Around the Web

I had never seen some of these Arthur Rackham silhouettes for Cinderella before! Just gorgeous, but also humorous-that poor mouse's expression! Via Pook Press

Fairy Tale Cannibals-fascinating read at Writing In Margins!

Gustav Dore

This post by Jeana Jorgensen clarifies the difference between a version and a variant of a folktale (or other form of folklore). I'm sure I've misused those terms before and probably will again in the future but I will try to use them correctly! Jorgensen studied folklore under Alan Dundes (!!). I wasn't familiar with her blog before, but I can't wait to read more of her FolkloreThursday posts.

Around the Web

Fairy Tale Roundup Newsletter-have you signed up yet? Get monthly highlights from Enchanted Conversations, World Weaver Press, Timesless Tales, and Once Upon a Blog delivered right to your inbox!

Fairy Tale Footnotes-everyone's favorite fairy tale news hound, Ink Gypsy (of Once Upon a Blog), has started another blog with more of her personal reflections and day to day encounters with fairy tales! Lots of great posts are already up. I particularly enjoyed reading about C.S. Lewis and Tolkein's thoughts on Disney Dwarves, and seeing the matroyshka doll based off of Koschei's hidden heart!

At Multicolored Diary-I've been loving Csenge Zalka's series on folktales around the world-she brings her impressive knowledge to shed light on folktale collections from all around the world, lots of fascinating stories and patterns of stories! She also just finished her A to Z challenge, WTF, Weird Things in Folktales. Some really bizarre, and very amusing, tales to read about!

Fairy Tale Forum and Giveaway!

There's a wonderful new fairy tale community being started over on Facebook by authors Shonna Slayton and Ashlee Willis! It's meant for authors, bloggers, Etsy sellers, or any fairy tale fans in general to discuss and geek out over fairy tales. Be sure to stop by to check out the posts there already, and to enter the giveaway!

The Fairy-tale Forum is a brand new Facebook group for all lovers of fairy-tales, old and new, classic and retold. Right now the Fairy-tale Forum is hosting an awesome GIVEAWAY in celebration of the new Beauty and the Beast movie. Four winners will be chosen! Here are the spectacular prizes!

1st Prize:       

Fun snowflake string lights

Beautiful custom-made rose ring

Beauty and the Beast coloring book

Runner-Up:              

Signed paperback of Cinderella’s Dress by Shonna Slayton

Runner-Up #2:         

eBook of My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Runner-Up #3:         

eBook or audiobook (winner’s choice) of A Wish Made of Glass by Ashlee Willis

Be sure to join the Fairy-tale Forum so you won’t miss any discussions or future giveaways. And don’t forget to share with your friends!

Fun Facts about Thumbling Tales from Sarah Allison

I just discovered another terrific resource: the blog Writing in Margins by Sarah Allison. It's all focused on her research into Thumbling tales, or any protagonist that is about the size of a thumb. I haven't looked into Thumbling tales as much myself but there is so much fascinating, well-researched information on variants from around the world, as well as on the significance of certain images/motifs in different cultures. I asked Sarah to put together a guest post with some of the fun facts she's learned and she graciously obliged!

*******************************************************

"Thumbelina," Charles Robinson

I’ve been seriously researching fairytales about miniature characters, or thumblings, for maybe a year and a half now. These are characters like Tom Thumb and Thumbelina, the Japanese story of Issun-Boshi, and the Grimms’ Thumbling. I started this project mainly in search of other lady thumb persons besides Thumbelina. From there, it took on a life of its own. Here’s a list of some of the things I found most interesting: 

*The basic story: a childless couple wishes for a baby, even if it’s as small as a [thumb, chickpea, etc.]. By some twist of fate, this tiny child is born or created. Most versions feature him helping around the farm, going on wacky adventures, and getting swallowed by an animal before eventually returning to his parents. Some versions go in different directions. 

*This tale is incredibly widespread throughout Europe, North Africa, and Asia. As far as I can tell, it didn't really show up in the Americas until Europeans brought it there. There are American Indian tales with small heroes, but they are not typically thumb-sized. 

Children's book published by McLoughlin Bros, 1888

*The Brothers Grimm collected three Thumbling stories (well, two and a half) - Thumbling, Thumbling’s Travels, and The Young Giant. 

*Female thumblings are rare but not unheard of. A few examples: there are two versions of the basic story from Spain, three Frog Princess-type tales from Norway, France and Vietnam, and one from Corsica that is part Thumbelina and part Donkeyskin. 

* In a Jewish version from Turkey, the tiny girl is given to her mother by the prophet Elijah. 

*Tom Thumb is the first known fairytale printed in English. The earliest copy, from 1621, is satire with lots of scatological humor. Princess Kaguya, which begins like a thumbling story, is from the 10th century and is considered the oldest Japanese prose narrative existing. 

