"Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine" (aka "The Three Little Pigs" by John Branyan)

The set up for this piece is Branyan sharing that Shakespeare apparently had a working vocabulary of around 54 000 words, whereas the average today is much closer to 3 000. (Really? Yikes.) He then proceeds to reason that this is why reading the classics is so confusing, and that even a simple fairy tale would be difficult for many to understand.

Sent to us by fairy tale friend and mythic filmmaker Lisa Stock of InByTheEye, please enjoy an "enhanced vocabulary" version of The Three Little Pigs by comic John Branyan (recorded live in 2011).

We predict that, within minutes, any person within the vicinity of this recording will be uttering bardic phrases in complete delight.

We were very pleased to find that Branyan had translated this performance into illustrated print and it is available for purchase through his website HERE.

In the meantime, those with little folk (or other large folk) in the house, are welcome to perform their own reading of Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine, by reading the text loud HERE.

[We aim to procure this volume for our library, with the admitted selfish motivation of encouraging the formation of further volumes of like tales. ;) ]

Tale As Old As This Library...

Note: Today's special Beauty & the Beast post is for a lovely girl who adores this fairy tale above all others.

Happy Birthday dear friend!

This library has to be seen to be believed. It really is like stepping into the Beast's library...

And who'd bother going to the ballroom when there's all this space and beautifully Baroque surroundings (not to mention the smell of books)?

In late December of 2014, a creative team, led by the innovative Von Wong, were given a few precious evening hours to shoot some photographs (and a little video) in this amazing place, which houses the largest monastery library hall in the world. Admont Abbey itself dates back to the 1st century (and is still functioning as a working monastery) but the library dates back to the same time period as the first version of Beauty and the Beast, so it's more than appropriate they were paying homage to the fairy tale there.

What's even cooler? This was the first creative photo shoot ever made there. Take a look at some of the gorgeous results!

About this project Von Wong said:

I have always loved photography for the adventures and opportunities that it brings, not the hours I would spend retouching in front of a computer. As a result the desire to search and explore the most exotic locations and make a shoot out of it, has always been a particular passion of mine.

Projects like these are particularly magical because of how they bring people together. From fans (now turned friends) Eva Creel and Nicolas Cormier, American expats and photographers living in Germany willing to embark on a spontaneous roadtrip to drive me across Germany so that I can indulge in my creative shenanigans, to friends of friends like Oliver Schlichtherle, who drove all the way from Switzerland through Austria just to assist in whatever capacity possible… People from all walks of life somehow end up gravitating towards these amazing projects.

And at the end, we not only have fantastic imagery to share with the world… but a story to laugh and remember for the rest out our lives.
Dream big, anything is possible.

You can learn more about the process, the lighting challenges (can you believe it was night tine when they shot everything?) and see a few more behind-the-scenes images on Von Wong's blog HERE.

There's also a great behind-the-scenes video detailing two projects, one in a cave system and this as the other. I've embedded it below for your enjoyment (the cave one - also lovely - is first):

National Poetry Month: "Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty" by Christine Heppermann

April is National Poetry Month and fairy tales seem to encourage a lot of poetry in response. While I cannot begin to keep up with the offerings out there, here's something that caught my eye a while back that I thought would be good to share.

Please note: I have NOT seen this book in person, nor read much more than what I could scour online, so this is really more of an announcement rather than a review. 

"Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty" (released in September 2014) says exactly what's it's about in the title. Author Christine Heppermann expresses the world of young adults trying to deal with body image, self love, media messages, who they really are as opposed to whom they believe they should be and relationships of all kinds. In other words, it has something for everyone. 

The book contains fifty poems (very easy to read if you're not a poetry person too), along with photography that is sometimes modern, sometimes symbolic, created for the volume, providing another window into these ideas, or a reflection on the same. While girls will clearly identify with many of the issues and sentiments explored here, most of those apply to boys too. It's just that we forget that when the image is a girl with a red hood...

Description:

Christine Heppermann's collection of fifty poems puts the ideals of fairy tales right beside the life of the modern teenage girl. With piercing truths reminiscent of Laurie Halse Anderson and Ellen Hopkins, this is a powerful and provocative book for every young woman. E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars, calls it "a bloody poetic attack on the beauty myth that's caustic, funny, and heartbreaking." 

