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Chinese mythology encompasses a wide range of folklore, history, and religious belief across numerous time periods and peoples, including the present day. Many of these myths are intricately bound to philosophy, religion, tradition, and society.

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page 1
edited and/or translated by

D. L. Ashliman
University of Pittsburgh
© 1996-2023

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Aesop.

1. Aesop's Fables. Joseph Jacobs' classic retelling of 82 fables and included in theHarvard Classics, vol. 17, part 1. This site is part of Great Books Online:bartleby.com.

2. Aesop's Fables, edited by John R. Long.

3. Aesop's Children. A selection of fables depicting the relationship between children and adults.

4. Old Folks in Aesop's Fables.

Aging and Death in Folklore. An essay by D. L. Ashliman, with supporting texts from proverbs, folktales, and myths from around the world.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the1001 Nights. The classic "Open Sesame" tale (type 676).

1. The Forty Thieves (retold by Andrew Lang).

2. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (translated by Richard F. Burton).

Amleth, Prince of Denmark, from the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus. This account, written about 1185 but based on older oral tradition, describes the same players and events that were immortalized by William Shakespeare in hisThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, written about 1602.

Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875).

1. Hans Christian Andersen: Fairy Tales and Stories. An excellent home page featuring Denmark's most famous writer. Included here are a chronological listing of Andersen's folk-like fairy tales, electronic texts of most stories, and links to additional information.

2. The H. C. Andersen Home Page. Links to Andersen's works in Danish. This site is sponsored by the Danish Royal Library.

3. H. C. Andersen-Centret, a treasure trove of information (in Danish and in English) from the H. C. Andersen Center in Odense, Denmark.

Androcles and the Lion. Tales of type 156, in which a man pulls a thorn from a lion's paw, thus gaining the beast's eternal gratitude and loyalty.

1. Androcles (Aesop).

2. The Slave and the Lion (Aesop).

3. Androcles and the Lion (Joseph Jacobs).

4. The Lion and the Saint [Saint Jerome] (Andrew Lang).

5. Of the Remembrance of Benefits (Gesta Romanorum).

6. The Lion and the Thorn (Ambrose Bierce).

Animal Brides. Folktales of type 402.

1. Chonguita the Monkey Wife (Philippines).

2. The Dog Bride (India).

3. The Cat Who Became a Queen (India).

4. The Mouse Maiden (Sri Lanka).

5. The Frog's Skin (Georgia).

6. The Tsarevna Frog (Russia).

7. The Frog (Austria/Italy).

8. The Frog's Bridegroom (Germany).

9. Doll i' the Grass (Norway).

10. The She-Wolf (Croatia).

11. Links to additional tales of type 402.

Animal Brides and Animal Bridegrooms: Tales Told by North American Indians.

1. The Bear Who Married a Woman (Tsimshian).

2. The Girl Who Married the Crow (Thompson [Ntlakyapamuk]).

3. The Woman Who Became a Horse (Thompson [Ntlakyapamuk]).

4. The Woman Who Became a Horse (Skidi Pawnee).

5. The Bear Woman (Okanagon).

6. The Fish Man (Salish).

7. The Man Who Married a Bear (Nez Percé).

8. Of the Woman Who Loved a Serpent Who Lived in a Lake (Passamaquoddy).

Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen (1812-1885) and Moe, Jørgen (1813-1882).
Norske Folkeeventyr. The classic collection of Norwegian folktales, here in the Norwegian language.

Bald Stories: Folktales about Hairless Men.

