Were you influenced by erotic themes in fairy tales?

[shereads]

So far, poll results skew heavily toward the squirming-around-in-our-chairs group who were born to love porn.

I'm relieved to know I wasn't the only kid whose enjoyment of fairytales resembled a bondage fetish.

 

[BlackShanglan]

... and later, disappointingly, the "tiny white-skinned prince."

My point precisely. Give me the beast or the bear any day.

Shanglan

 

[BlackShanglan]

Actually, while thinking of appealing fairy tale characters, I must put in a word for the Irish heroine "Smallhead." I love her because ...

She has a stepmother and a stepsister and they both hate her. And while your brain immediately adds "because she's beautiful and sweet and they are ugly and mean," no, actually. They hate her because she is plain and lazy and they are not. This, while utterly logical, shocks me every time with its flat rejection of fairytale convention. As Terry Pratchett points out, stories go that way because we all KNOW they go that way ... at this point, if the youngest son of the king sets out to seek his fortune, it would take an act of God to prevent him from meeting magical companions who make it all better.

At any rate. Smallhead has a magic cow. Their interaction follows the same pattern as "The Goose Girl" and "Little One Eye, Little Two Eyes, Little Three Eyes"; the mother tries to starve Smallhead, Smallhead takes the cow to the field every day, the cow magically provides Smallhead with food. Eventually the stepmother wises up (she's not feeding this child, yet Smallhead is looking remarkably healthy) and there is a showdown. SHe hands Smallhead the axe and orders her to kill her cow.

At this point, when I first read it, I was in the "fairy tale logic" groove. "Ah," I thought, "this will be another one where the magical animal gives some benefit after death. The goose girl's horse Falada animates its severed head to talk to her and give her advice, Little Two Eyes' goat's heart blossoms into a magical tree, etc. etc. Wonder what the cow will do." So I'm set.

And Smallhead picks up the axe and kills ... her stepmother.

This is, of course, the only action that makes any sense - why kill the intelligent, kindly animal that's been helping you? - but people in fairy tales don't DO that sort of thing! Except in this one. Hence, I love it.

Shanglan

 

[Evil Alpaca]

Actually, while thinking of appealing fairy tale characters, I must put in a word for the Irish heroine "Smallhead." I love her because ...

She has a stepmother and a stepsister and they both hate her. And while your brain immediately adds "because she's beautiful and sweet and they are ugly and mean," no, actually. They hate her because she is plain and lazy and they are not. This, while utterly logical, shocks me every time with its flat rejection of fairytale convention. As Terry Pratchett points out, stories go that way because we all KNOW they go that way ... at this point, if the youngest son of the king sets out to seek his fortune, it would take an act of God to prevent him from meeting magical companions who make it all better.

At any rate. Smallhead has a magic cow. Their interaction follows the same pattern as "The Goose Girl" and "Little One Eye, Little Two Eyes, Little Three Eyes"; the mother tries to starve Smallhead, Smallhead takes the cow to the field every day, the cow magically provides Smallhead with food. Eventually the stepmother wises up (she's not feeding this child, yet Smallhead is looking remarkably healthy) and there is a showdown. SHe hands Smallhead the axe and orders her to kill her cow.

At this point, when I first read it, I was in the "fairy tale logic" groove. "Ah," I thought, "this will be another one where the magical animal gives some benefit after death. The goose girl's horse Falada animates its severed head to talk to her and give her advice, Little Two Eyes' goat's heart blossoms into a magical tree, etc. etc. Wonder what the cow will do." So I'm set.

And Smallhead picks up the axe and kills ... her stepmother.

This is, of course, the only action that makes any sense - why kill the intelligent, kindly animal that's been helping you? - but people in fairy tales don't DO that sort of thing! Except in this one. Hence, I love it.

Shanglan

Is this a good time to mention how adorable you are?

Unfortunately, I was swarmed with the Disney version of a lot of fairy tales before really being exposed to the actual stories. I actually DO like a lot of early Disney work, but it does affect one's outlook on the classic literature.

 

[oggbashan]

I have had already rewritten Rapunzel - see list from my sig line, and version/chapter 2 is part-written.

