The Antlion Pit Bookstore
Folklore, Mythology, and Religion: Folklore

"This humorous and informative compendium gives the origin and an example of each of 101 familiar superstitions."

"Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to stories explaining how the world was created and got to be the way it is, to moral fables that tell of encounters between masters and slaves."

"Abrahams renders nearly 100 stories which reveal the exotic, universal concerns of the African peoples, while vividly evoking their unique, dramatic roots in the song, dance, and ritual performances of the African world."

Includes one of the few published collections of American antlion folkore.

"The classic edition of 210 ageless tales of myth and magic is one of the most popular collections of fairy tales ever published."

"The alphabetically arranged entries are readable and concisely written, with careful cross-referencing. They include 'folk tales, festivals, customs, legendary heroes, old wives' tales, fabulous creatures, folk remedies, and other items of folkloric interest from many cultural traditions.' Emphasis is on traditions of the British Isles, western Europe, and North America, but there is some coverage of Africa, India, South America, and other regions as well." [Booklist]

"[Toelken] discusses the history, meaning and variety of folklore. He considers 'the biology of folklore' and emphasizes the dynamic, everyday, everywhere richness of folk expressions from occupational and ethnic lore to foodways, holidays, personal experience narratives, legends, ballads, myths, provers, jokes, crafts, and others, clearly tracing the cultural worldviews folklore conveys and how it expresses them. [A] benchmark body of scholarship and essential reading for any serious folklorist."

"This resource will have many uses in high school, public, and academic libraries with an interest in the field of folklore. It is an excellent one-stop source for information and background on the state of research in folklore and customs." [Booklist]

"The vibrant tradition of African folktales—an oral heritage of stories that predates Ovid—is long, varied, and exceptionally rich, but surprisingly has been largely overlooked in the West. Nelson Mandela, the Nobel Laureate for Peace, selected 32 African stories for this extraordinary new book."

"A stunning collection of thirty-five folktales from Guatemala which transport the reader to the haunting stories of witches and shamans, spiritualists and apies, and naguales, or persons who have the power to change into animal forms and devils. These stories are educational, instructive, mysterious, wise and sometimes simply funny."

"Here is a stimulating companion and authoritative resource for students of American literature, history, and cultural studies—from adolescents to centenarians—and for anyone lured by the highways and byways of our country's traditions. Entries range from brief definitions to essays. . . on such topics as folklore heroes (real and mythical); music; rural tales of weather and vampires; modern urban legends. . . . This is a comprehensive, absorbing reference of a kind never before available."

"A large, distinctive collection of tales, traditions, lore, legends, folk wisdom, and poetry captures the oral heritage of the peoples of Africa, including the Hause, Kanuri, Ashanti, Mbundu, Zulu, Hottentot, and Mensa tribes."

"This is the most important collection of Afro-American folklore compiled. Mark Twain would have loved it and anyone interested in investigating one of the main folk sources of American literature will find it indispensable." [Ralph Ellison]

"This classic collection of over 750 stories and 75 songs along with a glossary of both Yiddish and Hebrew words is a compendium of wit and wisdom that has remained a favorite gift-giving item and a family treasure for over four decades."