Changelings

Modern people may be surprised to find how fervently fairy lore was believed up until relatively recently. Even this year, supposedly a builder lost 15,000 pounds because locals wouldn't let him disturb a rock under which fairies lived (read here).

Lindsey Davies

But the most awful, heartbreaking results of fairy beliefs are those having to do with changelings. A changeling is a fairy or stock (wooden figure) made to exactly resemble a human and left in their place, while the real human is abducted and taken to the land of fairies. Fairies most often take children, either to raise or to make work as slaves, or young women to be servants, midwives, or wives. Many people never return to the land of humans, although some stories relate successful rescues of the fairy captives.

Some remedies for changelings are harmless and humorous, such as cooking food in an eggshell. This will cause the changeling to burst out laughing, and (if the changeling was in the form of a baby), betray what he/she really is because it takes intelligence to find it humorous. Other remedies include leaving the changeling out, or holding them on a shovel over a fire. Ostensibly, the fairies will not want one of their kind to suffer, and will replace the changeling with the original.

Arthur Rackham

In Carole G. Silver's Strange and Secret Peoples, she has a whole chapter devoted to changelings. She cites a sickeningly long list of crimes related to claims that the victim was believed to be a changeling.

1826- Anne Rocke killed four-year-old Michael Leahy, who could not walk, stand, or speak, by bathing him three times in icy waters. The boy drowned.

1843-John Trevelyan of Penzance placed son on tree for several hours at Christmastime. Later ordered servants to beat, kick, and starve him.

1845-Female placed in basket with wood shavings and suspended over kitchen hearth until shavings ignited

"Bland Tomtar och Troll", John Bauer


1857-Three Welsh children died by bathing in/being fed foxglove


1869-Changeling exorcised by being dipped three times in an Irish tarn


May 19, 1884-Ellen Cushion and Anastasia Rourke arrested for placing three year old Philip Dillon on a hot shovel. He had no limbs, was suspected to be a changeling, and severely burned.


1895-Bridget Cleary tortured and killed by her husband, neighbors, and six family members


Not only is this shocking to anyone, but as a special educator this strikes a special chord with me. Those who were suspected of being changelings had some kind of physical deformity or mental disability that would lead people to suspect that they must be of another species. Scientists speculate the types of disabilities we now know of that coincided to "signs" of changelings, including spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, William's syndrome, Hurler's syndrome, and Hunter's syndrome. Some of my students have the above disabilities. One wonders if the criminals listed above were really glad of an excuse to get rid of their charges, or if they truly believed they were doing what was best for their loved one. It's frightening to think that these cases are only the recorded ones-how many more people were tortured or killed, unbeknownst to us?

The Lighthouse

"The Lighthouse" is a short story started by Edgar Allan Poe. His death left it unfinished, and it has since been given an ending by author Robert Bloch (writer of the novel Psycho that inspired Hitchcock's film). I found it in a collection of fantasy stories, not expecting to find a fairy tale connection, but the parallels to Beauty and the Beast were very interesting.

The main character has started a job as a lighthouse attendant, for an entire year, in a completely secluded location. At first he relishes the chance to be alone, but soon the complete isolation gets to him. I always take note of descriptions of isolation in stories, because that's one aspect of the Beast that always fascinates me. What is it like for him to be cut off from civilization, alone in a castle with unrealistic hopes as his only comfort? What does he do until Beauty comes?

Then the narrator decides to try to focus all his mind and energy to create life to comfort him. The first attempt he makes is a rose. He spends his days in meditation, ridding his thoughts of all but a rose. Miraculously, he finds a blooming rose along the oceanic coast and brings it inside, where it lives far longer than it should. Only when he begins to focus his thoughts on another object does it wither. Only it does not leave behind a dried and withered rose, but a repulsive piece of seaweed.
The narrator's next goal is loftier: the perfect woman. She will be his Companion, and as she is a product of his imagination, the woman of his dreams. Once again the experiment is successful-but after seeing the beautiful woman, she opens her mouth to reveal a set of vampire teeth. She is not a human woman, but a woman created from the sea. The narrator's dog jumps on her and kills her, leaving not a woman's corpse, but a "bloated, swollen obscenity of a thing long-drowned and dead, risen from slime and to that slime returning." A storm is upon the lighthouse, so fierce the narrator knows he won't survive. He secures his journal entries in a bottle around his dog's neck and waits to die, perhaps to join his Companion in the depths.

Note: Poe only wrote the first three days' worth of journal entries for this story, so no one knows what ideas he had for the story. Basically, the premise of the story was Poe's and all that follows was Robert Bloch. I don't know if he was aware of the connections to the fairy tale, and it's not a well known story so I haven't heard of fairy tale enthusiasts referring to it as a version of Beauty and the Beast, but the isolated man-magical rose-arrival of woman could easily pass for a slightly twisted and morbid version of the fairy tale.

Fairy Tale Nannies

Tomorrow I start my summer nannying job! I'm looking forward to it, but I'll be going from working part time to more than full time, so likely posting will slow down.

