Fandow Snowflake - Day 6

[flo_nelja]

In your own space, create your own challenge.

My challenge is: in the comments, talk to me about your favourite underrated fairy tale, legend or myth!

It can be a long description, or just a link with "anyone should read this", or an original viewpoint about a well-known tale with a character where you think everyone gets the symbolism wrong, whatever you want!

Comments

[polarissruler]

Can I just talk about how much I love that fairy tales evolve with the people? There are so many tales that roughly follow the same plot, but are adapted to fit the changing times.

In Bulgaria (my country), for example, Hitar Petar (something like our folk hero) was put in a lot of originally unconnected tales. Unrelated, but the same goes for folk songs - as a kid, I was a part of a folklore club and we traveled around the country to hear all regional variants of some songs...

And our country has so many amazing tales I'd love to talk about! (But unfortunately, I doubt they are translated.) Mara Peplyqashka (Mara Cinderella), where the girl's mother transforms into a cow and is killed by the stepmother (because the evil stepmother is classic, are they not?). The tale of the beautiful girl - with a different name and reason in each story - who talks with the winds and goes to Baba Yaga (a powerful witch's) house.

[flo_nelja]

Ooh, I don't know Hitar Petar at all. Do you remember an adaptation with time that stayed with you?

Even if they are translated, it's probably in books old enough to be out of print but not old enough to be public domain. I collect fairy tale books and I don't have one with tales only from Bulgaria (though I know they exist, somewhere)

[polarissruler]

Hm, the first time I caught that his stories were adapted from others was in a story about an old man, who wanted to sell six donkeys. The road to the buyer was long, so he sat on one of the donkeys instead of walking. He decided to count the donkeys in front of him, but they were only five. He got off the donkey and counted them again. At that time they were six. While wondering, Hitar Petar walked by him. The man explained his situation and asked how much the donkeys were. Hitar Petar replied the donkeys were seven, but one had two legs.

In the original version, Hitar Petar was just a stock character, not a named person. Actually, most of his stories replace a stock character (an unnamed father, uncle or friend) with him.

Also, Hitar Peter literally means Cunning Peter, so you can guess how most of his stories go.

[pronker]

Hmm, I thought Hitar Petar might be Struwwelpeter, but it seems Hitar Petar is smarter?

[polarissruler]

To be honest, I did not know anything about Struwwelpeter. After my (very short) research, I found that he is a German character, while Hitar Petar is Bulgarian. It seems the only thing they have in common is the name. (And it's a pretty widespread name, so it's not surprising.)

[spikedluv]

This is a very original challenge!

[flo_nelja]

Thank you! I just love fairy tales!

[brewsternorth]

Reading about Shikhandi in some random book of Hindu mythology led me to wish I'd known more than just a few superficial stories in this genre.

[flo_nelja]

Ooooh, thank you, I didn't know this story and I love it!!!

[silveradept]

Thor's Wedding is one of my favorites, because it has explicit gender-fuckery involved (Thor in a wedding dress and veil, having been convinced this is eh correct way to get his hammer back when it was stolen), where Thor is seen as a very desirable woman, even if his behaviors might be different than expected, and then there is all sorts of Thor smash after Thrym shows himself off to be a terrible dudebro about it.

[flo_nelja]

I love it so much too! And Loki having to improvise explanations about why Thor's behaviour is less typically feminine. ^^

[silveradept]

Yep. Thor is going to blow the whole thing up, and Loki has to keep the plan going until Thor can get the hammer. And, at least in one version I read, I think Loki was responsible for the hammer getting stolen in the first place, so there's a certain amount of trying to make it up to Thor, ish, too?

Okay ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Somewhere I have a collection of retold fairytales with a feminist twist, so the heras are more exciting, but the flavor is still very classic. Couldn't find the darn thing online to link it, though -- I got it as a review copy years ago. It had a lovely Sir Marzipan version.

Re: Okay ...

[flo_nelja]

Oh, interesting! I don't have one, but I have a selection of fairy tales not changed but selected to have strong female heroines.

Re: Okay ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have both written from scratch and retold fairytales. Some have female leads, some feature other genders.

Does this children's novel qualify as a fairy tale?

[pronker]

I would love to read thoughts on The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley, which I read as a child, I believe the edition illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. It was a library book and I took it home many times during a four year span. :)

The end sentence is [this is only a fairy tale and believe none of it] "even if it is true." What I remember most is the eerie allure of falling into the water, drowning and somehow not dying, but discovering a new life even if your old self-destructive ways cling to you. Furthermore, adventures featuring sea creatures and far away seascapes and loving substitute mamas ("Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby") arise in memory all this time later. Hee, it even has elements of Tom Sawyer's attending his own funeral because the Tom in Babies overhears those folks who knew him discussing his passing and they talk about him nicer than they ever did when he was alive. :(

Re: Does this children's novel qualify as a fairy tale?

[flo_nelja]

I think it can count as a fairy tale, yeah, if the writer says it is! But I have not read it.

[sevilemar]

I loved fairy tales when I was young. I still have two of my old story books, and because of your challenge, I just went through them again. Turns out, a lot of my old classics do not grip me the same way 25 years later, when I can see the politics behind it. Who would have thought? ;)

But there is one, a re-telling of Philemon and Baucis (Ovid) for children in my favourite story book ever, that still has the same magic:

When the gods still walked the lands, Zeus and Hermes wanted to test the people's generosity. They disguised themselves as men, and asked for shelter. The only ones who invited them in was an old, poor couple, named Philemon and Baucis. They gave them food and shelter as best they could, and the gods granted them one wish.

Philemon and Baucis wished to die together, because neither wants to cry at the grave of the other. When it was time, instead of dying together, they became trees right next to each other, so their leaves and branches in the sky, and their roots in the soil will be together forever.

I still love the book it was in, even though it is from 1989. The love and attention to detail, the simple words and quirky illustrations, still hold up really well.

[flo_nelja]

Thank you!
Oh, what is the name of the book you read it in?

[sevilemar]

The book is German: "Bruder Löwenzahn und Schwester Maus" von Ute Andresen und Monika Popp.

[polarissruler]

Oh, I remember this story! We had to read it for school in 5th grade (along with some other Greek myths) and I also liked it.

[sevilemar]

More proof that not everything you are forced to read in school is awful; )

[mekare]

That is a lovely story. I am also interested in the name of the book.

[sevilemar]

Yes, it is, isn't it? <3

The book is German: "Bruder Löwenzahn und Schwester Maus" by Ute Andresen and Monika Popp

[mekare]

Thank you!

[malurette]

Hiya, je ne sais pas si tu l'as vu passer mais la discussion informelle cette semaine sur scans_daily demande justement nos poèmes préférés, peut-être qu'il y aura de chouettes recs dans les réponses ?
https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/9098409.html

[flo_nelja]

Ha, merci ! Je l'avais vu, et je m'étais dit d'aller répondre, puis ça m'était complètement sorti de la tête !