By the Gods!

Momotarou, which can be translated as “peach boy” or “peach first son”, is a popular hero in Japanese folklore. 

The story goes like this:

There once was an elderly, childless couple who lived out in the country. One day, the wife was washing the clothes in the river when she came upon a large peach floating towards her. Well, the wife grabbed that peach and brought it back with her to the house. She and her husband decided to open the peach, to eat the flesh inside. And what do they find when they cut it open? A little boy! The child went on to tell them that he was sent from Heaven to be their son. They were overjoyed, and named him Momotarou.

Years pass by and Momotarou leaves his parents to go and fight this band of marauding oni’s (demons or ogres) on a distant island. While he’s on his way there, he happens to befriend a talking dog, monkey, and pheasant; who all agree to to help him on his quest. At the island, Momotarou and his talking animal friends are able to penetrate oni’s fort and literally beat those oni’s into surrendering! Momotarou and his friends return from the battle, with treasure and the oni leader as their captive. 

Momotarou returns home to his parents with all his spoils, and they all live comfortably from then on. 

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Phooka

Original art by myself, influenced by the work of Brian Froud. :)

The Phooka is an Irish demon. It takes many forms and demi-forms. The most common are that of a horse, a goat, an eagle and a cow with long horns. The Phooka tricks weary travellers into accepting an invitation of a ride. Once upon the back of a Phooka, the rider is taken on a wild ride through the countryside until the Phooka dumps the rider into a marsh into a ditch. The sound of manic laughter afterwards is the laughter of the Phooka as it runs away.

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The Children of Lir

An Irish Legend

There once was a man called Lir, who was happily married with three children. The eldest a girl and the two youngest boys. He loved his family with all his heart until one day, his wife passed away. Horrified at the thought of his children living without a mother, Lir married a beautiful woman named Aoife.

Aoife was terribly jealous of her new husband’s love for his children as he adored them far more than he did her. Consumed by jealousy, she ordered one of the servants to kill the children. When he refused, she used her magic instead to turn them into swans.

The children were doomed to wander until the spell could be broken if they were blessed by a monk. To stay together, their father fashioned a gold chain to fit around all three of their necks so they would not be tossed apart on the raging waters. They spent 300 years on Lough Derravaragh, 300 years in the Sea of Moyle and 300 years in Irrus Domnann Erris.

Eventually, the swans were found by monks belonging to a monastery on an island. They blessed the swans and they changed back into humans, but being 900 years old, they were withered and ancient. They three were buried together, the gold chain still linking their necks.

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The Cŵn Annwn, found in ancient Welsh folklore, were spectral hounds thought to be associated the Annwn, the Otherworld of Welsh folklore. Annwn was, unlike most modern Otherworld myths, a land of delights and eternal youth beyond the imagination of mortal man. 

The hounds were supposed to hunt only on specific nights of the year, roaming the Welsh countryside in packs. It was said that the hounds were louder at a distance, their growling and howling fading as the neared their target. At the moment they were no longer audible, it was said that your death was a certainty. 

(I would humbly suggest to the reader that they make no attempt to pronounce the Welsh words here. It’s just embarrassing for everyone involved.)

Image credit.

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The Churning of the Ocean

In Indian mythology, the demons were older than their half-brothers, the Gods. 

The Gods and the Demons knew that they could gain the Amrit, the Water of Life, if they churned up one of the seven oceans that, ring beyond ring, encircles the worlds. They came down to the Ocean of Milk. They took the Mountain Mandara for a churning-pole and the hundred-headed serpent Vasuki for a churning-rope.

For a thousand years the Gods and the demons churned the Ocean of Milk. All the time Vasuki, the serpent, from his hundred heads spat venom. The venom bit into the rocks and broke them up; it flowed down, destroying the worlds of Gods and men. Then all creation would have been destroyed in that flood of venom if it had not been for the act of Shiva

Shiva took up the venom in a cup and drank it. His throat became blue with that draught of bitterness. 

Still they churned. 

And then there appeared the sage Dhanvantri, and in his hands was the cup that held the Amrit, the Water of Life. The demons strove to seize it. They almost overpowered the Gods in their efforts to seize the Amrit. Then Vishnu changed himself into a ravishing form; he seemed to be the loveliest of the nymphs of Heaven. The demons went towards where the seeming nymph postured for them. Even as they fought amongst each other for the maiden, the Gods took the cup, and, sharing it, they drank  the Amrit.

And now they were filled with such vigour that the demons could not overpower them. Many they drove down into hell. That was the beginning of the wars between the Gods and the Demons…wars that went on for ages.

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The Salmon of Knowledge - An Irish Legend

A young lad named Fionn (pronounced Fyun) was a promising youth. After his father died, his mother brought him to a poet named Finnegas to learn all he could so that in time, he could join the Fianna. The Fianna was a band of Irish warriors. But in order to join, a man needed to have wisdom and a wide knowledge of poetry, art and history.

