Legends, so my dictionary tells me, are plausible stories that neither tellers nor listeners necessarily believe. What a wonderful definition! The quality that makes a legend believable, and also differentiates it from a folk tale, fairytale or myth, is the fact that it has a connection to a historical person or place.
A legend grows up around a famous hero or a beautiful woman. Think of King Arthur and Helen of Troy: it is likely that they were real people, but whether Arthur really became king by pulling a sword out of a stone, or whether Helen really was the most beautiful woman in the world, are questions that cannot ever be answered. Legends constellate around historical personages in much the same way that a pearl forms around a grain of sand, and the process can be seen most clearly if we look at someone whom we know has really lived.
Sir Francis Drake, most famous for defeating the Spanish Armada, is a well-documented historical figure from Tudor times. We even know what he looked like from his portraits. Out of the facts of this extraordinary – yet real – person’s life, however, a legend has been born. In Devon, Drake’s birthplace, he is credited with magical powers. They say that when Plymouth was afflicted by drought, Drake rode out on to the moor and struck the ground in a certain place with his whip. A spring of fresh water immediately bubbled up from the spot and, when he galloped back to town, the water flowed after him, so that the townspeople of Plymouth could slake their thirst. The grain of truth at the centre of this pleasing pearl is the fact that Drake commissioned and built an aqueduct for Plymouth, the remains of which can still be seen on Dartmoor today. Legend spins metaphor from the everyday …
Perhaps this is the key to the attraction of legends: the ‘if only’ of wondering how much of history is story, and where the truth actually lies. I certainly know that, in my twenty-five years as a professional storyteller, the first question I am always asked by children, no matter how fantastical the tale they have just heard, is this: ‘Is that a true story?’
Hindu legends speak of the ‘Sea of Stories’. It is full of pearl-bearing oysters, each enfolding a grain of truth in legend. Legends feed on the endless human fascination with fame and fortune; they grow out of the fundamental way in which we seek to make sense of our lives and communicate our experiences to others: by making them into stories. Such a story may start as a simple recount: ‘I saw the old woman who lives on the hill when I was out walking today.’ But as the story is passed on from mouth to mouth, it is likely that it will be embroidered a little: ‘My friend saw that old woman who has lived on the hill as long as anyone can remember.’
And then a little more: ‘The old woman on the hill has been there longer than anyone can remember.’
And more: ‘The old woman on the hill has been there so long that she has learnt the language of the animals and birds.’
Until: ‘The legend says that the old woman on the hill can ask the animals any question, and they will answer her.’
And so, a new legend is born. The process is happening all the time; connecting our modern world – with its endless media intrusions into the lives of the famous – with our earliest ancestors’ attempts to explain their world and honour their heroes and heroines.
What do you think makes someone a legend?
Last year The History Press made a bold decision to commission a series of Ancient Legends Retold from professional storytellers, all of whom have lived and worked with the stories they tell for a long time. Five tellers-turned-writers each chose from their repertoires one of the best-known legends of these islands, and transformed their spoken-word stories into written words.
The legends retold in the first four books of the series bring to life key figures from the history of these islands, as only a gifted storyteller can. In these new, beautifully designed volumes, you will meet Robin Hood of the Greenwood; Vortigern, who Bede called a "proud tyrant"; Pryderi, hero of the Welsh tales The Four Branches of the Mabinogion; and, of course, King Arthur, his knights and their ladies.
I hope you will enjoy reading our Ancient Legends Retold as much as we have enjoyed writing them. I hope, too, that the first four books will be followed by many more …
Fiona Collins is a storyteller who hears the music of the spoken word and respects the traditional wisdom that communicates with us through stories. She tells these rich tales and legends of Britain in both English and Welsh, and Fiona has a long connection with the landscape of Wales and its importance in our mythology.
Further reading:
* Wise Geek answers the age old question, what is a legend?
* The Gild asks 'What makes a legend?'
* Wiki How gives some interesting advice on how to become a legend.