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!

Four Resolutions for 2015

Happy 2015! It’s a little hard to believe, isn’t it?

With a new year comes a plethora of resolutions made. And as much as I hate to be cliche, I’ve decided to share some resolutions I’ve made with you, dear readers, so that you can hold me accountable.

First and foremost, I want to edit and polish the manuscript I finished in November. I’m rather proud of that story and think I should get it ready for pitching.

Secondly, I want to publish at least four short stories this year. I have one coming out in February, so that leaves three more!

Thirdly, I want to finish another book manuscript. It might be another NaNoWriMo project, or something I do in my spare time through the whole year, but I need to keep creating content.

Fourth, (I’m not convinced fourthly is a word, so I’m breaking that repetition), I want to commit to a more concrete schedule for this blog. So I will be posting on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Tuesdays will be Tuesday Tales and focus on fairy tales and related subjects. Saturdays…well, you’ll just have to wait until then to see. I’ve got a big surprise in store! (Though I might be willing to share that information to the first five people who like, share, or comment on this post on my Facebook page).

What are some of your goals for the coming year?

Fairy Tale Facts: Rumplestiltskin

Rumplestiltskin is a fairy tale that I often forget about for chunks of time. Then I’ll stumble across some re-imagining of it that reminds me how great the story is. It was written by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812.

What It’s About

A poor miller, trying to gain some respect, boasts that his beautiful daughter can spin straw into gold. The King hears of this and decides that he wants to see such an incredible feat for himself. The girl is brought to the palace and shut in a room full of straw with a spinning wheel. The girl, who most certainly can’t spin straw into gold, is at a loss, until a little man comes in and offers to do the task for her. He asks for her necklace as payment. The King, pleased with his newly acquired wealth, puts her in a larger room the next night and tells her, again under threat of death, to spin the straw into gold. The little man comes and, for the girl’s ring, spins through the night. The King was once again delighted by the room full of gold. He took the girl to a third room and promised that if she could spin the straw into gold, not only would she live but she would be his queen. The little man came to aid her, but she had nothing else to offer. The man made her promise to give him her firstborn child as payment, should she become queen. The girl agreed, not thinking he would really hold her to the deal. A year later, the girl was indeed queen and with child. After she gave birth, the man appeared to claim the child. She was heartbroken and the man, feeling sympathy for her, offered her an alternative; if she could guess his name in three days, he would leave her, with her child, in peace. The first two days the queen failed to guess his name. On the third day, with the information a messenger gave her, the queen correctly guessed his name as Rumplestiltskin. The queen got to keep her child and Rumplestiltskin disappeared.

Fun Fact #1

The messenger who discovered the little man’s name was traveling through the forest, where he overheard the man singing a song about how clever he was and how the queen would never guess that his name was Rumplestiltskin. Serves him right for being overconfident.

Fun Fact #2

Grimms’ version has Rumplestiltskin throwing a tantrum at the end. He stomps his right foot so hard it gets stuck in the ground. He then pulls his left leg so hard he tears himself in half. Other tellings have him riding off in a ladle or falls into a hole in the ground.

Fun Fact #3

Another Grimm tale, The Three Spinners, is similar to this one. In it, three old women help a young girl spin for a queen. They don’t ask for future payment as children, though.

If You’re Interested….

The main reason I chose this fairy tale is I just finished reading Rumplestiltskin by K.M. Shea. It’s the fourth in her fairy tale series, though all four can be read as stand alone novels. I find them entertaining and each book gives a classic tale a new twist. I’m also a huge fan of how the TV series Once Upon A Time portrays Rumplestiltskin, or Mr. Gold, as he is known in Storybrook.

What are some of your favorite characterizations of the man who can spin straw into gold?

Fairy Tale Facts: Little Red Riding Hood

I’m breaking away from the winter theme for a week (because it’s surprisingly hard to find them) to examine Little Red Riding Hood. This week the movie Into the Woods comes out (and I am beyond excited to see it!) and part of the story follows Little Red as she attempts to navigate the woods to her grandmother’s house. Little Red Riding Hood was a story told for years before being published. Charles Perrault wrote the earliest version in 1697. The Grimm Brothers’ version was published in 1812. The Grimms actually based the story off of two separate versions and split the tale into two parts; the original and the sequel. The first part is nearly identical to Perrault’s, so they probably drew inspiration from it.

