Mythology with a wink.

Gods who mess up. Heroes who make rope. Tricksters who win. Ancient myths from every corner of the world, told the way they were always meant to be told: like a really good story at bedtime, with the funny parts left in.

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Prometheus carrying a glowing ember in a hollow fennel stalk, sneaking away from Olympus

Greek

The Fire Thief

He could have stayed safe among the gods. He chose us anyway.

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Fenrir the wolf, enormous, looking down at a ribbon of silk held by nervous gods

Norse

The Wolf They Could Not Break

They tricked a wolf into a ribbon. It cost one god his hand, and bought the world maybe a thousand years.

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Isis watching Ra very carefully, a small snake nearby, looking entirely innocent

Egyptian

The Name Inside the Name

Ra had a thousand names. Isis wanted the one he used when he spoke to himself.

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Izanagi at the gates of Yomi, holding a tiny lit torch he was told not to light

Japanese

Do Not Light the Torch

He was told not to look. He looked. That is why you die.

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Four white swans on a silver lake, one of them singing, mist on the water

Celtic

Nine Hundred Years of Song

A witch turned them into swans. She forgot to take their voices. That was her mistake.

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Gods and demons pulling a giant serpent like a rope around a mountain in the sea

Hindu

The Churning of the Ocean

The gods needed a miracle. Their plan was to stir the sea with a mountain. Naturally.

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Anansi the spider holding a glowing wooden box, very pleased with himself

West African

Anansi and the Box of Stories

The sky god owned every story ever told. Anansi was a small spider with a very good plan.

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Sedna descending through dark arctic water, her hair spreading out into sea creatures below

Inuit

Sedna, Goddess of the Sea

She fell to the bottom of the world. The ocean kept her. Now she keeps the ocean.

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Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent ascending as the morning star against a deep sky

Aztec

The Flight of Quetzalcoatl

The greatest god in Tula fell for the oldest trick there is. What rose from his ashes still crosses the sky.

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Maui on a mountaintop, ropes flying, wrestling the sun to a halt

Polynesian

Maui Snares the Sun

The sun crossed the sky too fast and nobody could get anything done. Maui had a rope and a bad attitude about that.

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