Iii. The Swan Children Of Lir : p. 17 III THE SWAN-CHILDREN OF LIR KING LIR of Erin had four young children who were cared for tenderly at first by their stepmother, the new queen; but there came a time when she grew jealous of the love their father bore them, and resolved that she would endure it no longer. Sometimes there w...
Xviii. The Guardians Of The St. Lawrence : p. 196 XVIII THE GUARDIANS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE When in 1611 the Sieur de Champlain went back to France to report his wonderful explorations in Canada, he was soon followed by a young Frenchman named Vignan, who had spent a whole winter among the Indians, in a village where there was no other white...
Vii. Merlin The Enchanter : p. 48 VII MERLIN THE ENCHANTER In one of the old books called Welsh Triads, in which all things are classed by threes, there is a description of three men called "The Three Generous Heroes of the Isle of Britain." One of these--named Nud or Nodens, and later called Merlin--was first brought...
X. King Arthur At Avalon : p. 83 X KING ARTHUR AT AVALON In the ruined castle at Winchester, England, built by William the Conqueror, there is a hall called "The Great Hall," where Richard Coeur de Lion was received by his nobles when rescued from captivity; where Henry III. was born; where all the Edwards held court; where...
Xvi. Harald The Viking : p. 168 XVI HARALD THE VIKING Erik the Red, the most famous of all Vikings, had three sons, and once when they were children the king came to visit Erik and passed through the playground where the boys were playing. Leif and Biorn, the two oldest, were building little houses and barns and were...
Untitled : It is today considered possible that there was sporadic contact between Europe and North America as early as the Ice Ages. Before the European voyages to the New World of the ages of discovery there were tales of islands far out in the 'world ocean.' Whether these reflected pre-Columbian knowledge...
Xvii. The Search For Norumbega : p. 186 XVII THE SEARCH FOR NORUMBEGA Sir Humphrey Gilbert, colonel of the British forces in the Netherlands, was poring over the manuscript narrative of David Ingram, mariner. Ingram had in 1568-69 taken the widest range of travel that had ever been taken in the new continent, of which it w...
Ii. Taliessin Of The Radiant Brow : p. 5 II TALIESSIN OF THE RADIANT BROW IN times past there were enchanted islands in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Wales, and even now the fishermen sometimes think they see them. On one of these there lived a man named Tegid Voel and his wife called Cardiwen. They had a son, the ugliest boy...
Xi. Maelduin's Voyage : p. 96 XI MAELDUIN'S VOYAGE AN Irish knight named Maelduin set forth early in the eighth century to seek round the seas for his father's murderers. By the advice of a wizard, he was to take with him seventeen companions, neither less nor more; but at the last moment his three foster brothers, whom...
Xii. The Voyage Of St. Brandan : p. 108 XII THE VOYAGE OF ST. BRANDAN The young student Brandan was awakened in the morning by the crowing of the cock in the great Irish abbey where he dwelt; he rose, washed his face and hands and dressed himself, then passed into the chapel, where he prayed and sang until the dawn of the day...
Preface : p. vii PREFACE HAWTHORNE in his "Wonder Book" has described the beautiful Greek myths and traditions, but no one has yet made similar use of the wondrous tales that gathered for more than a thousand years about the islands of the Atlantic deep. Although they are a part of the mythical period...
Xiii. Kirwan's Search For Hy Brasail : p. 125 XIII KIRWAN'S SEARCH FOR HY-BRASAIL The boy Kirwan lay on one of the steep cliffs of the Island of Innismane--one of the islands of Arran, formerly called Isles of the Saints. He was looking across the Atlantic for a glimpse of Hy-Brasail. This was what they called it; it was a mysterious...
V. Bran The Blessed : p. 32 V BRAN THE BLESSED The mighty king Bran, a being of gigantic size, sat one day on the cliffs of his island in the Atlantic Ocean, near to Hades and the Gates of Night, when he saw ships sailing towards him and sent men to ask what they were. They were a fleet sent by Matholweh, the king...
