The Heroes; Or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children
Charles Kingsley retelling of Greek myths pulses with Victorian energy in this collection designed to stir young hearts. The book follows Perseus from exposure as an infant to his legendary quest against Medusa, arming himself with winged sandals, a cap of invisibility, and a borrowed sword before facing the Gorgon whose gaze turns men to stone. Theseus next takes up the narrative thread, his journey from Troezen to Athens marked by encounters with villains, monsters, and the great Minotaur beneath King Minos palace. Kingsley doesnt soften the tales but shapes them with purpose: heroism demands wisdom alongside bravery, and true courage serves the righteous. The prose crackles with adventure while embedding quiet lessons about doing good and facing fate with dignity. These are the stories that launched a thousand adventures, retold for children who might otherwise never encounter the Greek heroes. Parents looking to share the foundations of Western literature will find no finer introduction than these vigorous, formative tales.
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“The most wonderful and the strongest things in the world, you know, are just the things which no one can see.””
— Charles Kingsley
“Did not learned men, too, hold, till within the last twenty-five years, that a flying dragon was an impossible monster? And do we not now know that there are hundreds of them found fossil up and down the world? People call them Pterodactyles: but that is only because they are ashamed to call them flying dragons, after denying so long that flying dragons could exist.””
— Charles Kingsley
“Do as you would be done by.””
— Charles Kingsley
“In fact, the fairies had turned him into a water-baby.A water-baby? You never heard of a water-baby. Perhaps not. That is the very reason why this story was written. (...)"But there are no such things as water-babies."How do you know that? Have you been there to see? And if you had been there to see, and had seen none, that would not prove that there were none. If Mr. Garth does not find a fox in Eversley Wood”
— Charles Kingsley
“Stop!" said the Irishwoman. "I have one more word for you both; for you will both see me again before all is over. Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be; and those that wish to be foul, foul they will be. Remember.””
— Charles Kingsley
“And what was the song which she sang? Ah, my little man, I am too old to sing that song, and you too young to understand it.””
— Charles Kingsley
“[...] his little whirl-about of a head was so full of the notion of going out to see the world, that it forgot her in five minutes: however, though his head forgot her, I am glad to say his heart did not.””
— Charles Kingsley
“Some people think that there are no fairies. But it is a wide world, and plenty of room in it for fairies, without people seeing them; unless, of course, they look in the right place.””
— Charles Kingsley
“...children always wake after they have slept exactly as long as is good for them..””
— Charles Kingsley
