How to Write a Killer Fairy Tale Retelling

Hi, Fairy Folk! This is Tahlia, editor of Timeless Tales Magazine. One of the most common questions I get from writers is what I look for in a retelling. So I thought I’d provide my top tips for how to nail your short story or poem, whether it’s a fairy tale, myth, or legend. Hopefully this will spark some ideas for our upcoming issue (Arthurian Legend theme, in case you hadn’t heard yet)...

Unsurprisingly, even before I created Timeless Tales, I read a lot of retellings. Not just fairy tales and myths either—Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austen...you name it, I’ve devoured it. I’ve even had a few of my own published, back when I was writing more short stories than reading.*

So I thought I’d share some of the wisdom I’ve picked up along the way about how to produce a killer twist on a familiar tale.

1. Re-read the source material:

Never assume you already know the tale. Do a little research to dig up lesser-known facets that might inspire you. Better yet, read multiple versions of the story because, especially with the older tales, you'll find different details and even endings.

I admit I failed to do this with the first retelling I ever wrote, Two Knights in One Day. It was a take on Sleeping Beauty, but I only discovered after it was published, that the original contains a rather horrific plotline involving rape. Would reading this have changed my story? Hmmm...hard to be sure, but I probably would have put more of a conscious emphasis on consent in romantic relationships.

Another example is a TT submission I read a while back. It used the names “Anastasia” and “Drusilla” for Cinderella’s stepsisters. As an editor, my eyebrows immediately raised because those are the names the Disney movie gives them. It made the author appear a little amateurish because it felt like that was probably the only version they’d ever encountered! Even if the original doesn’t change your own story, you owe it to yourself to know what your version will be compared against.

#NotAllStepsisters

2. Question the Original. Especially ask "how" and "why":

Exactly how does Rumpelstiltskin spin straw into gold? Why didn’t Puss start helping the Miller’s son until after the Miller died? What makes the wolf's disguise so convincing to Red Riding Hood? Let’s be honest: most fairy tales don't waste time on explanations. Part of the fun is all the nonsensical happenings and illogical behavior, but you can add complexity and depth by tackling these issues head on. Don't’ feel like you need to address every oddity or answer every question, either. Pick one or two and stay focused on those.

Surprisingly, your biggest handicap in writing a retelling might be your love of the original. Being a huge fan of the original can actually blind you to its flaws and prevent you from taking risks.

I made this mistake with a Little Mermaid retelling I wrote. I absolutely adore Andersen’s lyrical prose. His descriptions of pain are just unbelievably exquisite. So my first three drafts spent waaaaaay too much time meandering through descriptive paragraphs in an attempt to emulate his style. It completely got in the way of the plot. Thank goodness the magazine’s rules forced me to cut my word count down. I realized that 3-4 pages could be deleted because they had just rehashed scenes from the original tale. Once they were gone, the pacing was dramatically improved.

On the other side, don’t be afraid to ask yourself what bothers you most about this tale? My Sleeping Beauty retelling I mentioned earlier emerged because I didn't like the idea of a guy kissing a girl without ever knowing her. So I wrote a version where the two could communicate while she's asleep.

3. Ask "what-if":

This is your classic elevator-pitch twist. It’s taking a key

building block in the original and replacing it with something new. This is a great time to play with setting, swap genders, and question innocence or guilt. What if Cinderella happened in Ancient Greece? What if the Little Mermaid was male? What if the witch wasn't evil?

In my experience, the strongest What-If retellings are the ones that fully develop the concept they’re presenting.  Don’t get lazy and treat your Ancient Greek setting like it’s a themed party. Slapping on some descriptions of marble columns and renaming Cinderella to Penelope isn’t going to make your story stand out. You’ve gotta dig deep, maybe do some (gasp!) research even. Ask yourself how your new setting changes the motivations of your characters and the outcome of the plot.  

4. Consider the Minor Characters:

I told my Sleeping Beauty story from the prince's perspective, but you can think even more outside the box than that! Give a voice to someone who is usually glossed over. What are Hansel and Gretel's parents' motivations? Don't stop at people, examine animals and objects too! What does the spindle think about for a hundred years? Don’t be afraid to even invent a character!

5. Do NOT Keep the Plot the Same:

It doesn't matter if you set it on the moon, from the perspective of the glass slipper, and make Cinderella annoying rather than sweet, if you keep the basic plot the same (orphan girl abused by stepmother, girl defies odds to go to party, girl wins prince), it will be predictable and probably boring. Take risks! Surprise your reader!

