'Lubin, from Chelm' - Hilarious & Delightful Klezmer-styled Re-telling of 'Lazy Jack' Is Storytelling Gold

Illustrations for Lubin, from Chelm by Alisa Snyder for ESO

Need a smile? Do yourself a favor and listen to - and watch - this wonderful storytelling performance of 'Lubin, from Chelm' (a.k.a. the Eglish folktale 'Lazy Jack', relocated to the Ukrainian shtetl).

The English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) is in the middle of recording and airing a series called The Art of Storytelling and this is the second story of five planned for it. It's also become one of the best things we discovered this month!

We know it doesn't sound like it would grab you unless you're already regularly listening to orchestral programs - there's no pixie dust here to hook you - but believe us when we say this story is SO well presented and did we mention hilarious? These guys know what they're doing, no pixie dust needed. The series is called The ART of Storytelling for good reason.

(Think of an updated and somewhat edgier storytelling of the classic "symphonic fairy tale for children", Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf', but with far fewer musical instrument detours and many more puns!)

Here's what ESO's The Art of Storytelling series is about:

ESO’s ‘Art of Storytelling’ project presents world premiere recordings and broadcasts of five exceptional works for narrator and orchestra. From the cheeky humour of the Brothers’ Grimm to the touching tale of Hans Christian Andersen’s Ugly Duckling, and from the Jewish humour of Lubin from Chelm to the ancient Egyptian tale of The Warrior Violinist, this is classic family entertainment for the modern age at its finest, a powerful synthesis of great literature and great music.

When we clicked on the link to take a half-interested look at this version described as "a Klezmer-styled re-telling of the classic English folk tale, 'Lazy Jack'," we expected to scan the site, maybe listen for thirty seconds, then get back to our to-do list. It took far less than that for the iconic Yiddish storytelling to hook us and we listened, smiled, and giggled more than a few times, for the full seventeen minutes! (Sorry to-do list - another time!) 

The presentation includes the narrator/storyteller, who in this case is Henry Goodman, the ESO playing a soundtrack throughout the story, and delightful little illustrations that, while simple as stand-alones, are wonderful in context.

Here's a trailer to give you a taste, though we must say we think the real opening of the story hooked us much better and wish we could just show you the first couple of minutes to hook you in the same manner we were:

A hilarious re-telling of the traditional English folk tale, Lazy Jack, relocated to the Ukrainian shtetl and brought to life with abundantly witty Yiddish turns of phrase and evocative Klezmer musical stylings by Jewish-American composer David “Yankele” Yang and orchestrated by Kenneth Woods. (ESO)

As we mentioned, Lubin is actually the second story in the series. The first, currently available to view/listen to as well, is 'The Ugly Duckling', and is also wonderfully done, with actor Hugh Bonneville (Paddington, Muppets Most Wanted) as the perfect narrator.

We managed to catch this when it was streaming (for free) on release day and didn't realize it would require being an ESO (English Symphony Orchestra) Digital supporter to view it at a later date, so we apologize for this, but having seen the program we completely believe it to be a most excellent way to spend a £5 monthly donation (yes you can "donate" from the US and other countries, and yes you can cancel anytime). A donation gives you access to all their other digital offerings too, not just The Art of Storytelling, so if you like beautiful music, beautifully conducted and played, it's a great bonus. We've jumped on board the ESO train, at least for the holiday season, so we don't miss any of this magic as well.

The next story in the series is from an Egyptian tale, titled 'The Warrior Violinist'. We're looking forward to it very much!

You can find ESO Digital's The Art of Storytelling series HERE and learn more about Lubin HERE.

Oh - and if you don't know how the tale ends, well, let's just say it will leave with a grin. ;)

TODAY at 7pm EST and 4pm PST: Profs And Pints Online Presents: "Fairy Tales of French Salons" (& A Note on the 2020 Revival of the Literary and Fairy Tale Salon)

Our apologies for not posting this well ahead of time!

But... I Will Miss/Have Missed the Live Lecture!

Don't fret! We know a lot of our readers won't see it until tomorrow morning after the live lecture has happened BUT, like all Profs and Pints lectures, this one will be recorded and available to view afterward for all current ticket holders, as well as for those who purchase access after the event (only $12). The Profs and Pints events are aimed at adults and college-level learning, so these lectures are one of the most affordable, yet high-quality self-education tools online today. While viewing the recording after the event means you won't be able to live chat with the other attendees or the lecturer and can't propose questions for the Q&A at the end, the entire chat and Q&A portion remain part of the recording so you can see the community involvement and responses as it was happening. Once you have purchased a ticket, the event is available to view at any time after the lecture, and as many times as you wish! 

