a less whimsical illustration that encapsulates the fun of searching an archive of over 15

The Archive...

Have a wander through the Fireside folktale archive below, and see what you stumble into. Use the filters to narrow the world down, or fling the doors wide and browse by country, region, theme, collector, or whatever takes your fancy, then let the table do the rest. A few clicks can carry you from storm-tossed coasts to mountain villages, from clever tricksters to quiet miracles, and you will often find that the story you meant to read is not the one that chooses you.

Archive under construction...

Structured Filters

Use these drop down lists to choose one or more filters to select groups of tales to investigate in more detail

Other than my own versions of tales (as indicated), the stories in this archive are in the public domain

Stories in this view:

3988

Title	Book	Author / Collector	Country	Subject	Year
The First Tunny Fishing	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	The First Tunny Fishing: origin legend, sea, labour, community, abundance, tradition	1870
Where One Can Dine, Two Can Dine	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Where One Can Dine, Two Can Dine: hospitality, poverty, sharing, wit, domestic humour, abundance	1870
Issy-Ben-Aran	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Issy-Ben-Aran: Moorish memory, identity, exile, honour, resilience, loss	1870
Mistafa Alvila	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Mistafa Alvila: Moorish memory, cunning, survival, identity, honour, loss	1870
The Emir In Search Of An Eye	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	The Emir In Search Of An Eye: justice, deficiency, quest, wit, judgement, irony	1870
Yussuf's Friend	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Yussuf’s Friend: friendship, loyalty, Moorish society, obligation, generosity, honour	1870
The Sultana's Perfumer-In-Chief	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	The Sultana’s Perfumer-In-Chief: court life, luxury, intrigue, service, refinement, favour	1870
El Moro Santon	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	El Moro Santon: sanctity, Islam, miracle, reverence, legend, spiritual authority	1870
Hernan Cortes In Sanctuary	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Hernan Cortes In Sanctuary: conquest, refuge, guilt, power, religion, colonial memory	1870
Araucania The Indomitable - I	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Araucania The Indomitable - I: resistance, warfare, indigenous courage, conquest, endurance, freedom	1870
Araucania The Indomitable - II, Tegualda	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Araucania The Indomitable - II, Tegualda: grief, love, war, loyalty, indigenous nobility, loss	1870
Araucania The Indomitable - III, Fiton's Cave	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Araucania The Indomitable - III, Fiton’s Cave: refuge, resistance, landscape, siege, survival, defiance	1870
Matanzas	Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional	Rachel Harriette Busk	Spain	Matanzas: colonial violence, encounter, conquest, memory, bloodshed, place-legend	1870
Sæmund - The Dark School	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Sæmund - The Dark School: forbidden knowledge, cunning, magic, devilry, learning	1862
Gilitrutt (2)	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Gilitrutt (2): giant bride, trickery, escape, wit, monstrous threat	1862
Sæmund - Old Nick Made Himself As Little As He Was Able	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Sæmund - Old Nick Made Himself As Little As He Was Able: devil tricked, cunning, clerical wit, folklore	1862
Sæmund - Sæmund Gets The Living Of Oddi	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Sæmund - Sæmund Gets The Living Of Oddi: ambition, learning, clerical cunning, supernatural aid	1862
Sæmund - The Goblin And The Cowherd	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Sæmund - The Goblin And The Cowherd: goblin mischief, trickery, rural humour, cleverness	1862
A Clergyman's Daughter Married To A Fairy Man	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	A Clergyman’s Daughter Married To A Fairy Man: fairy marriage, abduction, divided worlds, sorrow	1862
The Changeling (4)	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	The Changeling (4): stolen child, fairy deception, maternal fear, otherworld threat	1862
Biarni Sveinsson And His Sister Salvör	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Biarni Sveinsson And His Sister Salvör: kinship, honour, loyalty, hardship, Icelandic family saga	1862
Una The Fairy	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Una The Fairy: fairy love, enchantment, longing, otherworld beauty, sorrow	1862
Sæmund - The Fly	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Sæmund - The Fly: devilry, transformation, clerical cunning, comic folklore	1862
Sæmund - The Goblin's Whistle	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Sæmund - The Goblin’s Whistle: magic object, goblin trickery, rural supernatural, wit	1862
The Clergyman's Daughter In Prestsbakki	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	The Clergyman’s Daughter In Prestsbakki: haunting, fairy abduction, sorrow, supernatural encounter	1862
Hildur The Fairy Queen	Pen And Pencil Sketches Of Faröe And Iceland	Andrew James Symington	Iceland	Hildur The Fairy Queen: fairy sovereignty, enchantment, desire, danger, otherworld power	1862
The Legend Of Tamara	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Legend Of Tamara: love, betrayal, river-origin, grief, remembrance	1865
The Lord Of Pengerswick An Enchanter	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Lord Of Pengerswick An Enchanter: sorcery, lordship, secrecy, power, dread	1865
The Bells Of Forrabury Church	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Bells Of Forrabury Church: pride, warning, sea-disaster, loss, haunting memory	1865
Thomasine Bonaventure	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	Thomasine Bonaventure: female daring, wit, adventure, memory, renown	1865
The Legends Of St Leven	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Legends Of St Leven: saintly presence, local holiness, miracle, memory	1865
The Crowza Stones	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Crowza Stones: sacred relics, stones, saints, memorial transformation	1865
Old Madge Figgey And The Pig	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	Old Madge Figgey And The Pig: witchcraft, shapeshifting, livestock, suspicion, rustic humour	1865
St Dennis’s Blood	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	St Dennis’s Blood: martyrdom, omen, blood-signs, calamity, sacred dread	1865
How Mr Lenine Gave Up Courting	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	How Mr Lenine Gave Up Courting: courtship, witchcraft, fear, retreat, superstition	1865
The White Hare	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The White Hare: death-omen, animal apparition, superstition, warning	1865
St Kea’s Boat	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	St Kea’s Boat: saintly journey, miracle, sea-crossing, mission, faith	1865
St Nectan’s Kieve And The Lonely Sisters	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	St Nectan’s Kieve And The Lonely Sisters: sanctity, isolation, sorrow, landscape, miracle	1865
How St Piran Reached Cornwall	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	How St Piran Reached Cornwall: saintly voyage, exile, providence, arrival, sanctity	1865
The Witch Of Fraddam And Pengerswick	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Witch Of Fraddam And Pengerswick: rivalry, witchcraft, locality, power, fear	1865
The Battle Of Vellan-Druchar	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Battle Of Vellan-Druchar: Arthurian conflict, warfare, heroism, memory, legend	1865
The Tinner Of Chyannor	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Tinner Of Chyannor: tinner folklore, labour, place-memory, mining life	1865
Madam Noy And Old Joan	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	Madam Noy And Old Joan: witch rivalry, cunning, malice, local fear	1865
A Fairy Caught	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	A Fairy Caught: fairy encounter, captivity, secrecy, rural marvel	1865
How Pengerswick Became A Sorcerer	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	How Pengerswick Became A Sorcerer: ambition, forbidden knowledge, magic, power, transformation	1865
The Lady With The Lantern	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Lady With The Lantern: ghostly warning, coast, death, supernatural guidance	1865
The Last Of The Killigrews	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Last Of The Killigrews: piracy, family legend, decline, violence, notoriety	1865
St German’s Well	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	St German’s Well: holy water, healing, sanctity, pilgrimage, devotion	1865
The Longstone	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Longstone: petrifaction, punishment, sacred landscape, legend	1865
The Witch And The Toad	Popular Romances of the West of England	Robert Hunt	England	The Witch And The Toad: witchcraft, familiar spirit, malice, fear	1865

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