6. Mesh Two Tales Together:

This is probably my favorite technique to use. Find parallels between two stories and weave them into something new. I've done King Midas/Rumpelstiltskin and Hamlet/The Little Mermaid. Don't ask me why, but I get such satisfaction from bringing two very different worlds into harmony with one another. It turns the story into a puzzle for the writer and I get a big kick out of that element.

You can even mesh pop culture and folklore. Wouldn't Ocean's 11 and 12 Dancing Princesses make a fantastic combo??? You bet they would!

*”Two Knights in One Day”, my Sleeping Beauty retelling and “M’Lady”, my Dracula-inspired Cinderella retelling

This post was updated from a post on Diamonds and Toads from 9/28/2011

Movie Review: 'Trolls' Will Brighten Your Day In the Best Way

"Life isn't all cupcakes and rainbows.."

Approaching that strange season of random pupil-free days and the impending holiday chaos, our FTNH (Fairy Tale New Hound) found herself escorting some children to the only G-rated movie currently in the offering, Dreamworks Trolls. Here's her review:

If you don't know anything about this movie, it's quite a ridiculous set-up. Remember those ugly little troll dolls with the bright and colorful hair that kids collected in the eighties? It's based on that toy franchise. No story, no mythology to tap into, just those dolls. The only good thing I could think about it's existence was that a lot of animators and artists were going to be able to feed their families for that coming year, but it turns out they were doing more than most people realized.

I fully expected to plaster an insincere smile on my face and grit my teeth for 90 minutes, enduring an overload of glitter, rainbow colors and ridiculously upbeat songs, and for the first 10 minutes, that's pretty much where I was. Until I realized 5 minutes later that I wasn't gritting my teeth anymore. Instead I was genuinely enjoying myself, along with the kids who were delighted by the mix of textures and creatures and, yes, riotous color. I wasn't even cringing (much) at the remix of Peer Gynt's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" - and believe me, I was primed for outrage. (In the Hall Of the Mountain King, from the Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg, was one of those brilliant pieces of classical music I listened over and over as a child, sitting rapt in front of my father's speakers, imagining the story sequence of a brave hero invading the mountain fortress of the Goblin King.)

How did this happen? I'm not completely sure but Dreamworks did something right (and sadly underrated) with this movie. They took a serious look at how to be happy, did a great job of explaining how to get there, and they made putting it so simply look deceptively easy.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it followed some fairy tale principles. The peril is real (the trolls are in serious danger of being eaten) and that danger, though never graphic so as not to be suitable for young children, is never dumbed down or downgraded so as to be confusing. Being eaten means dying and never coming back, and that loss is real to the characters - no magical resurrection or going back in time to fix it. It's something kids understand and appreciate, making surviving - and a resolution - very satisfying for them.

The story premise is straightforward: trolls - who are the epitome of happiness, (and teeny, think insect size) are being eaten by the 'Bergens' (think ogres and house sized) every 'trollstice, as that's the only way the Bergen's can experience happiness - to eat the incarnation of it, literally. At the beginning the trolls are prisoners, and the Bergens are greedily looking forward to Trollstice, which happens to be the very next day, and to eating a troll and feeling happy again. The trolls make a run for it and escape into hiding, leaving the Bergens extremely unhappy, kicking out the power-hungry chef in disgrace for losing them all, and leaving the Bergen boy prince who was about to eat his very first troll, completely miserable, never expecting to experience happiness in his entire life... Cut to 20 years later and the Bergen prince is now and unhappy king and the King of the trolls daughter is soon to become queen. Queen-to-be Poppy wants to throw the biggest party of all time, against the advice of the one gloomy troll (called Branch), who believes they're still in danger. She does anyway, betrays their location to the disgraced chef and many trolls are captured and taken to the royal kitchen of Bergen town. Poppy, who managed to escape "by a hair", sets out optimistically, and ridiculously under-prepared, to save her friends and people, and discovers life is not all "cupcakes and rainbows".

I kind of love that the movie takes a real tongue-in-cheek approach to the use of color, glitter, optimism and scrapbooking, while at the same time celebrating those things. Take a look at the trailer:

Along with the undertones of troll and ogre mythology, which were very subtly sprinkled throughout the movie from start to finish, one fairy tale took center stage but in quite a different way. Cinderella motifs were immediately identifiable to the kids with me but the focus wasn't on 'the Cinderella' (who was not the main character by the way) having her dreams come true or being center stage when recognized by her prince. There are bigger, more important issues at stake at that point in the story and the Cinderella character is blessedly free of the 'where's my happy ending' focus. It was refreshing.

