King Arthur

BRITAIN, CELTIC LEGEND

A long time ago, Britain was invaded by the Saxons and its king deposed. Into this chaos a prophecy arose that only the one true king would be able to pull a sword from an ancient stone, a king who would reunite Britain and banish the Saxons. Young Arthur was that one true king, and when he pulled out the sword effortlessly, the people rallied behind him. Aided by a wise old magician named Merlin, King Arthur gathered together the best knights in the kingdom and sat them down at the Round Table in his castle of Camelot.

King Arthur repelled not only the Saxon forces but also supernatural threats, such as the giant cat-monster Cath Pulag, the enchanted and venomous boar Twrch Trwyth, the Cynocephali dog-headed people, the giant Cribwr Gawr, and many more. In one of his more notable adventures, King Arthur journeyed to the lake surrounding the magical Island of Avalon after his sword was damaged. Taking a barge out into the waters, he was greeted by the Lady of the Lake, a magical nymph-like woman named Nimue. She rose out of the water to offer him the enchanted sword Excalibur, granting him more power to banish the dark forces that plagued Britain.

After King Arthur and his knights slew every outside force and vanquished every evil, they were able to reign with peace and prosperity. King Arthur and his queen, Guinevere, ruled fairly and compassionately. They never had any children.

Unfortunately, the peaceful rule came to an end when King Arthur’s half-sister, Morgan le Fay, aided the evil Mordred and attempted to usurp the throne. King Arthur managed to slay Mordred but was mortally wounded during the battle. With his dying wish, he commanded that his sword Excalibur be given back to the Lady of the Lake.

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

INDIA, BUDDHIST BODHISATTVA

Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, felt compelled to liberate all creatures from suffering. Able to manifest as many different genders, ages, and shapes, Avalokiteshvara looked out upon all the beings in the universe and saw how many of them were embroiled in their sufferings by their attachments and delusions. Being chained to their egos trapped them in the cycle of death and rebirth, and the creatures of the universe were unable to achieve enlightenment.

The bodhisattva was filled with sorrow and, with tears flowing from their eyes, asked the many Buddhas, those who had achieved enlightenment and escaped the perpetual cycle of death and rebirth, to advise them on how to aid all the beings who suffered. The Buddhas told Avalokiteshvara that if they wished to help all the creatures of the universe, they must be motivated by kindness, love, and compassion and must never give up or grow tired of the work. Avalokiteshvara vowed to use compassion to liberate every being in the universe. They used their powers to manifest into the forms needed to aid each individual, including minor kings, generals, monks, beggars, wives, young maidens, children, animals, dragons, monsters, and more.

Avalokiteshvara worked tirelessly and helped many people escape from suffering. But when the bodhisattva looked around, they realized the number of beings suffering had not diminished at all, for the number of creatures was infinite. With that, their head broke into eleven heads, ten with benevolent faces and one with a wrathful face, because sometimes tough love is needed, to better spread the message of enlightenment. Then their arms broke into a thousand arms, each with an eye in the palm, to better see and do the work needed to spread enlightenment.

Note: Avalokiteshvara were the most popular and famous of the bodhisattvas. And it is believed that everyone has been touched by them at some point in their life.

Beaivi-nieida

SWEDEN, SAMI DEITY

High up north in the Arctic Circle, the winter is long and dark with the sun remaining dim and hidden for long stretches of time. There the Sami people have lived and herded reindeer while waiting for the return of the Sun Goddess, Beaivi, and her daughter, Beaivi-nieida. Deep in the winter, the absence of Beaivi and Beaivi-nieida and the long darkness negatively affected the mental health of those on Earth. During this time the goddesses became weak, so sacrifices of white reindeer were made to give them the strength to return. Female reindeer, which are the fastest, were the best offerings.

In the spring, Beaivi returned to the sky. Frozen butter melted, the world bloomed, and the reindeer flourished. She blessed those whose mental health deteriorated during the winter. She and her daughter, Beaivi-nieida, rode high into the sky in a sled made of antler horns, and they brought fertility and life to the earth. In the summertime, the reindeer gave birth to their calves, and a porridge made with rich, fatty reindeer’s milk was offered to the goddesses in thanks.

