A To Z Challenge 2023: Myth And Folk Tales In Fiction - Q Is For Quests!

 Thinking about it, quite a lot of myths and folk tales feature a quest of some kind. In Greek mythology there is, for example, the quest of the Argo, in which a bunch of heroes, each of them with his own story, row to the city of Colchis to steal the Golden Fleece from a tree guarded by a dragon. They get it, with the help of the king’s daughter, Medea, but… Let’s say Jason’s story doesn’t end happily.

There are quite a few novels with the Argonauts in them. Henry Treece, a top historical novelist of the 1960s, wrote the novel Jason, in which the quest is seen from Jason’s viewpoint. I read it many years ago and remember enjoying it very much.  It’s available quite cheaply in both Kindle and Apple Books, though out of print in paperback and hardcover.

Ken Catran’s children’s book Voyage With Jason tells the story from the viewpoint of the Argo’s cabin boy! His job is to cook and clean for the heroes. It was fun, as I recall. This one is only available second hand, alas! 

Kerry Greenwood’s novel Medea shows the story from Medea’s viewpoint. Well worth a read! Kerry Greenwood’s Medea is not the villain of the Greek plays or Greek myth. Read it to find out why.

 It’s the first of the Delphic Women books, published by Australian small press Clan Destine. You can buy it in print or ePub from the Clan Destine web site, from Apple Books or from Amazon in audiobook. 

Film Jason And The Argonauts, made in 1963, is a classic in many ways, starting with the special effects by Ray Harryhausen. The most famous scene is the one with the skeletons rising from the earth to fight Jason. It did end before Medea did all those dreadful things, including killing her children, but it was very watchable. The skeletons turned up in an episode of the Hercules TV series, as an affectionate tribute to the film.

Folk tales usually feature a quest of one kind or another, of course, whether it’s the miller’s son setting out to win the princess or the girl having to complete tasks to get her husband back. Naturally they transfer over to the fiction inspired by them. 

In the story of “Cupid And Psyche”, first written by Lucius Apuleius in his novel The Golden Ass, the heroine loses her husband by breaking the rules and is given a quest to follow by her mother-in-law Venus before she can get him back.  

Believe it or not, there is a novel based on this story by C.S Lewis, best known for his Chronicles Of Narnia. It’s called  Till We Have Faces and tells the story from the viewpoint of one of Psyche’s sisters. Mind you, it’s not quite like the original story. When the sister goes to visit Psyche, she doesn’t see what Psyche does… I’ll let you check it out. It’s easily available in both Kindle and Apple Books. Amazon does sell it in paperback as well. 

In The Epic Of Gilgamesh the titular hero, King of Uruk, goes on a quest for immortality, after seeing his dearest friend, Enkidu, die. His quest is a flop. There is a retelling in the novel Gilgamesh The King by SF author Robert Silverberg, which is available in Kindle, Apple Books, audiobook and paperback. I have read it a number of times. The novel starts with Gilgamesh as a child witnessing his father’s funeral, based on the mass grave found by archaeologist Leonard Woolley in Ur(he writes about it in his book Ur Of The Chaldees, which I got in my teens from a teacher cleaning out his bookshelves). Young Gilgamesh watches servants and courtiers march into the pit, along with one of his mother’s ladies who looks like her and a slave child in his clothes, to represent the dead king’s wife and child. He decides then that he doesn’t want to die, ever. The friend who gets killed is another reason. 

And there is the novel I mentioned in my last post, Magnus Chase And The Sword Of Summer. The quest in that book was focused on saving the world from Ragnarok. 

But quests are a regular part of fantasy, whether or not the stories came from myth or folk tale. There are so many that I have chosen just a few I have read and enjoyed. 

Film-wise, one of my favourites on this theme is Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, in which the hero’s father goes on a quest for the Holy Grail and Indy goes on a quest to find his father when he goes missing. It’s a beautiful film, my favourite of the series, which is more than just adventure. It’s about family and reconciliation between father and son. Certainly there was plenty to discuss with my Year 8 English students when we studied it as a film text.

It’s currently being streamed on Paramount Plus.

Tomorrow: R Is For Russia