In the village where they lived everyone knew there was only one way for whomever went to meet the beast in the woods to stay safe. Wear an amulet around your neck, and when he comes upon you he will...
In the land of the Sand Riders, where women go veiled from top to toe, there lived a young man who dreamed of love. But he was too young to think of marriage, and according to the customs of...
They said she was outside of the village by a couple of miles, in a sort of travel wagon camped on the edge of an abandoned orchard. She was odd, almost crazy, muttering to herself as she went about....
Children! To perform this nifty trick, ask your mother for a shelled-out lemon, balled-up handkerchiefs, a vial of perfume, fire, and a pistol. “I have written this work,” writes Professor Henri Garenne, in his introduction to the 1886 edition...
Illustration by Guinevere von Sneeden
You watch from the forest path as she emerges from the heavy oak door of her cottage and ventures straight into the woods, ignoring pathways and deer trails. You follow, careful not to make any...
Garden Ice
I was alone when the cold began. Ice fell onto the gar-den like rain, only it was a pale green, so pale you had to look carefully or it would be invisible. Everywhere it fell the world turned...
In her first memory of this life, she clutched two pecans in her small hands. Warm brown with tabby cat black stripes, dry and cool to the touch. She might have gathered an empty husk, too, its edges curled as...
Monodon Monoceros: one tooth, one horn. Or one toothed unicorn. Narwhals are dappled grey whales that live in the Arctic, wielding nine-foot-long tusks. Their remote, icy habitat has shrouded them in mystery for centuries, weaving them into myth and legend.
Growing...
The word Pre-Raphaelite almost always conjures up a certain kind of woman. She has a cascade of copper hair, a face filled with mournful longing, and a deep jewel-colored gown. She has found herself locked in a tower, married...
Written and Illustrated by Charles Vess
From Issue #29 - digital // print
Come closer and listen well, for I have a tale to tell. For far longer than even I can remember Father Christmas has always lived in his warm, sprawling...