I know, yesterday I forgot to tell you to do something. If you knew the state my brain was in then, though....Suffice it to say, daily life gets substantially more difficult - and interesting - when you've only been getting three hours of sleep a night. (Watch out for those doors, my friends; they are devious.)
But anyways, for today's entry, tell us what your favorite fairy tale, myth, or folk tale is. If it's impossible for you when I put it that way, then one of your favorites.
I'm going to go with the story of Aino, a lovely and tragical episode in the Finnish epic the Kalevala. Super short Wikipedia summary here, for the curious.
Hmm...
ReplyDeleteWell, since Shannon retold it, I love "The Goose Girl"...
That being said, it's one of the few fairy tales I've actually read in full....(I don't read too much myths/folklore/fairy tales.)
I've been searching for the text of "The Ill-Fated Princess", but all I can find is the Wikipedia summary. Obviously, it's one I like, since I'm working on expanding it. :-)
Ooh! And anything Sarah Beth Durst annotates on her blog! ;-)
I like The Little Mermaid, even though it's crushingly depressing. And the Sarah Beth Durst commentary rocks.
ReplyDeleteCan I still comment? I'm commenting...
ReplyDeleteI loooove the myth of Hades and Persephone. It's one of my absolute favorites ever. :)
And yes, I totally understand the surviving on three hours of sleep thing... college can do that. Good luck in your endeavours in dodging those pesky doors.
I love this fairy tale. In fact, I am even going to base my NaNoWriMo on it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=browne&book=chair&story=merrymind
Cassandra - Thanks. It's more like remembering how to open...
ReplyDeleteThe one that always sticks in my head from being young is The Little Match Girl, a bit depressing maybe, but it had an effect on me.
ReplyDeleteI think the myth about Pygmalion and Galatea sounds interesting - but I think if someone retold it well, with more "modern" characters and plot, it would be a very interesting read indeed...
ReplyDeleteOh, I do love Persephone. However, I love the darkness of Little Red Riding Hood. I'd like to re-tell that one someday.
ReplyDeleteSleeping Beauty.
ReplyDeleteEsp. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen and the book that PL Travers called "About the Sleeping Beauty" (heavily quoted in Briar Rose).
But as a child, it was Cinderella. I'd ask my dad to read it again and again and again.
Beauty and the Beast, esp. as retold by Robin McKinley (both times.)
One favorite? Are you nuts?
Tam Lin...as retold by Jane Yolen.
That is all. For now.
xo,
SL
just too many. I kind of agree with Gretchen though ...little red riding hood. Alice fits somewhere in there as well.
ReplyDeleteoh, i love them all. but i guess "ali babba and the 40 thieves" was my favorite.
ReplyDeletei was always fascinated by the three billy goats gruff.
ReplyDeletei would run around making goat sounds acting like there was a troll... but i also firmly believed in the boogey man until i was 10
oh and just so you know, i think your blog rocks and i'm linking you!
ReplyDeleteOh, it's so hard to decide! I've always loved fairytales.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin are among my favourite traditional fairytales.
I also love Greek mythology and Arthurian legends, especially Grail quests.
I also like the politically correct version of Jack and the Beanstalk:
”FEE, FIE, FOE, FUM, I smell the blood of an English person! I’d like to learn about his culture and views on life and share my own perspectives in an open and generous way!”
The one I'm making up about my own life. Boy, that's a story to tell. Got a second?
ReplyDeleteI'll join the How Can I Decide?! crew.
ReplyDeleteAAAAAAAH.
Never heard of Aino before--but returning as a salmon to taunt your enemy, nice.
Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, the myth of Cupid and Psyche, and everything in that vein are definitely somewhere on the list...noooo, that has nothing to do with Robin McKinley or C.S. Lewis, nothing at all. *ahem*
Bluebeard and The Juniper Tree are creepy in a cool way. Love them.
Also Persephone, Icarus, Eurydice... I will do my very best to shut up now...
I like the original Little Mermaid as well. Mostly I love tons of obscure, nameless ones that I've read in this ancient fat fairytale book my family owns. :)
ReplyDeletehonestly...dracula.
ReplyDeleteever since i was little vampires were so attractive to me, i dunno why..
but, yeah..it's my favorite..
and the little mermaid too i guess!