Finnegas taught Fionn all he knew and the lad grew to be a fine young man. One thing that Finnegas talked about often was the myth of the salmon of knowledge. The salmon of knowledge was a fish that swam through the rivers of Ireland, the myth went that anyone who ate the salmon would gain all the wisdom of the world. Finnegas often sat by the river outside the hut where he and Fionn lived, fishing in hope to catch the salmon.

One day, Fionn heard Finnegas calling him from outside, running to the river, he saw that Finnegas had caught none other than the salmon of knowledge! Finnegas instructed the boy to cook it for him to eat, but warned him not to taste the fish at all, or he would gain the wisdom. Fionn did as he was told and began cooking the fish over a crude fire. he watched it carefully so as not to burn it. Suddenly, a bubble rose on the fish’s skin. Reaching out, Fionn burst it with his thumb. The bubble popped and burned his finger. Instinctively, Fionn stuck his thumb in his mouth and sucked it to soothe the burn.

When Finnegas saw what the boy had done, he grew very sad that he would never gain all the wisdom of the world, but was cheered at the thoguht that Fionn would be the greatest warrior the Fianna had ever known.

Fionn grew to be the leader of the Fianna. It is said that they sleep in a cave beneath Dublin and will rise when Ireland is in his greatest need. Their coming will be alerted by the sound of his hunting horn.

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Thanks for the submission! We can always use more Celtic mythology on here!

Amazing, completely accurate submission from softhead on Norse mythology. I think I see a pattern.

Νύξ ; Nyx - Primordial Greek Goddess of Night
Roman: Nox

Zeus the almighty god of the Greek Olympian Pantheon is depicted as all powerful. However, like every deity or hero there is always one thing (if not many) they fear. I’m not referring to an envious Hera, nor a tyrannical father like Kronos, or even the Gigantes who almost ransacked Olympus. There is one figure, in the obscure pages of Greek Mythology whom Zeus wishes to displease - one with the power over Gods and Mortals - Nyx the Goddess of Night.

Origins: Nyx is depicted as a black-winged Goddess driving a chariot, and at times a veil of dark mist. Mentioned from the cosmogony of Hesiod, she was born from Air (Khaos). Sleeping with Darkness (Erebos) produced Light (Aither) and Day (Hemera), first components of the primeval universe. However, she gave birth to other more known but lesser gods which include [According to Hesiod]:

• Thanatos (Gentle Death)
• Hypnos (Sleep)
• Morpheus & the tribe of dreams (Oneiroi)
• Moirai (better known as the Fates)
• Ker & the Keres (Bringers of violent death)
• Moros - (Doom)
• Oizys (Misery)
• Momos (Criticism & Blame)
• Hesperides (Nymphs of the Evenings)
• Nemesis (Retribution)
• Apate (Deceit)
• Philotes (Sex - hence the the suffix -phile)
• Geras (Old age - Geriatrics anyone?)
• Eris (the most famous hater in the Universe of Greek mythology - Strife/Discord)

Though rarely mentioned in Greek Myths, one passage from the Iliad by Homer is a scene where Hypnos addresses Hera about an old favor she commanded of him:
[Hypnos addresses Hera :] `That time I laid to sleep the brain in Zeus of the aegis and drifted upon him still and soft, but your mind was devising evil, and you raised along the sea the blasts of the racking winds, and on these swept him away to Kos, the strong-founded, with all his friends lost, but Zeus awakened in anger and beat the gods up and down his house, looking beyond all others for me, and would have sunk me out of sight in the sea from the bright sky had not Nyx (Night) who has power over gods and men rescued me. I reached her in my flight, and Zeus let be, though he was angry, in awe of doing anything to swift Nyx’ displeasure.’”

Zeus played it safe… and did a smart thing not to anger a Goddess far more powerful than he. So we have Nyx and her children to thank for many other events in Greek Mythology. E.g. Eris, spirit of discord, throwing the Golden Apple which influenced the start of the Trojan war, etc.

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Thanks for the awesome submission! This article wasn’t written by the regular editors, but submitted by a follower! If you’ve got a story you want to share, or a deity you really love, let us know! For more information on Nyx, go here. To submit your own articles to By the Gods!, click here!

Búri (or Buri) was the first god in Norse mythology. He is the father of Borr and grandfather of Odin. He was formed by the cow Auðumbla licking the salty ice of Ginnungagap. The only extant source of this myth is Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda.

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The Goddess Artemis

I’ve always had a heightened respect for Lady Artemis because her role in Greek Mythology, and in her many forms in other ancient Mediterranean cultures. She was the Goddess of the hunt, the outdoors, and virginity. Out of most of the Greek divinities, she seemed not as corrupt. One of the most fascinating things about her is the obvious love for nature. She believed that hunting of wildlife was acceptable and necessary. However, if it was done disrespectfully and inhumane, there would be “Tartarus” to pay. 

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