Lots of Treasures in Enchanted Conversation's Diamonds & Toads Issue

Toads & Diamonds Ex Libris Etching
by Ukraine artist Konstantin Kalinovich

Enchanted Conversation, Fairy Tale Magazine, has just released their Diamonds and Toads Issue - and it's wonderful!

New contributing editor, Amanda Bergloff, has created some unique digital art for each of the stories and poems in this issue, making the chosen entries even more fun to read.

Although Kate Wolford, always curates wonderful writing, we've particularly enjoyed this issue's creative short stories and evocative poems. While we acknowledge that we might be influenced due to this fairy tale being one of our favorites, and that we got uninterrupted time to read the whole issue in one lovely sitting with some fabulous tea to go with it, we maintain it's a great issue with lots of lovely writing, well worth your time to peruse.

You can find the 'entry' and Table Of Contents to this current issue HERE.

And, if you're interested, Gypsy wrote a personal entry, reflecting on retellings of this fairy tale, at Fairy Tale Footnotes HERE.

"Toad Words and Other Stories": Review by S. Y. Affolee

"Toad Words and Other Stories"

Review by S. Y. Affolee

Editor's Note: I came across this ebook fortuitously, via an artwork search. I loved the cover, which instantly said "fairy tale" to me and looked into it further. I realized I'd read at least one of these stories before somewhere, and when I discovered where, I thought it was high time I brought it to other fairy tale folk's attention. I think you'll enjoy reading why from our reviewer's point of view.

Jacket description: 

From author T. Kingfisher comes a collection of fairy-tale retellings for adults. By turns funny and dark, sad and lyrical, this anthology draws together in one volume such stories as "The Wolf and the Woodsman," "Loathly," and "Bluebeard's Wife," along with an all-new novella, "Boar & Apples." 

Author's Note: Many of these stories have appeared in various forms on the author's blog.

This anthology by T. Kingfisher (AKA children’s fiction writer Ursula Vernon) is a wonderful assortment of retellings with vivid, crisp writing and dark undercurrents that echo the unvarnished fairy tales of the past. As her use of a pen name indicates, these stories are far from the Disneyfied versions and Kingfisher doesn’t shy away from the darker parts of human nature. While Toad Words may not be suitable for kids, by uncovering modern concerns, this collection is sure to resonate with adult audiences.

What I found most fascinating about this collection was how the retellings rely on transforming the tales’ core messages rather than simply swapping window dressing. For me, altering details like time periods and settings merely make a retelling a variation on the original. But several of these stories focus on self-examination and self-acceptance rather than the original tales’ emphases.

For example, Kingfisher’s retelling of Charles Perrault’s “Diamonds and Toads” is told from the vantage of the cursed sister. While the original story rewards correct behavior and punishes incorrect behavior, “Toad Words” considers the possibility that what seems like a curse may actually be a gift in disguise. Later on, “Bluebeard’s Wife” examines an alternate personality for the newly married heroine. She values the notion of privacy so much that she cannot think of impinging on another’s, even if there are signs indicating something isn’t quite right. If Bluebeard’s wife is changed from being insatiably curious to being completely incurious, will it alter the story’s outcome?

This anthology also reimagines the Arthurian Loathly Lady trope. The cursed maiden is no longer some prize won by a knight, but a metaphor for the acceptance of self, beast and all. This retelling neatly parallels the pathway many tread on their way towards self-acceptance--first hating themselves for seemingly monstrous flaws, then transforming themselves (in a traumatic way) to fit society’s expectations, and finally realizing that contentment requires embracing those so-called flaws regardless of what society thinks. 

A novella version of Snow White called “Boar & Apples” balances darkness and whimsy. What really made this story stand out for me was the reframing of classic tropes. Here, the queen is not monolithically evil, but a stand-in for parts of society where horrific deeds may be symptoms of mental illness. Snow is no longer the passive princess who has a prince rescue her. Circumstances force her out of passivity to take her own agency. Dwarves are replaced by wise-cracking pigs, which may sound unusual at first, but is actually an inspired choice. Because pig hearts have anatomical similarities to human hearts and have been considered by the medical field for possible transplantation, it makes sense that an old sow’s heart fooled the queen when the huntsman brought it back as “proof” of Snow’s death. There are many such instances illustrating how human the pigs are. Their kindness and courage not only give Snow a role model for behavior but turn the demeaning metaphor “behaving like a pig” completely on its ear. 

