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Tales of Long Ago
Tales of Ancient Greece and Arabian Nights retold by Enid Blyton. Pandora and the Whispering Box, The King and the Golden Touch, The Wings of Icarus, Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp and many many more stories.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1965
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140 people want to read
About the author
Enid Blyton
5,133 books6,296 followersSee also:
Ένιντ Μπλάιτον (Greek)
Enida Blaitona (Latvian)
Энид Блайтон (Russian)
Inid Blajton (Serbian)
Інід Блайтон (Ukrainian)
Enid Mary Blyton (1897–1968) was an English author of children's books.
Born in South London, Blyton was the eldest of three children, and showed an early interest in music and reading. She was educated at St. Christopher's School, Beckenham, and - having decided not to pursue her music - at Ipswich High School, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years before her 1924 marriage to editor Hugh Pollock, with whom she had two daughters. This marriage ended in divorce, and Blyton remarried in 1943, to surgeon Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters. She died in 1968, one year after her second husband.
Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Her stories were often either children's adventure and mystery stories, or fantasies involving magic. Notable series include: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, Noddy, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's.
According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare.
See also her pen name Mary Pollock
Ένιντ Μπλάιτον (Greek)
Enida Blaitona (Latvian)
Энид Блайтон (Russian)
Inid Blajton (Serbian)
Інід Блайтон (Ukrainian)
Enid Mary Blyton (1897–1968) was an English author of children's books.
Born in South London, Blyton was the eldest of three children, and showed an early interest in music and reading. She was educated at St. Christopher's School, Beckenham, and - having decided not to pursue her music - at Ipswich High School, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years before her 1924 marriage to editor Hugh Pollock, with whom she had two daughters. This marriage ended in divorce, and Blyton remarried in 1943, to surgeon Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters. She died in 1968, one year after her second husband.
Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Her stories were often either children's adventure and mystery stories, or fantasies involving magic. Notable series include: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, Noddy, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's.
According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare.
See also her pen name Mary Pollock
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 5, 2015
Blyton tells stories from ancient times
9 August 2012
When I discovered this book it pretty much jumped to the top of my 'must get a copy of it' list, the reason being is that it contained a collection of stories from Greek Mythology and the Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights. Knowing a lot of Greek stories, and how sexually explicit some of them were, I wanted to see how Blyton turned them into children's stories. Getting my hands on this book was an adventure in itself since I could not find it in any of the second hand bookshops in the city, and the one that did was asking $90.00 for it (which I was not going to pay). I was tempted to get one over Ebay, however on my last day in Adelaide, I went for a drive around the suburbs and discovered that they were a dime a dozen and ended up getting a copy cheaper than what Ebay had to offer. Personally, I am still baffled as to why this one shop thought they could get away with charging $90.00 for it (and in reality, they probably can't).
When I read this book I was even more astonished at the sources that Blyton used. It turns out that in the Greek section a bulk of the stories she took straight out of Ovid. Now, Blyton writes these stories as aetiological myths, that is a story of how something became what it is. Maybe to the Ancient Greeks that is what these tales were, however to Ovid it was not. Ovid did not see these stories as aetiological but rather demonstrations of the changing nature of the universe and the fact that everything is constantly in flux. However I will not go into deeper detail about Ovid here, except to say that whenever I read one of these Greek stories of transformation I do not think aetiological, I think Ovidian.
It also surprised me that it was not only Ovid that she used: she also took as story from Herodotus, being the story about the master musician who was thrown overboard by pirates and rescued by dolphins who were enchanted by his music. The other story, Cupid and Psyche, is taken from Apuleius' Golden Ass, which, to be honest with you, is not the type of book that one would read to children (considering there are numerous instances of bestiology). However, the Cupid and Psyche story is much tamer than the rest of The Golden Ass.
So, the question then remains, how does Blyton deal with the sex issue. The answer is that she doesn't. She talks about love and relationships, and most of the stories that she uses do not involve sex. However one of the stories, the story of Io, does, and I feel that she does cause some problems. In her story she tells of how Jupiter (she uses the Roman names, which is further evidence that she used Ovid as a source) travelled to Earth to talk to Io and that he created a cloud to hide them. However Juno saw the cloud and became incredibly jealous. The thought that rises in my head is 'why is Juno jealous of Jupiter talking to Io?' Maybe the question won't be asked, but then again maybe it will.
