The Heroes

by Charles Kingsley, Ron King (Illustrator)

The Works of Charles Kingsley, - Vol. VII- the Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for my Children is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1881. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Genres: Classics, Mythology, Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Childrens, Literature

Hardcover

First published December 1, 1855

About the author

Charles Kingsley was an English clergyman, university professor, historian, and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and north-east Hampshire.

He was educated at Helston Grammar School before studying at King's College London, and the University of Cambridge. Charles entered Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1838, and graduated in 1842. He chose to pursue a ministry in the church. From 1844, he was rector of Eversley in Hampshire, and in 1860, he was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge.

His writing shows an impulse to reconfigure social realities into dream geographies through Christian idealism.

Reviews

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The boys and I read this through out the year. The boys loved this and loved learning about all the Greek myths and legends and wanted me to continue reading many times. Our oldest was making connections to other books so that was fun- The Princess and the Goblin with Thesus. I also made a connection this time with Theseus and Katniss from The Hunger Games.

2024: "So it is still, my children, and so it will be to the end. In those old Greeks, and in us also, all strength and virtue come from God. But if men grow proud and self-willed, and misuse God's fair gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and fall pitifully, that the glory may be His alone. God help us all, and give us wisdom, and courage to do noble deeds! but God keep pride from us when we have done them, lest we fall, and come to shame!"

[Gina Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

AO year 3 read. I know a lot of people struggle with this one and some are even subbing in a different book but I just love it. I feel it needs to be read aloud and it reads almost like poetry sometimes. The words, the flow, the cadence... it’s lovely.

Update 2024 - I read probably over half of this to one of my high school Latin classes over the course of the year it was very much enjoyed! One student was know to say, “yay! I like story time!” I also made them narrate it and it was quite good practice for kids who haven’t ever really narrated.

[Heather Gorsett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was excellent! Despite the myriad of names and places that I stumbled over in reading aloud, I appreciated the focus on three heroes: Perseus, the Argonauts, and Theseus. Theseus was our favorite! The last paragraph was the perfect way to apply Christian humility to so many Greek virtues:

“All strength and virtue come from God. But if men grow proud and self-willed, and misuse God‘s fair gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and fall pitifully, that the glory may be His alone. God help us all, and give us wisdom, and courage to do noble deeds! But God keep pride from us when we have done them, lest we fall, and come to shame!”

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ancients, man. They never grow old.

“So it is still, my children, and so it will be to the end. In those old Greeks, and in us also, all strength and virtue come from God. But if men grow proud and self-willed, and misuse God's fair gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and fall pitifully, that the glory may be His alone. God help us all, and give us wisdom, and courage to do noble deeds! but God keep pride from us when we have done them, lest we fall, and come to shame!”

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in the fourth grade , and fell in love with it . I read it over and over until I graduated high school . It's still one of my most prized possessions , even though the pages are falling out .

[Audrey Hacker · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was so christianized I died

[Caroline Norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

2025: Loved this book the second time around! My daughter (second one to go through AO Year 3) had more mythology under her belt and I had more practice reading all the names (though I still butchered them!), and we really enjoyed it. This is one of many books that acts as a stepping stone - it helps build you up to handle other more challenging books. That was neat to see coming back to it again! I look forward to reading it again in a couple years with my next kiddo, Lord-willing.


2022: Read with my oldest for AO Y3, found it mostly enjoyable, though often confusing.

[Isabella Leake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books like this are the main reason I love Ambleside Online. It's so good, so beautiful, a perfect gem of an introduction to mythology—and yet a title I would never have known about had it not been for the curriculum.

I don't know his other work, but I know that Kingsley has a reputation as master of prose, and sure enough, the English in this book is just gorgeous. Think Kenneth Graham—style that absolutely sparkles. And though quite literary, it somehow sounds appropriately oral, too; one of my boys put this into his own terms nicely: "this book already sounds like a narration."

I love that my children's first encounter with Greek mythology came not from one of those kids' introductions that is basically an encyclopedia of deities but from the real, ancient stories that sweep heroes, deities, and other mythical beings up into a grand and sublime narrative. They didn't learn facts about Athena or Orpheus or Procrustes—they saw them in action, their single threads of story entwined with many others, inseparable from the full drama. Separate these figures from their tales, and the figures no longer seem very compelling or even interesting. 

This book does a beautiful job telling the complete stories of Perseus, Jason, and Theseus in a way that does justice to the venerable traditions of both Greek and English literature. Definitely one of my favorite books we read for 3rd grade.

