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This section has texts about the folklore and legends of England and other resources at BeyondWeird about the British Isles.

Folklore

Many of these English folklore texts were originally redacted by Phillip Brown at his now-defunct belinus.co.uk website. These are indicated by [PB].

Hero-Myths and Legends of the British Race by Maud Isabel Ebbutt [1910]
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child [1882-1898].
This is the motherlode of ballad collections, including many variations on each ballad.

Robin Hood by Paul Creswick, Illustrations by N.C. Wyeth [1902]
A Book of Old English Ballads Illustrations by George Wharton Edwards, Introduction by Hamilton W. Mabie [1896]
The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs by T. Sharper Knowlson [1910].
This discusses mostly superstitions and customs of England. This text was contributed by Eliza Fegley at

Sports and Pastimes of the People of England by Joseph Strutt [2nd ed., 1903]
A fascinating sourcebook on the folklore and social history of leisure activities in 'Olde England.'

Popular Romances of the West of England by Robert Hunt [1903]. [PB]
English Fairy and Other Folk Tales by Edwin Sidney Hartland, Illustrated by C.E. Brock [1890] [PB]
English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, Illustrated by John D. Batten [1890] [PB]
More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, Illustrated by John D. Batten [1894] [PB]

Fairies

The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle [1922]
A study of the famous Cottingley fairy photographs, by the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Tales of the Dartmoor Pixies by William Crossing [1890]. [PB]
A Peep at the Pixies, or Legends of the West by Anna Eliza Bray, Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne [1854] [BP]

Ley Lines

Early British Trackways, Moats, Mounds, Camps and Sites by Alfred Watkins [1922]
The seminal book about Ley Lines.

Anglo Saxon

The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry
Beowulf (Modern English)
Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon) 262,705 bytes
The archetypal monster story...

Literature

The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser [1596]
Stories from the Faerie Queene by Mary Macleod [1916]

Arthurian

The matter of Arthur is not one text but a series of layered retellings of the same story, which stretches in an unbroken chain from Malory to Monty Python. Here are some of the most important texts of the Arthurian canon.

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
The Mabinogion Lady Charlotte Guest, tr. [1877]
   The Mabinogion is a group of Welsh tales, many of which are set in the court of King Arthur.

Cliges by Chretien DeTroyes
Erec et Enide by Chretien DeTroyes
The High History of the Holy Graal by Anonymous, based on Chretien DeTroyes.
From Ritual To Romance by Jessie L. Weston [1920].
This academic study of the roots of the Grail legend in the ancient Mystery initiations is a classic in its own right.

The Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson
King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang; Illustrations by H.J. Ford. [1902]
An abridged version of the Arthur narrative by famous folklorist Andrew Lang; for 'children of all ages'.

The Champions of the Round Table Written and Illustrated by Howard Pyle [1905]
The legends of Sir Lancelot, Sir Tristram, and Sir Percival.

The Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth; tr. John Jay Parry [1925, copyright not renewed]