The second part of the book is taken from the Arabian Nights. Blyton explains at the beginning how the book is actually a collection of stories that are being told by a noble Persian woman to the Caliph. The Caliph one day caught his wife having an affair and so he killed her. Not trusting woman anymore, he decided to marry a woman for a night and then kill her. It came to the point that there were no longer any available women and it was the Vizier's daughter's turn to take the wedding vow, however she tricked him by beginning a story and ending at a cliff-hanger which meant that the Caliph could not kill her until he had heard the ending, but when she ended one story she would immediately start another. This went on for 1001 nights and at the end the Caliph decided that he would keep the princess alive.
There are a number of familiar stories here, including Sinbad the Sailor (though only six of his journies are told), Aladdin and the Lamp, and Ali Baba and the forty thieves. Also there are other stories, including one about a magical horse, another about a genie and three merchants, and another about a lost city. Mind you, when I read Ali Baba, I could not help but laugh whenever somebody said 'open sesame'. These stories are so permeated into our culture that we sometimes forget their origin, and the thing is that these stories all come from the Muslim world.
The book actually gives a good overview of the style of story telling from the Arabian Nights and I must say that it is very impressive. In fact many of these stories seem to set the standard for many of the other works that have succeeded it, right down to the stock standard Hollywood film. The protagonists always win, always come out wealthy, and always get the girl. However they also go through trials and tribulations to reach this ending. Further, there a stories within stories within stories, and one of the stories, the Genie and the Three Merchants, indicates this. It is also interesting that the story of the lost city has a pool in which there are four coloured fish, representing the faiths of the people of the land (which are Muslim, Christian, Jew, and Xorastrian). For me, the Arabian Nights has suddenly appeared on my reading list and we could learn quite a lot about Muslim culture and storytelling from it.
9 August 2012
When I discovered this book it pretty much jumped to the top of my 'must get a copy of it' list, the reason being is that it contained a collection of stories from Greek Mythology and the Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights. Knowing a lot of Greek stories, and how sexually explicit some of them were, I wanted to see how Blyton turned them into children's stories. Getting my hands on this book was an adventure in itself since I could not find it in any of the second hand bookshops in the city, and the one that did was asking $90.00 for it (which I was not going to pay). I was tempted to get one over Ebay, however on my last day in Adelaide, I went for a drive around the suburbs and discovered that they were a dime a dozen and ended up getting a copy cheaper than what Ebay had to offer. Personally, I am still baffled as to why this one shop thought they could get away with charging $90.00 for it (and in reality, they probably can't).
When I read this book I was even more astonished at the sources that Blyton used. It turns out that in the Greek section a bulk of the stories she took straight out of Ovid. Now, Blyton writes these stories as aetiological myths, that is a story of how something became what it is. Maybe to the Ancient Greeks that is what these tales were, however to Ovid it was not. Ovid did not see these stories as aetiological but rather demonstrations of the changing nature of the universe and the fact that everything is constantly in flux. However I will not go into deeper detail about Ovid here, except to say that whenever I read one of these Greek stories of transformation I do not think aetiological, I think Ovidian.
It also surprised me that it was not only Ovid that she used: she also took as story from Herodotus, being the story about the master musician who was thrown overboard by pirates and rescued by dolphins who were enchanted by his music. The other story, Cupid and Psyche, is taken from Apuleius' Golden Ass, which, to be honest with you, is not the type of book that one would read to children (considering there are numerous instances of bestiology). However, the Cupid and Psyche story is much tamer than the rest of The Golden Ass.
So, the question then remains, how does Blyton deal with the sex issue. The answer is that she doesn't. She talks about love and relationships, and most of the stories that she uses do not involve sex. However one of the stories, the story of Io, does, and I feel that she does cause some problems. In her story she tells of how Jupiter (she uses the Roman names, which is further evidence that she used Ovid as a source) travelled to Earth to talk to Io and that he created a cloud to hide them. However Juno saw the cloud and became incredibly jealous. The thought that rises in my head is 'why is Juno jealous of Jupiter talking to Io?' Maybe the question won't be asked, but then again maybe it will.
The second part of the book is taken from the Arabian Nights. Blyton explains at the beginning how the book is actually a collection of stories that are being told by a noble Persian woman to the Caliph. The Caliph one day caught his wife having an affair and so he killed her. Not trusting woman anymore, he decided to marry a woman for a night and then kill her. It came to the point that there were no longer any available women and it was the Vizier's daughter's turn to take the wedding vow, however she tricked him by beginning a story and ending at a cliff-hanger which meant that the Caliph could not kill her until he had heard the ending, but when she ended one story she would immediately start another. This went on for 1001 nights and at the end the Caliph decided that he would keep the princess alive.