Og

 

[BlackShanglan]

Is this a good time to mention how adorable you are?

Always. *preen*

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

Funny this should come up now. I recently dug out a story I wrote about seven years ago with a fairy tale element, and was thinking of editing it, and posting here.

 

[shereads]

My point precisely. Give me the beast or the bear any day.

Shanglan

If you're selecting a ravisher, absolutely. Tiny frightened prince can take a hike. But from the ravisher's standpoint, I think it's implicit that beasts and dragons want to be human because otherwise they never get any.

Why aren't they eager to meet beast girls and dragon babes? For the same reason that sci-fi movie aliens prefer Earth Girls, no matter if they are a species of hairy-eyed spider people who, if you apply logic, should find us abhorrent, from our many missing legs to our tiny eye slits. Throughout fiction, Earth Girls, human ones, are the universal ideal. Even if one of us falls in love with a giant or a dragon, there's not a lot we can do for him. (A memorable exception was made for one dragon in an adults-only fairytale I read someplace. It was a lot of work for her, but they were both fortunate that she found a way to, um, service him without penetration, since she was about the size of his, um, personal part.)

Is it warm in here, or is it just me?

 

[BlackShanglan]

Why aren't they eager to meet beast girls and dragon babes? For the same reason that sci-fi movie aliens prefer Earth Girls, no matter if they are a species of hairy-eyed spider people who, if you apply logic, should find us abhorrent, from our many missing legs to our tiny eye slits. Throughout fiction, Earth Girls, human ones, are the universal ideal. Even if one of us falls in love with a giant or a dragon, there's not a lot we can do for him. (A memorable exception was made for one dragon in an adults-only fairytale I read someplace. It was a lot of work for her, but they were both fortunate that she found a way to, um, service him without penetration, since she was about the size of his, um, personal part.)

Is it warm in here, or is it just me?

Something's damned hot. They can *want* to be human all they like. I'll take 'em rough and wild

Shanglan

 

[shereads]

There's a horse named Falada in The Goose Girl story that I first read last night at the site I linked. The horse's head gets chopped off. I forget why. Nobody got kidnapped or tied up, so I moved on.

Actually, while thinking of appealing fairy tale characters, I must put in a word for the Irish heroine "Smallhead." I love her because ...

She has a stepmother and a stepsister and they both hate her. And while your brain immediately adds "because she's beautiful and sweet and they are ugly and mean," no, actually. They hate her because she is plain and lazy and they are not. This, while utterly logical, shocks me every time with its flat rejection of fairytale convention. As Terry Pratchett points out, stories go that way because we all KNOW they go that way ... at this point, if the youngest son of the king sets out to seek his fortune, it would take an act of God to prevent him from meeting magical companions who make it all better.

At any rate. Smallhead has a magic cow. Their interaction follows the same pattern as "The Goose Girl" and "Little One Eye, Little Two Eyes, Little Three Eyes"; the mother tries to starve Smallhead, Smallhead takes the cow to the field every day, the cow magically provides Smallhead with food. Eventually the stepmother wises up (she's not feeding this child, yet Smallhead is looking remarkably healthy) and there is a showdown. SHe hands Smallhead the axe and orders her to kill her cow.

At this point, when I first read it, I was in the "fairy tale logic" groove. "Ah," I thought, "this will be another one where the magical animal gives some benefit after death. The goose girl's horse Falada animates its severed head to talk to her and give her advice, Little Two Eyes' goat's heart blossoms into a magical tree, etc. etc. Wonder what the cow will do." So I'm set.

And Smallhead picks up the axe and kills ... her stepmother.

This is, of course, the only action that makes any sense - why kill the intelligent, kindly animal that's been helping you? - but people in fairy tales don't DO that sort of thing! Except in this one. Hence, I love it.

Shanglan

 

[BlackShanglan]

There's a horse named Falada in The Goose Girl story that I first read last night at the site I linked. The horse's head gets chopped off. I forget why. Nobody got kidnapped or tied up, so I moved on.

Yes, evidently it's meant to be reassuring to a young child that after her horse is killed and has its head chopped off, she can nail the head up over the city gate and watch it talk to her every time she goes by.

People have some very odd ideas at times.

Shanglan