A baker of worlds leaves one in the oven too long.It comes out dark and cracked. Turn: the cracks are the first rivers, and she counts it her best.
To win a harvest for her village, a girl must make the stone giant laugh.He has heard every joke since the world began. Turn: she asks him to tell her one.
The hedgehog was the softest of animals until it offered to carry everyone's pins.No one took them back. Turn: it finds they are useful and stops asking.
A baker of worlds leaves one in the oven too long.It comes out dark and cracked. Turn: the cracks are the first rivers, and she counts it her best.
A weaver with nothing to weave pulls a thread from the dark, and the dark begins to unravel.What it leaves is light, and she cannot stop it. Turn: she ties one knot, and that is night.
At first everything is the same size, and nobody can tell a mountain from a mouse.They keep getting stepped on. Turn: the first quarrel sorts them out, and the ant picks small on purpose.
Before anything else, two giants play catch with a ball of mud, and one of them drops it.It lands flat on one side. Turn: the dent fills with rain, and they stop to watch.
The first day begins when somebody opens a door in the dark to see whether it is raining.The light gets out before she can shut it. Turn: she props the door open, and that is morning.
The first fire is a spark that jumps out of a quarrel between two stones.Neither stone will own up to it. Turn: the dry grass takes the spark in and raises it.
The first people are sketches that a bored sky spirit draws in the sand and means to rub out.The tide comes for them first. Turn: the sketches stand up and ask for names.
The first potter throws the world on her wheel, and it comes off lopsided.She means to start again. Turn: the high side has already begun to grow goats.
The first river is a path worn by a god who walks back and forth, unable to decide.Rain finds the path. Turn: the river has never made up its mind either, and bends.
Four winds are given one empty world and told to share it.Each blows its own way, and nothing stays put. Turn: they agree to take turns, and call them seasons.
The maker of the world works at night and has never seen what she made.Others tell her it is flawed. Turn: she makes the sun in order to look, and keeps it.
The moon is the world's first lamp, hung up by someone who then forgot the way home.She walks the sky every night, looking. Turn: the tides are the sea trying to point.
Mountains are the giants who sat down to watch the world being made and stayed too long.Moss grows over them. Turn: now and then one shifts, and the valley calls it thunder.
Sleep is invented last, when the makers notice that everything is tired.Nothing knows how to stop. Turn: the smallest maker lies down first and is copied.
The stars are the holes left when moths get into the first weaver's finest cloth.She is furious with the moths. Turn: the light through the holes shows her a better pattern.
Time does not start until the first promise is made, because nothing had needed a later.The promise is to come back tomorrow. Turn: so there has to be one.
Two sisters are given the making of the land and the sea and cannot agree where one stops.They draw the line again each day. Turn: the shore is where they left off arguing.
The world begins as a single note that a lonely singer holds for as long as she can.When she breathes in, everything stops. Turn: something sings the note back.
The world is a seed that a bird of the outer dark carries and cannot crack.She drops it in a temper. Turn: it opens by itself, slowly, and is still opening.
The world is finished except for color, and the maker has a pot of each and no brush.She uses what is near. Turn: the first brush is a fox's tail, and the tip is still white.
Why a thing is as it is 20
Bees were tax collectors for the queen of summer, taking a little from every flower.The flowers complained. Turn: the bees began to pay them back in visits.
Cats were given nine questions to ask the world and have used eight.Each cat guards the last one. Turn: that is what they are thinking about on windowsills.
Crabs walk sideways because the first crab was asked to choose between land and sea and would not.The tide asks again twice a day. Turn: the shore is declared a third answer.
The echo was a mountain's youngest child, told to repeat her lessons until she knew them.She never learned when to stop. Turn: travelers begin teaching her kinder words.
Frost draws ferns on windows because it was once a gardener and misses the work.The sun wipes them out each morning. Turn: it draws them anyway and signs none.
The hedgehog was the softest of animals until it offered to carry everyone's pins.No one took them back. Turn: it finds they are useful and stops asking.