[Brit Chhangur · Rating 4 out of 5]

AO read with my Form 1 kids, spread over three years. I remember getting lost in the Argonauts but overall such enjoyable stories and writing! (We used D’Aulaire’s Greek mythology book for the pictures along with this!) I also like to sneak peeks at Calvin when they describe Heroes, and that part of their education is wrestling and things like that. ☺️

2nd time through and loved it even more!

[Jordan Faeh]

My Y3 Ambleside Online child LOVED this book over all of her other books. She begged to read it each week and her narrations were always more detailed and engaging than other books. Perhaps it’s just a personal bent towards Greek fairytales or perhaps it’s the result of a living book—either way, it was a delight for me to read aloud to her.

[Shinae Wyckoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook with my 6- and 8-year-olds as the literature component of our ancient history focus in homeschool this year. This made a great introduction to the Greek legends and myths, many of which I did not remember. It was also decently stretching to their listening ability, being set in very high, formal, epic language. It was fun to hear them acquire some of that wording and high tone when narrating sections back to me.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud for Y3 & Y1 students. We listened to the audiobook narrated by Robin Field and it was excellent! And it saved me from tripping over a hundred difficult greek names. We enjoyed making connections to other fairytales and stories.

[Beverly J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A somewhat dry retelling of mythos. A veritable antique, I was intrigued by that alone. Would probably have read further than I did if I had had more time with it.

[Lekeshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Some stories hard to get onto because of all the Greek names. My son really loved Perseus. Great precursor to Mythology by Edith Hamilton.

[Vanessa Chesebro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read. Theseus defeating the Minotaur reminds me of Princess and the Goblin. Lots of battles obviously but doesn’t include gory details. Looking forward to reading with James.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kids were excited every time to read the next tale.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the ending:

“God help us all, and give us wisdom, and courage to do noble deeds! but God keep pride from us when we have done them, lest we fall, and come to shame!”

[Jen Ebers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only half-listened to this. We listened during car time and the kids always asked for more.

AO Yr 3 read

[Private Account · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I am Pallas Athena; and I know the thoughts of all men's hearts, and discern their manhood or their baseness. And from the souls of clay I turn away, and they are blessed, but not by me. They fatten at ease, like sheep in the pasture, and eat what they did not sow, like oxen in the stall. They grow and spread, like the gourd along the ground; but, like the gourd, they give no shade to the traveller, and when they are ripe death gathers them, and they go down unloved into hell, and their name vanishes out of the land.

"But to the souls of fire I give more fire, and to those who are manful I give a might more than man's. These are the heroes, the sons of the Immortals, who are blessed, but not like the souls of clay. For I drive them forth by strange paths, Perseus, that they may fight the Titans and the monsters, the enemies of Gods and men. Through doubt and need, danger and battle, I drive them; some are slain in the flower of youth, no man nows when or where; and some of them win noble names, and a fair and green old age; but what will be their latter end I know not, and none, save Zeus, the father of Gods and men. Tell me now, Perseus, which of these two sorts of men seem to you more blessed?"

My-six-year old loved this book. I thought it was fantastic. The stories are well told and fun to read. But the author tries to Christianize them too much. You can see that in the passage above with the mention of hell and likening Zeus to the Christian God. At the beginning of some stories and throughout Kingsley tries to pull in Christian values. So, that was annoying/cumbersome. Even so, this book is heads and tails ahead of most children's literature written lately.

[Leah Beecher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again as home schooling time is limited when it comes to the reading of whole books to accompany our unit study of Ancient Greece, we only read the introduction and the first "Hero" story. But both my daughters {5th and 6th} and myself enjoyed the stories. I think the drawback for reading these ancient tales, obviously adapted for children, is that they read a bit like those primary grade "easy reading" works of classics. Instead of getting drawn into an exciting story the tales are told simply as a narrative of a sequence of events. However, the Greek classics are such literature classics that I feel it is almost imperative to be at least familiar with these works and characters that have been read for thousands of years, to be a wholly educated person of literature. Much like reading Shakespeare, except that we loved Shakespeare. This book was recommended in the Charlotte Mason guide of homeschooling. Most likely because as its name suggests, it puts emphasis on heroes of moral character. The Victorian Era Charles Kingsley writes a wonderful introduction on how a Christian reader can glean the redeeming aspects of these old Greek tales. A good supplement for your middle school or high school student of whole books in Ancient Greek history.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very detailed and in depth look at a trio of Greek Heroes. Occasionally Kingsley nicely ties in a Christian perspective although it is random and unexpected and therefore loses some of it's charm. Additionally, there he sometimes seems to go off on tangents, providing us with too much detail about a very minor character and possibly confusing the reader. By pointing out that this is so and so from the story so and so where such and such happens in the middle of his narrative about another character entirely, the reader is forced to make a connection to another story that they may or may not be familiar with. This prevents the reader the delight of making that connection himself during this reading or at a later time. The children did appreciate the closer look at these characters and story lines that they have explored previously.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do have some interest in Greek mythology, and it's good to see the stories written down so people could read them! But I think the title is misleading, as myths are different from fairy tales, and Greek myths don't count as Greek fairy tales. (There are a number of books that have actual Greek fairy tales that come from post-classical Greece, such as some of Andrew Lang's Colored Fairy Books.)