Cruelties come not just from wicked stepmothers, but also from ourselves. There are expectations, pressures, judgment, and criticism. Self-doubt and self-confidence. But there are also friends, and sisters, and a whole hell of a lot of power there for the taking. In fifty poems, Christine Heppermann confronts society head on. Using fairy tale characters and tropes, Poisoned Apples explores how girls are taught to think about themselves, their bodies, and their friends. The poems range from contemporary retellings to first-person accounts set within the original tales, and from deadly funny to deadly serious. Complemented throughout with black-and-white photographs from up-and-coming artists, this is a stunning and sophisticated book to be treasured, shared, and paged through again and again.

The book has been labeled 'feminist', as well as 'caustic' and emotive'. From a review by cecildaily:

One poem reflects on the modern day version of a love charm: “Such spells call for ingredients / missing from my cupboard” it laments. Modern love charms, it explains, do not require “eye of newt” or “tongue of toad,” but instead “plump lips” and “smooth skin.”Another poem shows that once Sleeping Beauty realizes all the things that go into being a girl, “showering, shaving, shampooing, conditioning,” she thinks how much easier it was to be asleep. The poems all illustrate how humans are often told to strive for perfection and how damaging that can be for our self-esteem.

I'm also adding some reviews that reflect my impressions on reading the little I did, and am including screenshots of the Author's Note. I think the latter will be of special interest to fairy tale folk here who've done more than average reading of fairy tales and texts, and know whom she's referring to when she mentions Marina Warner:

“It’s a bit of a mystery how a slender, subversive book of flayed fairy tale poetry can chronicle how the world tries to rob young women of power, while at the same time handing them back that power. Teen girls should read this—so should their mothers, their aunts, their grandmothers…” (Gayle Forman, author of the New York Times-bestselling Just One Day/Just One Year duet) 

“A bloody poetic attack on the beauty myth that’s caustic, funny, and heartbreaking.” (-- E. Lockhart, author of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and We Were Liars) 

“Many of the poems read like something you might find on a smart, funny contemporary women’s website, probably going viral. . . . They each pack their own literary punch; she is, after all, a poet riffing on fairy tales.” (Elle.com)

Have you read "Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty"?

If you have, let us know what you thought.

Happily Ever After Is Not All That It Seems... (A Handy Infographic)

Just sent to me today as part of a promotion for a book any fairy tale student (or regular reader) should have, is this great infographic, created by the Norton Critical Editions team. We see a lot of infographics floating around these days but one of the best things about this one is I know the team will have done their research properly to create it, so you can trust this summary and use it confidently for reference.

I love the artwork too - very nice, yet easy to quickly reference all the information. Look at that neat list of referenced fairy tales at the bottom to. It's a very neat resource to have on hand. (Can we get a poster please?)

Here's a link to the Norton Critical Edition of The Classic Fairy Tales, edited by Maria Tartar, if you don't already have a copy, or need another to give to a friend.

In case it's not already clear, this book is highly recommended for any fairy tale study library, from the casual student to those more inclined to serious scholarship.

Here's the summary:

Fairy tales shape our cultures and enrich our imaginations; their narrative stability and cultural durability are incontestable. 

This Norton Critical Edition collects forty-four fairy tales, from the fifth century to the present. The Classic Fairy Tales focuses on six tale types: "Little Red Riding Hood," "Beauty and the Beast," "Snow White," "Cinderella," "Bluebeard," and "Hansel and Gretel," and presents multicultural variants and sophisticated literary rescriptings. Also reprinted are tales by Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar Wilde. 

"Criticism" gathers twelve essays that interpret aspects of fairy tales, including their social origins, historical evolution, psychological drama, gender issues, and national identities. 

A Selected Bibliography is included.

"The Crane Wife" by Patrick Ness Named Notable Book by ALA

The Crane Wife by Katrina Pallon

I will admit I know very little about Patrick Ness, not having read any of his books, but Heidi has mentioned him on SurLaLune a couple of times so I thought I'd bring you notice of his latest folklore-based novel, especially since it was just named as one of ALA's Notable Books for 2015.

