Folktales usually contain universal truths of one sort or another and I suspect the impossible requirements list is a variation on the theme that the gods help those who help themselvesThe apparently impossible requirements list is a bit of a motif in folktales.
Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Anglo-Saxon England
[quote=""annis""]Posted by Carla
Folktales usually contain universal truths of one sort or another and I suspect the impossible requirements list is a variation on the theme that the gods help those who help themselves [/quote]
Very probably! Ragnar's list also reminds me of riddles, which were presumably just as much a feature of Norse culture as of Anglo-Saxon.
Folktales usually contain universal truths of one sort or another and I suspect the impossible requirements list is a variation on the theme that the gods help those who help themselves [/quote]
Very probably! Ragnar's list also reminds me of riddles, which were presumably just as much a feature of Norse culture as of Anglo-Saxon.
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com
[quote=""annis""]Very true, Kate, and I'm sure we had a "king under the mountain" thread going at one stage...
Here it is:
http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... g+mountain
What struck me about these particular two stories was their similarity - both supposedly buried specifically on headlands overlooking the sea, and so on.[/quote]
Thanks, 'Annis'. A very interesting lead. I enjoyed reading through it . . . the returning list of historicalfictiononline posts, buried in the ether, rising again to explain everything. How apt!! Don't know how you retain all that knowledge of what's where. but I'm impressed.
Here it is:
http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... g+mountain
What struck me about these particular two stories was their similarity - both supposedly buried specifically on headlands overlooking the sea, and so on.[/quote]
Thanks, 'Annis'. A very interesting lead. I enjoyed reading through it . . . the returning list of historicalfictiononline posts, buried in the ether, rising again to explain everything. How apt!! Don't know how you retain all that knowledge of what's where. but I'm impressed.
- Margaret
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 2440
- Joined: August 2008
- Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
- Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
- Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
- Location: Catskill, New York, USA
- Contact:
Surely it's because the car keys aren't nearly as important in the overall scheme of things than all this beautiful historical trivia!
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info
Isn't Queen Hereafter about the Anglo-Saxon princess, Margaret, who married Malcolm III of Scotland?
Not long ago I came across a historical mystery featuring Margaret's daughter Edith - Jeremy Potter's Death in the Forest (1977). It's set in the period following the Norman Conquest and features Edith of Scotland, the Rose of Romsey. Edith later married Henry I of England, and took the name Matilda. In a shrewd move Henry united Norman blood with that of the old English royal line. All three of William the Conqueror's sons appear in the novel and an unpleasant lot they are, too!
Not long ago I came across a historical mystery featuring Margaret's daughter Edith - Jeremy Potter's Death in the Forest (1977). It's set in the period following the Norman Conquest and features Edith of Scotland, the Rose of Romsey. Edith later married Henry I of England, and took the name Matilda. In a shrewd move Henry united Norman blood with that of the old English royal line. All three of William the Conqueror's sons appear in the novel and an unpleasant lot they are, too!
Last edited by annis on Mon June 20th, 2011, 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
So while on vacation, I purchased Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle for my Kindle. I've had a hard time reading on my Kindle-I can't really get into the books for some reason. I say that because I really did not enjoy The Eagle until the last 100 pages. I was very disappointed because I expected much more. I don't think I'll be reading the other two, or at least not right away.
Brenna