Thursday’s Tale: The Cat on the Doverfjell

by Carol5 Comments
I don't know why, but I've always had a fondness for troll stories, ever since I was a kid. So, when I was thinking about what Christmas tales to feature, I couldn't pass up the Norwegian fairy tale, "The Cat on the Doverfjell," first collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon. A man was bringing a white bear to give to the king of Denmark, and he came to the mountain Dovre on Christmas Eve and asked a man called Halvor for shelter for the night. Halvor told him that he couldn't provide a room, as every Christmas Eve trolls came to the house and made such havoc that the household had to flee them. The man begged to stay anyway, stating his bear could sleep under the stove while the man slept in one of the side rooms. Halvor finally agreed. The household prepared everything for the trolls, laying out...
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Thursday’s Tale: Frau Trude by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

by Carol10 Comments
Illustration from: Sarah Foster "Frau Trude," also known as "The Old Witch" is another story by the Brothers Grimm that does not have a happily ever after ending. The tale starts with a girl who was "obstinate and inquisitive" and never obeys her parents. That doesn't bode well in Grimm stories, disobedience is usually punished while those who are sweet and kind end up with the happy endings. The girl tells her parents she want to visit Frau Trude's house. Her parents tell her not to go, Frau Trude is wicked, but also warn her that if chooses to visit the old woman, she will no longer be their child. A bit harsh, don't you think? The girl head over to Frau Trude's cottage, and when Frau Trude answers the door she asks the girl why the girl is so pale. The girl tells of seeing three men on the steps, a black man, a green man, and a blood-red man. The...
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Thursday’s Tale: Little Red Cap by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

by Carol12 Comments
Image source: Sur La Lune Fairy Tales I've talked about Perrault's Red Riding Hood before, but I wanted to visit the Grimm's version this week, in honor of Banned Books Week. The Grimm version differs slightly from Perrault's. First, obviously is the girl's nickname, Little Red Cap, but in other ways as well. Little Red Cap is of course on her way to grandma's house, this time carrying wine and cake. She meets the wolf along the way and he persuades her to stop and pick some flowers, while he rushes ahead eats grandma and disguises himself as the old woman. When Little Red Cap gets to the house we have the standard and answers, what big eyes you have and so on. The wolf eats Little Red Cap, but here the girl and her grandma get a happier ending. A hunter comes by, sees the wolf asleep on the bed after his feast, and cuts the wolf open, freeing Little Red...
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Thursday’s Tale: Fisherman and His Wife by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

by Carol2 Comments
Image credit: SurLaLune Fairy Tales When I think of fairy tales, the Grimms immediately pop into my head. Today, I read a story that I've heard before but never realized it was one of theirs. A fisherman and his wife live in a run-down shack by the sea. Everyday the man went out fishing, and one clear day he catches an amazing flounder. The flounder explains that he is in fact an enchanted prince and that the fisherman should let him go. The fisherman replies that he's a talking fish, of course he'll let him go, the fact that he may or may not be a prince is irrelevant. The fisherman goes home and tells his wife about the fish. Now the pair become a typical fairy tale couple - the husband turns out to be a wimp, and the wife is domineering and greedy. She tells the fisherman that he should have wished for something, that the flounder would surely have granted...
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Friday’s Tale: The Fountain of Youth (Japan)

by Carol4 Comments
Image credit: Baxley Stamps My husband and daughter went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean last weekend. I passed because, to be honest, the fish people in the last two ust freaked me out, and I had heard there were zombies in this, another creature I'm not very found. Apparently I should have gone, but that's beside the point. From what I understand, part of the movie involves the Fountain of Youth, which is what made me choose this Japanese fairy tale to feature today. "The Fountain of Youth" opens with a fairy stale standard, an poor, elderly, childless couple. One day the old man goes out into the forest, another staple in fairy tales, but finds a little spring he has never seen before. After drinking from it, he becomes a young man again, strong with a full head of hair. He rushes home. His wife is at first afraid of him, a stranger, but he eventually convinces her...
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Friday’s Tale: The Frog King by The Brothers Grimm

by Carol4 Comments
Image Source: Sur la Lune Fairy Tales I thought the Grimm version of "The Frog King" would be the familiar version of the fairy tale, and it is up to a point. The king's youngest, most beautiful daughter is playing with her golden ball beside a well. We already know that thing's are going to work out well in the end for her, don't we? The youngest, most beautiful child is inevitably bound for a happy ending in the Grimms' tales. The princess drops her ball into the well, and it sinks to the bottom. She cries and cries until a frog comes and offers to retrieve the ball but only if he is rewarded. The frog answered, "I do not care for thy clothes, thy pearls and jewels, or thy golden crown, but if thou wilt love me and let me be thy companion and play-fellow, and sit by thee at thy little table, and eat off thy little golden plate, and drink...
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