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INTRODUCTION

If the foreword has not caught your attention, a brief introduction about each of the magnificent legends and places mentioned in the foreword will surely do. According to the dictionary a legend is a story coming down from the past and popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable. Legends are not only about people, but also about places, objects and animals. Robin Hood was a legendary English outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He is the subject of countless ballads and stories that date back to the 1300`s. He treated poor people kindly and fought the Sheriff of Nottingham, a corrupt official who persecuted the poor. Robin Hood thus became a hero of the common people and a symbol of right against might. Robin Hood lived with his merry band of followers in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. His best-known companions include Friar Tuck, Little John, and Maid Marian. Friar Tuck was a fat, jolly priest. Little John stood more than 7 feet (210 cm) tall and was known for his great skill with a bow and arrow. Maid Marian was Robin Hood `s sweetheart. No one knows whether the character of Robin Hood is based on a real person. According to one traditional story, he was actually the earl of Huntingdon, and his real name was Robert Fitzooth. But many scholars believe Robin Hood is nothing more than a fictitious character. The oldest written reference to Robin Hood appears in the Visions of Pieres Plowman, a long poem written about 1378. But Robin Hood was probably the subject of many earlier folktales handed down from one generation to the next. The first detailed description of his activities was the Lytell Geste of Robin Hood (about 1819). Robin Hood also appears as the character Locksley in Ivanhoe (1819), by the Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott. And as legends are not only about people, here is the legend of Excalibur, King Arthur `s sword. As a boy Arthur alone was able to draw the sword out of a stone in which it had been magically fixed. This account is contained in Sir Thomas Mallory `s 15-th century prose rendering of the Arthurian legend, although another story in the same work suggests that it was given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake and that, when the king lay mortally wounded after his last battle, he ordered the faithful Sir Bedivere to go to the water and through the sword into it. An arm rose to catch it, brandished Excalibur three times, and then disappeared. The legend about Excalibur and King Arthur is a mixture of love, glory and betrayal, all in the same story.

A legendary place is Stonehenge, an ancient monument on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, a county in southwestern England. It is a group of huge, rough-cut stones set in circles. Archaeologists believe that ancient peoples built Stonehenge and used it as a tribal gathering place and as a religious center. Stonehenge is the most famous of many such centers found in the British Isles. The British-born scholars C.A. Newman, Alexander Thom, and Gerald Hawkins have shown that the stones and layout of Stonehenge were probably used to determine when important astronomical events would occur. The religious and tribal ceremonies were probably linked to the rising and setting of the Sun at the summer solstice, and the rising of the Moon at both the summer and winter solstices. Researchers estimate that, the construction of Stonehenge took its builders about 30 million hours and hundreds of years to complete. R. J. Atkinson, a British archaeologist, began making excavations at Stonehenge in the 1950`s. The excavations proved the monument was built in three main phases from about 2800 to 1500 B.C.. The famous ring of large stones, built between 1800 and 1700 B.C., may have been used for religious ceremonies until about A.D. 43. At that time, the Romans conquered the British and abolished many of their religious practices. Through the years, the great stones gradually fell, or people took them to build bridges and dams. But from the position of the stones still in place, scholars have learned what the monument looked like originally. In 1922, the British government, which is still taking care of the monument, began to restore Stonehenge, some of the scattered stones being put back in their original positions. At present, Stonehenge is one of Britain `s major tourist attractions, receiving over one million visitors each year. Creatures can become legendary, too. Loch Ness monster is a large animal that some people believe lives in Loch Ness, a lake in northern Scotland. If such a creature exists, it seems to avoid people. However, hundreds of people have reported seeing the animal, which is nicknamed Nessie. The creature supposedly has flippers, one or two humps, and a long slender neck. Some observers think Nessie may be related to a dinosaur like reptile or to a modern sea animal, such as the manatee or seal. Expeditions during the 1980`s failed to produce any believable evidence for Nessie `s existence. But sightings still are reported regularly, and Nessie `s lure continues to attract tourists. Real or not, Nessie will never cease to raise polemics. In conclusion, it must be said that all legends and mysteries presented have their own special way to intrigue, to make one raise questions and interest. That is why, they continue to make the British Isles famous and attract tourists ceaselessly.

ENGLAND

THE LEGEND OF ROBIN HOOD

Robin Hood is the legendary hero of a series of English ballads, some of which date from at least the 14th century. He was a rebel and many of the most striking episodes in the tales about him show him and his companions robbing and killing representatives of authority and giving the gains to the poor. Their most frequent enemy was the Sheriff of Nottingham, a local agent of the central government (though internal evidence from the early ballads makes it clear that the action took place chiefly in south Yorkshire, not in Nottinghamshire), other enemies including wealthy ecclesiastical landowners. Robin treated women, the poor, and people of humble status with courtesy. A good deal of the impetus against authority stems from restriction of hunting rights. The early ballads, especially, reveal the cruelty that was an inescapable part of medial life. Numerous attempts have been made to prove that there was a historical Robin Hood, though references to the legend by medieval writers make it clear that the ballads themselves were the only evidence for his existence available to them. A popular modern belief that he was of the time of Richard probably stems from a pedigree fabricated by an 18th century antiquary, Richard Stukely. A more serious view has been advanced that he was one of the disinherited followers of Simon de Montfort, after the later `s defeat in 1265. The authentic Robin Hood ballads were poetic expressions of popular aspirations in the north of England during a turbulent era of baronial rebellions and agrarian discontent, which culminated in the Peasant `s Revolt of 1381. Robin Hood was a people `s hero as King Arthur was a noble `s one. Although many of the best known Robin Hood ballads are post medieval, there is a core that can be confidently attributed to the medieval period. These are Robin Hood and the Monk, Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne, Robin Hood and the Potter, and the Lytell Geste of Robin Hode. During the 16th century and later, the essential character of the legend was distorted by a suggestion that Robin was a fallen nobleman, and playwrights, eagerly adopting this new element , increased the romantic appeal of the stories but deprived them of their social bite. Post-medieval ballads (which gave Robin a companion, Maid Marian, supposed to be the cousin of King Richard) also lost most of their vitality and poetic value, doubtless as a result of losing the original social impulse that brought them into existence. In the 12th century town and country alike lacked any effective police force, and therefore, although the majority of known or suspected criminals could be dispossessed of land and property, even

