Here’s a little thought exercise: close your eyes and picture a witch. I’d bet top dollar that you’re seeing green skin, a black pointed hat, and a broom. Basically, the Halloween-store cosplay of a woman who never actually existed. The real history of “witches” is a lot stranger and a lot less costume-shop than that … Continue reading Folklore Thursday: Not All Witches Ride Broomsticks
Tag: female agency
#FairytaleTuesday: The Robber Bridegroom
It’s been awhile since I've posted so here’s a reminder: I’ve been going through the Grimm’s 1812 volume of fairytales, one after the other for a few years. I’ll finish eventually, I promise. [CW: murder, dismemberment] Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index type 955: The Robber Bridegroom. This one is related to type 312: Bluebeard and type 311: How the … Continue reading #FairytaleTuesday: The Robber Bridegroom
#FairytaleTuesday: Mrs. Fox
So, this is yet another weird little story brought to us by the Brothers Grimm that has managed to hang on and come back through every printed version of Grimm's fairytales. It seems to be very popular but there's an element of this story that has me asking a really important question and it doesn't seem that anyone has really answered it, as yet. But first... the story!
#FairytaleTuesday: The Tablecloth, the Knapsack, the Cannon Hat, and the Horn
This story centers on three poor brothers from the Black Mountains who decide to set off to seek their fortune. They made their way to Spain, where they came upon a mountain surrounded by silver.
#FolkloreThursday: Woman Wept
The purpose of the women's existence also varies, depending on the combination of elements that are driving their legend and the time and place in which the story is being told. Some are looking to rescue or replace the children that have been lost to them. Some appear to herald the deaths of others. And some find themselves stuck in a recursive loop, repeating their deaths over and over again, never resting and affecting nothing.
#FairytaleTuesday: Hans’s Trina
One time Hans returned home at noon and found Trina sleeping again in their room. So he took his knife and cut off her dress at the knees. Trina awoke and thought: 'It’s time now to go to work.' However, when she went outside to work and saw that the dress was so short she became frightened and wondered whether she really was Trina and said to herself: 'Am I or am I not Trina?'
#FairytaleTuesday: Puss in Boots
The younger brother was surprised that the cat could talk but apparently got over that pretty fast and did what the cat asked. After the cat donned his fancy new boots, he gathered up a burlap sack of wheat and went walking away on his back feet. Using the wheat to trap some fat partridges, the cat then went off in search of a king.
#FairytaleTuesday: Clever Hans
Well, for a nice change of pace we have a maiden that is being sought by a man and when she realizes how thoughtless and rude he is, she sends him packing. This is one of the few stories we've had that shows a fairytale maiden taking charge of her agency and deciding her own fate, though admittedly, it does take a bit.
#FolkloreThursday: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
The general idea--which I think arises from the fact that so many poor women were accused of witchcraft--is that these women were often illiterate. As such, written spells and incantations would be useless.
#FairytaleTuesday: The Maiden Without Hands
A miller, who was so poor that he had nothing else but his mill and a large apple tree behind it, went into the forest to fetch wood. While there he met an old man who said: 'Why are you torturing yourself so much? I’ll make you rich if you promise to give me what’s behind your mill. In three years I’ll come and fetch what’s mine.'
