Before he dies, a swan sings the most beautiful tunes. For Homer, this was evidence of the joys the realm of the dead holds in store for the dying. “Swan song” is the name given to the artist's last work before his death. This expression has burned itself into our linguistic usage, not least through the legend of the two friends [...]

They race restlessly and nimbly over trunks, over meadows and through tree tops. They collect, they hoard and are constantly on the lookout: squirrels. “Squirrels, whose original name was actually: Those who shade themselves with their tails”, and whose name only became a squirrel through a misunderstanding, are lovable little companions that you can meet everywhere. The Squirrel […]

In ancient times, people believed that every element and every movement of nature and man was determined by little demons because they could not imagine the physical processes to which their life was subjected. These demons were not all of an evil nature, some were very friendly to people. [...]

In ancient times, people believed that every element and every movement of nature and man was determined by little demons because they could not imagine the physical processes to which their life was subjected. These demons were not all of an evil nature, some were very friendly to people. They appeared in many cultures [...]

In ancient times, people believed that every element and every movement of nature and man was determined by little demons because they could not imagine the physical processes to which their life was subjected. These demons were not all of an evil nature, some were very friendly to people. [...]

In ancient times, people believed that every element and every movement of nature and man was determined by little demons because they could not imagine the physical processes to which their life was subjected. These demons were not all of an evil nature, some were very friendly to people. [...]

In ancient times, people believed that every element and every movement of nature and man was determined by little demons because they could not imagine the physical processes to which their life was subjected. These demons were not all of an evil nature, some were very friendly to people. They appeared in many cultures [...]

The Necronomicon (Greek: nekros νεκρός - The image of the law of the dead) was written by the half-insane Arab Abdul Alhazred and was originally called عزيف الجن (Al Azif), which is translated as the eerie whisper of a jinn coming from the vastness of the desert can. The cause of this noise is probably the phenomenon of the "singing [...]

The indigenous Dayak people live in the impenetrable rainforests of Kalimantan. In their own language, this word means nothing more than "man". Their way of life is adapted to their habitat and their ancestors have lived there since the 3rd millennium BC. Some of their traditions may sound astonishingly familiar to us, like dilating the earlobe. At [...]

The gold beetle (original title The Gold Bug) is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, in which the deciphering of a secret script is explained in detail as part of a treasure hunt using the frequency numbers of the individual letters in English texts. The short story was first published in the Dollar Newspaper on June 21 and 28, 1843. A first translation into German by Alfred [...]

The wolf always played an important role in the life of the Lakota Indians. He was both a threat and a wise totem animal. There was a wolf cult called “Šung'manitu”, to which special priests and medicine men belonged and whose ritual robes included a wolf's fur under which the cult member could hide. The legends of the Lakota Indians also reflect the meaning [...]