murderers were rarely apprehended. At times in 13th century England only one in 100 murderers was ever brought to trial and convicted. The rest fled many apparently into the forest to live like beasts or find an organized band of outlaws, idealized tales of which became widely current in the later Middle Ages in the legends of Robin Hood. The local community protected itself as best as it could against such bands, but the assistance of a local knight at the head of his retainers could rarely be distinguished from the nuisance it was supposed to abate. The fate of these outlaws was bound up with that of the forests, and both were in decline by 1500. With the first signs of a recovery of population, however, vagrancy and unemployment were probably increasing. The forest in which Robin Hood is said to have lived is called Sherwood Forest, a woodland and former royal hunting ground, county of Nottinghamshire, England. Sherwood Forest formerly occupied almost all of western Nottinghamshire and extended into Derbyshire. Today a reduced area of woodland, mostly pine plantations, remains between Nottingham and Worksop. In the north of the great ducal estates, or dukeries, of Welbeck, Clumber and Thoresby have preserved parts of the forest. Dewsbury is a locality in Kirklees district, metropolitan area of West Yorkshire, England. It lies along the River Calder, 9 miles (14 km), south-southwest of Leeds. There is a tradition that Paulinus , the first archbishop of York, preached in A.D. 627 at Dewsbury, which had in Saxon times a parish of more than 400 square miles (1,000 square km) in area. What is more interesting about Dewsbury is that another tradition holds that Robin Hood died and was buried in the extensive park at Kirklees, where there are the remains of a 12th century Cistercian convent. The parish church of All Saints, mostly rebuilt in 18th century, retains 9th century Anglo-Saxon carvings. Epic and saga heroes figure prominently in Continental balladry, notable examples being the Russian Vladimir, the Spanish Cid Campeador, the Greek Digenes Akritas, and the Danish Tord of Havsgaard and Diderick. This kind of hero never appears in English and Scottish ballads. But the outlaw hero of the type of Serbian Makro Kraljevic or the Danish Marsk Stig is exactly matched by the English Robin Hood, who is the hero of some 40 ballads, most of them of minstrel or broadside provenance. His chivalrous style and generosity to the poor was imitated by the later ballad highwaymen in Dick Turpin, Brennan on the Moor, and Jesse James. The presentation of stories in songs, either stories composed for the occasion out of a repertory of traditional motifs or phrases or stories preserved by memory and handed down orally, is found in most ancient cultures. The ballad habit thus is unquestionably very ancient. But the ballad genre itself could not have existed in anything like its present form before about 1100. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-98), dates from 1300, but until the 17th century ballad records are sparse indeed. As an oral art, the 5

ballad does not need to be written down to be performed or preserved; in any case, many of the carriers of the ballad tradition are illiterate and could not make use of a written and notated ballad. The few early ballads` records survived accidentally, due to some monks, minstrel` s, or antiquary` s fascination with rustic pastimes. The precise date of a ballad, therefore, or even any particular version of a ballad, is almost impossible to determine. In fact, to ask for the date of a folk ballad is to show that one misunderstands the peculiar nature of balladry. As remarked earlier, the first recording of a ballad must not be assumed to be the ballad` s original form; behind each recorded ballad there can be one detecting the working of tradition upon some earlier form, since a ballad does not become a ballad until it has run a course in tradition. Historical ballads would seem on the surface to be easily datable, but their origins are usually quite uncertain. The ballad could have arisen along after the events it describes, being based on chronicles or popular legends. It is also likely that many historical ballads developed from the revamping of earlier ballads on similar themes through the alteration of names, places, and local details. The Tale of Gamelyn is an anonymous English metrical romance of about 1350, some 900 lines long, written in the East Midland dialect of Middle English, in rhymed couplets. Based on English folklore, it tells of Gamelyn, son of Sir John de Boundys, who is deprived of his inheritance by his brother and becomes an outlaw in the forest. Eventually he is able to regain his estates, and the sheriff who had helped his brother is hanged. The Tale of Gamelyn is of special interest for its connections with the English ballads of the outlaw Robin Hood. It was a source of Thomas Lodge` s prose romance Rosalynde (1590), on which William Shakeaspeare based his As you like it. It was almost certainly intended by Geoffrey Chaucer to form the basis of his (unfinished) Cook` s Tale in The Canterbury Tales . Henry Louis Reginald de Koven (1859-1920) is an American composer, conductor and critic. Between 1887 and 1913 he composed 20 lights operas, of which the most successful was Robin Hood (1890). Partly derived from the style of Gilbert and Sullivan and containing the songs O Promise Me and Brown October Ale, it received more than 3,000 performances. Another work of de Koven is Maid Marian (1901). Howard Pyle (1853-1911) is an American illustrator, painter, and author, best known for the children` s books that he wrote and illustrated. Pyle wrote original children` s stories as well as retelling old fairy tales. Many of Pyle` s children` s stories, illustrated by the author with vividness and historical accuracy, have become classics most notably The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883).

