We are all familiar with the mystical creatures of myths and fairy tales: the dragon that guards the golden hoard, the tree spirit who grants a magical boon, the fairy who rules an enchanted realm…they are infinite in their variety. Born in the deepest recesses of the human mind, they reflect the awe that ancient peoples felt at the world around them and their attempts to explain the wonders that they saw; they reflect, too, the deepest fears and darkest thoughts of the human mind, as well as all that is best and brightest in us. From the pretty little elves of children’s stories to the tortured monsters of sagas and legends, these creatures of myth and lore live in all of us – and so in the stories we tell and have always told.

Let us set forth to meet some of them...