Everyone has heard stories of Amber...

... Every culture seems to have them, and in every case, they fit the local culture. If a culture is a sophisticated seafaring culture, then the Princes and Princesses of Amber are portrayed as sophisticated seafaring people in their tales. If a culture is a tribal alliance of nomadic herders, then the Chieftains and Shamans of Amber are portrayed as the leaders of various tribes in just such an alliance.

The plots of these tales are often quite simple, as plots of folktales often are, with digressions and plot complications thrown in for variety. It is important to note that these tales are not of gods, but of heroes.

For example (muchly summarised):

"The people of Amber implored their gods (it's not mentioned what gods exactly these are) to relieve them of their king, (in this version; different people are listed as King in different stories) Caine, who was a thoroughly detestable fellow, drinking and wenching and fighting all the time. So the gods sent Gerard, a great hairy brute of a man, who went into the city and began drinking and wenching and declaiming how he was so much more powerful than Caine. Caine decided to send a prostitute to seduce Gerard, and thereby capture him. The prostitute succeeded, and brought Gerard to Caine.

"When Gerard was brought before Caine, he at once engaged the king in a bout of wrestling. After this fight (it is not said who won, it's not important) the two men became fast friends, and went out to slay a sea monster. When they returned in triumph, the sorceress Fiona attempted to seduce Caine. He rebuffed her. The angry sorceress sent a fierce bull to kill Caine, but with Gerard's help he killed and butchered the beast. The people of Amber rejoiced (mainly because Caine had something to do now, that is, pal around with Gerard, rather than bother them) but the other Princes of Amber decided that Caine and Gerard were too powerful together, and that Gerard had to die. Gerard died, possibly at the hands of Eric's brother, Corwin, in Eric's arms.

"Devastated by Gerard's death, Eric set out in a vain quest to discover the secret of eternal life. He visited Benedict, who had the secret. He told Eric of a plant that grew on the bottom of the ocean that was said to bring new life to anyone who ate it. Eric traveled to the bottom of the ocean to get it, but he found that it had been stolen. Resigned to his mortality, he returned to Amber."

Educated readers may note that this is a more-or-less direct steal from Gilgamesh. This story does not appear in a culture with a Babylonian/Sumerian background, but Gleamingrose, a thoroughly 'western' culture with a completely different pantheon. It doesn't fit into the Gleamingrose mythology at all. This is a common characteristic of stories of Amber. The attributes associated with the Princes of Amber change from sphere to sphere, even from story to story within a sphere. They don't seem to have any continuity at all.

Here's another Amber story, again muchly summarised:

"Random was the youngest and scruffiest of three brothers. Shortly before his death, their elderly father, Oberon, asked his sons to keep watch over his grave for three nights. The two elder sons ignored this request and sent Random to guard the grave alone. At midnight on the third night, the dead father appeared and rewarded Random for his vigil with Silver Roan, a magic horse who breathed fire from his nostrils and flashed fire from his hooves.

"Later, the King of Amber announced that he would give his daughter in marriage to any man who could snatch her veil at a great height. Random climbed into Silver Roan's ear and became a handsome prince. He won the King's contest on the third try, and then turned back into the scruffy young man he had been, and disappeared. The king held a great banquet to try to find Random. Sitting behind the stove, he was recognised when he used the veil to wipe off the rim of his tankard."

As you can see, very little of the Amber we are familiar with from the books survives in these stories.

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