Viii. Sir Lancelot Of The Lake : p. 63 VIII SIR LANCELOT OF THE LAKE SIR LANCELOT, the famous knight, was the son of a king and queen against whom their subjects rebelled; the king was killed, the queen taken captive, when a fairy rose in a cloud of mist and carried away the infant Lancelot from where he had been left beneath...
I. The Story Of Atlantis : p. 1 I THE STORY OF ATLANTIS THE Greek sage Socrates, when he was but a boy minding his father's goats, used to lie on the grass under the myrtle trees; and, while the goats grazed around him, he loved to read over and over the story which Solon, the law-giver and poet, wrote down...
Notes : p. 229 NOTES PREFACE A Full account of the rediscovery of the Canaries in 1341 will be found in Major's "Life of Prince Henry of Portugal" (London, 1868), p. 138. For the statement as to the lingering belief in the Jacquet Island, see Winsor's "Columbus," p. 111. The extract from Cowley is given...
Xix. The Island Of Demons : p. 205 XIX THE ISLAND OF DEMONS Those American travellers who linger with delight among the narrow lanes and picturesque, overhanging roofs of Honfleur, do not know what a strange tragedy took place on a voyage which began in that quaint old port three centuries and a half ago. When, in 1536...
Title Page : TALES OF THE ENCHANTED ISLANDS OF THE ATLANTIC BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON AUTHOR OF "YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, MALBONE, THE MONARCH OF DREAMS, CHEERFUL YESTERDAYS," ETC. With Illustrations By Albert Herter "Medival maps swarmed with fabulous islands; and wild stories...
Ix. The Half Man : p. 74 IX THE HALF-MAN KING ARTHUR in his youth was fond of all manly exercises, especially of wrestling, an art in which he found few equals. The old men who had been the champions of earlier days, and who still sat, in summer evenings, watching the youths who tried their skill before them...
Vi. The Castle Of The Active Door : p. 39 VI THE CASTLE OF THE ACTIVE DOOR Perfect is my chair in Caer Sidi; Plague and age hurt not who's in it-- They know, Manawydan and Pryderi. Three organs round a fire sing before it, And about its points are ocean's streams And the abundant well above it-- Sweeter than white wine the drink...
Xx. Bimini And The Fountain Of Youth : p. 220 XX BIMINI AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH When Juan Ponce de Leon set forth from Porto Rico, March 13, 1512, to seek the island of Bimini and its Fountain of Youth, he was moved by the love of adventure more than by that of juvenility, for he was then but about fifty, a time when a cavalier...
Xv. Antillia, The Island Of The Seven Cities : p. 143 XV ANTILLIA, THE ISLAND OF THE SEVEN CITIES The young Spanish page, Luis de Vega, had been for some months at the court of Don Rodrigo, king of Spain, when he heard the old knights lamenting, as they came out of the palace at Toledo, over the king's last and most daring whim. "He means,"...
Iv. Usheen In The Island Of Youth : p. 25 IV USHEEN IN THE ISLAND OF YOUTH The old Celtic hero and poet Usheen or Oisin, whose supposed songs are known in English as those of Ossian, lived to a great old age, surviving all others of the race of the Feni, to which he belonged; and he was asked in his last years what had given him...
List Of Illustrations : p. xv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "Sometimes a maiden held up an apple of gold to Niam and Usheen, as their slender white horse dashed across the waves of the ocean" "Frontispiece Facing page "The hands of Pryderi and Rhiannon were held fast by the enchanted bowl, and their feet by the enchanted slab ;...
Xiv. The Isle Of Satan's Hand : p. 134 XIV THE ISLE OF SATAN'S HAND The prosperous farmer Conall Ua Corra in the province of Connaught had everything to make him happy except that he and his wife had no children to cheer their old age and inherit their estate. Conall had prayed for children, and one day said in his impatience...