1. A Man and Two Wives (Aesop -- L'Estrange, type 1394).

2. The Man and His Two Wives (Aesop -- Jacobs, type 1394).

3. The Middle-Aged Man between Two Ages and His Two Mistresses (Jean de La Fontaine, type 1394).

4. A Horse-Man's Wig Blown Off (Avianus).

5. The Bald Man and the Fly (Aesop, type 1586).

6. The Pedant, the Bald Man, and the Barber (Europe, type 1284).

7. The Foolish Bald Man and the Fool Who Pelted Him (India).

8. The Bald Man and the Hair-Restorer (India).

9. How Saint Peter Lost His Hair (Germany, type 774J).

10. Old Hanrahan (Ireland).

11. How Come Mr. Buzzard to Have a Bald Head (African-American).

Bells.
The Bell of Justice. Folktales of type 207C, in which a serpent or an abandoned old horse gains justice by tugging on a bell rope.

1. Of the Vicissitude of Everything Good, and Especially of a Right Justice (Gesta Romanorum).

2. The Emperor Charlemagne and the Serpent (Switzerland).

3. The Bell of Atri (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn).

4. The Dumb Plaintiff (Germany).

Beowulf: A Summary in English Prose.

Big Peter and Little Peter, a classic trickster tale of type 1535 from Norway.

The Bird's Three Precepts. Fables of type 150, in which a captured bird gains its freedom by giving its captor three pieces of advice.

1. Of Hearing Good Counsel (Gesta Romanorum).

2. The Three Proverbs (Poland).

The Blind Men and the Elephant. Parables of type 1317.

1. The Blind Men and the Elephant (The Udāna).

2. On the Blind Men and the Affair of the Elephant (Sanai, The Enclosed Garden of the Truth).

3. All Faiths Lead to God: Four Blind Men and an Elephant (Ramakrishna)

4. The Blind Men and the Elephant: A Hindoo Fable (John Godfrey Saxe).

5. The King and the Elephants (Leo Tolstoy).

The Blood Brothers, a European folktale of type 303.

The Blue Light by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: A Comparison of the Versions of 1815 and 1857.

The Blue Belt. A folktale from Norway, collected in the mid nineteenth century by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. The magic belt in this tale is reminiscent of the Norse god Thor's belt of strength as described inThe Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson.

Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-1375).

1. The Decameron Web. Sponsored by the Italian Studies Department at Brown University.

2. The Boy Who Had Never Seen a Woman. Tales of type 1678.

3. The Enchanted Pear Tree. Tales of type 1423.

4. The Three-Ring Parable. Tales of type 920E.

5. Griselda (type 887).

The Boy Who Had Never Seen a Woman. Tales of types 1678 and 1459.

1. Filippo Balducci and His Son (abstracted from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio).

2. A Young Monk Wanted to Have a Goose (Germany).

3. An Inexperienced Youth (Italy, The Facetiæ of Poggio).

Breaking Wind: Legendary Farts.

1. The Historic Fart (1001 Nights).

2. The Hodja as Envoy to the Kurds (Turkey).

3. How Till Eulenspiegel Became a Furrier's Apprentice (Germany).

4. Till Eulenspiegel and the Innkeeper at Cologne (Germany).

Brothers.
The Blood Brothers, a European folktale of type 303.

The Brothers Who Were Turned into Birds, folktales of type 451.

Cannibalism.
The Place Where There Were No Graves. Folktales about eating dead people.

1. The Place Where There Were No Graves (Egypt).

2. The Country Where Death Is Not (Sudan).

Cattarinetta, a folktale from Italy of type 333A about a careless girl who is eaten up by a witch.

Censorship in Folklore: An Essay by D. L. Ashliman.

Chain tales (also known as cumulative tales).

Changeling legends.
Fairies, trolls, elves, and devils kidnap human children, leaving their own demonic offspring in their place.

1. Changelings: An Essay by D. L. Ashliman.

2. The Changeling. A poem by James Russell Lowell.

3. The Changeling. A ballad by John Greenleaf Whittier.

4. Changeling Legends from the British Isles. Stories from England, Wales, the Isle of Man, Scotland, and Ireland.

5. German Changeling Legends. Stories from German-speaking countries.

6. Scandinavian Changeling Legends. Stories from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The Faroe Islands, and Iceland.