Adult readers who enjoy short story retellings with a modernist twist will find many gems in this collection. Kingfisher’s succinct and conversational tone in dealing with the darker issues harkens back to the matter-of-fact recounting found in the original tales that heightened their fantastic and gruesome aspects. But by fundamentally giving the stories new motivations and personalities, the author has put together an excellent fairy tale anthology that is not only well written, but also conceptually provoking.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Note: Additional novella by T. Kingfisher in same vein also available, though not reviewed here.

Description: Rhea is an ordinary miller’s daughter, engaged to be married under suspicious circumstances to a man not of her choosing. He has unknown powers and a manor house full of mysterious women. 

Rhea has a hedgehog.

It’s probably not going to be enough.

From T. Kingfisher, author of “Toad Words & Other Stories,” and “Nine Goblins” comes a retold fairy-tale of white roads, dark magic, and small mammals.

Disclosure: A complimentary copy of the eBook was given in exchange for an honest review.

S. Y. Affolee is the pseudonym for a biomedical scientist currently working in Southern California. Outside of the lab, she’s an avid bookshop hunter, tea drinker, and inveterate scribbler. She’s always been fascinated by fairy tales and enjoys reading retellings ever since she first picked up Robin McKinley’s Beauty in grade school.

Firebone Theater's "Long Long Ago In A Land of Giants, Jewels & Jolly Fools" (Not Your Usual Holiday Tales)

First of all, isn't the poster stunning?! Though I don't see any sign of LRRH being included in the presented tales - unless we're following her through a Manhattan version of the woods from tale to tale - it still does a perfect job of showing fairy tales in a modern context. Bravo to whomever created the concept and shot it!

Second: the title - just wonderful, and perfect for fairy tales without the usual "once upon a time " or "enchanting 'something'"... It sets the feel of storytelling beautifully and it makes me want to sit down by a fireside and listen to the rest.

Third, do I detect a mini-revival of interest in lesser known tales? Firebone Theater is presenting musical adaptations of three lesser known fairy tales from three well-known fairy tale writers: Wilde, Grimm and Perrault (OK, technically that's four, but you get the idea).

Here are some excerpts from the press release. I put the main information in bold so you can read it among the credits and alum information, which essentially tells you this production has some serious talent behind it:

Firebone Theatre presents three new plays drawn from the forgotten fairy tales by Oscar Wilde, The Grimm Brothers, and Charles Perrault. This event promises music, laughter, and homespun goodies including milk, cookies, wine, and beer. 

Long, Long Ago features a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant by Chris Cragin-Day (The Public EWG Alumna, O'Neill Theater Center Alumna) and Michael Castillejos directed by Jaki Bradley (What Every Girl Should Know--FringeNYC Time Out New York Critic's Pick, Lincoln Center Director's Lab, SDC Fellow); an adaptation of Charles Perrault's The Fairies by Pia Wilson (LMCC's Workspace program, The Public EWG Alumna) directed by Jor Dana Williams (THE PARTICULARS by Matthew MacKenzie FringeNYC 2012), and an adaptation of The Grimm Brothers' Hans Dumm by Christin Siems (Morbin Poetry- Incubator Arts Project NYC) directed by Amelia Peterson (Incubator Arts Project, Kennedy Center Page to Stage).

About Long, Long Ago  

This short musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant... tells the story of three children who sneak into the Giant's garden every day after school while the mysterious Giant is away. When the Giant returns to find the children playing in his garden, he explodes in anger and chases them out. He then builds a wall around his castle so that no children will ever get in again. Winter punishes him for his selfishness, refusing to relent even when the rest of the village blooms into spring. Then one day, a special child melts the giant's heart and the garden together, changing both he and the village children forever. 

Hans Dumm... is one of the first collected Grimm Brothers fairy tales. A haughty princess, a rancorous king, and a village idiot tell the story of a good wish gone wrong, when a sudden and unexpected pregnancy turns the kingdom upside down. Sentenced without a trial, the princess and her dimwitted companion travel a long, difficult road of seemingly irreconcilable differences to finally live happily ever after…that is, until her father, the king, accidentally barges in on their wedded bliss. In this adaptation of the tale, Hans Dumm isn’t the only fool and each character must be humbled before they can give and accept forgiveness. 

