Engendering Folklore: Scheherazade & Empowered Folktale Curating
If contemporary versions of popular fairy tales are anything to go by, you could be left thinking that women are submissive and dependent on men.
A Pied Piper Mystery
hile the Pied Piper of Hamelin is undeniably a fairy tale, it’s uniquely grounded in real-world specifics – the date for one – June 26. That’s the date in 1284 when the town lost a significant portion of its population, a matter treated as fact in the first written allusion to the incidents, the initial […]
Fee, Fie, Fo, Fum: Behind Jack and the Beanstalk
“I’ve got something a lot better to exchange for that cow though, Jack,” said the man. “Something much more valuable than boring old money; something I think you’ll like, a lad of your… discerning taste.” The man’s eyes were twinkling, and out of his pocket he brought a handful of…beans.”
Sardinian Folklore: Gino Bottiglioni’s Tales of Giants and Fairies, Elves and Plagues
have a confession to make: I’m a bibliophile. I have a small collection of very, very old books and still count the moment I touched a middle ages herbal worth more than my apartment as a highlight of my life. I mean, this surely doesn’t come as a shock here on #FolkloreThursday, albeit it does […]
Folk-Ore: The Magical Power of Blacksmiths and Their Enduring Stories
The folklore of iron and smithing has been common since prehistory, and one of the oldest folktales tells of a blacksmith forging a deal with the devil.