tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post5112983277666311875..comments2024-03-29T04:23:31.740-05:00Comments on Tales of Faerie: Guest Post: Lissa Sloan on God, the Devil, and Death Walk Into a Forest: Heavenly Godparents and Other ImmortalsKristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01097525403940409218noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-35158206680101894662016-04-17T18:27:23.819-05:002016-04-17T18:27:23.819-05:00Yes, I completely agree! There is something so ma...Yes, I completely agree! There is something so magical about the way it uses language that really feels like they are tales told around a fire, and passed down from generation to generation. I also love the design, and of course, John Hurt:) Lissa Sloanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11248912985197952161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-63284490874739526802016-04-16T22:40:59.796-05:002016-04-16T22:40:59.796-05:00The Storyteller's one of my favorites too. I ...The Storyteller's one of my favorites too. I love how The Storyteller feels like it's trying to do its own thing with the old tales. They're not trying to be a shiny Disney musical and they're not trying to overcompensate with darkness either. Instead, the show really has its own feel altogether.Adam Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16129844426168129584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-63433056831380481282016-04-16T10:45:54.900-05:002016-04-16T10:45:54.900-05:00Yes, Adam! I have a book adaptation of the TV seri...Yes, Adam! I have a book adaptation of the TV series, which is incidentally my favorite screen adaptation of fairy tales ever! It was my first introduction to "The Soldier and Death". Fun fact: "The Soldier and Death" shares elements with "The Smith and the Devil", which a study recently dated back to the bronze age:) Lissa Sloanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11248912985197952161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-80738527342133377382016-04-16T10:14:58.803-05:002016-04-16T10:14:58.803-05:00Good eye/memory! That one was Lissa's contribu...Good eye/memory! That one was Lissa's contribution, it was new to me!Kristinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01097525403940409218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-33678531830958219512016-04-15T14:46:08.452-05:002016-04-15T14:46:08.452-05:00I recognize that picture of "The Soldier and ...I recognize that picture of "The Soldier and Death". It's from an adaptation of Jim Henson's The Storyteller.Adam Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16129844426168129584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-47364882816417334932016-04-15T08:42:48.417-05:002016-04-15T08:42:48.417-05:00I never thought about Hades/Persephone as a precur...I never thought about Hades/Persephone as a precursor to stories like "The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs", but it makes a lot of sense to me now that you mention it. <br /><br />I think you must be right about Mary replacing another character. I thought the same, especially after reading one of the stories in the notes of Jack Zipes's translation of the brothers Grimm's first edition. It was similar to "Our Lady's Child," but the patroness was not Mary, but a mysterious unnamed queen. I'm guessing there are many examples of Christian figures replacing pagan ones. When researching Krampus for an anthology I contributed to, I found it fascinating the way this old old legend was assimilated into Christianity, probably because people just didn't want to let him go, but had to make him acceptable to their new religion. Thanks for reading!Lissa Sloanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11248912985197952161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-91146617654189782842016-04-15T08:34:37.732-05:002016-04-15T08:34:37.732-05:00I grew up with the Chronicles of Narnia and I alwa...I grew up with the Chronicles of Narnia and I always loved Aslan as a godlike figure. It makes a lot of sense to me that when people were first introduced to Christianity, they wanted to keep a lot of the traditions/figures that were meaningful to them (and that people would think so today as well). <br />I have seen Bedknobs and Broomsticks but it has been a while. I will have to revisit it. Thanks for reading!Lissa Sloanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11248912985197952161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-37510138995173207532016-04-13T13:54:48.666-05:002016-04-13T13:54:48.666-05:00I was raised on many fairy tales and legends alike...I was raised on many fairy tales and legends alike thatfeature the devil to the point whhere I was quite surprised to find that inother cultures it was considered a taboo to feature the devil in children's entertainment. There is something quite appealing about depicting the demonic as a stupid person who can easily be tricked. My favourite story as a child was the one about the miller who made a deal with the devil, where he asked him to build him a mill and promised him his soul if the devil wasn't finished by sun rise. HoweverIt was long before sun rise and the devil was almost done. So the miller's wife lighted ablaze the dung hilland the devil who thought it was the rising sun, cursing descented to hell. Interestingly some theorize that the devil's grandmother is a remnant of the Greek goddess Persephone, wife of Hades the ruler of the Underworld, imho the fact that she is featured in "The Devil With The Three Golden Hairs", a tale that borrows much from Greek Mytholog imho gives this theory some weight.<br /><br />It is interestingto see Mary as such an ambivalent figure in many fairy tales, perhaps after Christianization she replaced a pagan goddess who was more ambivalent in nature, but others theorize that a positive and a negative female character got conflated into one single character over the course of oral transfer. While Virgin Mary is usually more dignified as opposed tofairy tale appearances of Jesus and St. Peter, she is not exempt from mockery. In "The Girl from Brakel" from the Grimm collection, a girl prays to St. Anna (Mary's mother), because she isin love with a yong man and wants to marry him. The sexton, wanting to make fun of her, hides behind the statue of St. Anna with Baby Mry on herlap and screams in a high-pitched voice "You won't get him". the girl, thinking it was Mary who spoke, harshly reprimands her: Quiet, little brat! Let you mother do the talking!"<br /><br />Death is surely the most interesting of Immortals in fairy tales, sometimes benevolent, sometimes ambivalent, but never outright evil. When comparing different versions of "Godfather Death", you will find many different endings, some allowing the trickster to outsmart Death and gaining immortality (or choosing to die after many more decades out of his own volition), some have him succumb to death in the end, enforcing a more fatalistic world view and some even introduce a cruel irony when the candle he extinguishes in order to gain those years of life is the one of his wife or child. It shows how drastically a story can change depending on the context in which it is told.<br /><br />Very interesting read. Those stries are rarely heard from as they usually don't get adapted (due to aforementioned social taboo), but they shouldn't be forgotten nonthelessAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11593854763215902252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968132365438511409.post-5848621876589068232016-04-12T18:07:12.340-05:002016-04-12T18:07:12.340-05:00I always did like stories that combine fantasy/fai...I always did like stories that combine fantasy/fairy tales with Religion. Just like the Chronicles of Narnia combined pagan mythology with Christianity. <br /><br />There's something about that eclectic combination that makes both mythical and sacred. Mythology and Religion together makes it not only magical but spiritual as well. And there was a time when the sacred and the fantastic were once intertwined together. I'm part of a group, called Christopagans, who combine both Christian beliefs and Pagan beliefs. Some might call that heresy but that syncretism has been going on since the Medieval Ages. Village Healers would use both folk magic and Christian symbols/prayers. It wasn't to create a new religion, it was sticking to and remembering your old beliefs, ancestral roots, and combining it with the new ideas so as embrace your new identity while maintaining your old one, and to never forget where you came from. <br /><br />Have you ever heard of a Disney movie called Bedknobs and Broomsticks? about a witch taking care of Blitz evacuees during WW2? Well in one scene, the witch's spell goes wrong and the clothes start moving by themselves, a Vicar comes knocking on the witch's door, only to be answered by a floating nightgown. This scares the heck out of the Vicar and goes running away from the house. That scene felt something like a rare meeting between the magical and the religious. And I liked it. Sam Victorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17359243759085800182noreply@blogger.com