There was once a time, long ago, when Beaivi-nieida left her mother in the sky and went to join the people on Earth. She was light and goodness and shared her knowledge of many things with the people. At first the people appreciated her and enjoyed learning storytelling, embroidery, button-making, sea songs, and many, many other skills. But eventually they grew bitter and jealous of her endless talents and sought to kill her. They trapped Beaivi-nieida and crushed her beneath a giant rock, so she returned to the sky to be with her mother, the Sun Goddess. She hasn’t come back since.

Sedna

CANADA, INUIT MYTHOLOGY

There once was a beautiful woman named Sedna who lived in the far northern snows. There came a time when Sedna was old enough that her family wished for her to be married. But Sedna did not want to get married. She found fault with every one of her suitors and threatened to marry a sled dog instead.

Her father was furious with her. So when a handsome and mysterious hunter appeared in their village asking to marry Sedna, he readily agreed. The unknown hunter promised to give the family plenty of meat and furs in exchange for her hand, and Sedna decided to consent. After they married, he took her away to his island. Once there, he revealed to her that he was not a man at all, but a bird that had been disguised as a man. Sedna was livid with this deception and even angrier because, as a bird, he was not a very good hunter. He caught and fed her only fish, so she had no meat or furs. But she was stuck on the island, and she tried to make the best of it.

Finally, Sedna’s father came to visit and instantly saw how miserable Sedna was. He also realized that the mysterious man had been a liar. He killed the bird, put Sedna in his kayak, and started for home. But the bird’s family, upon finding him slain, screeched in anger. They set out to avenge him, beating their wings so hard they started a storm. The tiny kayak was soon overwhelmed, and Sedna’s father, desperate to appease the birds and save himself, threw Sedna overboard. Sedna quickly grabbed on to the side of the boat and would not let go, so her father drew his knife and sliced off her fingers. Sedna raged as she sank to the bottom of the sea, and she became a wrathful sea goddess. Her fingers became seals and whales, and her hair grew to entangle all the sea creatures of the world.

Now if people want to hunt in the ocean, they must appease Sedna and pray for her to release the sea creatures from her grasp.

Vasilisa the Beautiful

RUSSIA, RUSSIAN FAIRY TALE

A merchant and his wife had a sweet and kind daughter known as Vasilisa the Beautiful. When Vasilisa was still young, her mother died. On her deathbed, she gave her daughter a small wooden doll and told her to give the doll a little to drink and a little to eat and the doll would comfort her. When her mother died, the girl did just that and felt soothed by the doll’s presence.

Time passed, and the merchant married a woman with two daughters. The stepmother was jealous that Vasilisa was preferred by the young men over her own daughters, so the stepmother set out to be rid of her. When the merchant left on a long trip, Vasilisa’s stepmother moved the four of them to a gloomy hut in the forest. She then put out all the fires in the house and bade Vasilisa go fetch light from their neighbor, Baba Yaga.

Gaining comfort from her doll, Vasilisa traveled the dark woods to Baba Yaga’s home, a house on chicken legs and surrounded by a fence topped with human skulls full of light. As a terrified Vasilisa waited outside the fence, a rider dressed all in white rode past on a white horse, then a red rider, then a black rider. Finally, the old crone Baba Yaga herself rode up in her mortar.

Baba Yaga agreed to give Vasilisa fire, but only if she completed some impossible tasks. If Vasilisa couldn’t complete them, she would be killed. Vasilisa began to fret as she attempted the tasks, for she was unable to separate poppy seeds from a pile of dirt, or rotten corn from good corn in a single day. But when all hope seemed lost, her little doll told Vasilisa to sleep, for she would do all the work.

When a surprised Baba Yaga asked how Vasilisa was able to complete the tasks, the girl explained that she was blessed by her mother. Horrified, Baba Yaga told Vasilisa she wanted nothing to do with blessed people. She kicked Vasilisa out of her house, sending her home with a skull-lantern full of burning coals. When Vasilisa arrived back at the hut, the skull magically burned her stepmother and stepsisters to ashes.

