But What About Me?

Dear Fairy Godmother,

I have a stepsister and I’m tired of being overlooked, or worse, cast as the villain. Cindy is a nice girl. She has a hard time getting along with my mother, true, but they both try their best.

Despite what you may have heard, we all pitch in around the house as much as we can, but she insists on letting mice and birds help her with the chores. It’s a little unsanitary if you ask me.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m happy for Cindy. She’s always been quiet, a homebody. I’m glad she’s met her Prince Charming. But I want a fairy tale ending too!

Please help!

An Overlooked Step-sister

Dear Overlooked Step-sister

Believe it or not, yours is a common situation. My first piece of advice would be to locate the nearest branch of Stepsisters Anonymous, a support group for stepsisters who are forgotten, misrepresented, or threatened by their stepsiblings. You’ll find a wonderful group of women there.

As for your own happy ending, follow Cindy’s example. Go out, meet new people. The best way to meet your own Prince Charming is to be social. Be confident, be beautiful, and be yourself.

And remember, never stop dreaming!

Your Fairy Godmother

A History of the Fairy Tale

Fairy tales have been passed down orally for centuries, so it’s hard tor trace their exact history. However, once they were written, it becomes easier to see how they’ve grown and change. But where did these stories of the fantastic come from?

I may not have precise answers, but I can talk about where the fairy tale genre first appeared and how others have defined it. (This is a really great article if you have time for a more in depth look; it explores four theories about where fairy tales might have come from.)

The best way I can explain the history of fairy tales is to look at the first few authors of them. Like my recent post about The Big Three, I’ll look at the three authors who were the famous first writers and collectors of fairy tales.

Madame D’Aulnoy

Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d’Aulnoy, also called the Countess d’Aulnoy, was a French aristocrat in the late 17th century. She was an intellect, hosting famed scholars and other nobles in her salon to talk about the world. She was also an accomplished writer. Over the course of 13 years, she published 12 books, 2 of them collections of fairy tales. She named her works contes de fées, or tales of fairies, originating the term “fairy tales” we now use. Madame d’Aulnoy’s stories were written in a conversational style, as they would have been told in a salon.

A popular salon game of Madame d’Aulnoy’s time was to make up fairy tales; to take the elements of magic, social commentary, and good triumphing over evil and make a new story. This practice helped solidify the different aspects of the fairy tale genre.

Giovanni Francesco Straparola

(I couldn’t find a picture of him.)

Giovanni Francesco Straparola was an Italian writer during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He collected fairy tales. He published a two-volume set of 75 stories, some of which are the earliest written versions of more famous fairy tales.

Giambattista Basile

Giambattista Basile was a Neapolitan soldier during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. A poet and a writer, Basile was most famous for his collection of children’s stories, which the Grimm Brothers later praised as the first national collection of tales. His work contains the earliest written version of  Rapunzel and Cinderella, as well as others.

Basile and Straparola were some of the first people to listen to what tales were being told and collect them to publish. Because of their initiative, we have the fairy tales we do today. Madame d’Aulnoy recognized them as more than just children’s stories, as their own genre of literature.

So now you know a little more about where fairy tales come from! What are some of your favorites?

Until next time, word nerds!

Fairy Tale Facts: Rapunzel

I can’t believe I haven’t talked about Rapunzel yet! So here I go! It was first published by the Brothers Grimm in their 1812 collection, Children’s and Household Tales.