Perrault’s Version

Perrault’s tale features a young lady travelling to her grandmother’s house. A scheming wolf tricks her into telling him where the grandmother’s home is and he heads there, avoiding the woodcutters in the forest. He eats the grandmother and when Little Red arrives, he tricks her into climbing into the bed where he’s hiding and he eats her as well. That’s it. No happy ending. It’s rather depressing. It was published in a book called Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals. So the moral of Little Red? Don’t talk to strangers. At least, not wolves.

Grimm’s Version

The only change the Grimm Brothers made to the first part of the Red Riding Hood story was the ending. In their tale, a huntsman saves Red and her grandmother when he kills the wolf for it’s skin. The sequel shows Red and her grandmother wiser for the experience; after another run in with a wolf, Red and her grandmother lay elaborate traps for it, eventually killing it.

Fun Fact #1

In the Grimm story, the main character is actually called Little Red-Cap because she wears a red cap, not a red hooded cloak.

Fun Fact #2

As is often the case with fairy tales, the older tales are much more gruesome than the ones we see today. In some of the earliest tellings, the wolf tricked Red into eating parts of her grandmother and tells poor Red to take her clothes and throw them in the fire before getting into bed. In some versions, he eats her. In others, she manages to escape.

Fun Fact #3

Instead of a wolf, some versions feature an ogre or a werewolf.

If You’re Interested….

Like I said, Disney’s Into the Woods comes out on Christmas. It’s a film adaptation of Sondheim’s musical, which I have loved for years. I highly recommend the movie, even though I haven’t seen it yet. What I’ve seen from commercials and teasers looks fantastic! The plot also features fairy tale favorites Cinderella, Jack and his beanstalk, Rapunzel, and of course, Little Red.

Until next time, Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone!

As you may have noticed, I only posted once last week. I’ve decided to cut back on posting during December to spend time with my family and relax while I’m on break. So, for the rest of the month, I’ll only be posting once a week. Don’t worry, I’ll be back on schedule in January, with a special surprise as well! So keep your eyes peeled and enjoy the holiday season!

Best wishes!

Kate

Winter Tales: The Snow Queen

As I was choosing what tale to talk about this week, I was surprised that I hadn’t covered this one sooner. But I haven’t, so today I will! The Snow Queen was written by Han Christian Anderson, first published in 1844 (December 21, 1844, to be exact, almost 170 years ago to the day!). It provided a very vague inspiration for Disney’s Frozen, though there are very few similarities in the story.

Winter In Poland 2

What It’s About

The story follows two children, Gerda and her friend Kai (sometimes Kay). The story is broken into 7 parts. The first part tells of a wicked spirit who makes a mirror that reflects only the bad in people, magnifying it until all they can see are the exaggerated bits of ugly and horror. The spirit tries to fly the mirror up to heaven, but drops it. The pieces of shattered mirror are blown around the world and lodge into people’s eyes, distorting their vision, or hearts, making them as hard and cold as ice. The second part of the story begins, introducing Kai and Gerda, friends and neighbors. Kai’s grandmother tells the story of the  Snow Queen, who rules over the winter. Kai sees her that night outside his window, beckoning for him to follow her. He doesn’t. Over the next summer, however, a shards of the mirror get lodged into Kai’s heart and eyes. He turns into a cruel and angry person, going so far as to pull up the roses Gerda loves so much. The next winter, he is approached by the Snow Queen, who takes him away in her sleigh. She kisses twice; first to make him numb to cold, and second to make him forget his family and home. Gerda goes after Kai, determined to save him. She travels a great distance to find him, encountering a sorceress, a band of robbers run by a young girl, a river spirit, and women living in the North Pole. When Gerda finally reaches the Snow Queen’s palace, she finds that Kai has been enslaved by the Snow Queen’s power. The power of her love and the warmth of the tears she sheds breaks the spell and the two happily return home.

Fun Fact #1

The roses Kai pulls up are more than just Gerda’s favorite flowers; they are reminders of how much she cares about him. Gerda is actually captured by the sorceress, who traps her with her a beautiful garden. The sorceress causes all the roses to be buried so that Gerda won’t be reminded of Kai.

Fun Fact #2

Everyone assumes that Kai had drowned in the nearby river when he disappeared. When Gerda first set out to find him, she went to the river and offered to make an exchange for Kai. That’s when she finds out that he’s still alive.