Sorry if that's a little off-topic...

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book as a kid. It was this book that actually got me reading so it will always hold a special place in my library. Mine is a semi-illustrated edition that has little explanatory illustrations down the side of the page.

[A.R. Jarvis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull. Without realizing it I tried twice to read this book, and both times I barely made it a third of the way through before giving up. It's just not worth the effort to read this tediously flowery version of the Greek myths.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kingsley clearly has a good sense of mythology and the heroes, but the writing style is plodding and old fashioned, and his Christian religious spin on the myths is downright jarring.

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vivid, Poetic, Heroic Greek Myths for Kids, Minus some Darkness and Plus some Racism

In The Heroes or Greek Fairy Tales for My Children (1856), Victorian Church of England priest-professor-author Charles Kingsley retells the lives and achievements of three heroes from Greek mythology, focusing on Perseus (and Andromeda and Medusa); Jason (and the Argonauts, Medea, and the Golden Fleece), and Theseus (and the Devourers of Men and the Minotaur).

Kingsley is at pains to present an entertaining AND educational (moral) set of heroic myths to inculcate proper Christian values in his child readers. His narrator says things like:

==The stories are not all true, of course, nor half of them; you are not simple enough to fancy that; but the meaning of them is true, and true for ever, and that is—Do right, and God will help you…. For Jesus Christ, remember, is the Light who lights every man who comes into the world. And no one can think a right thought, or feel a right feeling, or understand the real truth of anything in earth and heaven, unless the good Lord Jesus teaches him by His Spirit, which gives man understanding.==

Alas that Kingsley imagined his child readers couldn’t handle adult elements of the original myths! He mentions Danae being imprisoned by her wicked king-host so she can’t make a baby and then nevertheless giving birth to Perseus, with nary a word about Zeus turning into a gold shower to impregnate her! He recounts Medea killing her little brother Absyrtus and dumping his body into the sea to distract her father King Aeetes from his pursuit of Jason and the Argonauts, without mentioning that she first cut the boy up into pieces to make the recovery more time consuming (and horrible). He discloses that for revenge Medea did something terrible to Jason, but then says you’ll have to wait to grow up to find out what it was. And so on.

While eliding such juicy bits, Kingsley glibly inserts racist tropes into myths that lack them, like when Perseus flies to Egypt, where the Egyptians try to worship him, saying, “Surely thou art one of the Immortals; for thy skin is white like ivory, and ours is red like clay. Thy hair is like threads of gold, and ours is black and curled. Surely thou art one of the Immortals.” There are plenty of other admiring references to the heroes being “yellow-haired” in contrast to darker-haired locals.

All that said, Kingsley was a great writer with a fertile imagination and a majestic, Biblical heroic fantasy style and loved the Greek myths and wanted to present his child readers with wonders, as in splendid moments like the following:

==And seven days he walked through it, on a path which few can tell; for those who have trodden it like least to speak of it, and those who go there again in dreams are glad enough when they awake; till he came to the edge of the everlasting night, where the air was full of feathers, and the soil was hard with ice; and there at last he found the three Gray Sisters, by the shore of the freezing sea, nodding upon a white log of drift-wood, beneath the cold white winter moon; and they chaunted a low song together, ‘Why the old times were better than the new.’==

==On came the great sea-monster, coasting along like a huge black galley, lazily breasting the ripple, and stopping at times by creek or headland to watch for the laughter of girls at their bleaching, or cattle pawing on the sand-hills, or boys bathing on the beach. His great sides were fringed with clustering shells and sea-weeds, and the water gurgled in and out of his wide jaws, as he rolled along, dripping and glistening in the beams of the morning sun.==

==And they ran the ship ashore; but they had no strength left to haul her up the beach; and they crawled out on the pebbles, and sat down, and wept till they could weep no more. For the houses and the trees were all altered; and all the faces which they saw were strange; and their joy was swallowed up in sorrow, while they thought of their youth, and all their labour, and the gallant comrades they had lost.==

And it is unfair to compare Kingsley’s book to something like Robert Graves’ savory version of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, Hercules, My Shipmate (1944) or Mary Renault’s absorbing version of Theseus’ early days The King Must Die (1958), for they were writing for adults in the twentieth century.

