From Japan to Norway, Scotland to Sudan, Tatterhood brings readers twelve folk talesand twelve women whose cunning, hard work, and physical strength are celebrated in each story. A family of three women teaches a burly man how to wrestle, a girl battles a fearsome bear, and a young mother rescues her village from an elephant's stomach.Ethel Johnston Phelps (19141984) held a master's degree in Medieval Literature, the co-editor of a Ricardian journal, and published several articles on fifteenth-century subjects. She compiled two anthologies of feminist folk tales from around the world, Tatterhood and The Maid of the North.