Recounting stories and legends from the dark centuries of British prehistory to the 9th century AD - tales of giants and fairies, druids and saints, King Lear, King Arthur and Old King Cole - Ashe shows how they all interrelate and take on fresh significance from historical and archaelogical research. The origins and legends of the Giants, the Ancient Britons, the Picts, the Scots and the English are all explained, in a work aimed at both the specialist and the casual reader. Organised into a simple system based on Robert Graves' classic Greek Myths, Ashe describes the myth or theme first followed by discussion or analysis.