Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys: being a Second Wonder Book. Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys: Being a Second Wonder Book
Nathaniel Hawthorne
New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. 1982. (1853)

Why read it? Sit back, settle in, it's time for a story. Hawthorne tells stories to children about the ancient classical myths. "The Minotaur" [Theseus, Ariadne and the maze]. Hercules and "The Pygmies," who seek revenge for their friend the giant Antaeus at the hands of Hercules. "The Dragon's Teeth" [The kidnapping of Europa by the bull, a disguised god, and the search for her by Cadmus.] "Circe's Palace" [Circe and Ulysses]. "The Pomegranate-Seeds" [Pluto and proserpino]. Jason, Medea and "The Golden Fleece."

Some sample ideas: "...we must raise the intellect and fancy to the level of childhood, in order to re-create the original myths." Aethra [Theseus's mother]: "When he went to be king of Athens, he [Aegeus, Theseus's father] bade me treat you as a child, until you should prove yourself a man by lifting this heavy stone; that task being accomplished, you are to put on his sandals, in order to follow in your father's footsteps, and to gird on his sword, so that you may fight giants and dragons, as King Aegeus did in his youth." "You must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in years, was almost worn out with the cares of government and had thus grown aged before his time."

"It is the day when we annually draw lots to see which of the youths and maidens of Athens shall go to be devoured by the horrible Minotaur." "...a Minotaur, which was shaped partly like a man and partly like a bull, and was altogether such a hideous sort of creature that it is really disagreeable to think of him." "No peace [between Athens and Crete] could they [the Athenians] obtain, however, except on condition that they should send seven young men and seven maidens, every year to be devoured by the pet-monster of the cruel King Minos." "...and the youths and damsels dreaded lest they themselves might be destined to glut the cavernous maw of that detestable man-brute."

"Minos was a stern and pitiless king...cared only to examine whether they were plump enough to satisfy the Minotaur's appetite." Theseus: "Sitting there on thy golden throne, and in thy robes of majesty, I tell thee to thy face, King Minos, thou art a more hideous monster than the Minotaur himself." "She [Ariadne] really wept, indeed, at the idea of how much human happiness would be needlessly thrown away, by giving so many young people, in the the first bloom and rose-blossom of their lives, to be eaten up by a creature who, no doubt, would have preferred a fat ox, or even a large pig, to the plumpest of them." "That Daedalus was a very cunning workman; but of all his artful contrivance, this labyrinth is the most wondrous; were we to take but a few steps from the doorway, we might wander about, all our lifetime, and never find it again."

Quote: Ariadne: "Stay! Take the end of this silken string; I will hold the other end; and then, if you win the victory, it will lead you again to this spot."