Leaves turn gold because the trees are paying the wind for a summer of songs.The wind takes every coin. Turn: in spring it sings again on credit.
The moth circles the lamp because the first moth was promised a dance by the moon.Any light might be her. Turn: one dawn the moon is still there, and bows.
The owl once sang by day, until it agreed to keep a secret for the sun.It can tell nobody. Turn: it asks who at every sound, to be sure no one is near.
The rainbow is a bridge a child painted so that the rain could cross without wetting anyone.The paint never dries. Turn: it washes away each time and is painted again.
Rivers once ran in straight lines, until one stopped to look at a village and was late to the sea.It has dawdled since. Turn: the villages grew where it lingered.
The salmon swims upstream to return a pebble it borrowed from the spring where it hatched.The current is against it. Turn: every pebble in the spring was brought the same way.
The sea was once still, until it lent its calm to a frightened sailor and never got it back.It has been restless since. Turn: on some mornings the debt is paid for an hour.
Shadows are the dark's children, sent to keep an eye on everything the light touches.They grow fond of what they follow. Turn: at noon they hide so as not to be called home.
Snow is quiet because the first snowfall landed on a sleeping baby and was scolded by the wind.It has tiptoed since. Turn: the baby grew up to like it best of all weather.
Stones were the world's first listeners and have not finished thinking about what they heard.People take their silence for nothing. Turn: a skipped stone finally answers, in rings.
Thunder is the sky's apology for lightning, and it always comes late.Nobody waits to hear it. Turn: one child counts the seconds, and the sky notices.
The willow bends because it leaned down to hear a river's secret and promised to keep listening.The river has a great many secrets. Turn: the willow has learned to laugh.
The woodpecker knocks because it was the gods' messenger and has forgotten which tree the message was for.It tries them all. Turn: the trees have started answering.
Yawns are catching because the first yawn was a gift nobody wanted to keep.It has been passed along ever since. Turn: it is how strangers find out they are alike.
Heroes and impossible tasks 20
A boy is sent to fetch yesterday back for a queen who misspent it.Yesterday is guarded by everyone's regrets. Turn: he brings her a child's drawing of it.
A boy must find the one true name of the wind, which answers to none.It laughs at every guess. Turn: he whistles, and it turns round.
A diver must bring up the bell that sank with the first ship, and the sea has grown fond of it.The sea will not let go. Turn: she rings it where it lies, and the sound comes up.
A fisherman must catch the moon's reflection and bring it ashore before dawn.Nets go through it. Turn: he carries it home in a bucket, walking slowly.
A girl is asked to bring the winter queen a fire that will not melt her hall.Every flame she carries drips. Turn: she brings a story about a fire.
A girl is told to plant a forest in a day to win her brother back from the hill folk.She has one acorn. Turn: she plants it and asks them whose day they meant.
A girl must bring the mountain king a footprint from every animal in the forest by morning.They will not all walk through mud. Turn: it snows at midnight.
A hero famous for strength is given a task that needs someone to sit still for a year.He fails within the hour. Turn: a tortoise takes him on as a pupil.
A hero is sent to steal the giant's one sheep and finds the giant asleep with it in her arms.Waking her means losing. Turn: he leaves his own lamb in trade.
A hero must count every star, and new stars keep being born.He loses his place each night. Turn: he teaches the count to his children, and that is the task.
A hero must cross a river that flows faster the braver you are.He is very brave. Turn: he admits to the ferryman that he is afraid, and the water slows.
A hero's last task is to go home, and every road leads to another adventure.He is tired of winning. Turn: he follows a child who is late for supper.
A king offers his crown to whoever can show him something he has never seen.Jewels, beasts and marvels all fail. Turn: a goatherd walks him up the hill behind his own palace.
A runner is told to beat her own shadow to the western gate.At noon she almost wins. Turn: she waits for evening and lets it go first.
A shepherd may have her flock back from the storm king if she can shear a cloud.Clouds will not hold still. Turn: she waits for one to come down as fog.