Amhaeng-eosa

KOREA, KOREAN LEGEND

The Amhaeng-eosa, or Secret Royal Inspectors, were real historical figures, appointed by the king, with the power to punish the corrupt and promote the deserving. They would secretly enter provinces and use their undercover identities to investigate government officials. They would then reveal themselves with their mapae, the medallions that proved their dominion. While real, they were popularized in dramas and literature, even during the Joseon period, and became mythologized.

One of the most famous tales is the story of Chunhyang. In this tale, the handsome Yi Mongryong fell in love with and married the beautiful Chunhyang. Unfortunately, he had to move to Seoul to train to become an Amhaeng-eosa just as a new government official, the vile Pyon, took control of the area. Chunhyang vowed to wait patiently for Yi Mongryong and gave him a ring to remember her by. But when he had gone, the greedy Pyon attempted to add the lovely Chunhyang to his courtesan party.

Chunhyang tried to rebuff Pyon’s advances, which enraged the pompous man, and he imprisoned her. Meanwhile, Yi Mongryong passed the Amhaeng-eosa test and secretly returned to the village to find the mess Pyon had created. Yi Mongryong remained undercover as a beggar and learned about Pyon’s crimes, such as neglecting his duties, throwing lavish parties, and generally abusing his power to terrify the populace. Then, at Pyon’s birthday celebration, just as the government official was about to punish the loyal Chunhyang, Yi Mongryong revealed himself to be a secret Amhaeng-eosa and condemned Pyon for all his wrongdoing. Pyon was then deposed and a new and just official given the position.

Meanwhile, Chunhyang, happy to be rescued, did not initially recognize Yi Mongryong and rejected his affections. It was only when he returned her ring to her that she realized who he was. Chunhyang was overjoyed, and the couple lived happily ever after.

La Llorona

MEXICO, MEXICAN FOLKLORE

There once was a young girl named Maria who lived in a small village. Though her family was very poor, she was very beautiful, so she eventually caught the eye of an extremely wealthy man. He was riding through her village one day when he spotted her and, captivated by her charms, instantly proposed to her. She was dazzled by him. Encouraged by her family, she accepted him.

His family was less supportive, so he built a house for her in the small village that he would visit. Maria bore him two handsome sons, and they were quite happy for some time. But her husband was constantly traveling, and he began spending less and less time with his small family. Then he began to ignore Maria and only pay attention to their sons. Eventually he stopped appearing altogether. When she finally saw him again, he was with another woman who was from a prosperous family.

Furious to the point of losing her senses, she took her rage out on his sons. She brought the children to the river and drowned them.

When she realized what she had done, she was filled with remorse and sorrow, for of course she had loved her sons. She searched and searched for them, but their bodies were gone. So she drowned herself in the river.

When she arrived at the gates of the afterlife, Maria was denied entry without her children. Maria was forced to return to Earth and, stuck between the living and the dead, began to search for her children. To this day she still searches, kidnapping children who wander alone at night and drowning them to replace her own children. She can be heard crying, “¡Ay, mis hijos!” or “Oh, my children!” This is why she is now known as La Llorona, or the Weeping Woman.

Six Swans

GERMANY, GERMAN FAIRY TALE

There once was a king whose wife died, leaving him to raise his six sons and a single daughter. Soon the king married a mysterious woman from the forest. Jealous of the sons, she snuck into the princes’ room and transformed them into swans, banishing them to the wild. The woman claimed the sons had died, but the princess didn’t believe her, and she ran away to the woods. There she met a fairy who told her that her brothers had been cursed, but the spell could be broken if she made each of them a shirt of stinging nettles and did not speak while making them.

The swan brothers found their sister and, learning of her task, flew her across the sea to a new land, where they built her a small home. There she worked tirelessly for years, picking the nettles with her bare hands, crushing them with her bare feet, and weaving and sewing the shirts all by herself without uttering a single word.