(And, as a bonus today I'm adding some lovely illustrations, some of which I hadn't seen before today. Credit is under each image.)

The Crane Wife by Kat Leyh

Refreshingly, this story is based on a little-known-to-the-Western-world romantic Japanese fairy tale (one of the better known ones that's usually included in multicultural collections) and was written by a man, both of which make it notable as well.

The Crame Wife by Janey-Jane

The Crane Wife is based on the fairy tale of the same name and seems to follow key aspects of the plot (at least to a certain point), though the setting is more urban and more modern.

The Crane Wife by Eno Keo

Two critically acclaimed authors who draw on folklore and fairy tales, Eowyn Ivy (The Snow Child) and Ali Shaw (The Girl With Glass Feet), both praise the book, which, despite other mixed reviews, is more than enough for me to put it in my shopping cart straight away!

Here's the synopsis, care of Penguin Press:

A magical novel, based on a Japanese folk tale, that imagines how the life of a broken-hearted man is transformed when he rescues an injured white crane that has landed in his backyard. 

George Duncan is an American living and working in London. At forty-eight, he owns a small print shop, is divorced, and is lonelier than he realizes. All of the women with whom he has relationships eventually leave him for being too nice.  

But one night he is waked by an astonishing sound—a terrific keening, which is coming from somewhere in his garden. When he investigates he finds a great white crane, a bird taller than himself. It has been shot through the wing with an arrow. Moved more than he can say, George struggles to take out the arrow from the bird’s wing, saving its life before it flies away into the night sky. 

The Crane Wife by pageboy

The next morning, a shaken George tries to go about his daily life, retreating to the back of his store and making cuttings from discarded books—a harmless personal hobby—when a woman walks through the front door of the shop. Her name is Kumiko, and she asks George to help her with her own artwork. George is dumbstruck by her beauty and her enigmatic nature and begins to fall desperately in love with her. She seems to hold the potential to change his entire life, if he could only get her to reveal the secret of who she is and why she has brought her artwork to him. 

The Crane Wife by Gennady Spirin (retold by Odds Bodkin)

 Witty, magical, and romantic, The Crane Wife is a story of passion and sacrifice that resonates on the level of dream and myth. It is a novel that celebrates the creative imagination and the disruptive power of love.

And here's the author introducing us to his novel:

Has anyone read this? I'm very curious now!

"Into The Woods": New Movie Poster, New Website & Random Thoughts on How We (& the Media) View Fairy Tales

And one more bit of Into The Woods news for Thursday:

Today also saw the launch of the official website (although there's not a whole lot there apart from the trailer, cast list and the photos you've already seen) and new promo poster variations (see above and below).

The Facebook page is finally becoming active too.

The important thing this confirms is that they're still releasing on Christmas Day in theaters in the US. I can see the Winter merchandise and decorations now... although they're mixing up with Narnia a bit in my head at the moment, which I wouldn't mind too much since so much of the first Narnia movie merchandise at the time of the release was just stunning.  I'm going to do my best to be optimistic about this.

One note does concern me though: we're a little tired of fairy tale stories backstabbing us, or the media doing their level best to "shock" the public by uncovering their dark sides via these "OMG did you know..!" lists. Adam over at Fairy Tale Fandom has a great and timely post on this very subject.

One thing my forced downtime made me do, since I couldn't handle computer screens, was to do a lot more reading. While I plan to get to the various books in more detail in the coming weeks, I have to admit my favorites were not the novels but the collections, specifically Jack Zipes' recent wonderful book, The Golden Age of Folk & Fairy Tales from The Brothers Grimm to Andrew Lang and to a lesser extent, though still great to read, Philip Pullman's Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm (with the English version and the German version side by side so I could look at Shaun Tan's sculptures while reading).

Why? Because they were just "as is" - no emphasis on the happily ever after or the magic but also no emphasis on the dark, gruesome, grimness either. They were just tales in which something out of the ordinary happened and people had to choose how to respond and what, if anything, they should do about it.

