Origin story

I could read and write before I went to school – my Mum taught me using comics, I seem to recall, and I remember writing my name in big bold capitals – JOHN – before my aunt, who was a teacher, told my mother off for not teaching me to write lower case letters first.

So when I went to school, I had a slight advantage, and was always treated as an advanced reader. I burned through school reading books faster than they could assign them to me, so my teachers used to have to dig out other books for me to read. When I was around seven years old, my teacher gave me a book that contained tales from mythology – Thor and his hammer from Norse mythology, Finn MacCoull from Celtic legend, and Beowulf from the Anglo-Saxons. How I loved those stories! The memory of that book stuck with me for decades, although of course I couldn’t remember what it was called, or who it was by.

It’s been nearly 40 years since I read that book, but even now I have a fascination for myths, legends, fantasy, and history. I studied Classics at university because I was obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology. Of the six books I’ve written, five have been fantasy, and one history. This book is my origin story – this is the bat bursting through young Bruce Wayne’s window; this is my radioactive spider-bite.

So of course it was extremely annoying that I couldn’t remember what the book was called. I tried searching on the Internet, but I didn’t have much to go on – it was a school reading book available in the early 1970s, and it had Beowulf, Finn and Thor in it.

Then I got lucky, and found a mention on a web page of a book that had similar myths – it was called They Were Brave and Bold. It didn’t sound quite right – it seemed very American, from an American publisher, and I recall the stories being very European – but I ordered a second-hand copy from Abebooks, just in case.

It wasn’t the right book. It didn’t have Beowulf, Finn, or Thor. All the stories were from North America. Further research suggested that this was a cut-down paperback version of a previously-published, much larger hardback. But I was pretty sure the book I’d read hadn’t been a big thick book at all.

More trawling through the listings at Abebooks brought another edition to light. Another paperback, but with a different selection of stories – and it was issued by a British publisher. James Nisbet published the Janet and John series of early reading books, so they definitely had a connection with British schools. This was looking promising!

I ordered a copy. It turned up:

Brave and Bold

It’s called Brave and Bold (note the omission of “They Were” from the title) and the authors (although I presume in this case, editors would be the more appropriate term) are listed as Miriam Blanton Huber, Frank Seely Salisbury, and Charlotte Huber (the same editors as the other, American, editions).

I pulled the book carefully from its envelope and checked the tablet of contents:

Brave and Bold TOC

Thor! Finn! Beowulf! There was just one more thing I needed to check. I remembered that the Thor story involved the theft of Thor’s wife’s hair, and its replacement by the dwarfs with a golden wig… was that in there? If that was included, there could be no doubt.

I turned to page 87 and started reading. Yes! There it was:

“[Loki] was determined to steal the golden hair. As noiselessly as he could, and more like a thief than a god, he crept into the palace, cut off the golden locks, and carried them away.”

I read through the rest of the book. The story of Finn disguising himself as his own baby and pretending to squeeze water out of a stone – that had stuck in my mind, too. Beowulf and the dragon – that was so familiar.

Beowulf and the dragon

I’d finally found it.

Strangely, I had no recollection of the Sinbad story, or The White Cat – although my Mum had a beautiful volume of The Arabian Nights with fantastic glossy colour plates in it that I read over and over when I was young, so that may have pushed out the earlier memories of Sinbad. The White Cat is a delightful fairy tale that is apparently related to the Brothers Grimm’s Puddocky and also to The Frog Princess, but perhaps 44-year-old John appreciates it more than 7-year-old John did.

The illustrations – by Florence and Margaret Hoopes – are beautiful. From the frost-giants on the cover to Grendel on the back, through all the full-colour pictures that accompany each story, each picture fits perfectly. The Beowulf story in particular has pictures full of dynamism and energy.

I’m so glad that I’ve found this book at last. Not just for the nostalgia, but for the influence it had on me as a young reader. I must have read hundreds of books in those very early years, but this is the only one that’s stuck with me – and now I have my own copy.

Brave and Bold back

AboutJohn

13 comments

  1. I’ve been chasing this book for several years now; I read it at school in much the same way as you, although possibly slightly earlier, and it had a similar impact. I’m now trying to track down a copy of my own, but all I can find is the large U.S. Version. Do you have any more details of your version?

    1. Hi Shaun,

      Here are all the details of my copy:

      Brave and Bold
      Miriam Blanton Huber, Frank Seely Salisbury, Charlotte Huber
      Illustrated by Florence and Margaret Hoopes
      Published by James Nisbet and Company Ltd, Digswell Place, Welwyn
      (c) 1968 Harper and Row
      07202 0532 8 Limp
      07202 0533 6 Cased

      Hope this is some help to you.

      John

  2. Many thanks John; hopefully I’ve now tracked down a copy. This will bring back so many memories. Thanks so much for posting!

    Shaun

  3. WOW! The book that started the flame inside me. Thank you SO much for the information. Tracked one down and ordered it today, the end of a thirty year search!
    Many thanks and God bless!

    1. Hi David – so nice to hear that the book had an influence on other people, too. Hope it brings back many happy memories! John

  4. Dear John
    I have been searching for this book for over 30 years now and finally found this website

    I remember reading this book in the early 1970s in nursery and was so obsessed by it

    Could you assist me in where I could get a copy from

    I would really appreciate your assistance in relation to this

    I am from Birmingham England

    I look forward to hearing from you

    Kind regards

    M Tariq

    Email Mohammed_tariq@ymail.com

    1. Hi Mohammed,

      Your best option is to keep an eye on abebooks.co.uk – that’s where I found my copy. You just have to be careful – the similar-sounding “They Were Brave and Bold” by the same authors has a different, American-centric, selection of stories. Look for the edition called simply “Brave and Bold” with the 1968 publication date.

      Good luck,

      John

  5. Yeah….must be a whole lot of us out there that formed some of our early fantasies from stories in this book. It was a good read back then and my nostalgia-led soul searching brought me here to find others have had similar longing experiences.

    Glad to have it all back.

    Thanks John.

  6. I do not know if you will see this comment. I want you to know that I have had the same experience. I started school in the mid 1950s. As I went through the elementary grades, I would become very engrossed in many of the stories that we read. I have been trying to find some of the books that we read in school because I still think about these stories. One in particular was a story about a boy who found a capsule. I can’t remember much of the story except that when they opened the capsule whatever was in it turned to dust. I’m 68 years old. That is a long time to remember a story.
    I am so happy to know that you found the book that you remembered.

  7. Hi John and fellow readers,

    I am another ex-scholar who has finally decided to hunt down a copy of “Brave and Bold” – finding your blog shortly after. My recollection is that there was a second volume of myths and legends, but I can’t remember the title. Be very pleased if anyone else can provide it!

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