One day as she was working, the king of that country spied her and fell in love with her beauty. He coaxed her back to his castle, where she lived under his protection. Though he gave her gifts and kindness, she never spoke but only smiled and continued about her work. The king fell more deeply in love with her, but his mother only despised her. Searching for a way to ruin her, the dowager queen accused the princess of being a witch who wove evil shirts out of nettles. The princess, unable to speak in her defense, was sentenced to burn at the stake.

The princess only stitched more furiously, and on the day of her execution, she had made all the shirts except the sleeves on the last one. As the pyre was about to be lit, the six swans appeared, and she gave each one a shirt. They each transformed back into a man except the youngest, who still had the wings of a swan. Free to speak, the princess told her tale. The people were in awe of the miracle, and the princess married the king of that new land. They lived happily ever after.

Pele

HAWAI‘I, HAWAI‘IAN MYTHOLOGY

There are many gods and goddesses of the islands of Hawai‘i, and one of the most famous is the volcano goddess, Pele. Pele was born to the earth and fertility goddess, Haumea, and to the ferocious god Ku-waha-ilo. In the beginning she lived in peace with her many siblings, but peace did not last. Pele used her pa‘oa, a long stick used to till land, to turn the earth and draw up lava. The lava brought rich nutrients for life, but it also brought fire and death. Her older sister, Na-maka-o-ka-hai, was a goddess of the sea who felt a bitter rivalry with Pele and a fear the goddess of fire would eventually burn their home.

So Na-maka-o-ka-hai drove her sister from their home with floods of water. Pele then took some of her siblings in the canoe Honuaiakea and traveled in search of a new residence. Together they traveled far and eventually landed on the islands of Hawai‘i. At each island a few of her siblings, various deities of wind, rain, fire, ocean, and cloud, disembarked and made their new homes. But Na-maka-o-ka-hai kept flooding and driving Pele on until Pele arrived on the biggest island, where she resides to this day in the volcano Kilauea.

But Pele has not been quiet during all that time. She is a powerful goddess, but she is also passionate, prone to jealousy and capriciousness. She has had many lovers and does not take rejection well. Once she fell for the handsome warrior Ohia, but he was already in love and pledged to the beautiful Lehua. Furious, Pele turned Ohia into a twisted tree. Lehua was heartbroken, so the gods took pity and turned her into a blossom that grew on the tree so they might be together forever. To this day, Ohia trees with Lehua blossoms are the first things to grow after lava has cleared the land.

Hang Tuah

MALAYSIA, MALAYSIAN LEGEND

One of the most famous warriors of Malaysia is Hang Tuah, a powerful laksamana, or admiral, and a Silat martial arts master.

Hang Tuah was raised as a woodcutter in his parents’ shop, but his strength and martial prowess led him to the teacher Adi Putera. Adi Putera trained Hang Tuah and his four friends, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir, Hang Lekiu, and Hang Jebat, in the art of Silat and meditation. The five companions became highly skilled, and their ferocity soon became known far and wide.

One day a gang of men began terrorizing an area near Kampung Bendahara. They were so brutal that even the region’s top guards were frightened off. But Hang Tuah saw this, and he and his companions attacked the gang with such power and skill that the gang ran away. The head of the guards was so impressed by Hang Tuah and his friends that he presented them all to Sultan Muzaffar Syah.

Hang Tuah quickly became the sultan’s most loyal laksamana, and his skills and deeds became legendary. On a visit to Majapahit, Hang Tuah fought and won a brutal duel with Taming Sari, a famous pendekar, or Silat master. As a reward, the ruler of Majapahit, Singhavikramavardhana, bestowed on Hang Tuah the Keris Taming Sari, a magical dagger that imbued its wielder with invulnerability.

Hang Tuah also helped the sultan marry the beautiful Tun Teja. Tun Teja was the daughter of Seri Amar Di Raja Inderaputra, royal chief minister of Pahang. Though the sultan had asked for her hand in marriage, he was denied for political reasons. So with gifts and a love potion, Hang Tuah stole Tun Teja away. When her father discovered what had happened, he sent ships after Hang Tuah, and a fierce battle broke out. Hang Tuah eventually won, and delivered Tun Teja to the sultan, whom she agreed to marry. Hang Tuah served the sultan and eventually served the sultan’s successor for many more years.