When I started getting a lot better and could watch TV again, I also spent some time showing my kid some more of Miyazaki's movies and discussing extraordinary, ordinary things (if you follow me) and it struck me just how similar the sensibilities are - which is probably why I love the movies so much. While the fantasy creatures and impossible things were notable, it was clear that many of these things could have been either frightening or wondrous, depending on the context they were seen in and particularly how the child (usually it was a child) at the center of the story saw it. We weren't told "this is beautiful" or "this is scary", we had to hold our breath and see what the kid thought.

Here is an excerpt from a wonderful set of images, illustrating Miyazaki's philosophy in storytelling. It's something I sincerely wish more filmmakers, especially regarding family films, in English speaking countries would adopt:

The excerpt above is slightly out of context so you can see the full five illustrated page summary HERE.

Anyway - these are my random musings as I watch fairy tales being presented to the public once again. I'm actually hopeful that Into The Woods will work in favor of balancing some of the glitter vs gruesome polarization we currently see when the public contemplates fairy tales.

Gans' La Belle et la Bete coming to Blu-ray & DVD (but no English subtitles, or English region friendly version in sight)

The question keeps popping up on old posts or in my inbox so I thought it was high time I addressed this in a post. The questions are: Will Gans' La Belle et la Bete be coming to US/UK/Aus theaters? Will there be an English translation or subtitles if it does? How about Blu-ray/DVD - will we be getting one of those? Will that have subtitles at least??

I've been constantly searching for any news of an American, or English speaking country, release of Gan's sumptuous Beauty and the Beast remake, but whether it be theaters, a limited release/showing or DVD/Blu-ray and there has been nothing. Unless Pathé do an English international release later in the year or in 2015 (like sometimes Japanese films do) then it looks like we're out of luck at seeing it on the big screen.

(It's just so bizarre. I haven't even had luck with Canadian releases.)

I've been watching the Blu-ray/DVD announcements for other countries as well to see if there are English subtitles but so far zero. Again, it's just bizarre, especially as the feature film song had an English version so I'm a little confused. Maybe distribution agreements with Pathé haven't been working out well? 

The French DVD and Blu-ray release however, (though there are no English subtitles) is June 26, 2014 and you can find that HERE. (Note: the disc release seems pretty light on content. It looks like just the film and no behind-the-scenes footage, although some was released online as part of the marketing lead up).

 

And here is something that looks like it was created for a steel book release but apparently isn't. It's just the Blu-ray/DVD combo packaging.
✒ ✒ To see it & LOTS of behind-the-scenes & "making of book" pics click the "Read more" link below✒ ✒

Waiting Impatiently For 'Maleficent'? Read A Book, Have A Cup of Villain Tea...

MALEFICENT BLEND*Smooth and velvety, with a glamourous sprinkling of rose petals.
This blend is elegant with just a hint of something murky, waiting to surface.

Note: All teas shown are by Adagio Teas, the number one tea site that creates teas with pop culture themes. There are TONS of blends and themes here! All version of Disney, of course, but also Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Princess Bride, Sherlock, Buffy, Game of Thrones, Rise of the Guardians, Wonderland, Once Upon A Time, Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars, Grimm, Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, the Tolkien themed, Tales & Tea Leaves and a LOT more. Heck, there's even a Kate Crackernuts tea blend! (Be warned: it's a tea rabbit-hole!)

Fairy Tale Book Lists are popping up all over the place under the "While You Wait For Maleficent" banner.

URSULA BLEND**
Tropical and fruity, this blend
is reminiscent of the ocean, with
just hints of tanginess throughout.
It'd be very helpful if you were
to lose your voice. Not that there's
any reason that'd happen.

Ta da! This is one of those moments where fairy tale writers go - look! They're searching for us again! Not that readers have really stopped. For some time now fairy tale retellings - especially those with a little grit - have been in demand and now, if your book is currently on the shelves with the hashtag of #darkfairytale attached, there's a very good chance you will be making some extra sales this month.

A recent and decent one come from HuffPost HERE. It seemed for a while that fairy tale retelling lists had the same recommendations overall with only a slight variation between them according to the columnists taste. This list, however, has a much more variety - and many newer - books.