P. T. Barnum and Charles Sherwood Stratton, "General Tom Thumb"

*In real life, General Tom Thumb (Charles Sherwood Stratton) was a dwarf who performed under P. T. Barnum. He was a world-famous celebrity, and most of the random things named Tom Thumb, like geraniums and umbrellas and pastries, are actually named for Stratton. A few other performers with dwarfism also used the fairy tale name around the same time, presumably to cash in on Stratton’s fame. 

*Someone wrote a story where General Tom Thumb met his fairytale namesake (Tom Thumb’s Bridal Tour: A Fairy Story, 1863.) 

"Thumbelina" by Milo Winter

*Hans Christian Andersen’s Thumbelina has been translated multiple times into many languages, including Central Alaskan Yup’ik.

*****************************************************************

Thanks, Sarah!

If you hop on over to her blog, there's a lot more where this came from-I enjoyed reading about Death and Food in Thumbling Tales, Elves in Clothes, and the history of how Fairies got pointed ears. And if you, like me, were intrigued by her mention of a tale that combines Thumbelina with Donkeyskin, you can read about it here (along with a fascinating discussion of abuse in fairy tales, including those with an abusive husband as well as parent). And I've only scratched the surface of her archives so far!

*Also on the blog you can answer a survey about which Thumbling story you're most familiar with and how you heard of it. I'm sure Sarah would appreciate more input and I'm curious to find out the results!

Once Upon a Blog's Gallery of Enchanted Arts

Here's another resource I only recently found-hopefully you are all aware of the fantastic Once Upon a Blog, which keeps us up to date on all sorts of current fairy tale happenings and entertainment. Gypsy, the Fairy Tale News Hound, also has a fairy tale art tumblr filled with great images, from classic illustrations to modern creations, obscure fairy tales to popular, many of which I've never seen before. This is now included in my link list.

Julie Rouviere's Baba Yaga illustrations

The Gorgonist's Fitcher's Bird

Kay Nielsen's "The Two Brothers", Grimm 

Marianne Stoke's "Frog Prince"

Delicious Design League

Just a sample of what you'll find!

Around the Web

Here's some sites I've added to the link list on the right and wanted to highlight-

Megan Kearney's Beauty and the Beast tumblr-I've mentioned this a couple of times after linking something here that I found on Megan's site. Someone once called me the online expert on Beauty and the Beast, which is very flattering but sadly not at all true. Megan Kearney, on the other hand, just might be (although we can't forget Heidi Anne Heiner of Surlalune!). This site is a source of all kinds of BATB inspiration, and she's introduced me to versions and illustrations and other fun facts I had no idea existed! The site also gives updates to her online BATB comic. I'll admit I haven't been following along, mainly because I really don't like reading anything of substantial length on my computer-but I've got Volume One of the printed version on my wishlist and from everything I've heard it seems like this could be the next best version of my favorite fairy tale.

Fairy Bat Tales- Aiyanne Chan just finished a fascinating series looking into the Magical Items to Survive the Grimms' Fairyland. She read ALL the way through the Grimm fairy tales (something I've never even done!) and took copious notes on all of the magical items found there. It's really eye opening, there are so many interesting magical elements in the lesser known tales. I think this would be great inspiration for writers who want to weave fairy tale elements into their stories, or anyone who wants a glimpse of folklore beyond the standard tales we hear about over and over.

*Housekeeping Notes: In the process of editing my link list I accidentally deleted it! I've been working on getting everything back, but if any of the links don't work, or something is missing you would also consider a great online resource, let me know in the comments!

And, I would love to have more suggestions of your favorite fairy tale books! Last chance!

Fairy Tale Retellings on SFF Book Review

This post was from a couple years ago, but blogger Dina over at SFF Book Review has gathered quite a comprehensive (although not exhaustive) list of Fairy Tale retellings. They're sorted by fairy tale, and the ones she's read include a brief review. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's found themselves overwhelmed by all the fairy tale books out there, but skeptical of quality! I find it helpful to read people's honest opinions (although, she thought Robin McKinley's "Beauty" was boring, so clearly we don't have exactly the same tastes...) but still, a great resource with titles I wasn't aware of!

Multicolored Diary

Another resource you should definitely check out if you haven't already:

The Multicolored Diary, run by Hungarian storyteller Zalka Csenge Virag, is one of my essential blog reads. She has an impressive knowledge of folktales from around the world. I'll admit that my own world folklore knowledge is more limited; it can sometimes be overwhelming to open a book of completely unknown stories, and it's easier for me to read stories I know are versions of familiar fairy tales. But of course, we miss so much if we only read the tales that are considered the classics!

I'm especially loving the latest series, her A to Z Challenge on the theme of Diversity in storytelling. Contrary to popular opinion, fairy tales are not all stories of helpless damsels being rescued by sword-wielding Princes! In fact, even though you can look at typical folk tales and find reoccurring themes and patterns, the only rule is that there's bound to be exceptions to every rule. As the fairy tales we tell adapt over time to reflect the changing cultures, it's exciting to think of what can come in a world that is becoming more focus on representing minorities and celebrating diversity. Maybe the fairy tale world itself can be one of the factors to promote positive change!

