Folk Tales from Greece

by Menelaos Stephanides

A two-volume edition, sold separately, containing twelve folk tales selected from the treasure-house of modern Greek tradition. Water nyphs, witches, animals with the power of speech and dragons spring to life from its pages, along with adventures and heroic deeds, human loves and weaknesses. These imaginary tales are set against the timeless background of the Greek countryside, with its Mediterranean light, its perfumes and its varied scenery. Stories which have been passed down to us by word of mouth, told by an older generation on long winter nights and beneath the stars in summer, they are aimed at people of all ages. At the end of each volume is a tale preserved in the form it was first told two of the best-loved works of Greek demotic verse, translated into English but preserving the metre in which they were recited to their original audiences. The volumes are given an added dramatic dimension by prize-winning artist Fotini Stefanidi's vivid line illustrations. Contents The Water-nymph and the Veil The Soothsayer Beauty and the Swan The Sad Nightingale The Dress that Went into a Walnut The Marble Princess The Bridge at Arta

Genres: Fiction

250 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2005

About the author

Menelaos Stephanides, the author of ‘Greek Mythology’, originally studied economics in Athens but his main preoccupation was writing.

For more than twenty-five years he concentrated, with great success, on the retelling of ancient Greek myths, tirelessly studying the source materials to achieve his literary version of the many stories. Working with his brother, the artist and illustrator Yannis Stephanides, he wrote and published the 18-volume series ‘Greek Mythology’ for children, which was translated into several languages and later reissued as a pocket book for older readers. He then turned his attention to more recent Greek tradition, studying hundreds of folk tales the most appealing of which he retold in the highly successful 10-volume series ‘Folk Tales from Greece’.

Menelaos Stephanides’ name is now familiar in many parts of the world, thanks to the translation of both his mythology and the folk tales into several foreign languages. In 1989 his book ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ was awarded two Pier Paolo Vergerio honourable distinctions by the University of Padua, while in 1998 his entire published work was recommended by the Hellenic Ministry of Education for inclusion in school libraries, having already long been recognised as a source of reference for publishers, the reading public and educationalists.

Reviews

[Rine Bekkelund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Er vsnskelig å rate folkeeventyr liksom, mem som en kulturinnsiktsting 5 av 5

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler: almost all of these little stories had pleasant endings which felt like a nice deviation from the norm. I will say forgot how weird old country misogyny is, (the first one is especially gross), maybe half the stories had women in highly compromising situations, but all the stories also had the pacing and repetition of a folk-tale which I enjoy and would seek out the rest of the set. Overall a nice little read while traveling in Greece.