Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist, a dark romantic, and short story writer. In The Tanglewood Tales Hawthorne retells famous classical myths with imaginative charm that captures the Universality and moral wisdom of the stories. Hawthorne's lively, fresh retelling of six famous myths — "The Minotaur," "The Pygmies," "The Dragon's Teeth", "Circe's Palace," "The Pomegranate Seeds," and "The Golden Fleece" — captures the essence of these great stories.