Legends, folk tales, fairy tales

[Sophia]

Anyone likes reading these? What's your favourite legend or tale?

I like reading stories and legends about castles. Today I ordered two new books- one is about legends of castles and second book is old tales about rivers, how their names were invented, which famous people went there and various stories about common people and rivers. I'm looking forward to them!

I like reading this genre because it's so relaxing and interesting. When you visit these places you can remember the legend and it gives another dimension to your trip :-)

 

[jedishrfu]

I've had that feeling visiting many places including the museum, national parks and monuments and natural wonders where they have backstories about the people who used those things or who lived there.

I recently saw a book at the store called the Atlas Obscura which is connected to a website of a similar name where really obscure places are shown and the backstory told. I think I saw a couple of unusual castles in there.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/categories/castles

 

[Sophia]

I've had that feeling visiting many places including the museum, national parks and monuments and natural wonders where they have backstories about the people who used those things or who lived there.

I recently saw a book at the store called the Atlas Obscura which is connected to a website of a similar name where really obscure places are shown and the backstory told. I think I saw a couple of unusual castles in there.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/categories/castles

That's a nice site, thanks :) I like the "random place" feature. too.

 

[fresh_42]

This is not far from my place:

"Once upon a time, a legend says, two giants lived in the Odenwald forest, now just south of Darmstadt. One lived on the hilltop and one in the valley, and they argued over who owned the hillside. They began tossing boulders at each other, and eventually the valley giant was buried on the hillside beneath a sea of boulders."

"At the bottom of the Felsenmeer lies a spring where a stream seeps forth from beneath the stones. A plaque and carving identify it as the Siegfrieds Quelle, where the hero Siegfried of German mythology is said to have been murdered as he stooped for a drink. This is just one of several spots throughout the Odenwald claiming such fame, but it lends to the mythical atmosphere of the place."

(Source: http://www.kaiserslauternamerican.com/trekking-the-felsenmeer/)

Pictures:

http://www.meetup.com/de-DE/rhein-neckar-hiking/events/222634745/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Felsenmeer_Lautertal?uselang=en

... by the way, the best thing about it is the African restaurant at the top of the hill ...

 

[fresh_42]

Here's another one. Not really a fairy tale, but at least a strange curiosity:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_Bottleneck

 

[Sophia]

Here's another one. Not really a fairy tale, but at least a strange curiosity:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_Bottleneck

Never heard of that one :) I can see how it can be used in tourist industry. And I'd like to see their stamps and currency. It would be funny to live in a state with it's own president which is a size of small town so that many people know each other. It would be difficult to avoid corruption :)
There are two hills close to where I went to high school. They are called Margita (girl's name) and Besná (=rabid, crazy). Traditionally, wood was transported on Váh river that flows around them. Like this, only there used to be wood, not tourists :p

There is one particular place where many rafts (vocab?) have drowned. The explanation:

Once upon a time, there was a young pretty widow and her step-daughter Margita. The widow wanted to marry and spent a lot of time putting her makeup on and wore nice clothes, but no one noticed her, because everyone loved Margita.
So one day, the widow had enough and allowed Margita to attend a party in a nearby village. This made Margita happy. She went there immediately, stopping only on the edge of the cliff, where she threw flower petals into water to see who would become her husband.
But suddenly, the widow appeared behind her and shoved poor Margita down from the cliff.
However, the widow wasn't happy after she got rid of her enemy. Her conscience woke up and she fell into great depression with hallucinations and dreams about Margita and ghosts (described quite vividly in one well-known poem). She had become very sick and nothing helped. One night, she was woken up by a company of zombies who followed her as she run towards the cliff and jumped.
Since that day, Besná, as she is now called, lives in the river and drowns anyone who dares to swim or sail near her grave.

 

[Psinter]

Anyone likes reading these?

Yas. But not just read...

Read them, watch them, play them on a console, and listen to them.

And I may have found my next fairy tale read for the next time I have time (very late next year ): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16248113-the-school-for-good-and-evil

Although the fact that they are 455 pages make me hesitate a little . Not to mention they are three books. But the quotes of the reviews call my attention and one picture in one of the reviews as well:

Number 4 . After watching so many stories, I sort of expect good things from that class.