Note: Images were obtained through Pixabay.com or are in the public domain (thanks especially to The Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org). A special thank you to those who posted them.

Psyche

Fable’s oldest friend (from a childhood she can’t remember) is the Greek goddess of soul and mind.

https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/psyche-and-eros-myth/

Beloved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole. Doubleday & Company Inc. 1982.

The Trojan War

One event which Fable was witness to in her days as the Chaunliness’s minion was the Trojan War. There, she encountered many figures and felt empathy for the Princess/priestess Cassandra. Another myth utilized in Fable is that of Iphigenia, a story of sacrifice that is related to the Trojan War, but not a part of the original Iliad.

https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/trojan-war-myth/

https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Iphigenia/iphigenia.html

https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/the-myth-of-cassandra/

Aesop

Fable’s first guardian after her break with the Chaunliness is the legendary storyteller, Aesop. Much of his part in the book is based on the myths of his own life (if he had indeed been a real person).

https:///files/19994/19994-h/19994-h.htm https://www.umass.edu/aesop/history.php

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Aesop https://iep.utm.edu/aesop/#SH4h

https://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_aesop.html

The Aztecs

Fable visits the Aztec Empire before the Spanish invasion.

http://www.aztec-history.com/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/meso-american-baseball

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mball/hd_mball.htm https://maya.nmai.si.edu/the-maya/creation-story-maya

https://hraf.yale.edu/featured-culture-aztecs-cosmology-and-ancient-rituals-in-ehraf/

https://www.worldhistory.org/Popol_Vuh/?visitCount=1&lastVisitDate=2021-3-30&pageViewCount=1

Faerie Realms/The Changeling Myth

In the Land of the Fae, Riley meets various humans trapped in the world of faeries. These characters are based upon figures from Irish, Scottish, and Scandinavian folklore. There is also a version of the Changeling myth included in German stories, usually attributed to the “Underground People”.

One character that appears in Fable of the Immortals is a ginger man who is borrowed from the old Scottish fairy tale “The Red-Haired Tailor of Rannoch and the Fairy”. Another character Fable and Riley meet in Fae is True Thomas or Thomas the Rhymer, a Scottish historical figure who lived and died in the 13th century and famously was believed to be a consort of the Queen of Elfland after spending years in her realm.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/britchange.html https://emeraldisle.ie/index.php?p=changelings

https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/tfm081.htm. English Fairy Tales. Wadsworth Classics. 1994.

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, Dover Publications. The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, Dover Publications. 2010.

The Faeryland Companion by Beatice Pillpotts, Barnes and Noble Inc. 1999

Childcraft in Fourteen Volumes, Field Enterpries Inc. 1954.

Haunchyville

An urban legend which is not based upon history, but ghost stories. In Wisconsin, the story of a secret village of circus little people grew throughout the twentieth century. In some stories, the little people murdered a cruel circus ringmaster. In others, they are guarded by an albino axe murderer. In truth, it’s a private, residential area who are NOT amused by the legend of small houses and dismembered shins. Like seriously, don’t go there. They will arrest your butt. But still kinda a fun, yet gruesome story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunchyville

Godfrey, Linda; Hendricks, Richard (2005-04-07). Weird Wisconsin: Your Travel Guide To Wisconsin’s Local Legends And Best Kept Secrets (1 ed.). Milwaukee: Sterling. pp. 272. ISBN 978-0-7607-5944-8. Retrieved 25 February 2011.

Random Historical Figures

John Lambe was an English astrologer who was killed by a mob in 1628 for crimes such as claiming to be a doctor, supposedly practicing black magic, and rape of a young girl.

In Fable of the Immortals, Lambe appears as someone who escaped death and uses his eternal life for his own gains with little care for the lives of others.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25096720?seq=1

*As I originally started working on the research for Fable back in 2000, some websites I originally utilized are no longer in existence. I tried to supplement this with some equally academic or fun websites providing some of the same information. Some of the books used came from my local public library in Phoenix, Arizona. MOST of the books used came from my personal library . . . because I am a book dragon who hoards books like shinnies. Although, I don’t lay on them like Smaug in the Hobbit. That’s not good for the covers.

* Second note: I tried to put my history degree to good use and use the Chicago style of citation. But… That was more work than I was willing to put in for a webpage. Judge me, academics. Judge me as I deserve!