Specifically these are on the conflicted protagonist theme and I wasn't surprised to see Gregory Maguire's Wicked topping the list. I did, however, have the urge to give a little woot and fistpump on seeing Angela Carter's fairy tales in there. That will be an interesting fairy tale primer for the unsuspecting! Hopefully they'll fall in love and we'll have more fairy tale friends than ever.


There are NO SLEEPING BEAUTY RETELLINGS LISTED HERE! I wonder why? Or have we just not been as keen to rewrite her story in novel form as much as some others?

CHERNABOG BLEND***
Dark, bold, with hints of cocoa, this blend reflects the night with perfection. Drinking it in the morning may provide difficulties, like a choir singing to try to stop you.

I can think of lots of short stories and some older Sleeping Beauty novels but not a whole lot recently (ie the last five to ten years)... Hm.

Here's the HuffPost list:

(Note, that at the link, there is a very brief summary of the book and why it's Maleficent-esque reading)

• Wicked by Gregory Maguire
• Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
• Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
• The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
• Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
• Snow White Sorrow by Cameron Jace
• The WoodCutter Sisters series by Alethea Kontis
• The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
• Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
• Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

THE EVIL QUEEN BLEND*****
This blend is full of the scent
of apples and sugar, a very pleasant
combination in deed. There is just
something bitter in that of
aftertaste that may leave you suspicious.

My pick to add in the "Maleficent-like" vein would be Fairest of All by Serena Valentino. It tells a very similar story, of a hurt woman changing to a downright evil woman from the Queen's perspective so that makes it even more interesting to follow (plus the writing is simply stylized yet poetic and lovely, while the story, no matter the twists it takes, stays very true to the Disney movie).

What would you add to the list, considering people want a Maleficent-like story (according to what we know from the trailers etc so far anyway)?



* MALEFICENT BLEND:  ingredients & lore: blended with black tea, yunnan jig tea, cinnamon bark, ginger root, wuyi ensemble tea, natural blackberry flavor, cocoa nibs, blackberry leaves, natural chocolate flavor, natural cinnamon flavor

teas: mambo, blackberry, chocolate chai

accented with cocoa nibs and rose petals

steep at 212° for 3 mins

** URSULA BLEND: ingredients & lore: blended with yerba mate tea, pu erh tea, apple pieces, hibiscus flowers, rose hips, dried coconut, natural coconut flavor, natural mango flavor, marigold flowers, natural pineapple flavor, pineapple pieces, mango pieces, papaya flavor

teas: pu erh tahiti, pina colada, mango mate

accented with ginger and hibiscus

steep at 195° for 4 mins

*** CHERNABOG BLEND:  ingredients & lore: blended with pu erh dante, pu erh tea, black tea, orange peels, cocoa nibs, natural chocolate flavor, blue cornflowers, natural orange flavor, natural caramel flavor, natural vanilla flavor

teas: pu erh chorange, pu erh dante,tiger eye

steep at 212° for 4 mins

**** QUEEN OF HEARTS BLEND: ingredients & lore: blended with green tea, rose hips, hibiscus flowers, apple pieces, orange peels, natural wild cherry flavor, dried cherries, rose petals, natural orange flavor

teas: dewy cherry, blood orange, cherry green

accented with hibiscus

steep at 205° for 4 mins

***** EVIL QUEEN BLEND: ingredients & lore: blended with black tea, rooibos tea, apple pieces, cinnamon bark, natural caramel apple flavor, natural caramel flavor, natural apple flavor, natural cinnamon flavor

teas: candy apple, caramel, rooibos cinnamon apple

accented with aniseed

steep at 212° for 4 mins

QUEEN OF HEARTS BLEND****
Paint this tea as red as you want. With levels of cherry, blood orange, and hibiscus, the longer you brew it, the redder it becomes.

Fearless Folkloric Foxes: Mining the Unexpected Mythic in (Assumedly) Ridiculous Pop Culture (& You Know What They Say About Assume...)

Norwegian folk art - and tricksters - have gone mainstream.

