Kyrie
I wouldn't say that these are essential fairy tales that every child should know. It's a fair collection though, from more well-known stories (Cinderella, Hanzel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk) to more obscure stories (The Enchanted Stag, The Fair One with the Golden Locks).
There's a lot of artistic license taken with some of the stories, which is fine in some places. It added padding to otherwise plain stories. Ali Baba and Aladdin were well done in that regard. Some stories were given layers that they really didn't need, though.
I'll use Jack and the Beanstalk as an example.The story is pretty basic, right? Jack and his mother are starving, she sends him to sell their cow for food money, and he trades it for some magic beans. The beans grow into a beanstalk that leads up to a giant's castle, and Jack robs and eventually kills the giant.
Except in this version, Jack is told by a fairy that the giant killed Jack's father, and tried to kill him and his mother, except his mother managed to beg the giant for mercy and ran off before the giant changed his mind. So, the story completely changes from Jack just slaying an evil, man-eating giant to a story of Jack getting revenge for his father's death, and reclaiming the treasure that is rightfully his. Oh, and the fairy will kill Jack if he tells his mother that he knows the truth about his father.
Which...I can understand the intent behind adding in the “Jack's father was killed by the giant” plot line. Rather than coming across as bloodthirsty, Jack is given motivation to slay the giant. It totally changes the story though, and I'll remind you that the point of the book is to tell fairy tales that all children should know.
Then, you have stories like Little Red Riding Hood and The Ugly Duckling, where the message in the original telling is vastly different from more modern interpretations.
In this version of Little Red Riding Hood, it's more hammered in that the wolf is a metaphor for a sexual predator - the first thing he does when Red gets to her grandmother's cabin is to have Red strip naked and climb in bed with him, where he eats her.
And that's it. There's no huntsman who comes to save the day. The story ends with Red being devoured by the wolf. I suppose it's more realistic, in that not every predator will be caught and punished, but that's depressing, even in the realm of depressing children's stories. That's like, Der Struwwelpeter level depressing. (Note: This is the older version of the story, in that regard. Later retellings add in the Huntsman to give the story a happily ever after of sorts.)
Meanwhile, The Ugly Duckling throws in the strange moral of, “It matters nothing if one is born in a duck yard if one has only lain in a swan's egg”, which kind of changes the meaning of the story. The moral that the story usually focuses on judging others by their appearance, but this moral is pretty much the complete opposite. Rather than appearance, it puts emphasis on birth. Okay, yeah, it could be taken to mean that it doesn't matter where you're born, so long as you're a good person. But you know, the Ugly Duckling would have been a swan even if he were a total jerk. That's a matter of birth, not disposition.
I ended up enjoying The Light Princess the most out of all the stories. Maybe in part because it wasn't a fairy tale I was familiar with, so I didn't have as much to nitpick over. It felt very “original creation” in the midst of the classics. And you know, if it WAS an original creation...it was very well done.The characters are developed and not just cut-out fairy tale stereotypes, there are various violent reactions to the usage of puns (which always makes me smile), and the happily ever after feels deserved. There were even some acceptable puns squeezed in there. And that's coming from a woman who has declared a personal vendetta against puns.
Now, there was something odd in her laugh, as I have already hinted, for the hatching of a real hearty laugh requires gravity...
See, it's funny because the princess was cursed to not be affected by gravity...so she floats...but gravity also means “seriousness”. And humor doesn't work without seriousness to play off.
This book also tries to tie as many stories to King Arthur as humanly possible.
Tom Thumb? Magically created by Merlin because he thought it was hilarious that a couple was so desperate for a son that they didn't care if he were only as big as a thumb. Tom Thumb later gets knighted by Arthur.
Jack the Giant Killer? Apparently another one of Arthur's knights, who sent the king presents of the heads of all the giants he killed. He also saves Arthur's son. Which is really kind of a dick move, since Arthur's only son (depending on which version you're reading) is Mordred. You know. The guy fated to kill Arthur. Unless this is some sort of AU Arthurian fanfic from 1905.
Seriously. So many stories in here were unnecessarily tied to Arthur that I was half tempted to put this on my “arthurian” shelf.
And on a final note here, because this is getting rather lengthy, this version of Beauty and the Beast is the closest to the Disney adaptation that I've seen yet. The Beast even gives Beauty a library in this one. I wonder if this is where the adaptation came from...