There are a number of familiar stories here, including Sinbad the Sailor (though only six of his journies are told), Aladdin and the Lamp, and Ali Baba and the forty thieves. Also there are other stories, including one about a magical horse, another about a genie and three merchants, and another about a lost city. Mind you, when I read Ali Baba, I could not help but laugh whenever somebody said 'open sesame'. These stories are so permeated into our culture that we sometimes forget their origin, and the thing is that these stories all come from the Muslim world.
The book actually gives a good overview of the style of story telling from the Arabian Nights and I must say that it is very impressive. In fact many of these stories seem to set the standard for many of the other works that have succeeded it, right down to the stock standard Hollywood film. The protagonists always win, always come out wealthy, and always get the girl. However they also go through trials and tribulations to reach this ending. Further, there a stories within stories within stories, and one of the stories, the Genie and the Three Merchants, indicates this. It is also interesting that the story of the lost city has a pool in which there are four coloured fish, representing the faiths of the people of the land (which are Muslim, Christian, Jew, and Xorastrian). For me, the Arabian Nights has suddenly appeared on my reading list and we could learn quite a lot about Muslim culture and storytelling from it.
July 1, 2018
Every star I've given this is from nostalgia and because it was my first introduction to Mythology but man - this book is a product of it's time and it seems like every story in the Greek section (almost) is taken from Ovid's Metamorphosis and not told well. (Nor is Ovid referenced! I know it says retold by Blyton but still!) Should have stuck with Mallory Towers for my fav childhood book challenge.
ETA It bugged me even as a kid that she called it Greek Mythology but used the roman names. *pedantic*
ETA It bugged me even as a kid that she called it Greek Mythology but used the roman names. *pedantic*
May 10, 2021
I'm keeping this book forever!
Some of the stories I heard before, others I haven't. It's perfect for all age ranges, it's a book I would read to children before bed time. It's a classic for mini stories of myths and legends
Some of the stories I heard before, others I haven't. It's perfect for all age ranges, it's a book I would read to children before bed time. It's a classic for mini stories of myths and legends
September 20, 2016
I read this book when I was very young and it stuck with me. I remember being excited about reading Greek Mythology and all the other tales from Arabia and China.
Having now read it again as an adult I can see why I loved it so but I didn't see how hilarious the tales were back then as I didn't have the capacity for it.
There is always a girl more beautiful than anything in the world. Someone always gets jealous. Someone is always either stupid, angry, greedy etc etc.
I've learnt that if you like a girl you just grab her and then shout in her face that you love her and take her to your lair for ever.
I've also learned that if people are rude to you you can drown them all or lock them up in towers or turn them into animals.
Absolutely hilarious!
Tales of long ago are all about fear of the unknown, fear of foreigners and foreign lands and fear of evil women and people who look different.
And killing people if they are a bit rude to you.
To top it off, as it's an Enid Blyton book there is some racism thrown in for good measure. What I couldn't see as a child I can now see clear as day. And I don't like it.
So read this and remember it's of it's time.
Having now read it again as an adult I can see why I loved it so but I didn't see how hilarious the tales were back then as I didn't have the capacity for it.
There is always a girl more beautiful than anything in the world. Someone always gets jealous. Someone is always either stupid, angry, greedy etc etc.
I've learnt that if you like a girl you just grab her and then shout in her face that you love her and take her to your lair for ever.
I've also learned that if people are rude to you you can drown them all or lock them up in towers or turn them into animals.
Absolutely hilarious!
Tales of long ago are all about fear of the unknown, fear of foreigners and foreign lands and fear of evil women and people who look different.
And killing people if they are a bit rude to you.
To top it off, as it's an Enid Blyton book there is some racism thrown in for good measure. What I couldn't see as a child I can now see clear as day. And I don't like it.
So read this and remember it's of it's time.
August 4, 2024
This book is a collection of wonderfully written stories by Ruskin Bond and is perfect for people who like to read nature stories. In this book, we read and get to know about the experiences of young people and children like Bisnu, Bina and Sita. This book also includes a chapter in which multiple rivers and their beauty is listed.
May 13, 2021
A book that wants you to reunite with nature
August 15, 2022
A kind of random collection of stories, Tales of Long Ago includes both Greek myths and the Arabian Nights. I've read a version of the Arabian Nights but know embarrassingly little about Greek mythology so I have no idea how accurate these stories are to other versions not for kids. I imagine they have been quite watered down!
It's fairly Blyton-esque, funnily enough similar to some of the other short stories I've read from her, but instead of pixies and brownie and naughty kids, we have gods and goddesses and merchants and genies. Most of the Greek mythology stories are morality based tales, or "this is why things are the way they are."