All the technical aspects meet today's high standards and, with a world of fabric and doll making materials, it's a pretty wonderful playground for the imagination - something the animators obviously had a lot of fun with. Backstory and occasional narration pops out in little scrapbooking sequences, which could easily be annoying if they weren't so funny. And yes - it's funny - wonderfully, innocently, purely funny, without all that self-referencing studio business that seems to be standard of animation these days.

A note should be made about the music, which was also done far better than I could have predicted. Again, I fully expected to be teeny-bopped to within an inch of my tolerance, (and admittedly the obnoxious party scene - which was supposed to be obnoxious, came close), but, after the first 15 minutes, I stopped cringing with every first bar of a new tune and instead found the pacing and treatment of the music throughout to be sensitively done, to the point that it even made for some extremely touching moments. By itself the soundtrack might be a bit much to take, but in context, it works far better than I could have anticipated.

While clearly aimed at including young children, I keep reading about adults who have been taken by surprise at how much they enjoyed the movie, and blown away by how wonderful the message is. The movie is unashamedly bright, positive and happy (something I can usually only take in small doses) and celebrates the enjoyment of beauty, song and dance, as well as other less obvious things, like the wonder in the world and the power of friendship. Though the 'turnaround' near the end was necessarily simplistic, by that stage I was happy to let it slide and enjoy the characters enjoying their hard won happiness.

If I had known what this movie was truly like, I would have collected every worried child I knew on November 10 and taken them to see this movie. There are a lot of people who could use a dose of this message right now, and its power to restore a little hope and happiness shouldn't be underestimated. Instead, we should be sharing it. (And if you have cupcakes, share those too.)

OUAT This Week: Cinderella's Other Shoe Is About to Drop

Last Sunday we saw the Count of Monte Cristo on a revenge gig set-up by the Evil Queen... not very engaging for the fairy tale/fantasy fans (even the use of the poison draught, referenced in the title, was underwhelming) but this coming week we get a long overdue revisioning of a very well known fairy tale character: Cinderella.

While OUAT told Cinderella's story in the very first season, and added the twist of Rumpel killing her fairy godmother so he could ensnare the girl in a deal himself, this round looks even more promising as far as revisioning goes, as the series tells "Cinderella's Untold Tale", that is, the one she wishes wasn't told. Unsurprisingly it involves less-than-nice stepsisters and an even less-nice stepmother, but from the teaser it also looks like we're going to be treated to a reworking of various aspects (eg. how Cinderella got her name), possibly even motifs, of the most popular Cinderella story.

Take a look at the teaser:

The above teaser is a decent fairy tale clip just by itself but if more is explored, it promises to be an interesting episode, as Cinderella is promised to have a little revenge-binge of her own.

There's more of a sneak peek here, which, unfortunately gives a lot away, but having read so very many versions of Cindy in revenge mode, we're not 'un-surprised' (add it to the dictionary), we're just curious about the woven in details and hope there's an inspired resolution.

Fair warning for possible spoilers:

Which brings us to the most pressing question we have about the whole season: what is Snow White's untold story? We have seen almost every moment of Snow White's life; birth, young girl, learning her forest skills, her first kiss (Hercules - really?), betrayal by the Evil Queen, meeting Charming, her friendship with Red, her psycho sweeping song (when she nearly killed a bluebird with her broom on purpose - that was a fun one), her wedding, being cursed, having baby Emma, sending Emma to muggle land, evil Snow in opposite land and everything in between. We've seen her good, bad, getting a black heart, doing less than heroic things... what's left to tell? We hope they've got a really great idea in mind to be worthy of this season's biggest mystery and focus. (Regina versus herself doesn't seem like it will hold that many surprises - just magical action and a lot of frustration on the part of her good side, and laughing on the part of her bad one.)

In the meantime, here's a little stroll down memory lane reflecting on a 'less than white' Snow:

Dances of India Will Stage "Beauty and the Beast" For Their Annual Charity Show in October

Unlike Disney India's stage version of Beauty and the Beauty, which does add a lovely Indian flavor via design and choreographic changes, Dances of India use authentic Indian classical and folk dance for their annual charity show.