The legend of Robin Hood or Robin Hood and his Merry Men are only two of the contemporary movies inspired by the legend of Robin Hood. It is an interesting and captivating subject which will also represent a source of interest and inspiration for the coming generations.

EXCALIBUR & KING ARTHUR

Excalibur was the sword of King Arthur, a legendary British ruler of medieval times. There are two versions of how Arthur got the sword. In one version, which probably originated in Robert Boron` s Merlin (about 1200), Excalibur was embedded in a block of stone or in an anvil. Only the rightful heir to the throne of England could pull it out. Only Arthur succeeded, proving his right to be king. Another version of the legend is found in the Suite du Merlin (about 1230). In it, Arthur received the sword and its valuable scabbard, which protected the bearer from injury, from the mysterious Lady of the Lake. She lived in a castle at the bottom of a magic lake. Just before Arthur died, he commanded a knight to throw Excalibur into the lake. When the knight did so, a hand rose from the water and pulled it down. The two versions of the legend are combined in Sir Thomas Malory` s Le Morte Darthur (1470). Sir Thomas Malory compiled his famous prose romance from much earlier French and English romances about Arthur. There was a famous sword in Irish legend called `Caladbolg`, from which Excalibur is evidently derived by the by way of Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) refers to Arthur` s sword as Caliburn. Malory says that Excalibur means cut-steel. Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are symbols of the highest medieval ideals of courage, faith, and chivalry. King Arthur was a legendary king of medieval Britain. He became the main character in some of the most popular stories in world literature. For almost 1,000 years, writers have told of Arthur` s brave deeds and adventures of his Knights of the Round Table. A real Arthur probably existed, but historians know little about him. Storytellers passed on the earliest tales about Arthur by word of mouth. They may have based the tales on a real British leader who won minor victories over German invaders in the early A.D. 500`s. According to legend, Arthur` s parents were King Uther Pendragon and Duchess Igraine of Cornwall. King Uther fell in love with Igraine and with the aid of Merlin, a Celtic magician, he took the form of the duke and so conceived Arthur. Sir Ector, one of Uther` s barons, raised Arthur but did not tell him of his royal ancestry. When Arthur pulled the magic sword Excalibur from a block of stone, he proved himself the rightful heir to the throne of Britain and became king. Then, guided by Merlin, Arthur defeated a force of rebellious princes and married the beautiful Princess Guenevere. Arthur had several residences, of which his favorite was Camelot, a castle in southern England.

There are two versions of the events that led to Arthur` s death. Both say he fought a war against the Roman emperor Lucius. During this war, Arthur conquered much of Western Europe. Early writers said he was called home before completing his conquest. He had heard that Modred, a knight who was either his nephew or his son, had seized hi kingdom and queen. Arthur killed Modred in battle but died from wounds received in the fight. Later authors wrote that Arthur had completed his victory over the Romans. After he returned to Britain, Arthur began the quest of the Holy Grail, the cup or dish that Jesus used at the Last Supper. After the quest ended, a love affair developed between Queen Guenevere and Sir Lancelot, the greatest Knight of the Round Table. While fighting a war of revenge against Lancelot, Arthur learned of Modred`s treachery. Then followed the battle that resulted in the death of Arthur and Modred. Many people believed that Arthur` s wounds would be healed and that someday he would return to help his country in its time of need. In 1191, after Geoffrey wrote his book, making King Arthur famous, the monks at Glastonbury (a town from southeastern England, famous in history and in the legends of King Arthur) were rebuilding their monastery after a bad fire. About two meters below ground, they found a huge stone slab, with Arthur` s name carved on it. Even further down, they came across a tree trunk containing the bones of a big man and a skull which had been wounded in ten places. They said it was King Arthur. It seemed as if he had been tracked down at last, but people soon accused the monks of lying. It was all done, some people said as a gimmick to raise money to rebuild the monastery: they thought that the whole thing was a big hoax. The Round Table was the table at which King Arthur sat with his Knights. The term Round Table also refers to Arthur` s entire royal court. The Round Table inspired some of the greatest literature of the Middle Ages. The fullest English account of Arthur and his Knights appears in Le Morte Darthur (about 1469), a group of romances collected and rewritten by Sir Thomas Malory. A romance, in medieval literature, was along work of fiction that described the remarkable adventures of a hero. The first mention of the Round Table occurs in Le Roman Brut (1155), a verse history by the Norman poet Wace. This book tells how Arthur decided to seat his Knights around a circular table to avoid quarrels over who should occupy seats of honor. About 1205, the English priest Layamon adapted Wace` s book into an English version called The Brut. In The Brut, bloody fighting broke out among Arthur` s Knights over the choicest seats at a Christmas feast. To avoid such conflicts, Arthur had a Welsh carpenter build a wondrous round table. The table would seat 1,600 men and yet fold up so it could be carried on horseback. According to another source, Merlin the magician had the table build for Uther, Arthur`s father. Uther apparently gave the table to King Leodegan, who later gave the table to Athur after Arthur married Guenevere, Leodegan` s daughter. 9

