Fantasy Freak Week: Illustrations of world mythology

It used to be the myths were the means to explain the world around us. How the sun streaks across the sky in Helios's chariot of fire. That the Nile River floods every year because of the tears Isis wept for Osiris. Why the wolf sang the moon into the night sky. Somehow, over time, science has become the means for debunking myths rather than the reason for creating them. Yet the magic of some stories manage to endure and captivate children all over the world.

The Boy of the Three-Year Nap by Diane Snyder
Japan

The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching by Demi
China

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling
India

The Tale of The Firebird by Gennady Spirin
Russia

Golem by David Wisniewski
Eastern Europe

Noah's Ark by Peter Spier
Middle East

Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott
West Africa

Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges and Trina Schart Hyman
Britain

John Henry by Julius Lester
North America

Moon Was Tired of Walking on Air by Natalia M Belting
South America

And all it takes is a little faith to believe these myths are real. After all, if John Henry was more than just a folk song but an actual railroad worker at the turn of the 20th century, who's to say the rest of these myths aren't based in a little truth.