A weaver must make a cloak from the first light of morning before the second light arrives.Dawn will not hold still for the loom. Turn: she weaves the dew that has the light in it.
A young smith is ordered to forge a key for a lock that has not been made.Without it the gate of spring stays shut. Turn: she forges the lock second, around the key.
Three brothers are each given one day to empty a lake with a spoon.Two give up by noon. Turn: the third digs a ditch with his.
To win a harvest for her village, a girl must make the stone giant laugh.He has heard every joke since the world began. Turn: she asks him to tell her one.
Two rivals are sent for the white stag's blessing and find the stag caught in a thicket.Only one can be first. Turn: it takes both to free it, and it blesses neither.
Tricks played on the mighty 20
A beggar tells the queen of harvest that he can make something grow without her.He plants a rumor. Turn: it grows, and she asks how.
A boy sells the thunder god a drum and swears it is louder than thunder.It is not. Turn: the god has never been allowed to play quietly before, and keeps it.
A boy trades places with the north wind for a day, having listened to the bargain more closely than the wind did.Nobody said whose day. Turn: he gives it back once it has learned to knock.
A child asks the god who knows everything what she is holding behind her back.It is nothing, and he has never seen nothing. Turn: he asks to hold it too.
A cook serves the king of the gods a plain boiled egg and calls it a new world.He is afraid to break it. Turn: he carries it everywhere, and learns to walk gently.
A crow persuades the god of winter that spring has been called off, to see what will happen.Winter stays on, bored. Turn: the crow has to invent a reason for it to leave.
A fisherwoman convinces the tide that it is running late.It comes in early and soaks the sea king's picnic. Turn: she is hired to keep his calendar.
A fox dares the sun to stay up all night.The sun tries, and the world gets no sleep. Turn: the fox has to talk it back down.
A girl beats the god of sleep at riddles and wins one night that never ends.By the third week she is worn out. Turn: she loses the rematch on purpose.
A girl offers to paint the proudest god's portrait and paints only his shadow.He rages. Turn: it is the first likeness that has not flattered him, and he keeps it.
A goatherd tells the lightning that it never strikes one place twice because it is afraid to.It strikes one rock all night to prove him wrong. Turn: by morning the rock is a spring.
A hare tells the river god that a bigger river lives on the far side of the hill.He floods the valley going to look. Turn: from the hilltop he sees the sea, and is quiet all the way home.
A magpie convinces the sea that the sky is a mirror and it has been frowning.The sea goes glassy with effort. Turn: the fishing boats get their first calm day and thank the magpie.
A mouse tells the mountain that the sea has been calling it short.The mountain grows, and the valley loses its sun. Turn: the mouse carries an apology the sea never sent.
A shepherd rents his echo to a vain giant who wants someone to agree with him.The echo starts answering back. Turn: the giant likes the argument better.
A storyteller owes the king under the hill a tale with no ending.If it ends, she stays. Turn: she teaches it to him and lets him tell the next part.
A thief steals the storm queen's comb, and every wind in the world goes tangled.He only meant to sell it. Turn: he must comb the sky himself to give it back.
A tortoise invites the gods to a feast inside its shell and says there is room for all.There is not. Turn: the gods make themselves small to save face, and enjoy it.
A weaver sells the proud moon a cloak of darkness, one piece a night.The moon wears more of it each evening. Turn: when it is all on, she sells the moon its light back.
Two children convince a giant that the stars are apples just out of reach.He stacks hills to pick them. Turn: from the top he can see his mother's house, and goes home.
Monsters and guardians 20
A bull of bronze guards the first field and will let nobody plow it.The people are hungry. Turn: a girl asks it to pull the plow, and it has waited to be asked.
A fire serpent sleeps coiled round the village's only warm spring.When it wakes, the spring boils. Turn: the children learn the lullaby their grandmothers knew.
A fog beast eats the names of places, and travelers forget where they were going.A mapmaker walks in. Turn: she feeds it the names of places that never were.