One source describes the Round Table as seating 50, with an empty place in memory of Judas` seat at the Last Supper. Malory gave the number of seats as 150 and called the empty seat the Siege Perilous. It was reserved for the Knight so pure that he would some day find the Holy Grail, the cup or dish used by Christ at the Last Supper. Any other Knight who sat in the Siege Perilous would die. One day, Sir Galahad` s name appeared on the seat and from that time on, Galahad occupied the Siege Perilous. He later was one of the three Knights who found the Grail. In medieval literature, Knights considered membership at the Round Table a great honor. Brave men came to Arthur` s court from many countries hoping to be chosen a member. Many romances describe the career of various Knights of the Round Table, several tell of the adventures of Sir Tristam. These stories describe Tristam` s skill as a hunter and harp player and his bravery in killing a dragon and a giant. The best-known tale concerns Tristam` s love affair with Isolt, the wife of his uncle, King Mark. Sir Gawain was another famous knight of the Round Table. The great English romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight describes Gawain `s bravery and sense of honor as he faces possible death from the gigantic Green Knight. Gawain also demonstrates his moral purity by refusing to be seduced by the Green Knight` s beautiful but deceitful wife. Sir Lancelot du Lac is another well-known Knight of the Round Table. In the earliest stories, Lancelot did not appear as the outstanding hero of the English people, but before A.D. 1200, through the influence of French romances, he became one of the most famous heroes of the Round Table. Later, Sir Thomas Malory said of him in Le Morte Darthur: In all tournaments and jousts and deeds of arms, both for life and death, he passed all other knights, andwas never overcome but if it were by treason or enchantment. Lancelot was of royal birth, but was taken as a child by the Lady of the Lake. When he reached manhood, she brought him to Arthur` s court. The tragedy of Lancelot` s life was his love for Guenevere, Arthur` s beautiful queen. Lancelot took part in the quest for the Holy Grail, but because of his sins, he caught only glimpses of it. Lancelot fought many combats for Guenevere. His valor and his protection by the Lady of the Lake brought him success every time. Lancelot` s dreams of taking Guenevere away to the distant retreat of Joyous Gard ended when she entered a sanctuary. He himself was received into a monastery. After Guenevere` s death, Lancelot buried her beside Arthur, and soon followed her in death. Throughout the legends, Elaine, the beautiful maid of Astolat, loved Lancelot and she finally died for her love. Lancelot is one of the chief characters of Alfred, Lord Tennyson` s series of poems, Idylls of the King. His love for Guenevere is perhaps the main theme of the poems. Guenevere` s love for him is 10

revealed in a poem by William Morris, The Defence of Guenevere (1858). Edwin Arlington Robinson` s volume of poetry, Lancelot, appeared in 1920. Other poets have also written about Sir Lancelot. Other important Round Table heroes included Ban, Bedevere, Ector, Gareth, Kay, Launfal,Palomides, Sagramore, and Ywain. For several reasons the fellowship of the Round Table declined and in time was destroyed. The greatest adventure of the Round Table was the search for the Holy Grail. However, only three Knights Bors, Galahad, and Perceval were morally perfect and thus able to find the Grail. The fact that so many of Arthur` s Knights proved themselves morally imperfect damaged the reputation of the Round Table. A scandal also developed over the love affair between Queen Guenevere and Sir Lancelot, perhaps the greatest of the Round Table Knights. The scandal destroyed the bounds of respect and friendship that had united all the Knights. The villainous actions of Sir Modred, Arthur` s nephew, led to the final destruction of the brotherhood. Modred seized Arthur` s throne while the king was in France. Arthur quickly returned to Britain after learning of Modred` s treachery, and war broke out between the forces of the two men. Arthur killed Modred in battle but received wounds that led to his death. The brotherhood of the Round Table was dissolved following the death of Arthur. The search of the Holy Grail is the most important expedition made by King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. A Celtic story describes the Grail as being a magic cup or dish, that provided food and drink for anyone who used it. It is said that on the feast of Pentecost, the Knights gathered in a hall in Arthur` s castle. Suddenly, in a brief vision, they saw the Grail suspended in the air. The Knights underwent many dangerous adventures during their search. Their actions during this adventures revealed that only three knights Bors, Galahad, and Perceval were morally perfect and therefore fit to complete the quest. After searching for years, the three Knights, with nine men from other lands, entered Castle Cobernic, where they saw a vision in which Joseph of Arimathea appeared as a priest. Angels brought in the Grail and the bloody spear that had pierced Christ` s side during the Crucifixion. A child appeared above the Grail and changed into bread. Then Christ emerged from the cup and gave Communion to the men. The vision was meant to prove that, in the Mass, the bread and wine are changed into the actual body and blood of Christ. This transformation became known as the miracle of the Grail. After leaving the castle, the three Knights sailed on a ship which, they discovered, carried the Grail. Guided by supernatural forces, the ship took the Knights and the Grail to the distant city of Sarass. There, after Galahad died, Bors and Perceval saw the Grail rise into heaven. According to the legend, no one

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has seen the Holy Grail since that time. Some scholars believe that the Christian myth of the Holy Grail originated the legend of King Arthur. The Legend of King Arthur is very complex, there is something in it for everyone: magical weapons (like Excalibur, the major protection of Arthur), love affairs, and religion. Moreover, King Arthur embodies a model of chivalry and that is why people will always look up to him with respect and admiration.