Fairy's Banquet - John Anster Fitzgerald

The Rise of the Fairy Tale Salon, 2020 Style

Today's lecture is exceptionally timely. With the pandemic showing no signs of ending soon, people are starting to figure out ways to connect digitally and literary salons are once again on the rise. Though they can never be the same as the intimate gatherings fueling conversations, encouraging ideas, and getting feedback on everything from writing to art, it does make the events more accessible to people from different locations across countries and around the world, and is proving to be a new way to build communities of like-minded people and providing support during an isolating time. Fairy tale salons, especially, are beginning to pop up here and there around the world, all-digital, all experimental, and all eager to connect folks who love to study tales and reference them in their own writing and other works. 

It's a brave new world and, as will be discussed today, reflects the desire people had, and still have, to push against established ideas and systems and find new ways to move forward both in thinking and expression - something especially prevalent in 2020. Salons are primarily fun, of course, but at the heart of the movement is a desire to make the world a better place, and to do that with other like-minded people. The Fairy Tale Salons of France in the late C17th (and the lesser-known German Fairy Tale Salons during the Romantic movement in the C19th) were revolutionary in form and function and, in true subversive style, enabled conversations of resistance and the exploration of revolutionary ideas, all coded within the deceptively simple form of the fairy tale. These people, mainly women, are considered the Fairy Godmothers, or Fairy Godparents, of the Fairy Tale (the literary form of the oral folktale and wonder tale), and their stories have survived and remained popular to this day. 

Fairy Banquet - Arthur Rackham

Seeing Beyond the Magic While Still Reveling In The Wonder

What's lesser-known is that we can still see and access the rest of the work done in Salons, via the vehicle of those surviving stories, despite that it's usually hidden under the magical clothing of the contes des fées - a term coined by the French Salon, which is where we get the term "fairy tale". 

It's high time we saw beyond the sparkly exterior of these fanciful stories and take a look at the serious - and invigorating - work of the literary fairy tale. The revival of the fairy tale salon in 2020, albeit digital and online, is no coincidence!

That doesn't mean we can't continue to enjoy fairy tales or revel in (or escape into) their magical possibilities. If anything, this gives more reasons to embrace them in all their Once Upon A Times. Fairy tales aren't just for children; they are for everyone and understanding how literary versions of fairy tales came to be, helps explain why. It also gives us every reason to celebrate their wonder and to enjoy them. 

So come along with your notebook and extra glitter on your hands or just sneak in the back to listen - there's room for all here to play and to connect as we make the world a better, more wonder-full place.

The Fairy Girls Make the Carpet (Polish Fairy Tales)
by Cecile Walton

What's Being Talked About Today? (summary info from Profs and Pints Online below):

Profs and Pints Online presents: “Fairy Tales of French Salons,” with Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, former instructors at Ohio State University and co-founders of the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.

[This talk will remain available in recorded form at the link used for tickets and access.]

It’s easy to think of fairy tales as light-hearted, simple, even frivolous tales for children. But that’s only a small part of the story.  Fairy tales can be serious business. They can be subtle messages that convey warnings under the noses of the powerful—or even poke fun at them--especially if written by women.

Modern Fairy Godmother Styling
by Camilla (Very pricey, as would have suited
the social station of the original Salonnieres!
Thankfully, the Salon revival isn't as dependent
on privilege; in fact, that's one of the
institutions it rebels against.
Vive la 2020 Revolution!)

Such was the case in the fairy-tale salons of seventeenth-century Paris, where ladies (and some men) gathered to tell each other stories that definitely were not for children. 

Designed to be a space where people could break free of strict aristocratic confines in the service of art, the salons let creators discuss anything so long as it was couched in the form of a fairy tale. The stories that resulted tackled everything from actual love in a marriage, to the importance of education, to the enormous social inequalities faced by the women of the age.

As the air gets crisp, fix yourself a warm drink and join Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, two favorites of Profs and Pints audiences, for a look at the beautiful and bizarre fairy tales that emerged from the literary salons of France during his period.

We’ll swim with a great green wyrm, a terrifying sea serpent. You’ll travel with a woman who dresses as a man in order to save her family, and converse with a witty princess forced to wear the skin of a bear.