Chaucer, Geoffrey (ca. 1340-1400).

1. The Enchanted Pear Tree (The Merchant's Tale), a folktale of type 1423.

2. Treasure Finders Murder One Another (The Pardoner's Tale), a folktale of type 763.

Creation and origin myths.

Cupid and Psyche, as recorded by the Roman writer Lucius Apuleius.

Daughter of the Sun, a Danish folktale of type 898 from the collection of Jens Kamp.

Death's Messengers, tales of type 335.

1. Death's Messengers (retold by D. L. Ashliman).

2. Death's Messengers (Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof, Wendunmuth).

3. Death's Messengers (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm).

4. An Old Man That Was Willing to Put off Death (Laurentius Abstemius).

5. Our Lord and the Church Father (Transylvania).

6. The Old Man and the Physician (Rumi, The Masnavi).

7. Spanish Moss (Georgia, USA).

Death of the Seven Dwarfs, a folk legend from Switzerland with an ending quite different from that of the familiar fairy tale "Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs" by the Grimm brothers.

Devil.

How the Devil Married Three Sisters and other type 311 tales.

1. How the Devil Married Three Sisters (Italy).

2. The Cobbler and His Three Daughters (Basque).

3. Your Hen Is in the Mountain (Norway).

4. Fitcher's Bird (Germany).

5. The Hare's Bride (Germany).

6. The Three Chests: The Story of the Wicked Old Man of the Sea (Finland).

7. The Widow and Her Daughters (Scotland).

8. Peerifool (Scotland).

9. The Secret Room (USA).

10. Zerendac (Palestine).

11. The Tiger's Bride (India).

Deceiving the Devil by Breaking Wind. Folktales of type 1176.

1. Ridiculing the Devil (Martin Luther).

2. The Peasant and the Devil (Martin Montanus).

3. Timmermann's Fart (Germany).

4. Deceiving the Devil (Germany).

5. The Cheated Devil (Germany).

6. The Square Knot (East Prussia).

7. A Story (Ireland).

8. A Funny Story (Ireland).

Divination: Charms to Predict Future Bridegrooms and Brides.

1. Saint Andrew's Eve (Germany / Austria).

2. Superstitions (Germany).

3. The Spell (England).

4. Midsummer Superstitious Customs (Cornwall, England).

5. Halloween (Scotland).

6. The Bible and Key Trial (Scotland).

7. Rhamanta, or Romantic Divination (Wales).

8. A Story (Ireland).

9. Hallow-E'n (Ireland).

10. Hallowe'en Customs (Ireland).

Dragon Slayers: An Index Page.

Dream.
Dream Bread. Tales of type 1626.

1. The Three Dreams (Petrus Alphonsi).

2. The Three Travelers (The Masnavi).

3. Jesus, Peter, and Judas (The Toledot Yeshu).

4. Of the Deceits of the Devil (Gesta Romanorum).

5. Comical History of Three Dreamers. (Spain).

6. The "Dream-Bread" Story Once More (USA).

7. The Three Travelers and the Load (W. A. Clouston).

Dream Treasure Turns to Filth. Tales of type 1645B.

1. A Man Who Found Gold During His Sleep (Poggio Bracciolini).

2. The Hodja Dreams That He Had Found a Treasure (Attributed to Nasreddin Hodja).

The Man Who Became Rich through a Dream and other tales of type 1645 in which dreamers seek treasure abroad but find it at home.

