FOR MANY MORE VIETNAMESE GODS AND GODDESSES CLICK HERE.
THACH SANH – A son of the supreme deity Ngoc Hoang. His father forced him to incarnate as a human and in this demi-god form he fought monsters, rescued the son of the chief sea god Long Vuong, vanquished his evil foster-brother and married a beautiful princess.
He then went on to lead her father’s people in a war of conquest, uniting the legendary and traditional “original 18” villages (though some sources say 15 villages) that were the basis of the nation that eventually grew into ancient Vietnam. Continue reading
GEORGE ADAMSKI (April 17th, 1891 – February 26th, 1965) occupied a special place in the history of cults. In 1936 he claimed to represent the Royal Order of Tibet and preached “its teachings” in California (where else). 
The readjustments started after George Adamski published Pioneers of Space in 1949, a general look at the infant Flying Saucer phenomenon, and in 1952 he claimed to be in telepathic contact with a being from Venus. Claims of additional contacts followed, including hieroglyphic writings from the Venusian.
TUILAKEMBA – This figure was the son of Tuilangi, the god who ruled over the Skyland, and a mortal woman. When Tuilakemba was a little boy he was often ridiculed by the other children for not having a father on hand like they did. One day the young demigod had had enough and threatened to kill his mother unless she told him who his father was. 
THE BILLDAD 
THE RESCUE OF RUGGIERO – In the cliffhanger ending of our previous installment, Ruggiero the Saracen was still on the island divided into separate kingdoms by Morgana’s sisters – the evil sorceress Alcina and the good sorceress Logestilla. 
These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
Ruggiero (at left) was hoping that Logestilla would use her own magic to cure the Paladin Astolpho of the spell that Alcina had cast – a spell that had trapped Astolpho in the form of a tree. The hippogriff – the large, winged horse/ eagle hybrid which had flown Ruggiero to the island last time around – refused to accompany the warrior any further, so our hero walked on alone. 
As regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog may recall, December and early January are when I sprinkle in more tales of the Paladins of Charlemagne. These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
OF ANTICHRIST AND HIS RUIN (1692) – Last week Balladeer’s Blog reviewed John Bunyan’s often neglected work 
THE HOLY WAR (1682) – The work that John Bunyan is most well-known for is The Pilgrim’s Progress, but given the theme of Balladeer’s Blog, rather than write the 2 billionth review of that book I decided to take a general look at one of Bunyan’s often overlooked writings on mythology/ allegory. 
(Hey, it’s John Bunyan. If you’re looking for subtlety, let me introduce you to Mr. You-Won’t-Find-It-Here. Still, his works can be entertaining and thought provoking in a quaint, fairy-tale way.)
PART ONE – This opening segment examined the Six Ages of the World section, a mythological look at the history of the world from Creation to the coming of Jesus Christ. The Book of the Dun Cow contains a mix of pagan and Christian materials, and in Part One I also reviewed its presentation of myths regarding Great Britain, legends of Saint Columba and its version of the story of Tuan mac Cairill, the only non-Ark survivor of the Great Flood and who chronicled the ancient races of Ireland like the Tuatha de Danaan, Fir Bolg and Milesians. Click 
PART TWO – The four sections covered in Part Two: Two Sorrows of the Kingdom of Heaven, featuring Elijah and Enoch in Heaven and their observations regarding the Antichrist, the end of the world and the Final Judgment; The Intoxication of the Ulstermen, about the Samhain partying of the Ulstermen and the peril it led to; The Raid on Dartaid’s Cattle, about a raid to rustle the cattle of the she-warrior Dartaid; and The Raid on Fliodhaise’s Cattle, featuring Queen Maeve, King Ailill, Fergus mac Roich and Queen Fliodhaise, her lusty ways and her cattle. Click 
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