From their Facebook page:

Dances of India is an annual charity show featuring Indian classical (Kathak and Bharatanatyam), folk and popular dances performed by the students of the Kathak and Bharatanatyam classes of the Los Alamos Family YMCA and guest artists from Los Alamos and beyond. This dazzling performance features a family friendly story (Cinderella, Snow White, Aladdin) performed as a dance-drama and is filled with beautiful costumes, thrilling music and energizing dances. Intermission brings a bazaar with delicious Indian snacks as well as clothes, jewelry, spices and other items for sale in the lobby. Best of all the show is FREE to the public. The organizers however welcome donations from individuals and organizations in support of a designated charitable organization.

From the little information we can find on this production it would seem this is an adaptation of the well known French tale, rather than a somewhat 'Westernized' adaptation of the Indian version of Beauty and the Beast, The Monkey Prince. The emphasis for these annual shows is on storytelling and being family friendly so it's very likely this version includes many nods to the Disney version so it's easy for younger audiences to follow along. What isn't clear is whether this version incorporates any elements of the Indian version of the tale, but either way, it makes a wonderfully different lens through which to experience the tale. The combination should be very memorable! (Note re the Kathak style: the word 'katha' means 'story' in Sanskrit and 'kathak' means 'storyteller'.)

Dances of India presented their version of Cinderella,
titled "Doll Story" in 2015

From the press release:

The (Los Alamos) community (in New Mexico) is invited to this year's production of Beauty and the Beast presented by Dances of India, 4-6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16 at Duane Smith Auditorium in Los Alamos. 

Admission is free but donations in all forms (cash, check) are much appreciated (suggested $10 per head, $5 for children 10 and under). There also will be an Indian bazaar held during intermission. 

This year's proceeds go to one international and one local entity:

• The YMCA Mumbai street children program that offers shelter and food for street children of Mumbai.

• The Los Alamos Y Teen Center therapeutic intervention programs for girls (who are referred) going through a traumatic period in their lives.

Dances of India will perform Beauty and the Beast on October 16, 2016 in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

This is not the first Indian classical dance version being staged this year. In June Shivapriya presented a popular adaptation "Roopa Viroopa", in Austin Texas, which is a show that has been performed in various places and by various companies around the world in the past few years. In this adaptation the setting is an Indian village:

It story lines follows how a lovely young village belle falls in love with savage tribal - who by the way is a handsome prince who was cursed for his conceit. The story uses various Indian dance forms, particularly the temple dances to tell the story of true love and how it can transcend all other considerations.

The presentation of the Beast Prince looks intriguing in this version! There are photos of this performance available online HERE.

"Rejected Princesses" Book Coming October 25th

Well-behaved women seldom make history.  

Rejected Princesses celebrates those who did.  

Part art project, part standup routine, part book report, this site imagines what if we made animated musicals about the women of history and myth who refused to behave. Rejected Princesses is not for kids. Unless your kid is awesome.

Jason Porath, a one-time special effects animator for Dreamworks Animation, has been working on this unique project for quite some time now. He's been assembling a collection of stories for strong women of history who, although deserving of recognition, will never (likely) receive the title of "princess". He also created illustrations for each character are created in a style reminiscent of popular animation, just to underline the fact that these are alternate role models (of sorts) that won't ever have a family animated movie made about them.

Asked in an interview how Porath got the idea for the project, this was his answer:

The origin of this came from a lunchtime conversation at my old workplace. There was an article going around about how the Frozen princesses weren’t good role models, and I asked, “well, we can SURELY do worse than them — who is the least likely candidate for an animated princess you can think of?” I asked it on my Facebook shortly thereafter, and got around 150 replies from my friends. I hastily sketched a couple as jokes — Elizabeth Bathory, an early version of Lolita, and weirdly enough, Charybdis — but kept in my head that I wanted to do more full-fledged pieces when I got the time. 

In quick order, as suggestions flooded in, it grew from being a list of hysterically poor fits (like Lolita and Beloved) to being fascinating women from history and mythology. I am a huge lover of the obscure, rare, and weird – I’m also a feminist, so the two interests collide with this series. Lastly, I’m a total information junkie, one of those people who gets lost in Wikipedia very easily. This is a rabbit hole I’ve tumbled down and have yet to see the bottom.

And now his wonderful collection of passed-over women of history will be in a book. You may wonder where the word "rejected" came in, though. Who's rejecting these women?!