I wouldn't say that these are essential fairy tales that every child should know. It's a fair collection though, from more well-known stories (Cinderella, Hanzel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk) to more obscure stories (The Enchanted Stag, The Fair One with the Golden Locks).
There's a lot of artistic license taken with some of the stories, which is fine in some places. It added padding to otherwise plain stories. Ali Baba and Aladdin were well done in that regard. Some stories were given layers that they really didn't need, though.
I'll use Jack and the Beanstalk as an example.The story is pretty basic, right? Jack and his mother are starving, she sends him to sell their cow for food money, and he trades it for some magic beans. The beans grow into a beanstalk that leads up to a giant's castle, and Jack robs and eventually kills the giant.
Except in this version, Jack is told by a fairy that the giant killed Jack's father, and tried to kill him and his mother, except his mother managed to beg the giant for mercy and ran off before the giant changed his mind. So, the story completely changes from Jack just slaying an evil, man-eating giant to a story of Jack getting revenge for his father's death, and reclaiming the treasure that is rightfully his. Oh, and the fairy will kill Jack if he tells his mother that he knows the truth about his father.
Which...I can understand the intent behind adding in the “Jack's father was killed by the giant” plot line. Rather than coming across as bloodthirsty, Jack is given motivation to slay the giant. It totally changes the story though, and I'll remind you that the point of the book is to tell fairy tales that all children should know.
Then, you have stories like Little Red Riding Hood and The Ugly Duckling, where the message in the original telling is vastly different from more modern interpretations.
In this version of Little Red Riding Hood, it's more hammered in that the wolf is a metaphor for a sexual predator - the first thing he does when Red gets to her grandmother's cabin is to have Red strip naked and climb in bed with him, where he eats her.
And that's it. There's no huntsman who comes to save the day. The story ends with Red being devoured by the wolf. I suppose it's more realistic, in that not every predator will be caught and punished, but that's depressing, even in the realm of depressing children's stories. That's like, Der Struwwelpeter level depressing. (Note: This is the older version of the story, in that regard. Later retellings add in the Huntsman to give the story a happily ever after of sorts.)
Meanwhile, The Ugly Duckling throws in the strange moral of, “It matters nothing if one is born in a duck yard if one has only lain in a swan's egg”, which kind of changes the meaning of the story. The moral that the story usually focuses on judging others by their appearance, but this moral is pretty much the complete opposite. Rather than appearance, it puts emphasis on birth. Okay, yeah, it could be taken to mean that it doesn't matter where you're born, so long as you're a good person. But you know, the Ugly Duckling would have been a swan even if he were a total jerk. That's a matter of birth, not disposition.
I ended up enjoying The Light Princess the most out of all the stories. Maybe in part because it wasn't a fairy tale I was familiar with, so I didn't have as much to nitpick over. It felt very “original creation” in the midst of the classics. And you know, if it WAS an original creation...it was very well done.The characters are developed and not just cut-out fairy tale stereotypes, there are various violent reactions to the usage of puns (which always makes me smile), and the happily ever after feels deserved. There were even some acceptable puns squeezed in there. And that's coming from a woman who has declared a personal vendetta against puns.
Now, there was something odd in her laugh, as I have already hinted, for the hatching of a real hearty laugh requires gravity...
See, it's funny because the princess was cursed to not be affected by gravity...so she floats...but gravity also means “seriousness”. And humor doesn't work without seriousness to play off.
This book also tries to tie as many stories to King Arthur as humanly possible.
Tom Thumb? Magically created by Merlin because he thought it was hilarious that a couple was so desperate for a son that they didn't care if he were only as big as a thumb. Tom Thumb later gets knighted by Arthur.
Jack the Giant Killer? Apparently another one of Arthur's knights, who sent the king presents of the heads of all the giants he killed. He also saves Arthur's son. Which is really kind of a dick move, since Arthur's only son (depending on which version you're reading) is Mordred. You know. The guy fated to kill Arthur. Unless this is some sort of AU Arthurian fanfic from 1905.
Seriously. So many stories in here were unnecessarily tied to Arthur that I was half tempted to put this on my “arthurian” shelf.
And on a final note here, because this is getting rather lengthy, this version of Beauty and the Beast is the closest to the Disney adaptation that I've seen yet. The Beast even gives Beauty a library in this one. I wonder if this is where the adaptation came from...