Probably a fairly enjoyable intro to these worlds of stories, but plenty of slave-talk and other racist elements, unfortunately but not surprisingly.
It's fairly Blyton-esque, funnily enough similar to some of the other short stories I've read from her, but instead of pixies and brownie and naughty kids, we have gods and goddesses and merchants and genies. Most of the Greek mythology stories are morality based tales, or "this is why things are the way they are."
Probably a fairly enjoyable intro to these worlds of stories, but plenty of slave-talk and other racist elements, unfortunately but not surprisingly.
November 3, 2017
The paper cover of my hardback copy disappeared many moons ago & while I know it was nothing like the cover shown here it still dated from the mid to late sixties....& yes, it's still a treasured book!
This isn't the usual type of Enid Blyton book but stories of Ancient Greece & the Arabian Nights. Basically, it's myths & legends rewritten in a straightforward but not a childish way & it started me with a love of mythology & folktales that remains with me today.
This isn't the usual type of Enid Blyton book but stories of Ancient Greece & the Arabian Nights. Basically, it's myths & legends rewritten in a straightforward but not a childish way & it started me with a love of mythology & folktales that remains with me today.
February 21, 2021
Reading through the pile of Blyton books on my shelf before passing them along to the street libraries around the neighbourhood, this one is pretty average though Blyton retelling old myths and legends, she is better off sticking to middle class toffee nose British gits riding their bicycles and solving mysteries with nefarious characters on their school holidays.
Anyway enough banging on - average.
Anyway enough banging on - average.
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October 15, 2023The three images I remember from this book are the sun-god's chariot launching into the sky, Narcissus on his knees by the pool gazing at himself, and King Midas overcome by gold.
February 20, 2025
My husband said it was his favourite book as a kid so I read it. Liked the Greek myths better than the Arabian Nights.
August 24, 2020
A book of Greek myths (curiously told with Roman Gods & Godessess) and Arabian tales pitched at children.
I’ve had this book since childhood and wanted to revisit it to brush up on my Greek myths and Arabian stories. A good and quick read - sanitised for young people’s ears. Yet not quite P.C for today’s standards ...
in the story of Phaeton & The Sun-Horses when the sun was driven too close to the earth “the people of Africa were burnt black with the awful heat, and never did their skin return to its rightful colour. They remained black for all time” 😱
I’ve had this book since childhood and wanted to revisit it to brush up on my Greek myths and Arabian stories. A good and quick read - sanitised for young people’s ears. Yet not quite P.C for today’s standards ...
in the story of Phaeton & The Sun-Horses when the sun was driven too close to the earth “the people of Africa were burnt black with the awful heat, and never did their skin return to its rightful colour. They remained black for all time” 😱
December 30, 2023
As good as any Ruskin Bond collection is.
These stories speak so well of how Ruskin Bond writes about ordinary people and their lives. A Song of Many Rivers is more of a travelogue, but the rest are about people's live, simple lives. They make you feel so nostalgic and make you want to visit these places that the author is describing, so you can also experience all the events in the stories.
All except Sita and the River have nothing significant happening. There is no climax or suspense, but you fell so invested in the lives of the characters. As these stories end, you can't help wonder what will happen to Bisnu or Bina or did Suraj ever get to pass his exams or even if the author ever saw Suraj again.
These stories speak so well of how Ruskin Bond writes about ordinary people and their lives. A Song of Many Rivers is more of a travelogue, but the rest are about people's live, simple lives. They make you feel so nostalgic and make you want to visit these places that the author is describing, so you can also experience all the events in the stories.
All except Sita and the River have nothing significant happening. There is no climax or suspense, but you fell so invested in the lives of the characters. As these stories end, you can't help wonder what will happen to Bisnu or Bina or did Suraj ever get to pass his exams or even if the author ever saw Suraj again.
September 9, 2022
hilariously reworked to avoid explicit plot lines, ALARMINGLY un-PC (it is Blyton after all) and copious mix ups between greek and roman gods in its pages- but extremely nostalgic for me nonetheless!
stole this copy from my auntie when I was about 5 years old and read it till the pages were soft. will always treasure my weird little introduction to mythology <3
stole this copy from my auntie when I was about 5 years old and read it till the pages were soft. will always treasure my weird little introduction to mythology <3
May 30, 2023
This book is so nostalgic for me as a child that grew up loving Greek mythology. However, as an adult the nostalgia just doesn’t hold up. Blyton uses too many glaring inconsistencies.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews