What are your 4 or 5 current, personal favorite (and reasonably well known) 'once upon a time' English language fairytales and please also state what are any unique qualities to each one named, that makes it appeal to you, much more than numerous other fairy tales.
I like the Grimms' fairy tales, where everybody gets dismembered and killed and cursed.
1)What's it called...the Juniper Tree, where someone gets turned into a bird and then their mother kills them for some reason?
2)I also like the original version of Sleeping Beauty -- in that one the "Prince Charming" character actually rapes her while she sleeps, she becomes pregnant, then for some reason she is living with the man and his wife and the wife plots to cook the illegitimate kids and serve them to the princess, but the man finds out about it and substitutes them with a goat I think. Anyway, it's pretty darn cool.
3)Repunsel (I like the hair, and the blinding by thorn bushes)
4) Rumpelstiltskin (It just always really captivated my imagination as a kid)
Last edited by emily655321; 06-08-2004 at 07:30 AM.
If you had to live with this you'd rather lie than fall.
You think I can't fly? Well, you just watch me!
~The Dresden Dolls
Ive always liked Cinderella. Its a so beautiful fairytale, and It Think I loved it as kid. Whats nice about it is that the bad ones are so human.
All of them. I love fairytales. Growing up reading them.
Nothing but nothingness
I had a big book of Hans Christian-Andersen's fairy stories when I was a kid. Some of those were just plain morbid. Take for example "The Dead Child" in which a mother contemplates suicide following the loss of her kid - or "The Little Match Girl" where a poor girl freezes to death in a doorway while fantasizing of a better life. Not the sort of stuff I'd read to my (hypothetical) kids when I put them to bed...
"A good night's sleep is no substitute for caffeine."
every one of George MacDonald's tales.
shh!!!
the air and water have been here a long time, and they are telling stories.
You know, I've always wondered about princes in fairy tales. Do they get a kick out of kissing every single girl they see sleeping/dead? And why are the princesses falling in love with them? *scratches head* Yea, I'm not a fairytale person. Aside from unrealistic, fairytales are usually too gory for children, if you think about it. But I like Shrek.Originally Posted by emily655321
You're just another bastard.
also, like Avalive i love them all, not just George MacDonald. still read them.
have the brothers grimm, russian fairy tales, used to have native american ones, have leather-bound hans christian anderson, bookmarked norwegian ones on my computer, precious, precious ones like "east of the sun west of the moon" and "toads and diamonds" in my large Anthology of Children's Lit...could go on and on ad infitum. they make me happy... ...
oops! you said 4 or 5.
Last edited by amuse; 06-09-2004 at 01:03 AM.
shh!!!
the air and water have been here a long time, and they are telling stories.
Just had to say real quick, that Cinderella has always been one of my favorites, but it became even more so when my husband proposed to me. He treated me to a fancy dinner and had the slipper and the whole bit. I even wore the shoes at our wedding. The only thing missing were the wicked step-mother and sisters.
Ok, now I'll stop being to love sappy.
Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in geardagum,/Þeodcuninga þrum gefrunon,/hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,/ monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,/ egsode eorlas, syððan ærest wearð/ feasceaft funden; he þæs frofre gebad,/ weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,/ oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra/ofer hronrade hyran scolde,/gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs god cyning!
o ya, just thought to point out, I read somewhere that when Cinderella was first translated from its original language, there was a nustranslation and the slippers were actually not from glass but from hay or something like that. am I ruining your favorite fairytale or what?
You're just another bastard.
only because you, of the 150 wpm +/- made a typo. ajoe, how could you?! she repeated in mock horror.
hay's kind of cool; she did have an awful stepfamily after all, and that makes her prince so much more romantic.
shh!!!
the air and water have been here a long time, and they are telling stories.
they're not really fairy tales, but gregory maguire's two books (i'm not sure if there are more yet) "Wicked," about the wicked witch of the west in Wizard of Oz, and "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" about the stepsister in Cinderella were pretty entertaining. If you haven't read either, go with "Wicked"...it even got turned into a broadway musical of some success.
lol!o ya, just thought to point out, I read somewhere that when Cinderella was first translated from its original language, there was a nustranslation and the slippers were actually not from glass but from hay or something like that. am I ruining your favorite fairytale or what?
That's ok, my husband could actually find a glass slipper anyway. They're sort of a clear plastic.
Oh, and Mike, I tried to read Wicked and couldn't stand it. I didn't finish the story. But I've been told the Step-sister one was better.
Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in geardagum,/Þeodcuninga þrum gefrunon,/hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,/ monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,/ egsode eorlas, syððan ærest wearð/ feasceaft funden; he þæs frofre gebad,/ weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,/ oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra/ofer hronrade hyran scolde,/gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs god cyning!
Hmm. Fairy tales. I love them. The gory ones and the sappy ones. I love legends and myths as well. I've read Wicked and the Ugly Stepsister. They were interesting. At first I had problems trying to read them, but they were worth plowing through. They definitely told a different story. However, if you are looking for a good rewrite of a fairy tale, read Robin Mckinnley. She does an excellent job of not only rewriting fairy tales, but also writing new ones. Anyway, I'd have to say my favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast because the girl has courage to do leave her life and family for the sake of her father and live with a beast that at first terrifies her. I also love the obscure fairy tales.
oh hey shea can you translate that poem after your name. Just curios as to what it says thanks.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote