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The Folktale Project

Sep 29, 2017

The idea of long wandering as a penalty, symbolized in “The Wandering Jew,” “The Flying Dutchman,” and the character of Kundry, in “Parsifal,” has application in the legend of Peter Rugg. This strange man, who lived in Middle Street, Boston, with his wife and daughter, was esteemed, as a person of probity...


Sep 28, 2017

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was very beautiful. Her eyes were like the eyes of the gazelle; her hair hid in its soft waves the deep shadows of the night; her smile was like the sunrise. Each year as she grew older, she grew also more and more beautiful. Her name was Angelita.

The little girl’s mother...


Sep 27, 2017

The cataract of Niagara (properly pronounced Nee-ah-gah-rah), or Oniahgarah, is as fatal as it is fascinating, beautiful, sublime, and the casualties occurring there justify the tradition that “the Thundering Water asks two victims every year.” It was reputed, before white men looked for the first time on these...


Sep 26, 2017

Long ago there lived a little maid who fell ill. Her father was very rich and he did everything he could for her.

One day she said: “If I only had some fresh figs I’m sure I’d feel better.”

Now it was in the month of January. It would be many long months before the fresh figs would be ripe. The rich man was...


Sep 25, 2017

Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside, when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning to drink a little lower down. “There’s my supper,” thought he, “if only I can find some excuse to seize it.”