''Dragons, Elves, and Heroes'' is an American

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

short stories, edited by American writer

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. Lov ...

. It was first published in paperback by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

in October 1969 as the sixth volume of its ''

Ballantine Adult Fantasy series The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of American publisher Ballantine Books. Launched in 1969 (presumably in response to the growing popularity of Tolkien's works), the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature which ...

''.Carter, Lin. "Bibliography II: The Adult Fantasy Series," in '' Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy'', Ballantine Books, 1973. It was the first such anthology assembled by Carter for the series, issued simultaneously with the second, '' The Young Magicians''.

Summary

The book collects nineteen early fantasy tales and poems by various authors, with an overall introduction and notes by Carter. Many of the pieces are medieval in date, and none later than the 19th century. The anthology is a companion volume to Carter's subsequent ''

Golden Cities, Far ''Golden Cities, Far'' is an anthology of fantasy short stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in October 1970 as the twenty-second volume of its ''Ballantine Adult Fantasy series''. ...

'' (1970), which also collects early fantasies.

*"Introduction: Over the Hills and Far Away" (

) *"The Ogre" - from ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'', translated by Norma Lorre Goodrich *"The High History of the Sword Gram" - from the ''

Völsunga saga The ''Völsunga saga'' (often referred to in English as the ''Volsunga Saga'' or ''Saga of the Völsungs'') is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century prose rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story ...

'', translated by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

*"Manawyddan Son of the Boundless" - from the ''

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () is a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created –1410, as well as a few earlier frag ...

'', retold by Kenneth Morris *"Puck's Song" (poem) - from ''

Puck of Pook's Hill ''Puck of Pook's Hill'' is a fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history. It can count both as historical fantasy – since some of the stories told of ...

'', by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

*"Barrow-Wight" - from '' The Grettir Saga'', translated by S. Baring-Gould *"Fingal at the Siege of Carric-thura" - from '' The Poems of Ossian'', by

James Macpherson James Macpherson ( Gaelic: ''Seumas MacMhuirich'' or ''Seumas Mac a' Phearsain''; 27 October 1736 – 17 February 1796) was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector, and politician. He is known for the Ossian cycle of epic poems, which he ...

*"The Sword of Avalon" - from ''

Le Morte d'Arthur ' (originally written as '; Anglo-Norman French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the ...

'', by

Thomas Malory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'A ...

*" Tom O'Bedlam's Song" (poem), Anonymous *"The Last Giant of the Elder Age" - from '' The Kiev Cycle'', translated by

Isabel Florence Hapgood Isabel Florence Hapgood (November 21, 1850 – June 26, 1928) was an American ecumenist, writer, and translator, especially of Russian and French texts. Early life Hapgood was born in Boston, to Asa Hapgood and Lydia Anna Bronson Crossl ...

*"The Lost Words of Power" (poem) - from the ''

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory ...

'', translated by

John Martin Crawford John Martin Crawford (March 29, 1962 – December 16, 2020) was a Canadian serial killer. Crawford was convicted of killing four women in Saskatchewan and Alberta, between 1981 and 1992. Crimes Crawford was sentenced in 1981 to ten years' impri ...

*"Wonderful Things Beyond Cathay" - from ''

Mandeville's Travels ''The Travels of Sir John Mandeville'', commonly known as ''Mandeville's Travels'', is a book written between 1357 and 1371 that purports to be the travelogue of an Englishman named Sir John Mandeville across the Near East as far as India and ...

'', edited by Arthur Layard *"Prospero Evokes the Air Spirits" (poem) - from ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'', by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

*"The Lords of Faerie" - from ''

The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

'', by

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; – 13 January 1599 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the House of Tudor, Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is re ...

*"Tales of the Wisdom of the Ancients" - from '' The Gesta Romanorum'', translated by Charles Swan and revised by Wynnard Hooper *"The Magical Palace of Darkness" - from '' Palmerin of England'', by

Francisco de Moraes Francisco de Moraes Cabral, also spelled Francisco de Morais Cabral (1500? – 1572), was a Portuguese writer. Born in Bragança, Portugal, Bragança, he served as personal secretary to the Portuguese ambassador in France, and composed, during tw ...

*"Rustum Against the City of Demons" - from '' The Shah-Namah'' of

Firdausi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poems created by a single poet, and the greatest epic of Persian ...

, in a version by

Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a narrative poem by English author Robert Browning, written on 2 January 1852, and first published in 1855 in the collection titled '' Men and Women''. The poem is often noted for its dark and atmosp ...

" (poem), by

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

*"The Princess of Babylon" - from '' The Romances'' of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

The Horns of Elfland ''The Horns of Elfland'' is a 1997 fantasy anthology edited by Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman and Donald G. Keller. Background ''The Horns of Elfland'' was first published in April 1997 by Roc Books in paperback format. It was a nominee in the 1 ...

" (poem), by

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

*''Untitled end note'' by

Reception

The book was reviewed by Tony Lewis in ''

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Mathematics and science * Locus (mathematics), the set of points satisfying a particular condition, often forming a curve * Root locus analysis, a diagram visualizing the position of r ...

'' no. 44, December 17, 1969, Paul Walker in ''Science Fiction Review'', April 1970, Robert A. W. Lowndes in ''Bizarre Fantasy Tales'' no. 2, March 1971, Klaus Leicht in ''Magira'' no. 31, 1978, and

Everett F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

in ''The Guide to Supernatural Fiction'', 1983.

Notes

1969 anthologies Fantasy anthologies Lin Carter anthologies Ballantine Books books {{1960s-fantasy-story-collection-stub

Summary

Contents

Reception

Notes