These fairy-tale salons were the first of many great literary groups, from the Bloomsbury circle in London to the meetings of the Beat writers of San Francisco.

This online discussion of them might end up feeling like a similar gathering of the curious and subversive. 

Black Lives Matter and Black Fairy Tales Matter

Black Lives Matter. Always.

And that means Black Fairy Tales Matter too.

There are Black opinions (more inclusively, BIPOC opinions) that should be heard on every topic and that - hopefully, obviously - includes fairy tales. There are also black, indigenous and people of color tales that should be being told and retold, which even they have trouble finding because stories and fairy tales been dominated by white voices for so long, and that needs to change.

Let's cut to the chase. The last thing you need is another white opinion right now. So, re this blog, the best advocacy we can think of, with regard to fairy tale discussion, is to point you to black, indigenous, and POC voices that maybe you're not aware of, or don't know how to find, first before you continue reading what we have to offer. We're going to pin this post right at the top so it's easy to find, and link to a longer entry with some important resources and names you should know and be accessing regularly when it comes to fairy tales.

 It's not a definitive list. There are so many still-unheard voices missing here, and we will do our best to update the main post as we become aware of them, but this, at least is a start.

Please see our list HERE for writers, scholars, and artists

whose voices should be listened to when studying and working with fairy tales.

Be the change we need.

Image credits: "Dig a Little Deeper" (Tiana oil portrait) by Heather Edwards; Maya Angelou quote graphic by Glashanda Lewis B

Black Fairy Tales & Folktales Matter - Useful Resources (a growing list)

ABC's Once Upon A Time Rapunzel in S3:14, The Tower, played by Alexandra Metz

This resource list is just a place to start and will be added to as we can manage. Suggestions for any category below (or for adding more categories) are welcome!

ONLINE ARTICLES:

• These Stories Are Ours, Too: Writing Black Characters into Fairy Tales by L.L. McKinney
• Not Until We Get A Turn: Retellings, Tropes, and Who Gets To Tell Stories by Kalynn Bayron
• Black Stories Matter (resources, books, ways to be an advocate) by Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic

BOOKS (tale collections):

• Blackberry Blue: And Other Fairy Tales by Jamila Gavin
• Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales by Virginia Hamilton
• The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton
• The Annotated African American Folktales (The Annotated Books) edited by Henry Louis Gates and Maria Tatar

BOOKS (Scholarship):

                                          

• Fairy Tale TV by Jill Terry Rudy and Pauline Greenhill (2020)
• Re-Orienting the Fairy Tale: Contemporary Adaptations across Cultures (Series in Fairy-Tale Studies) edited by Editors Mayako Murai and Luciana Cardi (2020)

ONLINE ARTICLES (Scholarship):

• Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princess by Dorothy L. Hurley (link to downloadable PDF)
• Moving Beyond Grimm’s Fairytales for Representations of Black and White:Diversity as an Integral Component of quality Provision in Early ChildhoodEducation by Dr Maria O’ Dwyer (link to downloadable PDF) 
• Enchanting the Masses: Fairy Tale Dystopias and Allegorical Diversity by Jill Coste (abstract only)
• From Representation to Participation: Rethinking the Intercultural Educational Approach to Folktales by Annette de Bruijn (on reading & teaching multicultural fairy tales to early elementary children)

BOOKS (Fiction):

• Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi (genre - literature, magical realism - Snow White, Goblin Market & more)
• Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (genre - fantasy/UF, Cinderella, princess culture)
• A Blade So Black by A. A. McKinney (genre - fantasy/UF, Alice in Wonderland)
• Redemption in Indigo: A Novel by Karen Lord (genre - fantasy, magic realism, Bluebeard & Beauty and the Beast)

BOOKS (picture books):

• Freedom Child of the Sea by Richardo Keens-Douglas, illustrated by Julia Gukova - though it's a picture book, we recommended it for everyone

• Rachel Isadora 's fairy tale retellings - The Fisherman and His Wife, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Rapunzel, The Princess and the Pea, Hansel & Gretel

• Once Upon A World Collection (board books by various authors & artists): Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea 

              

• Fairy Tales by Jane Ray (illustrator) and Berlie Doherty (diverse cultural characters and settings for familiar tales)
• Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter by John Steptoe

GRAPHIC NOVELS/COMICS:

• The Girl Who Married A Skull: And Other African Stories (Cautionary Fables & Fairy Tales 1) by Mary Cagle, Kel McDonald (Editor), Kate Ashwin (Editor), & 15 more

• Fred H. Crump Jr (Main FT printings: 1989- 91, 2007-10) Retold & Illustrated Fairy Tales and classic stories with POC Main Characters - over 40 titles, now out of print (NB: created specifically for children of color by Crump, a black comic artist, and teacher) A collection of book covers can be seen HERE.

