Just Prompts: Fairy Tales (9/26 -- 10/9)

[clockwork_doc]

What’s your favorite Fairy Tale? Why?

Anyone who knows me knows I take a very dim view of faeries and the like these days. They’re NOT how they’re portrayed in most of these stories. If a Fae takes a liking to you, what you want to do is run. Not that it’ll help. . . .

Of course, given that I’m stuck in an alternate reality, perhaps I’m being unfair. Anyone want to give me examples of more pleasant, Disney-like Fae?

(And if you must know, as a child I was fond of “Sleeping Beauty.” I always wondered if someone could really sleep a hundred years without aging. Makes me wonder now if some Fae tried it)

Comments

[carmine-the-red.livejournal.com]

My favorite was an obscure Finnish one called "Ole Lukioe" or "The Dustman". It was basically about what we Americans would call the Sand Man and the dreams he gave to a young boy over the course of a week.

[emodebauhaus.livejournal.com]

I'm rather fond of a French fairy story called "The White Cat".

[exiledqueen.livejournal.com]

Oh, the old fairy tales are quite accurate. The tale of Tam Lin, or the story of Childe Rowland, even some of the old ballads. Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, we daren't go a-hunting, for fear of little men... The old Celtic and Anglo-Saxon and Germanic märchen all pay the Unseelie their due quite well.

It's the Victorian stories one must watch out for, with their obnoxious talking animals, their Rackham paintings of twinkly little tarts with wings...of course, I'm afraid that Shakespeare's mostly to blame for that, they were just following suit. Oh, and Perrault, and Andersen. Fairies in their own right, sure enough, but not my kind.

But as much fun as it is to hear mortals shiver at the sound of your name, or hurry past fens where they see strange lights, I must admit that the pleasanter fairy tales do make things so much easier. Almost too easy. There's almost no more sport left in it.

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

I loved Beauty and the Beast. The Disney version. I always though that she was cheated at the end when he turns into a prince. She fell in love with one thing and suddenly, it was whipped away and replaced. Not fair at all, even if someone else might think she got the better deal.

But still. Such a lovely, silly story.

[clanoftheswords.livejournal.com]

Did I ever tell you about my uncle? He is/was a bit of a buff when it came to the written word, and he made it a point that I got some education on the subject while I was living with him, mythology, literature, Shakespeare and so on. So, yeah, I've heard some of the older stories at some point.

As for my favorite story, I'd have to go with Puss In Boots.