What It’s About

A young wife is pregnant. A window in her house overlooked a garden of a powerful enchantress. Day after day, she would sit at the window and look at the rampion plant and wish she had some to eat. Eventually she became sick. Her husband grew worried and asked what he could do to help. She demanded rampion, or else she would die. The husband reluctantly agreed to get her some. That night, he scaled the wall around the garden and took some of the rampion. He returned the next night to retrieve more, but was confronted by the enchantress. When the husband explains he stole for his pregnant wife, she agrees to give him as much rampion as he wants on one condition; he must give the enchantress the child after it is born. The man agrees and when the baby girl is born, the enchantress takes her away and names her Rapunzel. When Rapunzel was twelve, the enchantress shut her in a tower in the forest. There were no doors or stairs. The only way up was to climb Rapunzel’s long, golden hair. A young prince one day finds the tower and, overhearing the enchantress’s words, makes his way up Rapunzel’s hair. The two fall in love and devise a way to get Rapunzel out of the tower. Then she stupidly mentions to the enchantress that she’s much heavier than the prince when climbing her hair. The enchantress is furious and cuts off Rapunzel’s hair, banishing her too the desert alone. Meanwhile, the prince returns and climbs the hair thrown down to him. The enchantress angrily tells the prince that Rapunzel is gone and he will never see her again. He jumps from the tower to escape and somehow survives, but he lands on a thorny bush, which blinds him. So he wanders around the forest for a few years (the story says lamenting the loss of his wife, but it never says when they were married). Eventually he stumbles upon the desert where Rapunzel is living with, surprise!, twins; a boy and a girl. Rapunzel cries on the prince’s face and he can see again! Happily ever after, the end, etc.

Fun Fact #1

Different versions of the story have different phrases that Rapunzel responds to: “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down thy hair”, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, That I may climb the golden stair”, or some other variation of that.

Fun Fact #2

Another name for the rampion plant is rapunzel. So the enchantress named the girl for the plant that got her parents into the mess in the first place. Kind of asking for trouble, don’t you think?

Fun Fact #3

The plan Rapunzel and the prince came up with to escape involved several skeins of silk; every time the prince visited, he brought one to Rapunzel, who wove them into a ladder. Why it has to be one at a time, I don’t know. Sadly, they never get to use the ladder.

Fun Fact #4

The enchantress’s name, or at least the name Rapunzel uses to refer to her, is Dame Gothel.

If You’re Interested….

Disney’s Tangled takes the story of Rapunzel and turns it into a fun-filled, musical adventure. There aren’t a whole lot of similarities to the original story, but it’s still a great tale.

Do you have any favorite adaptations of Rapunzel?

Until next time, word nerds!

Words About Introverts

Now, I don’t mean to discriminate against extroverts or ambiverts, it’s simply that I have more experience with introverts (namely, I am one), so today’s topic is debunking a few popular myths about introverts. I should also add that introverts do often display these characteristics. I only mean to say that you can’t assume things about a person because they have an introverted personality. The same goes for any sort of label, really. If any of you extroverts or ambiverts want to give me information about your personality type, I’d be happy to do a video about that!

Until next time, word nerds!

The Big Three: Perrault, Andersen, and the Brothers Grimm

I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about fairy tales. In exploring the different stories, I’ve found what I consider to be the most famous authors of fairy tales; Charles Perrault, the Grimm Brothers, and Hans Christian Andersen. So today I’m going to dive a little more into their backgrounds.

Charles Perrault

From: France, late 17th century

History: Born to a wealthy family, Perrault studied law and had a career in the French government. He was involved in the development of art and literature during his lifetime.

Writings: Perrault spent much of his career publishing essays on art, literature, and even the development of opera. In 1686, he wrote an epic poem about the Christian saint, Paulinus of Nola. In 1695, at the age of 67, Perrault published a collection of fairy tales, Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals, subtitled Tales of Mother Goose. In 1699, he published a French translation of 100 Fables from the Latin poet, Gabriele Faerno.

Inspiration: Perrault drew mostly from the tales that were handed down orally for generations.

Most Famous For: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, and Sleeping Beauty.

Legacy: Perrault is considered by many to be the founder of the modern fairy tale genre, even though it had existed previously.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

From: Germany, early 19th century

History: The Grimm brothers were two in a family of eleven. While initially fairly well-off, their father’s early death forced them both to assume more responsibility. They were both hard-working and studious, graduating at the top of their respective classes from a prestigious school. They went on to study medieval German literature at the University of Marburg. Jacob was appointed the court librarian for the King of Westphalia and later, along with Wilhelm, became a librarian in Kassel.

