ABSTRACT
At the heart of mythology – mythos, a story – is imagination, creativity, the urge to understand, to explain and to embellish. The form and tone of the mythos, the environmental details, the characteristics and attributes of the local deities, spirits and the human participants in the drama vary with the culture that gave the stories birth. Myth and legend perhaps provide the most potent form of literature that can be offered to children – for a variety of reasons. Not only are they archetypes, but they generate linguistic power, stir the imagination, ease anxiety and help bring about inner harmony and much-needed emotional and spiritual wholeness. However, while the earlier collectors and retellers produced great epics such as the Kalevala, the present emphasis is more on heroic folk tale through which is preserved elements of both myth and legend.
