I know I said I wanted to look for unusual fairy tales, not the typical fare. But I learned a new factoid about this one over on Tor.com, which has some really great examinations of fairy tales, in their piece Charmed, I’m Sure: A Closer Look at Ever ...
I was waiting until I could find my copy of Old Peter's Russian Tales--a collection of Russian fairy tales as retold by a British visitor (Arthur Ransome, of Swallows & Amazons fame) with British children in mind--only to discover that it's avail ...
Holy cow, I was not expecting to stumble across this. I came across the mere mention of a "hedgehog princess" and immediately had to look it up. I didn't find a hedgehog princess, but I did find a half-human hedgehog boy who marries a princess! Yes, ...
There's a princess and a tower and a wedding, and yet this isn't one of the more popular stories. Go figure. Source: SurLaLune Fairy Tales: Annotated Maid Maleen Synopsis Maid Maleen is the daughter of a king. She falls in love with a prince, but ...
My summary isn't going to do this justice. Anderson writes evocatively of the setting and the people, and I'm just going to focus on the main plot. Here we go. Source: HCA.Gilead.org.il Summary In the countryside of France, a massive tree is felle ...
Doesn't "donkey cabbages" sound like a kid's insult? I'm not quite sure how to even summarize this one, it is that strange. Here we go anyway. Source: The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Knickerbocker Edition) Summary One day, a huntsman is walki ...
Not Thumbelina, but the German answer to the English Tom Thumb. You may well know the gist of this one. Source: The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (Knickerbocker Edition) Summary A lonely peasant couple wishes for a child. A boy is born to them, but ...
New project. In order to better familiarize myself with the fairy tale cannon, once a month I'm going to read and examine a fairy story. Preferably not super popular stories, I'm looking for unusual stuff. I want to do this for my own edification, a ...