First of all: I did NOT EVER expect to give the source of this a second thought but it turns out, a ridiculous, bizarre, annoying and hugely successful viral internet music video has produced a stunning folkloric work that's unbelievably mythic. (If you've seen some of the the text and are thinking "whaaa...?", just keep reading and concentrate on the artwork.)

The source I'm talking about, if you're still in the dark on this one, is the bizarre/nonsense music video by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis, "What Does the Fox Say?" (link takes you to the video). Turns out, even before the video went viral with its bear and squirrel costumes, that they had plans to produce a beautiful and mythic work of home grown folk art in children's book form, to be released in the wake of an "intentionally bad" song (their words). They even had an illustrator in mind, Svein Nyhus, a very famous Norwegian author and illustrator, and approached him about the project but he was very busy with other priority deadlines and the timing just didn't appear to be good.


While the song was supposed to be a quick way to draw annoying, but also amusing, attention to the pair and their talk show, what they didn't count on was just how popular their "bad song" was going to get (well over 300 million YouTube hits to date), or just how many dollars from the viral success of their video produced, making for a hit on the song alone. To quote the duo: "It's just so stupid. But stupid dollars are the same as smart dollars." As the YouTube hits started stacking up, Nyhus (the illustrator) called them back and agreed to take on the task of illustrating the, er, "text".

And now they also have a gorgeous book, which is not only a #1 NYT best selling children's book but also sold out on its first day on Amazon.com. It's also been rumored as being under consideration for Children's Book of the Year (unconfirmed). The book is hardcover, 32 full color pages and only contain the lyrics - no other story, but then, that's where you get to write your own... ;)

You can read a full color PDF version right HERE. (Highly recommended - although, you'll likely want to go grab a print copy too. Just a heads-up.)

I'll admit I was completely taken by surprise by the beautiful (stunning!) folk art the book contains, making me look at this pop-culture "phenom-sense" with a whole new set of eyes. (I never could figure out if the song was supposed to be silly and whimsical or sneakily subversive. Perhaps it's both!) However I felt about the music video, I was immediately and irresistibly drawn to the book.

While the comedy duo clearly meant their music and video to be a ridiculous stunt, it would seem that  - at least initially - they unintentionally tapped into their mythic roots and translated them playfully for pop culture - no skin off their nose if it didn't take. But it did take, showing that people - MANY people - had a positive and playful gut resonant response to the video images, even they couldn't explain, which in turn proved the importance of playful nonsense. It's this very trickster-like mentality that is reaffirmed in the excellent illustrations. In fact the whole presentation of the book tends to bring the mythic aspect to the forefront - and it's blowing people away (in a good way!).

I admit to having some shame now, for dismissing something so ridiculous, even though, somehow, it appeared to be resonating with hundreds of millions of people; and that's without/before the filter of the artwork, even if it was only on a playful level. Although I consider myself more open to pop culture and children's odd obsessions and trends than many, I have to wonder: did I dismiss this disguised trickster and the power of nonsense due to some unrealized snobbery (and ass-umption) on my part?! It certainly appears that way, and I almost missed out on something amazing as a result. Shame on me! I have some serious reassessing to do...

That said, I still can't handle repeat views of the video. The book, however, has me wanting to put the pages on display.

Someone else made a different connection with the book as well. Though my own revelation took me down forests paths of fox myth-masks and trickster stories, this person stumbled on a darker side to the images which I found fascinating. Here's the comment the person who uploaded this video (book images to a very different soundtrack) added:

DISCLAIMER: THIS VIDEO NOT INTENDED TO BE LISTENED TO BY CHILDREN - I had discovered that "The Fox" by Ylvis was so mainstream that a children's book was to be made featuring the lyrics of the hit song. Upon viewing the illustrations I was reminded of something eerie... something not native to Earth. If you're familiar with John Carpenter's "The Thing", just look at the illustrations and compare the Fox with the alien.(Basically I was almost passed out one night while on a website chatting with people when I saw this book while "The Thing" theme happened to be playing. Needless to say, it creeped the hell out of me. Crazy Swedes.)

Have any of you been treasuring this book on your shelves, secretly worried that you'll be outed? You can breathe a sigh of relief now.
This book is "mythic approved".

Additional sources: HERE, HERE & HERE