The Fairies... tells the story of a beautiful, gentle young woman named Izzy. She is practically a servant in her own home. Her mother and sister make her do all the chores around the house and fetch water from a nearby stream. When Izzy makes a trip to the stream, she encounters what she thinks is an old woman. In reality, the old woman is a fairy who bestows a gift of jewels onto Izzy for her kindness. When Izzy's mother learns of the Fairy's gift to Izzy, she instructs her other daughter, Grumpina to go to the stream and treat the old woman kindly to receive the same gift as her sister. Grumpina unhappily goes to the stream where she meets the fairy in disguise. This encounter doesn't go as well for Grumpina as it does for Izzy. The girls' mother blames Izzy for Grumpina's misfortune. Izzy runs away into a nearby forrest. It is there she meets her true love – a prince who can see her worth at first sight, and they lived happily ever after.

I'm really intrigued by The Fairies in particular. More popular variants include Diamonds & Toads and are one of my favorites in retellings these days. Perhaps because I'm always thinking about all those reptiles and how weird it would be for them to suddenly be exiting someone's mouth, over tongue, between teeth... Or perhaps it's because I have a budding herpetologist in the house who always wants to make sure the reptiles in any story get a happy ending.

Hans Dumm - or Hans Dumb - is a tale I haven't heard for quite a while. I remember hearing variants of this regularly when I was young (perhaps because it shares motifs with the Bible story in which Joseph hides a goblet in his brothers pack n order to detain him), where a King visits his daughter unknowingly and she hides something valuable in his garments or belongings just so she can go through the pretense of accusing him and bringing him back, until a satisfactory answer to her question is given, and her father understands how wrong he was in his assumptions (about her) long ago. It's a tale that only appeared in the first edition of Household Tales, though I have no idea why.

The show is family-friendly musical triptych (of sorts) and though it's unlikely we'll hear what the show is like (unless one of our readers goes along and reports back), I think it's an interesting idea and a curious trio of tales to tell together, especially for the holiday season, though The Selfish Giant (whose garden remains in Winter until the Giant changes his ways) fits nicely. It certainly should make an impression on kids: Exploding flowers! Frog vomit! Princess tricks her Dad!

I kinda want to go see it now. :D

Fairy tale bonus of the day:

Interview with The Selfish Giant script writer Chris Cragin-Day

Excerpt:

Spoiler alert: Wilde makes the children fall in love with the giant and then Wilde kills him. At our first read through, this made some people in the room uncomfortable. “Do we really want children thinking about death at Christmas time?” they gently questioned. Here’s what the fairy tale gets–children know. They know about death, instinctively, by about age three. They want to talk about it frankly. They want to know if they should be afraid. Wilde says they shouldn’t. He sends a boy to welcome the giant into death with wide open arms. And, as in all fairy tales, love conquers death. It doesn’t eliminate death–it is victorious over it. 

The childhood universe is inherently mythological. When I tap into that, I can write for children with as much writer’s integrity as I write for a sophisticated audience as that of The Public. The challenge of writing for children is that you can’t cover up half truths with intellectual banter or pop culture references.  Children’s eyes and ears cut through that much more sharply than our own. Children demand truth and honesty, and if you don’t deliver, they’ll call you on it. Wilde knew that. (Yet another reason to love him.)

You can read the whole of Chris' article on writing the script - and her journey on learning to love writing for children - HERE. (It's lovely - I recommend it.)

Plum Pudding & Other Fairy Tale Food

Miss Plum Duff by Kristin Tercek

UPDATE 12/28/11 THANKS TO RENEE OF THE FAE: See end of post.

This illustration by Kristin Tercek (of Cuddly Rigor Mortis) reminds me of a favorite childhood classic tale from Australia,  The Magic Pudding, written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay . Although isn't set specifically at Christmas, it works with the season because every Christmas in Australia seems to require pudding and fruitcake. And how can you resist the idea of magical pudding?

I must admit, this Magic Pudding is on the grumpy side and quite a trouble maker, giving his companions  - who spend all their time guarding him against pudding thieves - a lot of grief. In fact, he's only happy when he's being eaten, though he can never be fully consumed, being magical and all.

The Christmas season tends to involve a lot of food and festive meals so thinking about fairy tale food also seems appropriate at the moment.

