I might start the story back up again, if I can think of a place to take the plot. I had a tendency to just write meandering things when I was younger, and was horrible at tying stuff together. It'd take some revamping, but I do love stuff about faeries. I really don't think there's enough fiction out there that revolves around the faeries of mythology, not the "wish-granting, tiny fluttering" faeries people think about. They're a versatile bunch, so much so that they were adapted and warped to suit the beliefs of people who arrived in the area. Seriously, depending on the time period you're looking at, faeries are either entities of their own, or grounded gods, or demoted angels, or elementals, or dead humans/spirits. You can do pretty much anything with them. They're a writer's dream. Or nightmare, depending on how you look at it.

That's the way with a lot of myth and custom surrounding various figures. They become so intrenched in an area that new comers may take them on themselves out of interest or as a method of warming up to the locals. Some of the old Nordic sagas come from a mingling of Nordic tradition and new Christian influence, and Christmas as we know it now has a lot of roots in pagan belief because the original pagan celebrations could never be fully eradicated.

I have a number of books on folk and fairy tales from Scotland and Ireland. Selkies feature in a number of the ones I've read. The story of a man stealing a selkie pelt to take a wife who then later returns to the sea seems a common theme, as do people who have good fortune after helping a selkie mother.

One of my favourites I remember is the story of a Prince with golden hair who made a friend of a talking horse that helped him achieve various tasks set before him. I'd have to go look it up, not sure which book it's in. I still haven't read many of the stories in the books I have.


Oh, and Saiyouri? If you don't mind, that yellow text is really hard on the eyes. Might just be me but I find it really hard to read.

My mom got me several from used book stores. I have two books on Scottish myth and two more on Celtic myth.

I found my copy of Oxford Myths and Legends: Scottish Folk Tales. It dosen't have the story with the prince and the talking horse but it has one of the selkie stories in it, "MacCodrum of the Seals" and one that I liked called "The Faery Flag of Dunvagen."

It has Thomas the Rhymer as well, and you're interesting in novels, Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner is a good book.

I haven't looked much as Asian myth besides what little pieces are in my Illustrated Myth book like Amaterasu and her cave and the story of Isanagi and Isanami (I think I have the names right but I'm not sure.) I picked up a book on African folk tales by Alexander McCall Smith that I've been poking through. Haven't read the whole thing yet. Lots of stories that feature animals acting like humans, ih the sense of wearing clothes or preparing meals and such. I liked one story about a woman who had a jar for a son.

Just different really. Not too much different from a woman having eggs (minus the living part)or a smith forging a mill out of a feather. It's a cute story. I should read it again. I don't think it's the only story of it's kind. I think Joseph Cambell refers to a similar one in his book, Hero With a Thousand Faces.