1. The Ruined Man Who Became Rich Again Through a Dream (The 1001 Nights).

2. A Man of Baghdad (Persia).

3. Numan's Dream (Turkey).

4. How the Junkman Traveled to Find treasure in His Own Yard (Turkey).

5. The Peddler of Swaffham (England).

6. The Swaffham Legend (England).

7. A Cobbler in Somersetshire (England).

8. Upsall Castle (England).

9. Dundonald Castle (Scotland).

10. Themselves (Isle of Man).

11. Dreaming Tim Jarvis (Ireland).

12. The Bridge of the Kist (Ireland).

13. The Dream of Treasure under the Bridge at Limerick (Ireland).

14. A Kerry Man (Ireland).

15. Treasure at Ardnaveagh (Ireland).

16. Dreams Should Not Be Ignored (Netherlands).

17. The Dream of the Treasure on the Bridge (Germany).

18. The Pine Tree of Steltzen (Germany).

19. Digging Up Snakes (Germany).

20. A Good Dream (Switzerland).

21. The Dream of Treasure (Austria).

22. The Dream of the Zirl Bridge (Austria).

23. The Golden Fox (Czech Republic / Austria).

24. The Church at Erritsø (Denmark).

25. The Treasure in Translet (Denmark).

26. A Peasant in Vester-Brøndum (Denmark).

East of the Sun and West of the Moon. A classic animal bridegroom tale from the Norwegian collection of Asbjørnsen and Moe.

The Emperor's New Clothes and other tales of type 1620.

1. The Emperor's New Clothes (Denmark, Hans Christian Andersen).

2. The Invisible Cloth (Spain).

3. How Eulenspiegel Painted the Forbears of the Landgrave of Hessen (Germany).

4. Fine Thread (Russia).

5. The Miller with the Golden Thumb (England).

6. The King's New Turban (Turkey).

7. The King and the Clever Girl (India).

8. The Invisible Silk Robe (Sri Lanka).

Ertha, the Germanic Earth Goddess. The account, written by Tacitus in the year 98, of a north German deity variously named Ertha, Hertha, Nerthus, or Mother Earth. She may be related to the folkloric figures known as Bertha or Frau Holle.

The Fairy Flag of Dunraven Castle. Legends from the Scottish Isle of Sky about a gift from a fairy lover.

The Faithful Wife. Folktales of type 888.

1. Of Chastity (Gesta Romanorum).

2. The Man Hitched to a Plow (France/Germany).

3. Conrad von Tannenberg (Germany).

4. The Tsaritsa Harpist (Russia).

5. The Lute Player (Russia).

6. A Story Told by a Hindu (India).

7. Link to Andreas Grein of Purbach, a related legend about Turkish slavery from Burgenland, Austria.

Father-daughter incest.
The Father Who Wanted to Marry His Daughter. Folktales of type 510B.

A Fool Does Not Count the Animal He Is Riding. Folktales of type 1288A.

1. The Simpleton with Ten Asses (Turkey).

2. The Hodja and His Eight Donkeys (Turkey).

3. Johha Fails to Count the Donkey He Is Riding (Palestine).

The Fool Whose Wishes All Came True. Folktales of type 675.

1. Hans Dumb (Germany).

2. Stupid Michel (Germany).

3. Lazy Lars, Who Won the Princess (Denmark).

4. Emelyan the Fool (Russia).

5. Halfman (Greece).

6. Juvadi and the Princess (Italy).

7. Peter the Fool (Giovanni Francesco Straparola, The Facetious Nights).

8. Peruonto (Giambattista Basile, The Pentamerone).

Frau Holle by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. A comparison of the versions of 1812 and 1857.

Friday. A Russian folktale of type 779J*.

Fridleif the Dragon Slayer. An account of a Danish hero from theGesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus.

The Two Frogs. Fables of types 278A, 278A*, and related tales.

1. Two Neighbour-Frogs (Aesop -- Roger L'Estrange).

2. The Two Frogs Who Were Neighbours (Aesop -- George Fyler Townsend).

3. Two Frogs That Wanted Water (Aesop -- Roger L'Estrange).

4. The Two Frogs (Aesop -- George Fyler Townsend).

5. How a Tortoise Came to Grief Because He Loved His Home Too Much (The Jataka).

6. The Three Fishes (The Masnavi).

Gambara and the Longbeards (Langobards). A clever woman, with the help of the goddess Frea (Frigg), tricks Wodan (Odin) into blessing her tribe with victory.

