…continuing from last week, a story by Henrietta Dorothy Huskisson aka H.D. Everett, from “The Death-Mask and Other Ghosts”. I did not like Dr. Vickers and his Italian lessons, and I had the impression Freda would have been better pleased by their intermission. On the third day she had a headache and charged me to […]
…continuing from last week. After lunch Freda did not seem willing to go out again, so, as I was there to companion her, we both settled down to needlework and a book for alternate reading aloud. The reading, however, languished; when it came to Freda’s turn she tired quickly, lost her place twice and again, […]
This is another story by the vastly underrated author known as H.D. Everett, born Henrietta Dorothy Huskisson, which I discovered while collecting stories for the Advent Calendar.. It’s included in The Death-Mask and Other Ghosts, and it’s perfect for a merfolk Monday. The story comes in parts. We were disappointed when Robert married. We had […]
There’s a tale by this title in Andrew Lang’s The Blue Fairy Book, and that’s closely related to the tale “The Fisherman and His Wife” collected by the Brothers Grimm. It’s also sometimes known as “The Enchanted Fish”. This tale however is a different one, collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales (1890). Its […]
Italo Calvino‘s collection “Italian Folktales” includes this fairytale as coming from the region of Liguria, and that makes perfect sense, as it’s a region known for its coastal landscapes and maritime culture (and the parsimony of its inhabitants, but that’s a different story). You can read the story on my Patreon.
“The Two Cakes” is a story from The Pentameron, or The Story of Stories by Giambattista Basile, here given in the translation by John Edward Taylor. You can also read the story on my Patreon. I have always heard say, that he who gives pleasure finds it: the bell of Manfredonia says, “Give me, I give […]
Harvington Hall is a moated medieval and Elizabethan manor house located in the hamlet of Harvington in Worcestershire, England. Its moat and artificial island trace back to the 13th century to, and the 14th-century building still survives behind a layer of bricks. The hall was owned by several notable figures over the centuries, including Adam de […]
A story in Whitby — a seaside town located on the North Yorkshire coast in the North East of England, between Scarborough and Redcar — tells of the day Henry VIII decided to send his men to wreck the local Abbey (yeah, it’s the Dracula one, I talked about it here). The King’s men stripped […]
Well, we’re back with our collection of strange sea lore, and apologies for the interruption but work has been wild and I had to focus on the revision of my novel. Where? This legend takes place in Orford Castle — in Suffolk, Southeast England — a manor near the homonymous Ness and not too far […]
A little further north from where Milan stands, in the Western Dolomites, there is a beautiful lake also known as Lake of the Rainbow, called Lago di Carezza which literally means “Lake of the Caress”. It’s said to be the home of a water nymph, and local folklore explains why its waters have such beautiful […]