STONEHENGE
STRUCTURE

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Stonehenge is a monumental circular setting of large standing stones surrounded by a circular earthwork, built in prehistoric times beginning about 3100 B.C. and located about 13 km (8 miles) north of Salisbury, Wiltshire, in England. The modern interpretation of the monument is based chiefly on excavation carried out since 1919 and especially since 1950. The Stonehenge that visitors see today is considerably ruined, many of its stones having been pilfered by medieval and early modern builders (there is no natural building stone within 21 km of Stonehenge); its general architecture has also been subjected to centuries of weathering and depredation. The monument consists of a number of structural elements, mostly circular in plan. On the outside there is a circular ditch, with a bank immediately within it, all interrupted by an entrance gap on the northeast, leading to the Avenue. At the centre of the circle there is a stone setting consisting of a horseshoe of tall uprights of sarsen (Tertiary sandstone) encircled by a ring of tall sarsen uprights, all originally capped by horizontal sarsen lintels. Within the sarsen stone circle were also configurations of smaller and lighter bluestones (igneous rocks and volcanic ash), but most of these bluestones have disappeared. Additional stones include the so-called Altar Stone, the Slaughter Stone, two Station stones, and the Heel Stone, the last standing on the Avenue outside the entrance. Small circular ditches enclose two flat areas on the inner edge of the bank, known as the North and South barrows, with empty stone holes at their centres. Archeological excavations since 1950 suggest three main periods of building Stonehenge , and , the last divided into phases. In Stonehenge , about 3100 B.C., the Native Neolithic people, using deer antlers for picks, excavated a roughly circular ditch about 98 m (320 feet) in diameter, the ditch was about 6 m (20 feet) wide and 1.4 to 2 m (4.5 to 7 feet) deep, and the excavated chalky rubble was used to build the high bank within the circular ditch. They also erected two parallel entry stones on the northeast of the circle (one of which, the Slaughter Stone, still survives). Just inside the circular bank they also dug and seemingly almost immediately refilled a circle of 56 shallow holes, named the Aubrey Holes (after their discoverer, the 17th century antiquarian John Aubrey). The Station stones also probably belong to this period, but the evidence is inconclusive. Stonehenge was used for about 500 years and then reverted to scrubland. During Stonehenge , about 2100 B.C., the complex was radically remodeled. About 80 bluestone pillars, weighing up to 4 tones each were erected in the centre of the site to form what were to be two concentric circles, though the circles were never completed. (The bluestones came from the Prescelly Mountain in southwestern Wales and were either transported directly by sea, river and overland a distance of some 385 km [240 miles] or were brought in two stages widely separated in time. this was shown by 13

H.H. Thomas of the Geological Survey of Great Britain in the 1920`s.) The entranceway of this earliest setting of bluestones was aligned approximately upon the sunrise at summer solstice, the alignment being continued by a newly built and widened approach, called the Avenue, together with a pair of Heel stones. The double circle of bluestones was dismantled in the following period. The initial phase of Stonehenge , starting about 2000 B.C., saw the erection of the linteled circle and horseshoe of large sarsen stones whose remains can still be seen today. The sarsen stones were transported from Marlborough Downs 30 km (20 miles) north and were erected in a circle of 30 uprights capped by a continuous ring of stone lintels. Within this ring was erected a horseshoe formation of five trilithons, each of which consisted of a pair of large stone uprights supporting a stone lintel. The sarsen stones are of exceptional size, up to 9 m (30 feet) long and 50 tons in weight. Their visible surfaces were laboriously dressed smooth by pounding with stone hammers; the same technique was used to form the mortise-and-tenon joints by which the lintels are held on their uprights, and it was used to form the tongueand-groove joints by which the lintels of the circle fit together. The pillars are tapered upward. The jointing of the stones is probably an imitation of the contemporary wood-working. In the second phase of Stonehenge , which probably followed within a century, about 20 bluestones from Stonehenge were dressed and erected in an approximate oval setting within the sarsen horseshoe. Sometime later, about 1550 B.C., two concentric rings of holes (the Y and Z Holes, today not visible) were dug outside the sarsen circle ; the apparent intention was to plan upright in these holes the 60 other leftover bluestones from Stonehenge , but the plan was never carried out . The holes in both circles were left open to silt up over the succeeding centuries. The oval setting in the centre was also removed. The final phase of building in Stonehenge probably followed almost immediately. Within the sarsen horseshoe the builders set close together, alternately a pillar followed by an obelisk followed by a pillar and so on. The remaining unshaped 60-odd bluestones were set as a circle of pillars within the sarsen circle (but outside the sarsen horseshoe). The largest bluestone of all, traditionally misnamed the Altar Stone, probably stood as a tall pillar on the axial line. About 1100 B.C. the Avenue was extended from Stonehenge eastward and then south-eastward to the River Avon, a distance of about 2,780 m (9,120 feet). This suggests that Stonehenge was still in use at the time.

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WHAT IS MORE EXACTLY A MEGALITH?

A megalith is a huge, often undressed stone used in various types of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age monuments.

