Once upon many a time, not long ago and for many ages before that, those who tended fires during the four watches of Night told stories to ward off drowsiness.
Children's favorites from the family elders. Travelers' tales gleaned at market. New stories invented on the spot.
Some stories were told as remembered. Others were altered to please mood and moment. Sifted slowly through memory and invention, tested through endless retellings into favorite recipes dished up to feast imaginations. Storytelling kept the watchers alert; alert, the watchers kept their fires burning brightly; tended, the fires kept wolf and winter at bay.
Here are some of those stories, as gathered by writers from Homer to Chesterton, from Scheherzade to Irving, from Ovid to Yeats. Here are Stories That Held Back The Dark.