, with her own hands, built a majestic castle and named it Lusinia. They had numerous children, yet every one of them was strangely deformed in some manner. Urian, their first child, had pendulous ears, with one red eye and one green eye; Gedes had a scarlet-colored face; Gyot had one eye above the other; Anthony had only one eye. Geoffrey, one of the younger sons, had boar's tusks instead of teeth; he was known as Geoffrey "Le Grand Dente" ("the Great Tooth"), or Geoffrey "the Horrible" due to his violent disposition.

Raymond and Melusina lived peacefully for a number of years. However, one Saturday night, during dinner, Raymond's father, Count de la Foret, and his brothers teased him about his wife's secretive behavior until he was unable to suppress his curiosity any longer. Raymond went upstairs to her chamber to find her, and there he heard the bath running. He quietly opened the door to the bath just enough to see an unbelievable sight: Melusina, from the waist up, was her beautiful self; yet, from the waist down, her body had been transformed into a giant serpent's tale. Raymond, although disturbed by the sight, did not mention what he saw for sometime. One day Melusina and Raymond were informed that their sons Geoffrey and Fromont had fought and that Fromont, in order to seek refuge, had escaped to a nearby monastery. However, Geoffrey, in a fit of rage, had burned down the monastery, killing not only his brother, but a hundred monks as well. Raymond was angered by the news and blamed Melusina for Geoffrey's uncontrollable behavior. When Melusina attempted to comfort him, he pushed her away and said, "Away odious serpent, contaminator of an honorable race!" Immediately after the words were uttered, Raymond regretted what he had said and asked for forgiveness. It was too late. Melusina reminded him that he had broken the vow, and said she must leave forever. Then she transformed herself into her serpentine form and flew away.

According to French legends, Melusina would fly around Lusinia and other castles where kings and noblemen lived, crying and wailing when something tragic was about to occur to the family. She became an omen of death.

Taken from: http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/jwss.old/p.../melusina.html

[K T Ong]

Most interesting legend, Melusine. Wonder why I haven't come across it before. Guess I'm just not that well-read. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Morgeruat]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Melusine:
According to French legends, Melusina would fly around Lusinia and other castles where kings and noblemen lived, crying and wailing when something tragic was about to occur to the family. She became an omen of death.

Taken from: http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/jwss.old/p.../melusina.html<hr></blockquote>

I realize the story of the banshee is from the british isles, but it does seem to have some connection... great story Melusine

Being from sweden and a true viking, my favuorite of mythologies is ofcourse the nordic tales of Oden, Tor and the rest of the norden gods and their fights with giants and such.

[Lavindathar]

<font color="cyan">The greek myths were always good....started most fantasy off...</font>

[Talthyr Malkaviel]

Yeah, same here Lavi.
One of my favourites is the myth of Actaeon and his hounds.

[/)eathKiller]

I always thought that the adventures of Baron Von Monchauser were tight [img]tongue.gif[/img] His only enemy was death itself!

[LennonCook]

<font color=lightgreen>I like anything from Classical mythology (ie. Greek and Roman)...


Lets see... I did this a couple of years ago, lets see how much I can remember... </font>


Greek God(ess)/ Roman Equivalent

Hestia/ Vesta
Zeus/ Jupiter
Hera/ Juno
(no real equivalent)/ Janus
Athena/ Minerva
Aries/ Mars
Urunos/ Uranus
Gaea / Terra
(cant remember the greek name )/ Faunus
Poseidon/ Neptune
Eros/ Cupid
Herracles/ Hercules
Apollo/ Apollo
Aphrodite/ Venus
Hades/ Pluto
Persephone/ Prospirina (aka Core)
The Morai /The Fates
The Forai / The muses ?? Or maybe the Graces...
Hermies/ Mercury
Cronus/ Saturn

<font color=lightgreen>Ofcourse we must note that these equivalents were not exactly the same... they just had the same role.

There are more, but I cant remember all of em... im a bit rusty after 2 years</font>