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Today's tale comes to us from India. It's a love story, but does involve fairies, actually kind of unusual in fairy tales.
Dorani, daughter of a man who sold scents and essences, is the most beautiful young woman in the land. She is also good friends with a fairy and sings along with her for Indra, the king of the fairies. Dorani has lovely long golden hair that smelled faintly of roses, but it's heavy, so one day, Dorani cuts off a tress, wraps it in a leaf and lays it in the river. I understand wanting to cut your hair, but I don't quite get why she had to put it in the river, but of course the prince finds it and falls in love with her based on her hair. That's even beyond love at first sight, but he's sure he will die if he can't marry the girl the hair belongs to.
The King find Dorani and sets...
I'm sure it's not a surprise to my regular readers that I was excited to watch both of the fairy tale based TV shows premiering this fall, Grimm on NBC and Once Upon a Time on ABC.
Once Upon a Time has a soap opera feel to me. The evil queen from Snow White has cursed all the familiar fairy tale characters to a life in our world, in a town called Storybrooke no less, without happy endings or any memory of their previous live. Snow White's daughter, Emma, arrives in town at the behest of the son she gave up for adoption. He is the one who tells her about the curse and informs her that she is the only one who can save them.
After two episodes, I have to say I enjoy it, but don't love it. Maybe I just don't know where it's going and that's makes me a little nervous. I am intrigued by the Rumpelstiltskin character....
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This tale struck me as the perfect one to tell to a group of kids around a campfire, especially with Halloween on its way.
In the "Strange Visitor," retold by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales, an old woman is sitting at her spinning wheel one night. She is sitting and spinning and feeling lonely. She wishes for company. But, once again, be careful what you wish for.
In comes a pair of feet that sit down by the fireside. The old woman keeps working and wishing. Then in comes a pair of legs, followed by knees and thighs. Piece by piece a person comes in and sits by the fireside. Finally, after the whole body is assembled, the old woman speaks to it.
"How did you get such broad broad feet?" quoth the woman.
"Much tramping, much tramping" (_gruffly_).
"How did you get such small small legs?"
"Aih-h-h!-late--and wee-e-e--moul" (_whiningly_).
"How did you get such thick thick knees?"
"Much praying, much praying" (_piously_).
"How did you get...
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...
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...