FILM/TV:

• HBO's Happily Ever After: Tales for Every Child series (1995-2000) - world-famous fairy tales told with diverse characters and settings

• Emerald City (NBC 1 season - 2017 - based on The Wizard of Oz)
• The Princess and the Frog (Disney 2009)

• Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (Disney 1997, live-action remake of stage-play, starring Brandy and Whitney Houston)
• The Wiz (1978 musical movie Wizard of Oz, starring Diana Ross)
• The Wiz Live (2015 starring Shanice Williams, Queen Latifah)

UPCOMING:

          

Come Away official poster; Halle Bailey as Disney's new Ariel (pic was Disney approved for announcement)

• Come Away (due for release Dec 2020, directed by Brenda Chapman, starring David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Angeline Jolie; Alice in Wonderland & Peter Pan) Trailer available to view HERE.
• The Little Mermaid (Disney's live-action remake of their animated classic, due for release July 2021, starring Halle Bailey)
  

FAIRY TALE ARTISTS TO KNOW:

• Lachanda Gartistry with Creative Soul Photography - Black Princess Portraits

OTHER ART RESOURCES:

• Racebentdisney.tumblr.com - not recently updated but still a good resource, Tumblr blog includes a wide range of artist interpretations, POC actors in traditionally white Disney roles and more.

FAIRY TALE/FOLKTALE AUTHORS TO KNOW:

• Helen Oyeyemi (Mr. Fox, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, Boy, Snow, Bird, Gingerbread: A Novel)
• John Steptoe (Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter)
• Virginia Hamilton (collections of African American Tales)
• Nalo Hopkinson (Brown Girl in the Ring, Skin Folk, Sister Mine, multi-award-winning folklore/fantasy author)

Beauty and the Beast-The Corona Version, Rapunzel in the Kingdom of Corona & Other Fairy Tale Commentary On Surviving This Pandemic

So how are you all?

We will catch you up on our new year, new surgery, and new challenges (typing = headaches!!) another time but for now our focus, is just like yours: surviving this pandemic, and that's a complex thing.

There were pleas from authorities to not joke about Covid-19 on April Fool's Day two days ago, because there are too many people afraid, or sick, or fighting for their lives while others are risking their own lives (and their families) daily by being on the front lines to help combat this pandemic, and we agree.

We do think, however, that humor can help alleviate stress and this video walks the line between funny parody and sobering truth - hopefully it's a good combo for you. Just going to leave this here for you all to... enjoy? Cringe at? Sober-up over? Heh.. oh boy.

"I've yet to see a reckless fool quite like her,"

"Without a mask or gloves she goes?..." 

Why is this so difficult for folks to adjust to??

For the first time everyone around the world - all at once -  is having to think about everything they do, in every aspect of their lives (from the most basic "how do I get food?" to the more complex "how do I educate my kids?") and that's an overwhelming adjustment to make, especially as it's not something someone else can do for us. We're each having to do it, individually, for the most part, but that doesn't mean we're as alone as we may feel.

The Fairy Tale Profs at The Carterhaugh School of Folkore and the Fantastic, have - inspired by the iconic "maiden in a tower fairy tale" story - put together a list of resources, or, as they delightfully title it "Rapunzel's Toolkit, or How To Nuture Magic and Sanity in Your Own Tower".

It's varied, extensive and wonderfully tailored for fairy tale and folklore folks to be inspired by during our confinement. You can find that awesome list HERE or by clicking on the image below.

While we have you here - and thinking of people locked in places they don't want to be - we wanted to remind folks that we could all use a little more kindness and gentleness in dealing with our current "cellmates". Everyone is having some sort of issue with the restrictions. Perhaps most obviously, extroverts quickly got cabin fever in a just a couple of days and are finding each additional 24 hours more difficult (and depressing), but introverts too are struggling with having no place to escape their co-confined families for some sanity-reviving alone-time and are feeling suffocated. More importantly than either of these groups, though, are two others that desperately need our awareness, support and care:

1) those quarantined with people they don't get on with (relationship fallout is already happening across the globe)
2) women & children in abusive and violent homes (domestic violence is on the rise the world over)

We thought this might be a good image for a sober reminder:

And there are other "at risk for additional violence" groups too: the homeless, the elderly in nursing homes, displaced youth, those in "halfway houses", the incarcerated...