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Although some aspects of the spread and development of megalithic monuments are still under debate, in Spain, Portugal, and the Mediterranean coast the most ancient of the cyclopean stone tombs was probably the dolmen. The dolmen consisted of several upright supports and a flat roofing slab, all covered by a protective mound of earth that in most cases has weathered away. In northern and western Europe, two principal plans developed from the dolmen: one, the passage grave, was formed by the addition of a long stone-roofed entrance passage to the dolmen itself; and the other, the long, coffinlike cist or covered gallery grave, consisted of a long , rectangular burial chamber with no distinct passageway. Hybrid versions have also been discovered, for example, in the Hebrides. Many round and long barrows also were found to contain megalithic burial chambers. Another form of the megalithic monument was the menhir (from Breton men. stone, and hir. long), which may or may not occur in connection with a megalithic grave. Menhirs were simple upright stones, sometimes of great size, and were erected most frequently in Western Europe, especially Brittany. Often menhirs were placed together, forming circles, semicircles, or vast ellipses. Many were built in England, the best-known sites being Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire. Megalithic menhirs were also placed in several parallel rows, called alignments. The most famous of these are the Carnac, Fr., alignments, which include 2,935 menhirs. The alignments were probably used for ritual processions, and often a circle or semicircle of megaliths stood at one end. The conception underlying the building of megalithic monuments is still unknown, but all of the monuments share certain architectural and technical features, demonstrating that the disseminators of the megalith idea came to dominate the local populations of many areas. The similarity of magical symbols carved on many of the monuments also shows an underlying unity of beliefs. In most areas the megalith builders were superseded by the Beaker folk at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. The newcomers, however, carried on the megalithic tradition by building round barrows for single burials, in contrast to the collective tombs of the Neolithic builders.

STONEHENGE BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION On the simplest level, science is knowledge of the world of nature. There are many regularities in nature that mankind has had to recognize for survival since the emerge of Homo sapiens as a species. The Sun and the Moon periodically repeat their movements. Some motions, like the annual motion of the Sun, 16

are far more difficult. Both motions correlate with important terrestrial events. Day and night provide the basic rhythm of human existence; the seasons determine the migration of animals upon on which humans depended for millennia for survival. With the invention of agriculture, the seasons became even more crucial, for failure to recognize the proper time for planting could lead to starvation. Science defined simply as knowledge of natural processes is universal among mankind, and it has existed since the dawn of human existence. The wonder is not that mankind comprehends the world, but that the world is comprehensible. From cave paintings and from apparently regular scratches on bone and reindeer horn, it is known that prehistoric humans were close observers of nature who carefully tracked the seasons and times of the year. About 2500 B.C. there was a sudden burst of activity that seems to have had clear scientific importance. Great Britain and northwestern Europe contain large stone structures from that era, the most famous of which is Stonehenge, that are remarkable from a scientific point of view. Not only do they reveal technical and social skills of a high order it was no mean feat to move such enormous blocks of stones considerable distances and place them in position but the basic conception of Stonehenge and the other megalithic structures also seems to combine religious and astronomical purposes. Their layouts suggest a degree of mathematical sophistication that was first suspected only in the mid-20th century. Stonehenge is a circle, but some of the other megalithic structures are egg-shaped and, apparently, constructed on mathematical principles that require at least practical knowledge of the Pythagorean Theorem, that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. This theorem, or at least the Pythagorean numbers that can be generated by it, seems to have been known throughout Asia, the Middle East, and the Neolithic Europe two millennia before the birth of Pythagoras. This combination of religion and astronomy was fundamental to the early history of science. It is found in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China (although to a much lesser extent than elsewhere), Central America and India. The spectacle of the heavens, with the clearly discernible order and regularity of most heavenly bodies highlighted by extraordinary events such as comets and novae and the peculiar motions of the planets, obviously was an irresistible intellectual puzzle to early mankind. In its search for order and regularity, the human mind could do no better than to seize upon the heavens as the paradigm certain knowledge. Astronomy was to remain the queen of sciences (welded solidly to theology) for the next 4,000 years. Optical observatories have a long history. The predecessors of astronomical observatories were monolithic structures that tracked the position of the Sun, Moon, and other celestial bodies for timekeeping or calendrical purposes. The most famous of these ancient structures and the oldest is Stonehenge, built between 2800 BC and 1500 BC. 17

