“They just make it heavier.” Sagacia said. “More to carry, more postage to pay, and, by the time they arrive in At A Loss in Altoona’s mailbox, they’ll probably be nothing but crumbs!”
Simplia simply sighed. “If you’re tired, I’ll carry it for a while,” she said.
Just then they heard a mewing sound.
Both simpletons turned to see what it was, and, “Murzik!” they both said at once.
“What are you doing here! Halfway to town!” Sagacia scolded. She handed Simplia the box of letters and cookies and picked up Vasilisa’s cat. “Bad Kitty!” she scolded.
Murzik lowered his ears, but then, when Sagacia relaxed, he did, too.
“I’ll just carry him. It’s not more than fifteen minutes to the Post Office,” she said.
Now that might have worked out just fine had it not been for the sign on the post office door: “Service Animals Only. Absolutely No Pets.” Someone had underlined “Absolutely” twice with a Magic Marker.
Sagacia sighed. “I’ll wait in the park with Murzik,”
Simplia took the package in and paid for the mailing. Then she bought two sheets of stamps–more than they needed by far, but she couldn’t decide between the commemoratives for Danny Thomas and the ones for Aloha Shirts–Jeff Gere’s had inspired her! She got them both.
The Postmaster gave her her change and the stamps and also a letter addressed to Vasilisa. She thanked him and crossed the street to the park, then ran toward Sagacia and Murzik resting on a shady bench.
“Guess what I have?” she asked, holding the letter behind her back.
“A letter for Vasilisa,” Sagacia answered.
“And…?” said Simplia. “What else?”
“Aloha shirts,” said Murzik.
Simplia looked at the cat. “Did he just say… ‘Aloha Shirts?’” she asked, befuddled.
“Of course not! That was a cat sneeze!” Sagacia insisted.
“But I got Aloha Shirts commemorative stamps, and…and…” She glared at Murzik. “Okay! What other kind of commemoratives did I get!” she demanded.
“Just open the the letter, okay?” Sagacia ordered. “Murzik’s getting restless.”
As Simplia tore off the end of the envelope, she noticed its stamp. “España correos 0,70€.” She slipped out the letter, and began:
Dear Vasilisa the Wise,
In her review of the 500 New Fairy Tales found in Bavaria, Maria Tatar said that the manuscripts contained a large proportion of stories with male protagonists. She said, “Our own culture, under the spell of Grimm and Perrault, has favored fairy tales starring girls rather than boys, princesses rather than princes.”
However, it seems to me that so many of the fairy tales out there with female “stars” portray young women as patient (meaning inactive), valued for beauty alone, or as victims. What good does it do girls and women to have more fairy tales featuring their gender if all those heroines ever do is sit around and look pretty and get mistreated? And now, more “Cinderfellas?” Do we need that?
Here’s all I ask: Just give me one fairy tale with a great heroine. Or one with a great male hero. Or one of each, if you like. And tell me why you think they’re so great?
–Searching in Sitges
“Hmmm…” said Sagacia. “I’d say Rapunzel. Because she knew her own heart, overcame her present bad circumstances and persisted until she found her long lost life partner.”
“Or maybe Jack?” said Simplia. “He was lucky, and he mostly didn’t kill anyone.”
“Let’s take Searching in Sitges’ letter to the Fairy Tale Lobby,” Sagacia said, standing up.
“Yes!” said Simplia. “I just wonder which of our magical friends will help us answer this question?”
“Danny Thomas,” said Murzik.
Fairy Tale Lobby 
The Clever Girl? There is a whole story type for her, outsmarting a prince. Also, Violetta from the Pentamerone. The girl from the Dragon Prince (or Serpent Prince, depending on which version you read). I also agree with Kate Crackernuts. I have a Hungarian tale called The dream of the fairy queen, where the queen fights for the mortal man she loves, and gives up her immortality in the end (Lord of the Rings much?)
As for the guys, there I need to leave the realm of fairy tales. Vertumnus is an all-time love of mine, that’s Roman mythology. But if I had to vote for the best guy in the world of story, I’d say Zal, the white-haired Persian prince. Apart from that description that says it all, he is also smart, loyal, caring and brave.
Csenge, Clearly, I have some reading to catch up on! Thanks for all these!