Compassion and kindness isn't just about all the various "Rapunzels" that we are, getting through this more humanely, and creatively, but it may, in fact, save lives in a different - but very important way - too.

Yeah - this subject gets heavy REAL fast!

By the way, anyone else begin picturing a whole lot of Rapunzel-type towers sprouting up through a kingdom, trying to figure out how to keep daily life and functions running while we're talking about this? Just us? :D That would make for an interesting and twisty, fairy tale challenge...

(Feel free to write that fairy tale and we'll publish it here!)

Let's finish with a little extra giggle bonus, because we can't help but feel that despite the incredible gravity of this situation, a roll of toilet paper will be the ultimate symbol for this era in world history...

PS: A PSA (because we cannot get complacent about this!)

  --WASH YOUR HANDS -- (at least 20 seconds - you should know how by now!)                           -- STAY AT HOME --  (ie. in a single place - no visiting people who don't sleep in the same place you do! Shop once a week OR LESS for necessities only.)

-- KEEP AT LEAST 6ft BETWEEN YOU AND OTHERS WHEN OUT --

(the length of a turkey vulture's wingspan!) 

A Personal Note from the OUABlog Fairy Tale News Room

Question: Is Once Upon A Blog still open for business then?

Answer: Yeeesss. Sort of. It's a qualified yes. We wish to be but computer work has become a very real physical challenge and posts are likely to be random, short and erratic. We wish we could do more right now but healing has to be our priority. We hope you understand and forgive the inconsistency. We were working with doctors on this before the world-wide emergency hit, so progress in this department is taking a backseat until our docs are available again. Keep up your "habit of Wonder", practice creative living, focus on healing (like Mother Nature is doing, despite all this!) and you'll see us in your orbit again very soon.

Gypsy & the Fairy Tale News Team

Give A Truly Folkloric Gift This Season: A *New* Winter Folklore Mini-Course Or A Self-Guided Long Course In Fairy Tale Classics! (Psst! BlackFriday Deal Alert!)

The award-winning Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic have TWO new courses enrolling, a winter folklore mini-course and a self-guided master course on fairy tales... AND they're both 15% off right now with code WINTERMAGIC! (Sale through Monday 12/2/19.)

Here are some more details to entice to you join - or gift! - the growing community of folks avidly learning about folklore and fairy tales under the guidance of folklorists Professor Brittany Warman and Professor Sara Cleto. We got the chance of a fly-by catch-up with our fairy tale professors to ask them a couple of fun questions for you about the courses as well... (see the text in blue below each of the course descriptions):

The first course is perfect for the Winter Season and has been created by popular demand after the rousing success and high attendance in Carterhaugh's Halloween mini-course. The new interactive Winter course begins on January 8, 2020:

Enrollment is OPEN for our new mini-course “Kindling a Light in the Darkness: Winter Folklore and Fairy Tales”!

Let’s face it: the long dark of January and February is BLEAK. Once the December lights come down, the turkey (or, if you’re like us, Tofurkey and every last potato in town) has been gobbled up, and the fizzy champagne countdown to New Years is over, facing the cold winter months can feel seriously depressing, And so, we want you to join us in kindling a light and sharing a story or two when the year seems darkest.

By popular demand, we’ve conjured up another interactive Carterhaugh mini-course for you, poised right in the coldest and loneliest time of year. We invite you to take shelter from the wind and snow, pull up a chair by our fire, and gather round for stories, fellowship, and rituals to warm you down to your toes. Through a combination of video lectures, written tales, extra resources, and group discussion, we will lead you through some of our favorite winter folklore and fairy tales!

For more info and to enroll, visit HERE.

Speaking of favorite Winter folklore, we couldn't resist a pop-quiz question on the topic for the Carterhaugh School Fairy Tale Professors:

OUAB: You are having a decadent Winter Feast and need to invite: one folkloric character, one fairy tale person, one ghost and one animal. (Don't worry. They have promised to keep their hooves/paws/trotters off the table). Whom would you invite to your festive evening?