In primitive lunar calendars, intercalation was often achieved by taking alternately months of 29 and 30 days. When, in order to keep dates in step with the seasons, a solar calendar was adopted, some greater difference between the months and the Moon` s phases was bound to occur. And the solar calendar presented an even more fundamental problem - that of finding the precise length of the tropical year. Observations of cyclic changes in plant or animal life were far too inaccurate, and astronomical observations became necessary. Since the stars are not visible when the Sun is in the sky, some indirect way had to be found to determine its precise location among them. In tropical and subtropical countries it was possible to use the method of heliacal rising. Here the first task was to determine the constellations around the whole sky through which the Sun appears to move in the course of a year. Then, by observing the stars rising in the east just after sunset it was possible to know which were precisely opposite in the sky, where the Sun lay at that time. Such heliacal risings could, therefore be used to determine the seasons and the tropical year. In temperate countries, the angle at which stars rise up from the horizon is not steep enough for this method to be adopted, so that, there, wood or stone structures were built to mark out points along the horizon to allow analogous observations to be made. The most famous of these is Stonehenge. It is composed of a series of holes , stones and archways arranged mostly in circles , the outermost ring of holes having 56 marked positions, the inner ones 30 and 29, respectively. In addition, there is a large stone the heel stone set to the northeast, as well as some smaller stone markers. Observations were made by lining up holes or stones with the heel stone or one of the other markers and watching for the appearance of the Sun or Moon against that point on the horizon that lay in the same straight line. The extreme north and south positions on the horizon of the Sun the summer and winter solstices were particularly noted , while the inner circles , with their 29 or 30 marked positions , allowed hollow and full (29 or 30-day) lunar months to be counted off. More than 600 contemporaneous structures of an analogous but simpler kind have been discovered in Britain, in Brittany, and elsewhere in Europe and the Americas. It appears, then, that astronomical observation for calendrical purposes was a wide spread practice in some temperate countries three or four millennia ago. Stonehenge is also a symbol of a sacred time and place. The symbolical forms of representation of the sacred or holy are to be understood as references to or transparencies of the sacred or holy. The sacred manifests itself in time and space, so that time and space themselves become diaphanous indications of the holy. The holy place a shrine, forest grove, temple, church, or other area of worship is symbolically marked off as a sacred area. The signs, such as a stake, post, or pillar that delimit the area themselves are endowed with sacred symbolic meanings, which often can be noted by their particular designs. The ground

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plan of the sacred building and its orientation, walls, roof, and arches are all utilized to symbolize the sacred or holy. Druids are said to have used Stonehenge. Druids were the priestly, learned class among the Celts, a people of ancient Europe. The Druids were judges and lawmakers as well as priests. They led religious ceremonies, settled legal disputes, and served as leaders and advisers to the people. Druidism, the religion of the Druids, involved the worship of many gods. The Druids regarded mistletoe and oak as sacred. They believed the soul was immortal and entered a new body after death. The Druids killed animals and possibly people as sacrifices. They studied the flights of birds and the remains of sacrificed animals to foretell the future. The Romans, who conquered much of Europe between about 300 B.C. and A.D. 100, tried to stop druidism. The religion died out after the Celts became Christians in the 400`s and 500`s. During the 1600`s, the descendants of the Celts became interested in their Druidic heritage. Today, several groups in Britain and Ireland practice what they believe to be ancient Druidism. They hold Druidic festivals at the beginning of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. A major celebration takes place at Stonehenge. In Wales, festivals of music and poetry called Eisteddfods include Druidic rites.

STONEHENGE AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY In principle, the sort of relationship that exists between myth and literature exists also with respect to the other arts. In the case of architecture and sculpture, archaeological discoveries confirm the primacy of mythical representations. Among the earliest known three-dimensional objects built by man are prehistoric megalithic and sepulchral structures. Mythological details cannot actually be discerned, but it is generally believed that such structures express mythological concerns and that mythical image dictated the 19

shape. An especially intriguing case is the stone circle at Stonehenge. Axes of this construction are aligned with significant risings and settings of the Sun and Moon, but the idea that the circle was built for a religious purpose must remain likely rather than certain. Why Stonehenge was built is unknown. Though is probably was constructed as a place of worship of some kind. Notions that it was built as a temple for Druids or Romans are unsound, because neither was in the area until long after Stonehenge was constructed. Early in 20th century, the English astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer demonstrated that the northeast axis aligned with the sunrise at the summer solstice, leading other scholars to speculate that the builders were sun worshipers. In 1963 an American astronomer, Gerald Hawkins, purported that Stonehenge was a complicated computer for predicting lunar and solar eclipses. These speculations, however, have been severely criticized by most Stonehenge archaeologists. Most of what has been written about Stonehenge is nonsense or speculation, said R.J.C. Atkinson, archaeologist from University College, Cardiff. No one will ever have a clue what its significance was.

SCOTLAND

THE LOCH NESS MONSTER

Scotland, the most northerly of the four parts of the United Kingdom, occupies about one third of the island of Great Britain. The name Scotland (in Latin, Scotia) derives from the Scots, a Celtic people from Ireland who settled on the west coast in about the 5th century.

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Scotland is traditionally divided into three areas: the Highlands in the north, the Central Lowlands, and the Southern Uplands. The Highlands are bisected by the fault line of the Great Glen, which is occupied by a series of lochs (lakes), the largest of which is Loch Ness, famous for its probably mythical monster. Lochs are numerous in the Highlands, ranging from moraine dammed lochans (pools) in mountain corries (cirques) to large and deep lochs filling rock basins. In the Lowlands and Southern Uplands, lochs are shallower and less numerous. Loch Ness is a body of water lying in Iverness district, Highland region. It has the largest volume of fresh water in Great Britain, reaching a depth of 788 feet (240 m) and a length of about 23 miles (36 km). it lies in the Great Glen, forming part of the system of waterways across Scotland that Thomas Telford (a Scottish civil engineer) linked by means of the Caledonian Canal (opened 1822). The watershed of Loch Ness extends to more than 700 square miles (1,800 square km), the loch being fed by several rivers, including the Oich and the Enrick. Its outlet is the river Ness, which flows into the Moray Firth. Seiches (surface oscillations), caused by differential heating, are common on the loch. The sharp rise and fall of the level of the loch is the reason for the scanty flora of the waters, another being the great depths reached near the shoreline. The abyssal fauna is also sparse. Like some other very deep lochs in Scotland and Scandinavia, Loch Ness is said to be inhabited by an aquatic monster. Many sightings of the socalled Loch Ness monster have been reported, and the possibility of its existence perhaps in the form of a solitary survivor of the long-extinct plesiosaurs continues to intrigue many. The true identity of Nessie (nickname given to the Loch Ness monster) is still unknown. Some sustain that the famous monster might be a plesiosaurs, but the legends tell something else. A number of them tell about the Loch Ness Monster, a sea serpent in Scotland. Some people believe this creature actually exists. A sea serpent is a large, probably imaginary marine creature. Since ancient times, the legends of most peoples have told of such creatures as sea serpents, dragons and unicorns. Witnesses have reported seeing sea serpents, but none of the snakelike monsters has ever been caught or washed ashore. A sea serpent is probably just a group of leaping porpoises or a floating mass of giant seaweed. Other marine animals, including large eels, oarfish, sharks, and giant sea squids, have also been mistaken for sea serpents. Some scientists believe sea serpents may be the descendants of a prehistoric animal, and the Loch Ness Monster is supposed to have lived in this lake since the 500`s. However, from time to time various expeditions have tried to find Nessie, a lot of investigation has been done, all of it remaining inconclusive.