A gatekeeper with a lion's body asks every traveler the same question and has never liked an answer.The question is what she should do instead. Turn: a goatherd offers her the goats.
A giant bird nests on the only pass, and her egg is the size of a house.Caravans cannot get by. Turn: the village cuts a road around, and is there for the hatching.
A giant spider webs the mouth of the valley each night, and each morning the village cuts its way out.Both sides are weary. Turn: the web is what keeps the north wind off the crops.
A guardian made of doors stands in a field, and behind each door is another field.A boy looking for his goat opens them all. Turn: the last opens on his own yard, and the guardian follows.
A horse of smoke carries bad dreams to the village each night and has grown tired of the work.The dreams must go somewhere. Turn: a sleepless girl offers to sort them.
A hundred-eyed guardian watches a gate, and no two of its eyes agree on what they see.A traveler asks to pass. Turn: she is the first to ask the eyes one at a time.
A many-headed hound guards the road to the winter country, and its heads want different things.One wants a walk. Turn: a traveler brings a stick, and then three sticks more.
A monster is chained at the bottom of the world, and the chain is beginning to rust.The gods who forged it are gone. Turn: a smith goes down and asks the monster what it did.
A monster under a bridge asks a riddle whose answer it has forgotten.Nobody can cross until it remembers. Turn: a child proposes a better answer.
A river serpent demands one new song a year from the village and has heard them all.This year's singer has lost her voice. Turn: she hums, and the serpent joins in.
A sea monster has swallowed the same ship three times and keeps bringing it back up.The crew is tired of it. Turn: it only wants to know how the sails work.
A serpent circles an island so tightly that no ship can land.The island is going hungry. Turn: the serpent is holding the island together, and asks for help.
A shadow with antlers follows travelers home from the deep forest and stands at the edge of the firelight.It takes nothing and will not leave. Turn: someone sets it a place.
A stone lion guards a well and wakes only when someone lies.The village has grown careful. Turn: a child's tall tale wakes it laughing.
A whirlpool keeps a sunken crown and spins faster when anyone looks at it.Boats that try for it are turned around. Turn: a girl looks away, and it brings the crown up to be noticed.
An owl decides which dreams may pass into morning and has begun letting through the wrong ones.People wake remembering too much. Turn: its eyes are tired, and a child offers to read to it.
The guardian of the orchard at the world's end has never tasted its fruit.It is forbidden. Turn: a thief shares one with her and is let go.
How it works
These myth story ideas are 100 premises for a myth of your own: how the world began, why a thing is as it is, a hero's task, a trick on the mighty, a monster or guardian. Each has a turn.
Read the full guide
Five old shapes of myth
A list under the button holds five groups: How the world began, Why a thing is as it is, Heroes and impossible tasks, Tricks played on the mighty, and Monsters and guardians. Choose one, and every press deals from it.
Ideas for writing a myth story that sounds old
Use plain sentences, give nobody a surname, and let the turn explain something we can still see: the white tip of a fox's tail, a bend in a river, the tide.
A why-story is the shortest kind to write: one thing you can see, one character, one choice.
Name your own gods after what they do, as the list does: the thunder god, the winter queen.
Questions and answers
What is a myth story?
A myth is a genre of folklore: stories that are basic to a society. Creation myths take place in a first age, before the world had its later form. The premises here are new stories in those old shapes.
Are these Greek mythology story ideas?
Not retellings: no Greek god or hero is named. Like Greek myths, they concern how the world began, gods and heroes, and a few guardians borrow a Greek shape: a watcher with a hundred eyes, a gatekeeper with a lion's body, a bull of bronze.
Do the premises use real gods?
No god of any faith is named. The gods and giants go by what they do: the thunder god, the winter queen, the stone giant. No premise sets out to retell a people's myth, though stories this simple can resemble old ones.
What is an example of a made-up myth?
Thunder is the sky's apology for lightning, and it always comes late. Nobody waits to hear it, until one child counts the seconds and the sky notices. That is one premise from the group Why a thing is as it is.