Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race

About the book

M. I. Ebbutt gathers a wide range of narratives, including Beowulf, Havelok, Cuchulain, Robin Hood, and the marriage of Sir Gawayne. The collection also reaches beyond a narrowly defined British setting, including Roland and a prose retelling drawn from Yeats's Countess Cathleen. Ebbutt's stated aim is to make older conceptions of heroism intelligible to twentieth-century readers, even when a character's conduct may seem unfamiliar or troubling. Battles and adventures therefore share space with loyalty, sacrifice, hospitality, and difficult obligations. The book is a modern retelling with literary sources and editorial choices, not an untouched medieval anthology. Its title and national framing belong to its historical moment, while the stories themselves reveal a more varied inheritance than a single uniform tradition.

• Heroism and duty
• Legendary inheritance
• Loyalty and sacrifice

Why read it

The range of protagonists invites comparison between different kinds of heroic conduct and the communities that celebrate them.

English retellings by M. I. Ebbutt, first published 1910