Anthony Barton is a spellbinder and his book an enchantment. His magic distils out of nine tales from the ancient lore of humankind and these are actualized in our continuing experience. They leap space and time. Introducing his first story he tells us how, from the camp-fires paleolithic people to modern writers like Jean M. Auel such tales were often invented ‘to seep away bigotry and bias, and to awaken listeners everywhere to fresh, healthier ways to live and breathe and think.’ Barton’s magic charms its way into teaching children and students, reaches into our shared origins by way of myth and metaphor, and yet faces us with the here and now. He leads us into a country of the mind which is so remote and fascinating, and yet so near and actualized, that we travel alongside with instant pleasure and an accumulating sense of adventure.