But because of Kingsley’s racism (or that of his culture and era), I kind of prefer his bizarre and imaginative original fantasy The Water Babies (1863).

The various readers of the LibriVox audiobook who read different sections of The Heroes are a mixed bag. Some do not enhance the reading experience; others are superb and bring the stories to life.

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Charles Kingsley's retelling of stories from ancient Greek mythology for children. It deals with three heroes, Perseus, Jason (of the Golden Fleece) and Theseus. I enjoyed reading it as a child, and liked the pictures, which are pretty, but not particularly Greek -- the pastoral landscapes, especially, look English rather than Greek.

I found it interesting to see what I could remember of the stories, having last read them when I was about 10. Though it tells of the origin of a "Procrustean bed", which I had often seen referred to in other books, I retained no memories of it, and had to look it up as an adult. The thing I remembered best was the three old crones encountered by Perseus, who had to share one eye between them, and, of course, his fight with Medusa and rescue of Andromeda from the sea monster.

The only thing I remembered about Theseus was his encounter with the Minotaur, which, however, I had pictured as taking place underground, but in the story it evidently did not, which made little sense of the spool of thread he had to carry to find his way out again.

But I also found the stories strangely flat, especially Theseus. He was an ancient superhero, so powerful that he never seemed to be in any real danger. I do think, however, that they would be good for modern kids to read, and not only those brought up on a diet of superheroes. There are many references and allusions to them in other literature -- the Procrustean bed is just one example -- and so it can help children to understand those references.

Also, the past is another country, another culture, and reading stories from different cultures can help children to understand cultures other than their own.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fabulous introduction to greek mythology. It was written by a christian pastor in 1855 and he was such a good guide through these stories. I entered into the world of greek mythology through the d’aulaires as a child, and I think in retrospect, I needed a good guide. Pagan myths are confusing. They are so fun, and so horrible, at the same time. It’s hard for idealistic children to hold both in their minds at the same time. I read several books on mythology this year and very much am concerned with the way modern books glorify some of the worst parts of these stories. In fact, I appreciated Kingsley as I read through the adult books. The book ended with this, “So it is still, my children, and so it will be to the end.  In those old Greeks, and in us also, all strength and virtue come from God.  But if men grow proud and self-willed, and misuse God’s fair gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and fall pitifully, that the glory may be His alone.  God help us all, and give us wisdom, and courage to do noble deeds! but God keep pride from us when we have done them, lest we fall, and come to shame!”

[Jimbo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Heroes was found in an old used bookstore and I wanted the book to help me keep Greek myths clearer in my head. Unfortunately, it didn't. I get ever situation and hero mixed up all the time (except for Jason and the Argonauts because I loved that crazy movie as a kid). Hercules (or as Kingsley spelled it Heracles) I know a bit about. But beyond that, only what I got from other books and comics--which none really follow a true storyline from the myths.

The book contained only three tales. Honestly, I cannot even remember the first one (didn't make too much of an impression, I guess) then there was Jason and Pericles.

The writing was simplistic, but the footnotes were just as confusing as the names, places, and situations. Do not get me wrong it wasn't difficult, I just wanted a better reading of those Greek myths. So I probably will tackle Edith Hamilton or Bulfinch's books on the Greeks and see if they are better suited to my reading of them.

[nikolai]

this book was unbelievably bland to go through and i ended up skipping a few parts because i couldnt bear to read it. i live and breathe greek mythology but even i was getting lost at the convoluted nature of the text. some parts go by too quickly, some keep spouting names that you simple cant keep track of. plus the odd sections that the author took to spew christianity wasnt favourable as thats not what the book is about. i also tried reading this to my boyfriend but again the text was hard to follow at times and i had to repeat sentences so we could make any sense of them.
in my copy, which i believe is from the 80s, two of the drawings presented swastikas. i know the original edition was from 1928 but some editor shouldve removed them because by then the second world war was far from over.

anyways i dont recommend, there are much better books where these classic stories are written much better.