Adorably Illustrated Legends Explain What Science Couldn’t

These rock formations are surreal—perhaps that’s why early inhabitants believed they were built by fairies who lived underground.

Gnarly trees have gnarly origin stories—like that they sprang from dragon’s blood (after a battle with an elephant!)

What’s up with these columns rising from the sea? Two giants in a rock-throwing battle, of course.

Uh oh, this one is a little sad. The Great Warrior God—a plain on a mountain range in Colorado–was wounded while battling evil (same, tbh). The rivers are his bleeding wounds.

These cliffs look like a horseshoe! Naturally, they must have come from a horse hoof (Odin’s horse, of course).

This Maori story tells of the Kähui Tipua people, who sailed out with a bunch of sweet potato plants, but were shipwrecked. Those boulders in the water are their preserved potato remains!

Of COURSE this was a messy love triangle of mountains that led to the tears that created these salt flats. Poor wifey Tunupa. You were too good for Kusku, anyway.