Fun Fact #3

The Snow Queen’s power has trapped Kai by giving him an impossible task. She promises that if he can arranged shards of ice in a certain way, she will free him. After Gerda breaks the spell, the two  dance and cause the ice pieces to fall into place.

If You’re Interested….

Disney’s Frozen was loosely (and I mean very loosely) based on The Snow Queen. Other than that, I’ve yet to come across adaptations of this story, but I’d love some recommendations if you have!

Winter Tales: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

It’s getting closer and closer to Christmas, so for the next few weeks, I’m going to highlight some tales that are centered around Christmas or winter. To start us off, one of the most classic Christmas stories: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The story, first published in 1816, was turned into a ballet in 1892 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It soon became world famous.

If nutcrackers can be soldiers, why not baseball players?
If nutcrackers can be soldiers, why not baseball players?

What It’s About

It’s Christmas Eve. Marie Stahlbaum and her brother Fritz are wondering what their godfather, Drosselmeyer, will bring them for Christmas. He is a clockmaker and an inventor and always makes presents for them. When the children finally receive their gifts, they find a mechanical house full of people that can move. Marie, however, is entranced by a nutcracker soldier. She and Fritz crack nuts with it, until it’s jaw cracks. Marie bandages it and the family goes to bed, but she wants to stay with the nutcracker a little longer. As the clock strikes twelve, the nutcracker comes alive and joins the other now-living toys in fighting against a mouse army that has appeared. The mice are led by a seven-headed king. As the toys begin to be overwhelmed, Marie throws her shoe at the Mouse King. The next day, Marie tells Drosselmeyer what happened, and he tells her the story of Princess Pirlipat and the Mouse Queen.

The Mouse Queen played a cruel trick on Princess Pirlipat’s parents (try saying that five times fast) and the king retaliated by having the court inventor, Drosselmeyer, make traps for them. The Mouse Queen was understandably upset at the death of her children and in turn cursed the Princess, giving her a huge head, a wide (and probably creepy) smile, and a cottony beard. People searched for a cure that, as they often are in fairy tales, was ridiculously complicated. (You can find all the details of it here if you’re curious.) In the end, the poor boy who was trying his hardest to fulfill all the requirements failed and the curse affected him instead of the princess. He turned into a nutcracker and she had him banished because he was ugly.

The next few nights, Marie hears the Mouse King threatening to bite the nutcracker unless she makes a sacrifice to him (her other toys, candy, etc. Nothing too crazy). Finally, the nutcracker fights and defeats him and takes Marie to the doll kingdom. When she tells her parents about it the next day, they tell her to stop talking about her crazy dreams. Marie can’t forget about it, however, and promises the nutcracker that she’s different from Princess Pirlipat and would love him no matter what he looked like. The nutcracker becomes human again and thanks Marie for breaking the curse (it was apparently a lot easier the second time around). He proposes to her and a year and a day later, takes her away to the doll kingdom where they are crowned king and queen.

Fun Fact #1

The boy who tries to break Princess Pirlipat’s curse, and consequently gets turned into a nutcracker, is Drosselmeyer’s nephew.

Fun Fact # 2

The seven-headed Mouse King was the son of the Mouse Queen of Drosselmeyer’s story; part of the cure to the nutcracker’s curse was defeating him.

Fun Fact #3

This one isn’t so much fun as it is creepy. Marie was seven when the story took place. Seven. Yeah.

Fun Fact #4

In the ballet, Marie’s name changed to Clara. So no, I wasn’t mixed up. It was originally Marie.

I’m not going to do an “If You’re Interested….” because I’ve never seen any adaptations of this, other than the ballet. Let me know if you have, though!

What winter story should I talk about next week?

Until next time!

Flash Fiction

I got some exciting news today. A flash fiction piece I wrote has been accepted for publication! I’m pretty stoked for this opportunity.

Some of you might be asking, “What is flash fiction?” It’s a form of writing that’s been gaining popularity over the last few years. It’s called flash fiction because it tells a story in 1,000 words or less.

You would think that writing a short piece would be easy, but it’s actually quite difficult to write a well-rounded story in so few words. You have to be very selective about what you say.

Speaking of things that move quickly, I am getting ready to take finals for the semester. I also turned in my application to graduate in a year. A YEAR! I’m practically done with school and I’ve started thinking about the future. It’s a little intimidating.

So these are essentially the ramblings of a mind worn out from studying. Please excuse them if they don’t make sense.

Until next time, fellow wonderers!