Writings: In 1812, the brothers published Children’s and Household Tales, a collection of 86 fairy tales. They revised it and added to it over the years, until it contained over 200 stories. They also published two volumes of German legends and a volume of early literature history. The Grimm Brothers also published works on Danish and Irish folk tales and Norse mythology.

Inspiration: The brothers, like Perrault, drew from the traditional stories they had grown up hearing. They also included their versions of some Perrault tales, like Cinderella. They wanted their work to reflect the German culture, so most of the tales are specifically German, or at least the German version.

Most Famous For: Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin, and Snow White. (Look up the actual German titles sometime; they’re kind of fun to try to say. For example Snow White=Schneewittchen.)

Legacy: The Brothers Grimm are the go to source of fairy tales. They popularized the genre and had a comprehensive collection of works that are still well-known today. The Disney empire was built on movies based on their work. While some scholars today debate how appropriate the grim (pun intended) and often violent tales are for children, we still tell them, though perhaps happier versions.

Hans Christian Anderson

From: Denmark, mid 19th century

History: Andersen was the only child of a poor family. He received a basic education and at 14, moved to Copenhagen to pursue a career in acting. Eventually he was encouraged to write.

Writings: Andersen did a lot of writing, so I’ll skip to the important bits. He published the first two installments of his now famous Fairy Tales in 1835, completing the first volume in 1837. They sold poorly, especially compared to the two novels he wrote around the same time, which were quite famous. In 1838, he wrote another collection of stories, Fairy Tales Told for Children. In 1845, Andersen finally began getting recognition for his fairy tales. He published three more collections and continued to writes fairy tales in installments until 1872.

Inspiration: Andersen first began his writing by using the stories he grew up hearing. As he grew more confident, he began writing original stories, drawing on the common themes  and motifs of fairy tales.

Most Famous For: The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and The Ugly Duckling.

Legacy: Andersen was one of the first authors to write original fairy tales, rather than transcribe them. He, along with writers like George MacDonald (who is fantastic!), set the standard for fairy tales, as well as what would become the fantasy genre.

So there you have it! A look at the most influential writers of fairy tales. It had to be a short look, so I encourage you to do some research on your own about these men. They had such interesting lives and careers. And fairy tales themselves have an incredible history! Comment below and let me know what fun facts you find about them!

Until next time, word nerds!

Fairy Tale Facts: The Princess and the Pea

In May of 1835, Hans Christian Anderson published a brochure of four original fairy tales. One of the stories was the now-popular The Princess and the Pea. Today we’ll take a look at some aspects of the story.

Peas

What It’s About

A young prince wishes to marry a princess and travels the world to find a bride. Though he finds many princesses, he is never satisfied with them. He is determined to find a “real” princess. Eventually he returns home, dejected. Not long after, a storm blows in. With it came a bedraggled young girl who insisted she was a real princess. The queen decides to test the girl’s claim. On the queen’s orders, a pea is placed under a stack of bedding. The next morning, they asked the girl how she slept. She replied that she slept badly because of a lumpy mattress. The royal family then knew that she was a true princess, because only a real princess could be so sensitive. The prince married her and happily ever after ensued.

Fun Fact #1

The number of mattresses varies from telling to telling; the version I have states that the pea was placed under twenty mattresses and then twenty down beds.

Fun Fact #2

Anderson treats this story as a true one; as an ending he states that the pea was put in a museum, where it can still be viewed.

If You’re Interested….

In 1959, Anderson’s tale was adapted into a stage musical, Once Upon a Mattress. It’s a hilarious piece that follows Prince Dauntless the Drab in his search for a wife. He becomes infatuated with Princess Winnifred “Fred” the Woebegone. Despite the queen’s meddling, and through a set of catchy songs, the two fall in love and fight for their happily ever after. In 2005, a film version was released. Check it out sometime!

Until next time, word nerds!