Customer Reviews

The First Love Stories: From Isis and Osiris to Tristan and Iseult

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"Let me not be cured of love, but let my passion grow! Make my love a hundred times greater than it is today! And let me love for love's sake!"

"The First Love Stories" are beautiful, humorous and mysterious stories that go all the way back to 2500 B.C. Each story presents a different aspect of love.

The Stories include:

Isis and Osiris (Egyptian)
Inanna and Dumzi (Sumerian)
Shiva and Sati (Hindu)
The Song of Songs (Hebrew)
Psyche and Eros (Greco-Roman)
Layla and Majnun (Arabic-Persian)
Tristan and Iseult (Celtic-European)

In "Isis and Osiris" we find love that is stronger than the forces of nature and the sunboat of a million years. In "Shiva and Sati" we find out how to tame the mind and the eternal dance of the universe. "The Songs of Songs" is a Hebrew celebration of the sensuous where lovers want to run to one another and run away. In "Layla and Majnum" we find the path of the soul and loving for love's sake. The struggle for loyalty is expressed in the story of "Tristan and Iseult."

Diane read these stories to adults by candlelight. How amazing it would be to have someone read you these stories in a theatre by candlelight!

Each story will affect you differently. During some of the writing, Diane herself underwent a transformation. As she worked on "Layla and Majnn" she was going through a period of her own personal grief and sadness and somehow working on the story helped to ease her own pain. She was nourished, inspired and comforted by these mysterious stories.

A Glossary is included to explain words like "Ankh" or "ka." The Folklore notes at the end of the book are helpful for understanding the stories. For example, Diane explains how there is not extant Egyptian text called "Isis and Osiris." She composed the story by choosing selections from Egyptian and Greek texts. Her story of "Inanna and Dumuzi" is based on Sumerian love song, poems and stories. "Psyche and Eros" is a retelling of the story based on Philip Shutz's literal translation from the Latin of Apuleius' fairy tale. She uses the word "eros" instead of "amor" because it has a more evocative quality.

I can recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mythology or love stories.

~The Rebecca Review

First and Only Loves .... read this and you will want to stay single rather than be with nothing less than your true life mate love! WOW ... powerful archetypes for the kind of connection we all deserve in our primary relationship.

Diane Wolkstein is a consumate storyteller. I only wish I could hear her read/tell these stories aloud. In this book, she brings to life lovers who have been gone for millennia! The Song of Songs has never sounded so alive and passionate. You search with Isis and pine with Iseult. Read these stories, then do yourself the favor of reading them out loud (to yourself or to anyone who'll listen)