Roman Folktales

The fables, folklore and fairy tales of Rome are definitely not the more familiar myths and legends with their pantheon of gods. Within these pages you’ll find stories and fears of the everyday, observations on the world around us, often poking fun at those in authority, and laughing at the proud and haughty including, The King Who Goes Out to Dinner, The Enchanted Rose Tree, The Wooing Of Cassandro, The Beggar and the Chick-Pea, The Bad-Tempered Queen, The Old Miser, Why Cats and Dogs Always Quarrel and The Value of Salt. Tricksters and simpletons, animal tales, food stories, tales of love and marriage, and narratives imbued with religion and magic are accompanied by a complementary selection of classical tales from antiquity and the middle ages, such as Cupid and Psyche, that reveal the ancient roots of these stories that have passed down orally over the ages.

Cristina Mazzoni (Volume editor and Introduction) is the Wolfgang and Barbara Mieder Green and Gold Professor of Romance Languages and Cultures at the University of Vermont. Her expertise lies in European fairy tales, literature and spirituality, and food culture. Her many books include Golden Fruit: A Cultural History of Oranges in Italy, She-Wolf: The Story of a Roman Icon and The Pomegranates and Other Modern Italian Fairy Tales.

J.K. Jackson is General Editor of The World’s Greatest Myths and Legends series, with titles including Myths of Babylon, Indian Myths, Egyptian Myths, Norse Myths and Polynesian Island Myths. He is editor of Myths & Legends and foreword writer for Celtic Myths & Tales. Other related work includes articles on the Philosophy of Time, ‘Macbeth, A Gothic Chaos’ and William Blake’s use of mythology in his visionary literature.

FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.