''Tanglewood Tales for Boys and Girls'' (1853) is a book by American author

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

, a sequel to ''

A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys ''A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys'' (1851) is a children's book by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne in which he retells several Greek myths. It was followed by a sequel, ''Tanglewood Tales''. Overview The stories in ''A Wonder-Book for Girl ...

''. It is a re-writing of well-known Greek myths in a volume for children.

Overview

The book includes the myths of: * Theseus and the Minotaur (Chapter: "The Minotaur") * Antaeus and the Pygmies (Chapter: "The Pygmies") * Dragon's Teeth (Chapter: "The Dragon's Teeth") * Circe's Palace (Chapter: "Circe's Palace") * Proserpina, Ceres,

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

, and the Pomegranate Seed (Chapter: "The Pomegranate Seed") * Jason and the Golden Fleece (Chapter: "The Golden Fleece") Hawthorne wrote an

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and ...

, titled "The Wayside", referring to The Wayside in

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, where he lived from 1852 until his death. In the introduction, Hawthorne writes about a visit from his young friend Eustace Bright, who requested a sequel to ''A Wonder-Book'', which impelled him to write the ''Tales''. Although Hawthorne informs us in the introduction that these stories were also later retold by Cousin Eustace, the frame stories of ''A Wonder-Book'' have been abandoned. Hawthorne wrote the first book while renting a small cottage in the Berkshires, a vacation area for industrialists during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...

. The owner of the cottage, a railroad baron, renamed the cottage "Tanglewood" in honor of the book written there. Later, a nearby mansion was renamed Tanglewood, where outdoor classical concerts were held, which became a Berkshire summer tradition. Ironically, Hawthorne hated living in the Berkshires. The Tanglewood neighborhood of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

was named after the book. The book was a favorite of Mary Catherine Farrington, the daughter of Tanglewood developer William Farrington.Smith, Brenda Beust.
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Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

''. Sunday March 23, 1986. Lifestyle 1. Retrieved on October 14, 2012. It reportedly inspired the name of the thickly wooded

Tanglewood Island Tanglewood Island is a small island in Hale Passage off the northern shore of Fox Island in Pierce County, Washington. It was originally called Grave Island and was sacred to the Nisqually Indians, who for decades practiced tree burials by placi ...

in the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

References

External links

''Tanglewood Tales''
available at

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. *
''Tanglewood Tales''
scanned 1853 edition, illustrated, available at

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.
''Tanglewood Tales''
scanned 1921 edition, illustrated by Virginia Frances Sterrett, available at Wikimedia Commons. * 1853 short story collections 1850s children's books American children's books Children's short story collections Short story collections by Nathaniel Hawthorne Works based on classical literature {{greek-myth-book-stub