Legends are riveting tales that are based on real events, but exaggerated so that they are not completely true. In this book, readers will learn the most important aspects of what defines a legend, as well as how to tell fact from fiction in these semi-historical tales. Famous legends, such as those of Robin Hood and El Dorado, are presented in abridged versions that help anybody identify what various legends have in common and what is unique to the culture where the tale originated. Well-known classics are paired up with legends from various other cultures, including the Native American tribes of the Americas, encouraging readers to open their minds to stories from all around the globe.

This scholarly work offers a fascinating examination of the lore surrounding the life of Buddha. From his ancestry, birth, and youth to his final days, it chronicles Buddha's preaching, his 20 years' wandering, the establishment of rival schools of philosophy, and much more -- including thought-provoking perspectives on Buddhism as religion and philosophy.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

North CarolinaMyths and Legends explores unusual phenomena, strange events, and mysteries in North Carolina’s history. Each episode included in the book is a story unto itself, and the tone and style of the book is lively and easy to read for a general audience interested in North Carolina history. Read about the Cherokee legend of the Judaculla rock. Try to figure out if Tom Dula, subject of many a local myth and a popular folk song, really did murder his wife. Speculate as to what really caused the Carolina Bays indentations.

Industrial advancement has not changed the basic fragility of human life, and the commercialization and consumer orientation of the mass media has actually helped legends travel faster and farther. Legends are communicated not only orally, face to face, but also in the press, on radio and television, on countless Web sites, and by e-mail, perpetuating new waves of the "culture of fear.""--BOOK JACKET.

90 stories from tribes throughout the U.S. and Canada cover a wide range of subjects: tales of creation, heroes, witchcraft, monsters, romance, enchantment, tricksters, and more. Includes, among others, "The Origin of Daylight" (Tsimshian), "The Flying Head" (Oneida), "The Enchanted Moccasins" (Maskego), and "The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting" (Cherokee).

Presents descriptions of hundreds of urban legends and their variations, themes, and scholarly approaches to the genre, including such tales as disappearing hitchhikers and hypodermic needles left in the coin slots of pay telephones.