From Porath's website:

Did they actually get rejected? Did you pitch these ideas? 

Nope, but I think we can assume that nobody’s going to want to do kids’ movies about a lot of these people. They’re either way too awesome, way too awful, or way too weird. For a much longer explanation of why “Rejected,” here is a more in-depth explanation.

We recommend reading the more in-depth explanation, linked above. It explains the context, how these princesses are different and the very difficult circumstances that make creating more diverse "princess" movies a huge challenge. Importantly, it also explains how Porath is not against animation studios or playing a blame game. Instead, he's taken the opportunity in being his own boss to spend time producing something both important to him, as well as something that would have very little chance of seeing a box office, due to the aforementioned studio realities.

You will find uncompromising language and less then family-friendly situations discussed among these stories but don't let that deter you. Porath has good reason and has even set up and area on his website to encourage lesson plans for children that take what he is presenting and make it more G-rated for education.

This project is entirely about not bowdlerizing powerful and difficult stories. I absolutely refuse to tone these stories down, or to write in a voice that is not my own.

But I could 

use your work for teaching, if you just didn’t cuss. 

I understand that, but I strongly feel the original, base version of these entries should remain uncensored. That said, in the future I would like to make a version that is more all-ages friendly for just such a purpose – however, I’m not able to give it much attention at present. If you have such an inclination, however, feel free to clean up any of my work, send it to me, and I’ll post it online for all to use.

You may have realized at this point that fairy tales aren't going to be the priority here, but that doesn't mean that they, and myths, legends and wonder tales, aren't related. In fact, every image shown in this post shows a  woman connected to a folktale, fairy tale, myth or legend of some kind - and this isn't the whole collection of women that are (we didn't have room!).

Beyond that, historically based magic and wonder tales make good fodder for new fairy tales. It's something to think about - and be empowered by.

To finish up, here is just one of the complete stories for the "rejected princess" shown below, giving you a fair idea of how the stories are written and presented, not to mention how fascinating they are, as well as portals to a very different - and educational - rabbit hole.

We applaud Jason Porath for encouraging us to fall down it.

Iara - Brazil's Lady of the Lake

Summary

• Morality: Mixed
• Personality: Martial
• Rating: PG
• Source: Myth
• Story: Up-and-Down

Maybe you’re familiar with mermaids as lovesick sea dwellers who just can’t get enough of hunky air-breathers. Maybe you have even read the unsanitized versions of said stories that, say, feature the besotted protagonist essentially stabbing herself repeatedly so the handsome prince will like her. (spoiler: does not work, do not emulate)

Well, the story of the Brazilian mermaid Iara is nothing like that.Iara was the pride of her Amazon-dwelling tribe. The daughter of the group’s spiritual leader, Iara grew to be the best warrior of them all — courageous, kind, strong, and (as I’m finding every single story ever written about women feels inclined to mention) beautiful. In short: she was hot shit, and everyone liked her.Everyone, that is, save her two brothers, whom she overshadowed by virtue of being far more awesome. Upset by this, they decided to solve their problem with mankind’s traditional go-to solution: murder. The only catch was, they knew they couldn’t take her, even two-on-one. So they waited until she was asleep, reasoning that two alert soldiers would be stronger than one unconscious one.They were incorrect. As soon as they got near her, she jolted awake and killed them both in self defense. Hell, she might have still been half-asleep.Afterwards, her father, unaware that his sons had tried to kill her first, and apparently deaf to her cries of “they started it,” led the rest of the tribe on a hunt for her. Although she eluded them for quite some time, eventually they caught up to her and tossed her into a nearby river, where she drowned. Bummer.But even underwater (and dead), she was still making friends! The fish there thought she was pretty cool, so they transformed her into a half-fish, half-human person — the first of an entire branch of river-dwelling mermaids called Iara. When men chanced upon Iara, usually in the afternoon, they would be so overcome by her beauty (or singing voice) that even if they somehow managed to escape, they would literally go insane. What happens if they didn’t escape changes from telling to telling. In some versions, the Iara would drown, and even eat them. In others, they would join her little aquatic harem, and she’d treat them pretty well! Life could suck more.The legends are unclear about what happens if a woman chances upon Iara. Presumably, a curt head nod.

Animated Musical Comedy "Charming" Gets Pop Divas (x4) to Voice Their Princesses

Apparently the new trend is focusing on Prince Charming.

No, I'm not repeating news - this is NOT about the Disney live-action "Charming". This is a new and different project: an animated musical comedy, also titled "Charming",  coming from 3QU Media.

