Tags
ciara rawnsley, fairy tale lobby, fairy tales, fairytales, Janice Del Negro, mary grace ketner, megan hicks, national storytelling network, Shakespeare, storytelling, Vasilisa
One of Walter Crane’s 8 illustrations of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, another work of literature which is “lousy” with bits and pieces of wonder tales. (We love you, Project Gutenberg!)
“Lousy with what, dear?” asked Sagacia, not even looking up from her knitting. She was inured to her friend’s fits of flapping, and she was focused on counting rows to the next cable.
“Fairy tale bits!” Simplia declared. “Themes, motifs, structure, references. All the responses our magical friends tossed out for Mario in Maryland…well, that’s only barely a beginning. Look. Here’s a text from Janice Del Negro that just popped up on my phone…”
I love Eleanor Farjeon’s Martin Pippin; also Barbara Leonie Picard :) You should come and visit, I have lots of these…
“…and what I find most distressing about it is that I’ve missed out totally on both of these authors.”
Sagacia shifted her eyes to read the message, and then she sighed, “I’m distressed that we overlooked the fact that Professor Del Negro has made her own significant contributions in this vein.”
Simplia gaped, stricken. “You’re right! Lucy Dove, Willa and the Wind, Passion and Poison. I’ve read two out of three of those. Why didn’t I think of them?”
“Maybe because examples of fairy tales leaving footprints in modern and contemporary writing are ubiquitous,” said Sagacia. “Too many to count. After awhile they turn into background, until you dive in after them and sort them out.”
“You’re saying it’s not just a trend, then?” asked Simplia. “I wonder how long it’s been going on. Since literacy became more universal? With the rise of novels? Maybe since childhood was recognized as something more than the years when people were no more than messy, unripe adults? …Oh! There’s the doorbell.”
She jumped up and opened the front door, but no one was there. Murzik sauntered over, rubbing against her legs, purring to be let out. From somewhere about ankle height she heard a shrill voice saying, “I’ll file a report, lady, if you release that predator! And that’ll be the end of home delivery for your mail.”
Simplia looked down to see the Mailmouse pull himself up to his full height — three inches — and hold out a letter with strange stamps and postage due. She dug some change out of her apron pocket, nudged Murzik aside with her foot (“I did not kick you,” she said, “so you can quit looking injured right now.”), and took the letter from the mouse.
“How do you suppose he carries three quarters and a nickel?” she wondered.
Sagacia said, “Same way he carries all the mail for his route. He must have bought his mail bag in Diagon Alley, like the one Hermoine used to stow two weeks worth of camping gear and supplies in Harry Potter.”
“Ah. That makes sense.” Simplia examined the postmark and stamps. “Australia! Vasilisa has received a letter from Australia.”
She ripped into it and read:
Dear Vasilisa —
So good to see you, even briefly, in Antwerp last month. On my way to the east coast (New South Wales), I stopped in to visit friends in Perth and found myself in conversation with a young woman at the university there, Dr. Ciara Rawnsley, who is writing a book about Shakespeare’s use of fairy tale themes, plotlines, character types in his plays. She contends that one under-studied explanation for the Bard’s enduring popularity in popular culture is that he has tapped wells of imagery and emotion that people of all walks of life, in all eras respond to. Scholars study his literary influences, but not the influence of folklore on his work. I assume the “people” she refers to are those of us acculturated into Western Civilization, but who knows? Maybe his work resonates as enduringly with those whose paradigm is Oriental as well. At any rate…I’m too impatient to wait for her book. I want to know now: In which plays of Shakespeare have fairy tales made their mark? And which fairy tales might those be?
I’m hoping you can help me come up with a good, solid list — of plays and tales.
Thanks in advance, sweetie!
Wondering in Wooloomooloo
(You know who)
“There’s a short answer to your question,” said Sagacia. “Let’s take this letter up to the Fairy Tale Lobby to see if our Magical Friends can shed any light on the matter. Oh. And we’ll stop at the post office to post that reply to Mario in Maryland.”
Simplia said, “I don’t want to have to address another envelope and waste the stamp. Would Vasilisa think it’s tawdry of me to just write those new titles and authors on the outside of the envelope?”
Sagacia smiled a smile of resignation. “She’d think it was typical,” she said, “But not tawdry.”
Fairy Tale Lobby 
May I recommend Shakespeare’s Storybook: Folktales that Inspired the Bard, by Patrick Ryan, Barefoot Books, 2001? Patrick chose seven plays, gave notes on folkloric roots of each, and then included his own versions of folk tales that inspired each one. He includes a brief list of source notes for each one. Many of those sources are available full text on the web. For example, for Hamlet, he refers to Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum (13th century), and other sources, which he then retells as “Ashboy,” combining the story from the Gesta Danorum with “Ash Lad” a Cinderella tale-type variant. The basic plot of uncle murdering king, marrying queen, and the son of the murdered king playing a fool while trying to determine how to bring his uncle and mother to justice is all there. So is the subplot of the king giving Hamlet a letter to take to a neighboring kingdom, ordering the king to put him to death.
Patrick comes up with stories for The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, A Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Hamlet, King Lear, and The Winter’s Tale.
Surprisingly, he does not include A Midsummer Night’s Dream! I spent some time trying to track down changeling stories that would fit, and didn’t find any I was satisfied with. I found one article on the web, “Shakespeare’s Reinvention of Changeling Lore,” http://fairyroom.com/2012/09/shakespeares-reinvention-of-changeling-lore/, that argues that Shakespeare reinvented rather than borrowed from changeling lore, specifically because he told it from the fairy viewpoint rather than the human one seen in most folktales. I corresponded with Patrick, asking if it was safe to assume that Shakespeare knew changeling ballads like Tam Lin or Thoma the Rhymer, and might have had them in mind, when coming up with his own inverted changeling story. Patrick said he hadn’t seen any documentation for this, and suggested that I look for stories about Puck/Robin Goodfellow instead, and lead me to Robin Goodfellow, His Mad Pranks and Merry Adventures, also available full text on the web. I found two version printed together from 1628, but the stories date back before that.
To me, the first and most obvious tale that came to mind was Love Like Salt/Cap o’ Rushes, which appears in the beginning of King Lear, when he asks his daughters which of them loves him most.
I’ve been digging into this in preparation for a storytelling program in conjunction with the Shakespeare First Folio coming to Hawaii, courtesy of the Folger Library. I am having fun with it, but will have a hard time paring everything down to a one-hour program, including my telling, and others reading a Shakespeare scene to go with each story. I am working on three, but will only be able to use two to fit the one-hour limit. Wish me luck. Vicky (do I need a fanciful name to participate in these discussions?)
Vicky —
Thanks! I have my own agenda for being tuned in to this discussion, as I, too, am prepping programs for a First Folio celebration — in Atlanta this November. Like Meat Loves Salt was the fairy tale that leapt to mind for me, as well…but when I read Patrick Ryan’s
fairy tale that went with The Taming of the Shrew — The Devil’s Bet — I thought, what fun! I will go look for your Robin Goodfellow stories online. Much gratitude, and good luck with your events! Let us know how they went.
Megan
(Fanciful names are optional.)
I’m gonna do the obvious! I’m gonna do the obvious!
Midsummer Night’s Dream… (fairy lore is a whole separate research field…)
Also, Taming of the Shrew. It is very similar to the King Thrushbeard type folktales. My personal favorite, Much Ado About Nothing, also reminds me a little of the Violetta tale from the Pentamerone where the prince and the girl keep pranking and mocking each other…