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Some Lesser-Known Fairytales
Sep. 16th, 2017 07:54 pmI was researching Grimms' Fairy Tales for a certain upcoming Halloween party, hoping inspiration for a costume would strike (no luck yet), and was reminded of some of my favourite bizarre tales, so I am retelling them in short form below. (Links go to Wikipedia.)
The Wonderful Musician (Aarne-Thompson type 151, "music lessons for wild animals")
A fiddler wanders through the woods, looking for someone who will appreciate his music. He attracts the attentions of a wolf, fox and a hare, but is not interested in a harem of adorable animal friends and tricks them into trapping themselves.
Eventually he finds an appreciative woodcutter, the kind of company he was seeking (if you know what I mean), who helpfully protects the fiddler from the escaped and vengeful animals.
The fiddler plays the woodcutter one more song to thank him and wanders on (like a cad).
The Water Nixie (Aarne-Thompson type 313A, "the girl helps the hero flee and revolves about a transformation chase")
A brother and sister fall into a well, where they are captured by a nixie who puts them to work. Fortunately, they're able to escape on Sunday while the nixie is at church.
The nixie.
At church.
She chases them, but luckily they are able to use a collection of ordinary household items which transform into nigh-impassable mountains to escape.
The Devil and his Grandmother (Aarne-Thompson type 812, "the devil's riddle")
Three soldier deserters make a deal with the Devil (who is masquerading as a dragon, because that's cool) to escape execution, who gives them a magic whip and a promise that in 7 years, he would take them to hell unless they could solve his riddle.
Fortunately one of them is able to find the Devil's grandmother, who gives him the solution to the riddle. So they get to keep the whip and escape.
--
In all seriousness, go to Wikipedia and check out the source links for these, because all of the stories have some neat imagery that's worth reading. (And I assume that's the real point of them. They just sound cool.)
The Wonderful Musician (Aarne-Thompson type 151, "music lessons for wild animals")
A fiddler wanders through the woods, looking for someone who will appreciate his music. He attracts the attentions of a wolf, fox and a hare, but is not interested in a harem of adorable animal friends and tricks them into trapping themselves.
Eventually he finds an appreciative woodcutter, the kind of company he was seeking (if you know what I mean), who helpfully protects the fiddler from the escaped and vengeful animals.
The fiddler plays the woodcutter one more song to thank him and wanders on (like a cad).
The Water Nixie (Aarne-Thompson type 313A, "the girl helps the hero flee and revolves about a transformation chase")
A brother and sister fall into a well, where they are captured by a nixie who puts them to work. Fortunately, they're able to escape on Sunday while the nixie is at church.
The nixie.
At church.
She chases them, but luckily they are able to use a collection of ordinary household items which transform into nigh-impassable mountains to escape.
The Devil and his Grandmother (Aarne-Thompson type 812, "the devil's riddle")
Three soldier deserters make a deal with the Devil (who is masquerading as a dragon, because that's cool) to escape execution, who gives them a magic whip and a promise that in 7 years, he would take them to hell unless they could solve his riddle.
Fortunately one of them is able to find the Devil's grandmother, who gives him the solution to the riddle. So they get to keep the whip and escape.
--
In all seriousness, go to Wikipedia and check out the source links for these, because all of the stories have some neat imagery that's worth reading. (And I assume that's the real point of them. They just sound cool.)
