Myth-Land

Transcriber's Note
The cover image was created by the transcriber for the convenience of the reader, and is placed in the public domain.
BY F. EDWARD HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A. AUTHOR OF “FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS,” ETC. ETC.
“Far away in the twilight time Of every people, in every clime, Dragons and griffins and monsters dire. Born of water, or air, or fire, Or nursed, like the Python, in the mud And ooze of the old Deucalion flood, Crawl, and wriggle, and foam with rage, Through dark tradition and ballad age.” Whittier.
LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET. 1886.

THE nucleus of the following pages was originally written in the form of two short papers to be read at the meetings of a Public School Natural History Society. Since then, finding materials rapidly growing on our hands, we have been gradually amplifying our notes on the subject until they have grown to the present dimensions; for, to quote the quaint words of Thomas Fuller, “when there is no recreation or business for thee abroad, thou may’st then have a company of honest old fellows in leathern jackets in thy study, which may find thee excellent divertisement at home.” Our researches in pursuit of the marvellous, through the works of divers and sundry old writers, have been so far entertaining and interesting to us that we would fain hope that they may not be altogether received without favour by others.
Our subject naturally divides itself into two very obvious sections—the one dealing with wholly untrue and impossible creatures of the fancy, the other with the strange beliefs and fancies that have clustered round the real creatures we see around us. It will readily be discovered that we have confined ourselves in the present volume almost entirely to the first of these sections. Should our present labours prove acceptable they may readily be followed by a companion volume, at least as entertaining, dealing with the second section of our subject.