Serpents and Werewolves Read Online Free

door. Including his red cloak, which he’d hidden in the forest.
    Then he heard a gasp, and turned round to see his wife, her face pale and her hands trembling.
    Suddenly Bisclavret knew who had taken his clothes, who had cleared the land and who had ordered the archers to shoot him.
    He leapt up at his wife, snarling.
    He snapped his teeth, just grazing the very tip of her nose.
    Then he heard the huntsmen running up the steps. He turned his back on his wife and used his teeth to haul down the cloak.
    The huntsmen shoved the door wide open. And they saw...
    ...the Lord, Bisclavret, tall and dark and handsome, wrapped from throat to heels in a rich red cloak.
    â€œWhat are you doing, barging into my castle?”
    â€œ Sorry sire. We thought we saw a wolf run in here.”
    â€œA wolf? In a castle? Don’t be ridiculous.”
    The hunters apologised, left the castle and headed back to the forest, to find easier prey.
    Bisclavret turned, to ask his new wife why she had betrayed him, what had happened to her promise to love him whatever his secret, and whether they could still find their happy ever after together.
    But she had gone.
    He searched the house for her, until finally, glancing out of a window, he saw her. Running across the bare land towards the edge of the forest.
    He didn’t chase her. He let her go.
    And so, once upon a time, a girl who had been bitten by a werewolf ran into the forest... which might be the start of a new story.

The Swallow’s Search
    Egyptian myth
    A family full of gods is not always a happy family.
    The Egyptian god Set was jealous of his older brother Osiris, because Osiris was loved by the people, and because Osiris had a beautiful and powerful wife Isis.
    So Set came up with a plan to get rid of Osiris. He invited Osiris and all his men to a party at his riverside palace, and provided a wonderful feast with lots of bread and beer.
    At the end of the meal, when everyone was full and happy, Set announced that he had a splendid gift for one of his guests, but he didn’t yet know who it was for.
    He brought out a gorgeous wooden chest, carved and fragranced and inlaid with gems, and said it was a gift for the person who fitted most neatly inside.
    All his guests tried. But everyone was too fat or too thin, or too short or too tall.
    Everyone apart from Osiris.
    Osiris fitted perfectly. His shoulders spanned the width of the chest, his feet touched the base and his hair just brushed the top.
    It was as if the box had been carved specially for him.
    Osiris lay comfortably in the box and laughed. “It seems this pretty box is mine, Set.”
    Set laughed too. “Yes, brother, it is your box. It is your coffin!”
    Set slammed the lid down, nailed it shut and, before Osiris’s men could react, Set shoved the chest into the River Nile. As it floated away into the darkness, Set knew he had finally got rid of Osiris.
    Isis soon heard of Set’s trick.
    First the goddess placed her young son and heir, Horus, on an island. To keep the boy hidden from Set, she cut the island loose from the riverbed and sent it floating across the waters, so it was never in the same place twice.
    Then Isis began to search for her husband.
    She spread her arms, whispered her secret name and became a bird. She became a swallow.
    She flew high above the Nile, searching for her beloved Osiris. At first she was searching for him to rescue him, to free him from that beautiful box and let him breathe fresh air again.
    After many days of searching, she knew Osiris couldn’t have survived so long without food or water or air. Now Isis was searching for his body, to perform the rites that would free his spirit.
    She searched and searched, flying along the length of the Nile, across the vast width of its mouth, even out over the salty sea beyond. But she didn’t see the glittering box anywhere. Because the box wasn’t on the river.
    On the very first day, the box had been swept