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The inspiring adventures and stirring deeds of three of the greatest heroes of mythology spring to vivid life in these pages. Charles Kingsley, author of The Water-Babies and one of the Victorian age’s most brilliant storytellers, recounts for young readers the legendary feats of Perseus, Jason, and Theseus.
Rash and angry in his vow to slay Medusa the Gorgon, Perseus is cunning and patient in his quest. With the help of Athené’s shield and Hermes’ winged sandals, he faces the creature with writhing snakes for hair and rescues a princess chained to a rock. Fifty brave men known as the Argonauts join Jason in a treacherous journey across stormy, monster-infested seas in the search for the golden fleece of a magical ram. And Theseus sails off to Crete aboard a black-sailed ship with seven maidens and seven youths, all of them intended as sacrifices to the Minotaur—a fiend with the body of a man, the head of a bull, and the deadly teeth of a lion.
“There are no fairy tales like these old Greek ones,” Kingsley notes, “for beauty, and wisdom, and truth, and for making children love noble deeds . . . for each of us has a Golden Fleece to seek, and a wild sea to sail over ere we reach it, and dragons to fight ere it be ours.” This edition of his retellings of the immortal tales features sixty imaginative illustrations.

The best-known versions of these ancient Middle Eastern tales are those translated by the Victorian English explorer and writer, Richard F. Burton. Arabic in origin, they are also known as A Thousand and One Nights — a collection of fairy tales, romances, legends, and exotic adventures told by Scheherazade to entertain her husband, the king, who customarily executed his wives after a single night. Scheherazade cleverly began a story each night but withheld the ending until the following evening, thereby managing to stave off disaster.
This original selection includes six of the most famous tales. “Sinbad the Seaman and Sinbad the Landsman” is the story of a merchant who survives seven perilous voyages and acquires great wealth; “Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp” relates the remarkable adventures of a “graceless” youth and his miraculous lamp; “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” is the exciting narrative of a poor woodcutter who gains access to great treasures by entering a secret cave. Also here are “The Fisherman and the Jinni,” “Judar and His Brethren,” and “Khalifah the Fisherman of Baghdad.”
These enchanting tales have captured the imaginations of readers for generations. Their magical world, teeming with giants, magnificent palaces, and beautiful princesses will thrill new audiences.