You Might Be Mythtaken

This story is from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902). “The Death of King Arthur” by James Archer. Found on Wikimedia .   King Arthur killed Mordred in battle and was wounded by him during the fight. His knight, Sir Bedivere, is tending to him on the field. Arthur asks Bedivere (B) to take his sword over to the water near the battle field and throw it in. He knows he is going to die soon and Excalibur needs to be protected. B goes to do what was asked of him, but hides the sword instead of throwing it, because he thinks that losing the sword and Arthur would be to great a loss and no good would come from sending it away. He comes back and claims he did as he was asked to, but Arthur catches him in his lie by asking what he saw when he drew it in. He replied that he saw the waves and the wind and Arthur knew he was lying. Arthur send him to complete the task again. He fakes it again. And is caught again by the same m...

King Arthur, Charles Ernest Butler (1903). Found of Wikimedia.   King Arthur had a sister called Morgan le Fay. She has magic and the skill to use it. She hates her brother for killing her love in battle, but keeps acting like normal to ensure access to him. She got Queen Guenevere to let her go the the countryside with news. She went to the abbey where Arthur was resting after battle. She planned to take Excalibur as he slept. He was clutching it and she couldn't get to it without waking him, so she left with the scabbard. The nuns who let Morgan in were blamed by the king, and he took their fastest horse and set out after her. They end up in a horse chase scene like out of a movie (at least in my mind). He was catching up so she rode into a lake and tossed the scabbard far, to keep it from her brother. It sank quickly under the weight of the metal and jewels. She got out of the water and kept riding until she reached a stone filled valley. There, she turned herself, her men,...

( polar bear ) The village was cold, but only in terms of weather. The people there took care of each other. They made sure that everyone had what they needed, especially the old woman close to the shore. When someone went hunting, they made sure she had enough food to get through to the next one. When they killed a bear and found its cub nearby, they gave it to her so she wouldn't be lonely anymore. "Little cub, you are so cold," she said. "That won't do. Here come by the fire, get warm." And she began caring for the cub. "Now, you are too small. Come eat this meat, get bigger and stronger." And the bear grew. One day he began talking back to her. "Thank you for the meat," it said. "I'm big enough and strong enough to go out and see the village. I want to play like the others I see." And so he did. He played and played and the children loved it. Until one day they didn't. "Ow," said a small child, ...

( polar bear ) An old woman lived along side others, but she lived closer to the shore.They helped take care of her, giving her food and blubber from hunts. They went out and killed a bear, and she took home a piece of meat from the ribs.They wife of the hunter came and asked her if she wanted a bear cub. The went and got it, keeping it in her house. She worked to dethaw the cub, to get it warm again. She nursed it back to health. It grew up and she talked to it, and it became human like in it's mind. It talked to her and took care of her. The bear would play with the children of the community. It grew stronger and stronger, until it kept hurting kids during play. Adults started playing with it out of respect for the old woman. It grew more, and the people took it out hunting. They taught it about human hunting techniques. One day, another group of hunters almost killed the bear, so they made him a collar to mark that he was not to be harmed. It began to stay out longer, unti...

The Darvaza gas crater at night. Found on  Wikimedia Commons . Now, I think my son might be crazy. Like, actually crazy. But at the same time, with everyone talking about the end of the world, can he really be that crazy? "Mom, I know how to save us from the fire," he said. "Sure you do, honey," I said. "No seriously. This is how we are going to be safe." Then he takes out a bow and shoots arrows in each of the cardinal directions. "This land that I have outlined with arrows, it will be safe from the flames." "Son, this is absolutely ridiculous. There is no way this will save us when the world is in flames," my husband said. "No, really, this will work. We will be safe at the end of the world when everyone else is dead," my son said. My husband did not believe him. My husband left that day, and we never saw him again. "Okay so what's the plan? How will this save us?" I asked. "Here the earth is...

The Darvaza gas crater at night. Found on Wikimedia Commons . The world was burned. A mother and her son and daughter survived. Everyone else of earth died. The son had heard about the earth burning before it happened, but his father did not believe him. They had a falling out. The son made a bow and arrow, which he shot in each direction- north, south, east, and west. The ground did not burn in the fire that had been outlined by the arrows. He warned people of the fire and that this land wold be safe. They didn't believe him. The fire came and they could hear it encroaching. animals ran to the plot of land. The man refused to show up because of his fight with his son (hi pride and hubris). The fire burned everything and boiled the water away before ceasing. The world had to start agin from the ashes and the lone plot of land. The man named the animals as he told them what to do and where to go. The rabbit didn't want to listen to him, it wanted to live in the water. the s...

Portucala thellusonii, a hand-coloured engraving after a drawing by Miss S. A. Drake (fl. 1820s-1840s), from the 26th volume of the Botanical Register (1840), edited by John Lindley. Found on wikimedia . Yang Oerlang This story is from  The Chinese Fairy Book , ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921). The daughter of the ruler of heaven came down to earth and got married. When she returned to heaven, she was pregnant with a son. The ruler was not happy and banished her to earth, covering her with hills. Her son was born, and he was very talented. Oreland has gifted in transformations, mastering many forms by the time ha was an adult. He went to the hills and rescued his mother from within. They stopped to rest and the mother was thirsty. Her son fetched her water from the bottom of the valley, but when he returned, she was no longer there. He searched for her, finally finding her skin, bones and blood stains on a rock nearby. She was divine, but her f...