But in honor of this occasion we'll take a quick look at some famous fantastical nannies. In traditional folklore, there are hardly any nannies. The poor people of the tales could hardly afford to pay someone else to raise their children. Sometimes babies of royalty will have nurses, like the prince in the Russian tale who was told by his nurse of the most beautiful girl in the world, and set off to find her when he was only a few days old-but nannies in general are a relatively recent thing.

So the more famous magical nannies are more recent. The movie Nanny McPhee is based on the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand. I haven't read the books but love this movie-the actors (even the kids!), the music, the magical scenery, the plot-it's just overall a quality family movie. But in a way it irks me that the only way Nanny McPhee can control the children is through her magic stick. If only I had that stick I could control any situation too, but I don't.

My ultimate nanny hero is Mary Poppins. She uses magic too, but I like to think that her magic is really just getting the kids to use their imagination. And talk about quality films-EVERYTHING about this movie is excellent. Also based on earlier books (the Mary Poppins series by P.L. Travers), many prefer the movie to the books (and I'm so glad Disney hasn't attempted to remake a more modern version of this movie-*shudder*).

And just for fun...one of the best recut movie trailers is definitely Scary Mary Poppins.

Never before has Mary Poppins seemed so sinister...

Penelope

I referenced the movie Penelope in this post about the rarity of Animal Bride tales in our culture, and just came across my journal entry for the first time I saw the movie. Many of the issues in the movie are relevant to issues that are prominent in the interpretations and significance of Beauty and the Beast.

"...I thought it was funny that her snout really isn't that bad, it certainly would never make people scream and run away from her. Stare rudely, talk about her behind her back, not date her, sure. I thought it funny too that people make a pig snout out to be hideous but no one mentions that the one guy's a little person. Making a point that men are allowed to be less than the perfect ideal and still taken seriously but not women? Probably not the intent but I think it's true. The snout may also symbolize how cruel people are to ugly women through exaggeration, or maybe how girls criticize themselves and in their minds a minor flaw is a grotesque thing.

I'm probably analyzing too much. It did at least have a moral, more than most chick flicks. I was kind of hoping she would have to choose b/t marrying the jerk and losing the snout, or marrying James McAvoy and keeping the snout and she'd do that and they'd both live happily ever after. But beauty and the beast tales rarely end that way.

As far as the love story itself went, modern movies try to create witty conversations and relationships so it's not love at first sight, but what ends up happening is so far from reality it might as well be love at first sight. They only have a couple of conversations over a couple days- maybe three-before they've both fallen in love with each other. What is it that attracts them to the other? He happens to steal the one book that's her favorite? She happens to intuitively know that he'a musician and later that he plays the piano? So now we're supposed to look for psychic abilities in place of looks.
I did like the whimsical scenery, the props, and music, and I can't be too harsh on it as it did try to tackle a very important theme and much needed message to our society. It was cute. I did find James McAvoy to be extremely attractive (although that's not supposed to matter...) and I do want Penelope's wardrobe.

One more thing-I didn't like how the villain was all exaggerated and was afraid of Penelope and called her a monster. Men don't fear ugly women. I think a woman's worst fear isn't to be considered a monster, but simply to be insignificant. To be so ugly you don't matter; to not be taken seriously. I think more girls would connect with a character that's ignored and looked down on rather than run away from."

Fairy lore in LOTR

Popular belief about elves is probably pretty similar to the opening montage of Elf (embedding disabled, sorry). Many authors have taken creative liberties with fairies, elves, and dwarves, but when you start to learn of traditional lore you see which authors probably had knowledge of it. J.M. Barrie completely invented the notion of fairies being born when a baby laughs and dying according to human disbelief, for example. And although Tolkein also creates his own signature world of races, it bears more resemblance to the worlds his ancestors would have assumed to be true.

In the Lord of the Rings, each race uses its own weapons. Elves shoot arrows. Long ago in England, arrowheads were assumed to be the weapons of elves, called elfshot.

Tolkein's dwarves are known for working in mines. According to Katherine Briggs, "the smithy-work of these dwarfs...were famous from very ancient times, and a weapon or breast-plate forged by the dwarfs...was invincible against the work of any mortal smith" (p. 82, The Vanishing People: Fairy Lore and Legends). Tolkein's dwarves create astounding things, such as mithril, to which Frodo ends up owing his life.

Hobbits are Tolkein's invention, but aren't too far from a race of simple fairies who live in hills. But the land in which they all live is called Middle Earth, and that once signified the domain inhabited by men and fairies (as opposed to supernatural creatures who live in sky, water, or underground.)

David Bowie's Beauty and the Beast

This song has nothing whatsoever to do with the fairy tale, but I like David Bowie so deal with it. According to wikipedia: "The lyrics have been interpreted as a look back at Bowie's severe mood swings during his cocaine addiction while living in Los Angeles from 1975 to 1976, with the line "Thank God Heaven left us standing on our feet" suggesting the singer's gratitude for making it through that period.[2] The phrase "someone fetch a priest" alludes not to a desire for religious succour but to co-producer Tony Visconti's frequent expletive during the recording sessions for "Heroes", "someone f!@# a priest"." Bowie gives a hint to the choosing of the title in this video when he says it is "of somewhat schizophrenic nature."