From Playbill and iAfrica:

Avril Lavigne and Ashley Tisdale and G.E.M. will join Demi Lovato in voicing fairy-tale heroines for the animated musical comedy Charming.
...In the film, Lavigne will voice Snow White, Tisdale will play Cinderella and (Chinese pop-star) G.E.M. Sleeping Beauty. Lovato will play the female lead, Lenore.
...In the film, a cursed Prince Philip Charming must find his true love before his 21st birthday or risk losing all claim to the throne.
The film is produced by John H. Williams who was behind Shrek, and will be written and directed by Ross Venokur.
Charming is set to be released next year.

No word on who Charming will be voiced by yet but 'next year' is ridiculously soon. 

I'm also just confused by this news. Where is all this 'charming' business coming from? Even OUAT will be focusing on Charming and King Arthur as the other story-draw in the Dark Swan season, complete with buddy stories and 'a different kind of 'bromance' being teased by the Producers. Between Charmings and Arthurs there's a definite bizarre trend happening. While I'm a fan of great stories for boys coming back into fantasy, (especially after all the princess culture' we've been drowning in), I'm not sure I like it.

Thoughts? 

Concept art for 3QU Media's "Charming"

Article: A Fish is a Wish Your Heart Makes - The 2,200-year-old Tale of the Chinese Cinderella (& the Ye Xian Illustrations of Stephanie Pui Mun Law)

Yexian of the Chinese Cinderella story, and the magic fish that grants her wishes.

Catchy title, don't you think?

And before you go much further I wanted to point out this lovely series of paintings by Stephanie Pui Mun Law for the fairy tale Ye Xian. I really like the incorporation of the fish into the different paintings. You can find her gallery and much more of her work (many more fairy tales) HERE.

Back to the article: I just thought this was a nicely succinct and personable piece, that's worth a read and might be good to keep on hand for reference. It has a nice summary of ancient Cinderella stories most people outside fairy tale folk wouldn't be aware of, and may be useful if you want to reference the history of Cinderella stories, particularly Ye Xian or Yeh Shen.

Yexian of the Chinese Cinderella story. - Burdens to Bear

Here are some excerpts from the article at AncientOrigins:

Before there was Cinderella, there was Ye Xian. Undeniably one of the most well-read fairy tales, Cinderella describes the life of a young woman forced into servitude by her stepmother until she is freed by her fairy godmother and a charming prince. 

Meet the Cinderellas: Ye Xian, Zezolla, and Cendrillon 

Considered to have been first dictated in the 17th century by Italian writer Giambattista Basile, and later streamlined in the 18th century by the renowned Frenchman Charles Perrault, the version of Cinderella that most have read is, in truth, a later telling of a much older story.  

Before both of these men told of Zezolla and Cendrillon, there was Ye Xian, the tale of a young Chinese girl living sometime between the Qin and Han Dynasties of China (221-206 BC and 206 -220 AD, respectively). 

It goes on to talk about the details of Ye Xian but the bit I like the most is the part about her fishy-friend:

Yexian of the Chinese Cinderella story, in her kingfisher finery

Ye Xian's Magical Protector 

Ye Xian's only relief comes from her acquaintance with a very large and very chatty fish living in the river near Ye Xian's home. The fish, as it turns out, is a guardian sent from the sky by her ever-present mother, and helps Ye Xian through her dark home life. That is, until Jun-li catches Ye Xian with the fish and Ye Xian's stepmother stabs it with a dagger for her and Jun-li's dinner. 

However, just as the fairy godmother of the better known maiden Cinderella has extraordinary magic, so does the Ye Xian's fishy friend. Its role in Ye Xian's future does not end with this mishap. 

Following the murder of her only friend, Ye Xian is visited by the spirit of an old ancestor who informs her that while the shell of her friend might be gone, its spirit is still alive. Through the burial of the fish bones in the four corners of her bedroom, Ye Xian can still harness the power of her spirit guide as one would a genie—whatever Ye Xian wishes for will come true.

Fish are fascinating creatures in fairy tales. One of the weirdly wonderful things about them is how they often continue to have magical properties/provide protection/send messages etc beyond their death... I'll have to hunt for a book on the subject (there must be one somewhere, or at least a paper).

In the meantime you can read the whole article HERE.

Yexian of the Chinese Cinderella story, in her kingfisher finery on festival night.