While I don't recall many (if any) fairy tales in which the food itself is magic (in that it has personality), there are plenty of examples of magical food in fairy tales, that is, food that is magical, makes magic as it's consumed or contains something magical. Food in fairy tales is always important, even when it isn't specifically magical as well. (I've commented on this a little recently with regard to apples and Snow White in ABC's Once Upon A Time.)

Off the top of my head here are some tales where food, or a food item, are of supreme importance in the tale:

Like Meat Without Salt (another of my favorites as a child)

Hansel & Gretel (remember the breadcrumbs as well as the candy house!)

Princess Manyfur & Donkeyskin (the soup made by the princess in disguise with an 'extra' ingredient)

Rapunzel (Radishes? Lettuce? Take your pick but the vegetable garden holds the roots of the story.. ;)

The Juniper Tree (I almost didn't include this but that meal is, sadly, very key)

The Princess and the Pea (a pea, obviously, but also breakfast revelations)

Cinderella (pumpkin in the best known version but if memory serves there are oranges and lemons as well - aristocratic delicacies)

Snow White (the famous apple of course but also what the queen asks for to add to her dinner)

Stone Soup (everything BUT the stone!)

Red Riding Hood (a basket of bread and wine for Grandma, and wolf food of course)

Love For Three Oranges (cheese and oranges)

Jack and the Beanstalk (not just beans but also milk and all the significance of that drink, not to mention the fee fi fo fum dinnertime. The other Jack o- f Giant Killer fame - also has pudding - see image earlier in post)

Beauty & the Beast (each night at dinner...)

Momotaro (Peach Boy - a little boy born in a peach)

The Tin Soldier (the fish sliced open for dinner)

Baba Yaga (rice)

Tom Thumb (his big troubles start with falling into a pudding)

The Girl Who Trod On A Loaf (bread and all it represents)

Goldilocks & the Three Bears (porridge and breakfast)

Strawberries in the Snow (or the Twelve Months)

The Nutcracker (not about nuts at all but lots of sweets instead)

This is not a definitive list. Just those I could list without heading to my fairy tale library. What obvious ones did I miss? What are your favorites? And what food or meals are involved besides the obvious ones (especially if they're in the title)?

UPDATE: Thanks to Renee of the Fae's comment below, I was reminded of The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci. It's an American variation on Diamonds and Toads with lovely language and gorgeous illustrations. Check it out (there's a very small preview of a couple of pages on amazon.com). If you haven't got it already I'm predicting you'll add it to your fairy tale wish list. ;) Thanks Renee!

Strawberries in the Snow Illustrations by Folkard & Anderson

The Three Dwarfs in the Wood, Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Charles Folkard

Remember my post on The Twelve Months/Strawberries in the Snow from December HERE?

It's taken me a while but I finally found where I'd read the version with the strawberries. It's a German fairy tale included in Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book, called "The Three Dwarfs", and includes the paper dress the girl is forced to wear too (don't know how I forgot that part). While I'm certain I've blended parts from different tales in my memory I know I've also read a Russian version with strawberries somewhere too. Strawberries, apples or violets, I do love this variant on diamonds and Toads. I also like that the story continues after the girl is found by a king. Her troubles don't stop until the troublesome step-relatives are dealt with once and for all.

The Three Dwarfs
by Anne Anderson

Once I found the name/s of this variant of "Diamonds & Toads" with the strawberries, I also found these lovely illustrations by Charles Folkard and Anne Anderson too. Pretty, no? (You can see more of his fairy tale illustrations on the SurLaLune page for Folkard HERE and Anderson HERE.) Just like "The Twelve Months", I'm surprised there aren't more illustrations for this story - there's a wealth of subjects for illustrators to explore in this tale.

Stories for the Season: The Months/Strawberries In the Snow

"The Enchanted Princess"
Photo-manipulation by Krysta (a.k.a. GettysGirl on Flickr )

I think of the Russian tale "Strawberries in the Snow" (also known as "The Months", "The Twelve Months", "The Tale of the Kind and the Unkind Girls") as basically a Winter/Yule form of "Diamonds and Toads" and again, this tale seemed commonly known when I was a girl but it's now hard to find any 'regular' tale collections that include it or any picture book retellings, which is a shame because this tale should be an illustrator's dream.