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The Loch Ness monster is said to be a large animal, which avoids people. But hundreds of people have reported seeing the animal. The creature supposedly has flippers, one or two humps, and a long, slender neck. Some observers think Nessie may be related to a dinosaur like reptile or to a modern sea animal, such as the manatee or seal. The earliest known description of a strange creature in Loch Ness dates from A.D. 565. But reporting sighting increased during the 1930`s, when a new highway made the lake more accessible to travelers. In 1960, a British aircraft engineer, named Tim Dinsdale, made a short film of a dark shape moving through Loch Ness. Aerial photography experts from Great Britain` s Royal Air Force reported that the film probably showed an animate object that is, a living thing. Since then, several scientific expeditions have explored the waters of the lake. Investigations with sonar, a device that uses sound to detect underwater objects, have found large moving bodies in Loch Ness. However, the scientists are not sure whether the sonar detected one large creature or a school of fish. In 1972 and 1975, researchers from the Academy of Applied Science in Boston took underwater photographs of what they claimed was the Loch Ness monster. However, many experts question the value of these photographs. Expeditions during the 1980`s failed to produce any new evidence for Nessie` s existence. But sightings still are reported regularly, and Nessie` s lure continues to attract tourists. Certain film directors have even made successful movies based on the legend of the Loch Ness monster, a legend that simply fascinates everyone.

CONCLUSION

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Legends, like myths are stories told as if they were true. But legends are set in the real world and in relatively recent times. Many legends tell about human beings who meet supernatural creatures, such as fairies, ghosts, vampires and witches. The action in myths and folk tales ends at the conclusion of the story. But the action in many legends has not been completed by the story` s end, allowing the human mind to create possible scenarios. The human nature develops a natural attraction for mysteries, for stories which sound too good to be true. That` s why people will always wish lo learn more about places like Stonehenge, which is an outstanding testimony to the technical skill, not to mention the imagination and mathematical competence, of the later Stone Age societies; or, who is not attracted by the legend of the Loch Ness monster, who would not want to see the last surviving dinosaur, if Nessie really exists? The uncertainty makes it even more intriguing for us. Stories with kings, princesses, castles (like the legend of King Arthur) and common heroes (Robin Hood) will always be read or listened with pleasure by anyone who likes to dream. And if there is a touchable evidence of such stories, people will not hesitate to see it. This being the case of Tara` s Hill. These are the reasons of the touristical success of the Great Britain. Some proper publicity and the amazing, mixt culture of the British Isles will gain its recognition through the huge amount of people who visit the country annually just to feed their curiosity. Tourism is a flourishing industry in Britain, an industry which brings a lot of money to the country` s benefit. And as long as they keep using their legends in a proper manner, people all around the world will keep feeding the country` s income. It is all about knowing the human mind and how it works. That is the reason why a person, an animal, an object or a place touched by a small trail of mystery will continue to awaken one` s attention in the far, far future, also. In conclusion, it must be said that the legends mentioned in this paper bring a lot of benefits to Great Britain, they bring fame to this country and fame attracts tourists who contribute to the economical development of the country. This chain reaction ends by making Great Britain one of the most powerful states in the world. Another benefit of legends, or you can call it the beauty of legends, is that no one can tell the truth, and because of that, we can all dream.

ANNEXES

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Book covers representing Robin Hood

Movies inspired from Robin Hood` s legend

Representations of Robin Hood and his companions

Robin Hood` s gravestone

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MAPS
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Excalibur, King Arthur` s magic sword

Interpretations of King Arthur and of the Knights of the Round Table

Tapestries representing King Arthur

The legend of King Arthur was brought to life on TV

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Possible looks of the Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle

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Reconstructions of Stonehenge

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Stonehenge nowadays

Stonehenge in winter

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aylett, J. F. In Search of History Early Times 1066, London, 1991 Children` s Illustrated Encyclopedia, U.K., 1991 Cootes, R.J. The Middle Ages, Second Edition, U.K., 1972 Perry, Marwin A History of the World, U.K., 1985 Ray, John & Hagerty, James The Course of British History, London, 1987 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Fifteenth Edition, U.S.A., 1995 The World Book Encyclopedia, U.S.A., 1975 The World Book Encyclopedia, U.S.A., 1993 Webster` s New Ideal Dictionary, G&C Merriam Company, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1978

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