Gefion's Home Page. This site contains two accounts, both written by Snorri Sturlason, the 13th-century Icelandic writer, describing how the Æsir goddess Gefion (also spelled Gefjon) created the Danish island of Sjælland (Zealand) by plowing out an enormous field from the Kingdom of Sweden.

Ghost Stories

Haunted by the Ghost of a Murdered Child. Migratory legends of type 4025.

1. Mother Mine, in the Fold, Fold (Iceland).

2. I Should Have Gotten Married (Iceland).

3. The Child Murderer (Denmark).

4. The Child Phantom (Sweden).

5. Short-Hoggers o' Whittinghame (Scotland).

6. Fine Flowers in the Valley (Scotland).

7. Lady Anne (Scotland).

8. The Infanticide Mother (England).

9. The Crying Child (Poland).

Real Ghosts and Fake Ghosts. Folktales of types 1676 and 1676B

1. Two Spirits (Belgium).

2. Do Not Disturb the Rest of the Dead (Germany).

3. A Ghostly Council Meeting (Germany).

4. The Death Shroud (Germany).

5. The Scoffer of Herzberg (Germany).

6. The Peasant and the Owls (Germany).

7. The Preacher and the Ghost (Sweden).

8. The Blacksmith (Ireland).

9. A Ghost Story (Ireland).

10. Meg of Meldon (England).

11. The Chivalrous Devil (England).

The Girl with White Hands. A Zobell family legend about Kirstine Andersdatter, also known as Christine Andersen.

Golden Fowls.

1. The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs (Aesop).

2. The Goose and the Golden Eggs (Aesop).

3. The Golden Mallard (from The Jataka; or, Stories of The Buddha's Former Births).

4. The Lucky-Bird Humá (Kashmir).

5. The Duck That Laid Golden Eggs (Russia).

6. The Golden Goose (Germany).

The Golden Key. The Grimm Brothers' final tale, an enigmatic story with no ending, suggesting perhaps that there is no final word in folktale interpretation.

The Grateful Animals and the Ungrateful Man. Fables of type 160.

1. The Grateful Animals and the Ungrateful Man (India, The Panchatantra).

2. The Traveler and the Goldsmith (India, Kalila and Dimna).

3. Story of the Grateful Animals and the Ungrateful Woman (India, The Kathasaritsagara).

4. The Grateful Animals and the Ungrateful Man (Tibet).

5. Vitalis and the Woodcutter (England, attributed to Richard the Lionheart (Richard Coeur de Lion).

6. Of Ingratitude (Gesta Romanorum).

7. Adrian and Bardus (England, John Gower).

Grimm Brothers -- Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859).

1. Grimm Brothers' Home Page.

2. Grimms' Children's and Household Tales. Also known as The Grimms' Fairy Tales, this is the most influential of all folklore collections and one of the most beloved books of all time. At this site are listed all the stories' titles, in English and in German, plus their Aarne-Thompson-Uther type classification numbers. This site also includes links to texts of the Grimms' tales, both in the original German and in English translation.

3. Grimms' Fairy Tales in English. A bibliography of books available without cost on the Internet.

The Lambton Worm. A folk legend from England about a vicious serpent.

Lion
The Sick Lion. Fables of type 50 about lions and other powerful animals who are tricked into punishing a physically weaker (but very clever) animal's enemies.

1. The Lion, the Wolf, and the Fox (Aesop).

2. The Lion, Wolf, and Fox (Jean de La Fontaine).

3. The Hyena Outwitted (India).

4. The King of the Tigers Is Sick (Malaya).

Llewellyn and His Dog Gellert and other folktales of type 178A.