Russian Fairy Tale "Twelve Months"
by M. Pichugina

Basically a girl (with a good heart) is sent out by either her evil/just-plain-mean mother or stepmother to find strawberries in the dead of Winter (sometimes it's strawberries, sometimes apples). On her futile trip through the snow drifts she sees a campfire in the woods and approaches in the hopes of a little warmth. It turns out the twelve men around the fire are the months of the year and it's not long before the girl, through her manners and selflessness, is helped by the Months to find whatever it is, she's been sent to collect (a patch of snow melts, sweet and large strawberries grow before her eyes and ripen/a tree shakes the ice off it's branches, buds, blooms then grows bright red apples etc). Often The Winter King or December is involved in providing warmth/curbing the frost as the pertinent months do their part in helping the plant grow. Of course, you know what happens. The girl joyfully returns home without even taking one bite herself. Sometimes she's sent back out on multiple trips to get different things but ultimately the other sister (or stepsister) with the selfish heart is sent out to find more of the same or something better but her rudeness to the men around the fire causes her to end up lost and frozen in the snow.

Belarus 2006 20Ru Twelve Months Fairy Tale Silver UNC

There are, of course, many variants on this (you can read a version in which the girl must look for snowdrops HERE) and it's very possible I've mashed a few of them together in my own summary but the basic idea of being aided by The Winter King and his brothers/comrades and gifting the good girl is very much a Christmas/Yule scene.

Those interested in this tale in a scholarly fashion may find this link interesting: a book discussing the conundrum in fairy tale studies of "The tale of the kind and the unkind girls", or "Strawberries in the Snow", published in 1994. You can read a few of the pages if you do a Google book search. The link to the whole book is HERE and though out of print still seems available if you search for it. (No lovely cover sorry - I gather it's just purple with type.)
S. Marshak wrote several plays for kids based on Russian fairy tales in the late 1800's and The Twelve Months is one of them. The book I'm linking to is an illustrated version and is described as "light and witty". Need I say 'it's on my wishlist'? You can find it HERE.

* The artist who did this photo-manipulation said the fairy tale she was illustrated is called "The Enchanted Princess". She includes a summary and although parts of it are familiar from different tales I've never read all these elements in a tale called "The Enchanted Princess" before. The beginning is similar so I'll include it here:

Evil stepmother, ugly and mean stepsister; the girl is sent into the woods in a paper dress and shoeless to find strawberries in mid-winter. Magic elves enchant her - she'll grow more beautiful every day, gold coins will fall from her mouth when she speaks, and she'll lead a long and wonderful life.

I've read 'sent out in rags' before but not the paper dress. It's a nice touch. You can read the rest HERE.

Neil Gaiman's Retelling of 'Diamonds & Toads'

I admit it: I'd heard about the book but never ventured further in my investigations - I should have.

[A note: Initially this post had a lot of exclamation points - a condition I slip into when I get excited about something. I've tried to edit most of them out but I'm sure a few have slipped through. Instead of speaking in frogs or sapphires I've been spouting exclamation marks!]

"Who Killed Amanda Palmer" by Neil Gaiman, has a retelling of Diamonds and Toads as part of the text.

This is one of those fairy tales I came to know as a child and so didn't realize it wasn't well known till much later. It's one of those tales that has many (MANY!) variants in many countries and is begging to be explored. In the Western world it's also known by the titles: Mother Holle (or Frau Holle) and The Fairies. SurLaLune - the best fairy tale resource on the web for text, annotations and interpretations - has a page on the VARIANTS around the world and the list is very long. Clearly, this is one of those stories that resonates across time and culture very well.

One of the short stories that has stayed with me is a retelling of this very tale and can be found in "Twice Upon a Time", edited by Denise Little. The title is "How I Came To Marry A Herpetologist" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman and turns the usually perceived curse of speaking toads and snakes on its head. To this day, I'm on the fence about whether I'd choose to speak jewels or reptiles as a result.

So, back to Neil Gaiman's version: Amanda Palmer (yes, the same Amanda Palmer as the title) was recorded reading the Diamonds and Toads retelling at one of her concerts. She does a lovely job of telling it, as you can see below:

Thanks to the community at Told This Time for alerting me. I couldn't help but expand on this news and add a little extra information about the tale for those curious. You can see the original post HERE.

NOTE: The illustration is by Lealand Eve, who has other illustrations exploring 'discomfort in fairy tales'. This tale definitely qualifies. You can find out more about Lealand Eve and see more work HERE.