Tomorrowland

The Tomorrowland section at Disneyland was originally set in 1980 (the park opened in 1955). The whole thing is sort of a retro vision of the future, although of course Disneyland is continuously being revamped. Whenever we imagined the future, it involved huge advances in transportation methods and everyone wearing all silver and traveling in outer space for a weekend outing. We think this optimism almost funny now and wonder where our hover boards are, but our entertainment technology has exploded in a way no one anticipated. Personally, I'm very glad we still wear lots of color.

When creating Disneyland, Walt Disney wanted everything to be as accurate as possible. This might seem funny to us who think of it as a land of make believe and fantasy, and to our eyes the rides and audio anamatronics seem outdated and hardly realistic, but at the time even scientists were floored by the sophisticated techniques created by Disney. One of the original Tomorrowland rides was called Flight to the Moon (which later became Mission to Mars,) and the passengers experienced a simluation of what takeoff and space flight would be like. Disney was not content with generic space flight, but insisted that all the stars outside the windows be actual star charts. He consulted with leading scientists, including Wernher von Braun (the only name I recognized in the list, and only because they mention him in the movie October Sky).

Among some of the most popular attractions today are Star Tours and Space Mountain. Star Tours is hard to explain to someone who's never been on it-your seats move, but you don't actually move, but you feel like you're moving. One of the things I love about Disneyland is that the lines for many of the rides have so much atmosphere. The C3PO pictured above is talking to R2D2, which Disneyland guests can observe as they wait to go on the ride. (Apparantly my mom overheard a guest one year express surprise at the end of the Indiana Jones line because they thought the line itself was the ride.)Space Mountain is a great roller coaster. For those who haven't been back in several years, they've been redoing their old roller coasters to be more smooth and have music that goes along with the rides. I love these vintage posters for Disneyland rides and kind of want to wallpaper my room with them:According to Yesterland, some of the former Tomorrowland rides that did not survive (for obvious reasons) include the Hall of Chemistry, the Hall of Aluminum Fame, and the Bathroom of Tomorrow. One thing that lasted for all of a year but I would seriously love to have gone to was "Fashions and Fabrics Through the Ages."

Snow White Link

This site has lots of information on Snow White; links to different versions, criticisms, media, and a bibliography.
Margaret Tarrant

Hans Christian Andersen: the Musician

"When words fail, music speaks!"- Hans Christian Andersen

Go here to read a preview of the book Hans Christian Andersen and Music: the Nightingale Revealed, by Anna Harwell Celenza. It combines my own two obsessions of music and fairy tales by using the life and writings of Hans Christian Andersen to explore his tastes in music and the musical culture of the time. Andersen started life as a musician (he was a singer until his voice changed) and had a love of music his whole life. Many scholars have suggested that his personal reactions to his early rejections from the theater came out in his fairy tale characters, who are often the underdogs.

"I long for music like a man sick with fever longs for a drop of water."-Hans Christian Andersen

How to make your own Disneyland board game

Making board games is something I have fun doing with all the kids I babysit. It's a great craft and game at the same time, and a fun way to either anticipate a trip or relive fun memories of a place you love. My favorite version is Disneyland, but it can easily be adapted to fit other vacation spots or fun places/activities that the kids like. It's basically like Candyland on steroids (i.e., with more of the special cards).1. Create the game board. Have a path (or multiple paths) from start to finish. Fill in about a third of the squares with specific activities or places within the overall theme-Disneyland rides and attractions, for example. Ask the children you're with about their favorite things to do and include them, and they can be part of the creative process. Fill in another third with the word "card" (or, I have the Disneyland ones say "Fastpass.") Then leave the rest blank.

2. Next, create the game pieces. You could borrow dice and pieces from other games, or you could create your own. For Disneyland, I make the kids' favorite princesses and have them color them in. Draw the Princesses' face and torso and arms. Then for the skirt, fill in a semicircle-ish shape with the color/pattern of the skirt. Then cut out the pieces, and twist the skirt piece into a cone, then tape the top on.

You can also make your own die by cutting out the pattern above, then folding on the lines and taping.

For non-Princess pieces, you can make cones like the plain Princess skirts-

Or color small pieces of paper a little bigger than a penny. Then fold the pieces over pennies and tape them together in the back, so you have small weighted colored pieces.

3. Color! Kids can help color the squares in and draw little pictures along the game board of the different places written on the squares.

4. Make your cards (or Fastpasses). Fold a piece of paper into sections and cut on the folds. On each of the cards, put a direction to go to one of the special squares on the game board. You can also have cards with directions such as "Long lines-go back one space" or "Send another player back to start," etc.

5. Play! Roll the dice, and when you land on a card square, follow the directions on the cards. Kids have fun playing this, and I really do too! They also take great pride in having made their own game.

This little Beast was from another toy I had and I used him as my game piece.

I'll probably be doing more Disneyland themed posts as my trip there approaches! (Only 60 more days!!)