1. The Brahman's Wife and the Mongoose (India, The Panchatantra).

2. The Dog and the Snake and the Child (India, The Book of Sindibad)

3. The Brahman's Wife and the Mongoose (India, Georgiana Kingscote).

4. The Greyhound, the Serpent, and the Child (The Seven Wise Masters).

5. Folliculus and His Greyhound (Gesta Romanorum).

6. Beth Gellert (Wales, Joseph Jacobs).

7. The Dog Gellert (Wales, Horace E. Scudder).

8. The Farmer and His Dog (a modern fable).

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882).

1. The Bell of Atri fromTales of a Wayside Inn.

2. Norse Ballads of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The Challenge of Thor.

Thangbrand the Priest.

The Skeleton in Armor.

Tegner's Drapa [on the death of Balder the Beautiful].

The Magdeburg Bridge -- Die Magdeburger Brücke (a nursery rhyme from Germany, similar to the English "London Bridge Is Falling Down").

Man and Serpent. Fables of type 285D.

1. The Man and the Serpent (Aesop).

2. The Gold-Giving Snake (The Panchatantra).

3. Of Good Advice (Gesta Romanorum).

4. The Rattlesnake's Vengeance (Native American, Cherokee).

Mastermaid (Norway). A masterful telling of a type 313 folktale.

Merlin the Magician Rescues King Vortigern: Why the Red Dragon Is the Emblem of Wales (Wales, W. Jenkyn Thomas).

The Merseburg Incantations (Merseburger Zaubersprüche). Two magic poems from pre-Christian Germany.

1. The first poem describes the activities of valkyrie-like sorceresses called "the Idisi" who have the power to bind or to free battling warriors. Following the narrative are the words of a brief incantation or charm chanted to free captured warriors.

2. The second poem tells how a number of goddesses unsuccessfully attempt to cure the injured leg of Balder's horse. Wodan, with his unfailing magic, knows the right charm, and the horse is healed. The narrative concludes with the actual words of an incantation used to heal broken limbs. This pre-Christian incantation is similar to charms against sprains recorded in Ireland and in the Orkney and Shetland Islands in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Monkey's Heart. Folktales of type 91, in which a captive animal rescues itself by claiming to have left its heart (or other tasty organ) at home.

1. The Monkey's Heart (India, Jataka Tales).

2. The Monkey and the Crocodile (India, Suka Saptati; or, Seventy Tales of a Parrot)

3. The Foolish Dragon (China).

4. The Monkey and the Jellyfish (Japan).

5. The Jellyfish and the Monkey (Japan).

6. The Heart of a Monkey (Africa, Swahili).

7. Brother Rabbit and the Gizzard-Eater (African-American, Joel Chandler Harris).

Mother and child.

Mouse, Mice.
The Iron-Eating Mice. Folktales of type 1592.

1. Miracle upon Miracle (India, The Panchantantra).

2. The Mice That Ate an Iron Balance (India, The Kátha Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story).

3. The Iron Weights and Scales Which Were Eaten by Mice (India, The "Suka Saptati," or, The Seventy Tales of Parrot.

4. The Faithless Depositary (France, Jean de La Fontaine).

5. The Two Merchants (Russia, Leo Tolstoy).

Return to: Revised August 21, 2023.

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page 1edited and/or translated by D. L. Ashliman University of Pittsburgh © 1996-2023 Return to: Aesop. Aesop's Fables. Joseph Jacobs' classic retelling of 82 fables and included in theHarvard Classics, vol. 17, part 1. This site is part of Great Books Online:bartleby.com. Aesop's Fables, edited by John R. Long. Aesop's Children.

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What are some myths, tales, and legends you know?

▪ Do you remember where you first heard them?

▪ What are some ways we could tell that a story is a myth, tale, or legend and not a true story?

▪ Why might memorised and spoken stories have been a way to pass on knowledge and culture?

▪ What does storytelling look like in the area we live in?

▪ Describe how storytelling has changed over time.