swap_horiz Kullervo Alternatives

1

Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong, a central figure in the *Journey to the West*, is a legendary deity originating from Chinese folklore. He’s...

Chinese Journey Trickster Monkey King

9.6 Brilliant

2

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian legend concerning a powerful king of Uruk. The story, considered one of the oldest...

Epic Heroic King Mesopotamian

9.6 Brilliant

3

Orpheus and Eurydice

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice recounts a tragic tale from Greek mythology. Orpheus, a renowned musician, ventures in...

Music Greek Tragic Underworld

9.5 Brilliant

4

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

This Heian period Japanese folktale recounts the discovery of Kaguya, a moon princess hidden within a bamboo stalk. The...

Japanese Heian Folktale Moon Princess

9.4 Excellent

5

Tristan and Iseult

The legend of Tristan and Iseult recounts a passionate but ultimately fatal love affair between a Cornish knight and an...

Medieval Romance Tragic Celtic

9.2 Excellent

6

Rostam and Sohrab

The story of Rostam and Sohrab originates from the Shahnameh, the epic poem of Persia. It recounts a devastating conflic...

Heroic Tragic Persian Shahnameh

9.2 Excellent

7

Layla and Majnun

The story of Layla and Majnun recounts a profound and ultimately tragic tale of passionate love originating in Arabic fo...

Desert Romance Tragic Arabic

9.2 Excellent

8

Butterfly Lovers

Butterfly Lovers recounts the poignant story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, two individuals bound by a deep love despi...

Romance Chinese Tragic Folklore

8.8 Great

9

Vainamoinen

Vainamoinen is a wise singer and culture hero of Finland's Kalevala, notable for magic songs and a central role in the 1...

Hero Singer Finnish Kalevala

8.5 Great

10

Deirdre of the Sorrows

Deirdre of the Sorrows is the tragic heroine of the Ulster Cycle, whose love for Naoise forms one of the Three Sorrows o...

Romance Tragic Irish Ulster

8.4 Great

11

The Sampo

The Sampo is a magical artifact in Finland's Kalevala, a wealth-making mill or talisman whose theft and breaking drive m...

Finnish Artifact Kalevala Fortune

8.4 Great

12

The Children of Lir

The Children of Lir is an Irish myth in which Lir's four children are turned into swans for 900 years, one of the Three...

Medieval Tragic Irish Swan

8.3 Great

13

Diarmuid and Grainne

Diarmuid and Grainne are lovers in the Irish Fenian Cycle, whose flight from Fionn mac Cumhaill forms one of its best-kn...

Romance Tragic Irish Fenian

8.1 Great

14

Hero and Leander

Hero and Leander is a Greek love legend about Leander swimming the Hellespont nightly to reach Hero, a priestess of Aphr...

Romance Greek Tragic Sea

8.1 Great

15

Lemminkainen

Lemminkainen is a reckless hero of Finland's Kalevala, famed for courting adventures and for being restored from Tuonela...

Quest Hero Finnish Kalevala

7.9 Good

16

Skanderbeg

Skanderbeg is Albania's national hero, a 15th-century nobleman who led resistance against the Ottoman Empire from Kruje...

Warrior Hero National Albanian

7.8 Good

17

Kintaro

Kintaro is a Japanese folk hero, a superhuman child raised on Mount Ashigara who later becomes the Heian warrior Sakata...

Mountain Japanese Hero Golden Boy

7.8 Good

18

Hiawatha

Hiawatha is a figure in Haudenosaunee tradition and Longfellow's 1855 poem, associated with the founding of the Iroquois...

Hero Oral Iroquois Peacemaker

7.5 Good

19

Rata

Rata is a Polynesian culture hero whose canoe is built with help from forest spirits, notable in Maori and wider Pacific...

Polynesian Hero Canoe Voyage

7.4 Good

20

Hagbard and Signe

Hagbard and Signe are tragic lovers in Scandinavian legend, known from Saxo Grammaticus's medieval Danish Gesta Danorum...

Saga Romance Tragic Norse

7.2 Good