What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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Query abandoned by poster > ABANDONED. A folklore and legends book

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message 1: by Teo (new)

Teo | 2 comments Hello, I joined the group because I wanted to ask you about a specific book on folklore and legends.

I had it on my hard drive a few years back as a PDF file, and managed to read only the first tale when my HDD crashed, so I lost the book in question.

And now, I'm trying to find it again but for the life of me, I can't. The trouble is, I don't remember the exact title nor the author. But here's what I do remember:

- I found it on archive.org, of this I'm pretty sure (the book was definitely in public domain)
- it was a collection of legends and folklore of Europe. I'm not 100% positive if the books was about European lore in general or German only: I'm quite sure the first and only tale which I read before the HDD crash was of German origin.
- it was a PDF file, a scan quite large in size (I think about 80-120MB); the scan was of poor quality (but readable)
- I think the title of the book was of a more generic sort. Like "Legends and Folklore of Europe" or "Myths and Legends of Europe", something in that vein.
- the book was old, I think published in the late 1800s or early 1900s
- the edition was in English, the editor / collector being British
- the book had two-column pages, with an illustration at the beginning of each tale
- the book wasn't about legend analysis and deciphering motifs and meanings behind the tales; it only presented the tales.
- the first tale in the book was a German legend of a woman (of royalty, perhaps a princess) who was very beautiful and had many suitors; on one occasion a suitor/stranger came to her. She didn't meet him by chance, he came specifically to her (if I recall he came directly to her castle). The stranger charmed her, but his personality was rather melancholic and gloomy, but she fell hopelessly in love with him although he warned her several times that her love for him will have dire consequences; at the night of their wedding, he took her to a temple of sorts where he was revealed to be a thousand years old "ghost" (an apparition of some kind), and he, regretfully, made her a sort of a ghost-bride by taking her soul (or something of a similar fashion); (there were other ghosts/apparitions present at the "ceremony"). It's also worth noting that the tale was quite lengthy. It also read more like a proper ghost story (with dialogue and everything) than any of the other myths- and legends-related literature I've ever seen. It was descriptive and very atmospheric, contrary to the terse "Once upon a time... they lived happily ever after" narration style. That's why it left such an impression on me.

I searched, but I just can't find the book anymore, nor the tale itself. More so, I asked some knowledgeable people on other sites and they weren't able to help me. They suggested "The Golden Bough" by J. G. Frazer but it isn't it.

So if someone knows this book I'm talking about, I'd be grateful for the help.


message 3: by Teo (new)

Teo | 2 comments ^
No, that's not it.

I had found that book by accident. I was searching archive.org for random books about legends and lore from all over the world. This one was particularly well-written from a literary standpoint; that's why it caught my eye. I saved it for later, but without making a backup of it - and so I lost it.

From what I remember, the scan of the book was black & white (of rather poor quality as I mentioned before, bur legible). I searched pages upon pages of archive.org again, but just can't find it! It's driving me mad!

If anything, I'd like to know the name and origin of the legend I described, but I'm also coming up empty...

Sigh...


message 4: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)

Lobstergirl | 44924 comments Mod
Teo, are you still looking for this or did you find it?


message 5: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)

Lobstergirl | 44924 comments Mod
Lobstergirl wrote: "Teo, are you still looking for this or did you find it?"

No response in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned.


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