If we meet eeach other somewhere on the road, I’d be happy to tell them to you :)
What about Kate Crackernuts? Once her own mother puts a spell on Kate’s half-sister Katherine, changing her head to that of a sheep, she helps her escape, takes care of her while they wander, finds a job and a safe place for Katherine, tends the sick youth, finds the solution to his illness as well as how to restore her sister’s beauty. I love her strength! (and the novel-version by Katherine Briggs).
And what about the Scottish tale, “The Lass Wha Cadna Be Frighted”? When her betrothed loses his boat and is badly hurt, she nurses him back to health. Knowing that he is now able to go back to sea, even if as a crew member on another’s boat, instead of railing against their wedding being postponed, she calmly packs up a bundle and sets off inland to find a job herself. And when she is hired by the greedy family to keep watch over the miser’s dead body, in hopes he’ll lead her to his hidden wealth, on the 3rd night, she not only keeps up with him on his wild career through moor, mountain and mire, brambles and thorns, but she is clever enough to bargain with the family to gain her own dream of wedding her beloved with a tidy sum to replace his boat,
Reilly is right–there are so many such stories. Just because they are not well-known makes me want to tell them all the more!
–Barra the Bard
…and in all the versions of the story I’ve read Kate remains Plain Kate, which was never a big deal to her — just her mom. Have you heard Mary Hamilton’s telling of this one? It’s on her recording “Sisters all … and one troll.” Splendid! Now, “The Lass Wha Cadna Be Frighted” is on my reading list. I told Mary Grace when she posed this question that I was going to use all your responses to create a Must Read list of titles I’m unfamiliar with. Thank you!
I would like to nominate “Mr. Fox”, especially the way Connie Reagan-Blake tells it. All that blood and gore, but a female who ventures into the Wood and lives to tell the tale, although she does have a little help from her brother in the end. (Isn’t that what family is for?) But Mr. Fox is “found out” and can no longer endanger young women who stray too far into the Wood.
Julie, Mr. Fox is a favorite of mine, too! Maybe not a fairy tale in the strictest sense,** but a deeply powerful story, internally satisfying. I use that trick from Alan Davies via Richard Martin whereby Lady Mary, when she confronts Mr. Fox with his crimes, strikes the first blow by stabbing him with a knife. Only then do her brothers finish him off. Like you say, that’s exactly what a family is for!
** Or is it? Perhaps his good looks and manners have quite literally “enchanted” her.
Dear SIS,
There are many ‘unknown’ fairy tale heroines who have been culturally edited out of literature and thus out of mind (for most). Yet there are also well known heroines who have been misrepresented over time.
Take Little Red for instance. In an early version recorded in 19th century rural France, known as The Grandmother’s Tale, the girl tricks the wolf and escapes by her own wits alone. (This story contains cannibalism, a striptease, predatory seduction, defecation, trickery, and female heroism, and reminds us fairy tales were once meant for adult audiences!) Perrault most likely drew on this tale for his Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, which he wrote to amuse the French court, and he allowed the wolf to eat Little Red with a moral attached – little girls (or courtly women) should beware of predators. The Grimms changed the ending again, drawing on another tale, The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, in which the mother is the heroine who saves her kids… however in adopting this ending the brothers swapped the mother for a passing hunter who saves the helpless females in Rotkäppchen (Little Red Cap). One way or another, the heroine is lost in the enchanted woods.
I think this early version of Little Red is great because she shows that girls can escape danger by relying on their own insight, courage and cunning.
Little Red Riding Hood is older and more widely travelled than The Grandmother’s Tale however – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6142964/Fairy-tales-have-ancient-origin.html
Let’s hope there are as many strong heroines as heros to be found in this new collection of Bavarian fairy tales.
All the best,
Reilly.
How about the wife in the Nix in the Mill (Grimm)? She realizes that her husband has been taken by the water sprite. After railing at the pond, she dreams of the crone who will help her and then when she wakes, she pays attention to her dreams and finds the crone in real life. Yes, she pays attention to her inner voice. She follows all the crone’s instructions, despite her grief (I also love that crone). She is brave AND practical, becoming a shepherd when it’s clear she needs to find a way to live.
http://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/the_nix_of_the_mill-pond
By the way, could you skritch Murzik under the chin for me?
Consider him skritched, Priscilla!
Reilly, I’d read but forgotten some of those things about earlier incarnations of LRR! Thanks for gathering them together and clearing up LRR’s lamentable reputation as a pushover who just gets lucky when a woodcutter happens to pass by!