So far there's been posts showing tales that portray loving stepmothers, beauty found in unconventional bodies, female heroes, and heroes and heroines with disabilities (that don't magically get fixed as the "happy ending"). I've really enjoyed reading each of the posts in the challenge so far and really look forward to the others to come!

Folklore Resource: D. L. Ashliman's Folktexts

This may not be new for many of you, but I just added a link to my list of resources on the right and wanted to highlight it.

D. L. Ashliman's collected folklore and fairy tale texts are available here. When researching folk texts I often find that by googling the title of a folk tale it will bring me to this resource, but having gone the back door way so many times, I didn't even realize until reader Nectar Vam sent me the link that there's a page that has all the folktales, sorted out by categories! This is super helpful for looking up variants of a tale online. You can read versions of standard fairy tales like Cinderella or  Beauty and the Beast from all over the world, as well as fables and legends. There are humorous categories like Clothes Make the Man (which doesn't actually contain "Emperor's New Clothes," that's a whole separate category), or creepy ones like Haunted by the Ghost of a Murdered Child. There's so much to explore, it's a great free resource!

Image source

Read Villeneuve's BATB ONLINE!!

Sometimes I get asked where one might find an English translation of Madame de Villeneuve's "Beauty and the Beast," and I've been more than happy to refer people to the Surlalune collection of Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World-before this book it was a lot harder to get hold of.

But thanks to Persinette in the Tower I have just discovered you can also read the full text online!

Here is a link to the translation by J.R. Planche, and here is a link to download the translation by Ernest Dowson. Dowson is the one who translates the Beast as (correctly) asking Beauty to sleep with him, not to marry him, which clearly has different implications (I've written about this before). The great thing about the Surlalune collection is that Heidi Anne Heiner included both translations for comparison, and in many ways print is easier to read and flip through than online,  but I really wish I had known about this link a few years ago when I first started searching for BATB history!

Illustration by Edward Corbould

I'm also adding the link to my link list on the right, so it should be easily accessible in the future.

The International Fairy-Tale Filmography

Nikki Pilgrim/George Melies

This great new fairy tale resource was introduced to me via the comments! Lauren Bosc says:

"We introduce the International Fairy-Tale Filmography, iftf.uwinnipeg.ca, created by Jack Zipes, Pauline Greenhill, and Kendra Magnus-Johnston. It is available free of charge, open access to all users. 

This database is currently searchable by title, director, person, company, country, language, or origin (Aarne-Thompon-Uther tale-type names and numbers and/or literary fairy-tale titles and authors). It was funded by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). 

As this project is ongoing, we encourage users to suggest films under "Contribute." There is also a "How-To Video" and further information on fairy tales and fairy-tale films."

This is a great resource and I can't wait to explore it further! Now, the films themselves can't be viewed via the site, but many of the older films can be found with a quick search on youtube. It's still a great tool for finding fairy tale-related films-everything from old silent films to classic Looney Toons to Disney to films that just came out in the last year! Here's the how-to video they include:

BATB: Animal Online Resource

A. L. Bowley

If you want to research "Beauty and the Beast", I would wholeheartedly recommend heading over to Surlalune first, where you will find the full text of the Andrew Lang version annotated, as well as pages for its history, illustrations, modern interpretations, similar tales across cultures, and a bibliography (as you will also find for 50 of the most common fairy tales).

But I recently found this page created by Russel A. Peck. It has recommended reading, like Surlalune, but it has a helpful feature in that it has categories based on which animal the Beast is, so if you wanted to find a list of tales in which the animal bridegroom is a pig, or serpent, for example, you  could look at those. The Beast has even been a hedgehog, snail, or snow (Peck includes Snow Maiden tales in the BATB category).

Anonymous illustration for Charles Lamb's poem

The page also includes links to lists of Males transformed, Females transformed, and a few modern variants in which humans are transformed into beasts at the end. Could be a helpful resource for your BATB research!

Most texts don't include specific descriptions of the Beast. Villeneuve describes him as having clanking scales and the trunk of an elephant, most illustrators choose to interpret him in their own way, and we have a wide variety of representations, such as the classic pictures below. (All of the illustrations, by the way, are from Surlalune's BATB illustration index-in fact I get most of my blog images from Surlalune)

In fact, the topic of how the Beast has been thought of and illustrated and how he has evolved over time is an interesting topic in itself. I discussed this a little back in 2010 and here and there over the blog's history, maybe it's time to update my thoughts in a future post...

Anne Anderson

Eleanor Vere Boyle

Walter Crane

Edmund Dulac

H.J. Ford

Margaret Evans Price

W. Heath Robinson

Margaret Tarrant

Jessie Wilcox Smith

Paul Woodroffe