Sara: Persephone (because, between bouncing back and forth between the underworld and the surface, she's learned to be a good conversationalist with all kinds of different people), Lady Mary from the fairy tale "Mr. Fox" (because she's one of my fairy-tale heroes - girl is FIERCE), the Ghost of Christmas Present (because he'd be so happy to be there), and Tatterhood's goat (because she is a fine and noble steed)!

Brittany: The White Cat (who yes, is from a fairy tale too, but fairy tales are folklore, sooooo !), the 13th fairy from “Sleeping Beauty” (because one simply does not NOT invite her, as we all know!), the Ghost of Christmas Past (bc I’d love to have a peek back in time of a Christmas with some of those I’ve lost over the years), and one of Santa’s magical reindeer (probably Vixen, I always loved her name!)

BONUS FOR EAST COAST FOLKS: For those interested in the darker side of Christmas, Yule and Winter holiday traditions and tales, on December 17th, 2019 there is a LIVE Profs and Pints talk in Washington DC – “You Better Watch Out: A Look at Terrifying Holiday Folklore Around the World” – A little note: these live sessions have been SELLING OUT so if you're genuinely interested in going, grab your tickets ASAP HERE. Here's a taste:

Today, the December holidays are all about joyous magic, warm evenings curled by the fire, and celebrations of the good in the world. Traditionally, however, the winter season also ushers in the terrors of the dark and the cold, teaching us to bar doors, whisper warnings, and, above all, to be good for goodness sake. 

While many are now familiar with the holiday terror of the Krampus, this talk will explore a few less familiar, but no less frightening, folkloric characters of the season. 

You'll hear tales of the Icelandic Jólakötturinn, a gigantic cat that devours naughty children, and learn how to best the Welsh Mari Lwyd, a skeletal horse with a taste for song and poetry. You'll get to know the Eastern European Christmas witch Frau Perchta and trace the history of the sometimes mischievous, sometimes terrifying Yule Lads and their monstrous mother, Grýla.

The second offering is an in-depth master course in the classic fairy tales, consisting of ten comprehensive lessons:

Introduction to Fairy Tales
A self-guided course through classic tales and traditional folklore

Once upon a time...
A girl in red walked into the woods with a basket for her grandmother. There, she wandered from the path, talked to a strange wolf, was eaten, was saved.

Or, once upon a time…
The girl, who did not wear red, went into the woods. She met a werewolf, chose the Road of Needles instead of the Road of Pins. She performed a striptease for the wolf, tricked him, and ran back home, and slammed the door behind her.

Or, once upon a time…
A girl, once more in red, walked into the woods. She wandered, talked, was eaten. She was not saved, and she remained in the wolf’s belly.

A teeny preview of one of the beautiful
'grimoire' pages created for participants
to download & collect into their
own personal study volume.
To read the info-goodies you will have
to join..

In this self-guided online course, “Introduction to Fairy Tales,” we welcome you across the threshold of Carterhaugh to explore a collection of wonder tales from around the world- stories you may know, stories you may think you know, stories that are strange and unfamiliar. Through a combination of video lectures, supplemental readings, and extra resources, we will introduce you to the wide world of fairy-tale scholarship and provide the history, context, and tools to begin analyzing these stories and applying them to your own life.

For more info and to enroll, visit HERE.

Applying fairy tales to one's own life felt like it deserved a pop-quiz question too. Sara & Brittany very kindly humored us with wonderfully reflective answers...

OUAB: As you explain in this course, fairy tales are classified by their "tale-type" or "the things that happen in the fairy tale" and can sometimes reflect people's lives. While therapists can use this as a tool of exploration, just for fun, what would you each say is a "tale type" you feel reflects an aspect of your lives? (To make it harder we're nixing the reply of regularly losing shoes like Cinderella...)

Brittany: I’m going to have to go with “Sleeping Beauty” for this question. Most people know it’s my favorite fairy tale, but I also feel a deep connection to the story. All my life I’ve been shy, quiet, and typically not too willing to stick up for myself... sleeping, in some sense. But the older and more confident I get, the more I feel I am “awakening” from that, awakening to the person I’m truly meant to be. And that, to me, is kind of what “Sleeping Beauty” is all about.

Sara: The answer I give to this question will change depending on the day, but today, it's "Snow White." "Snow White" was my least favorite fairy tale growing up, because I thought Snow White was really weak and passive - and I wanted so badly to be strong and confident. As I've grown older (and given this fairy tale a lot more thought), I've realized that "Snow White" is a story about survival and success, despite incredible odds. I've grown much more compassionate towards Snow White herself (who is only seven years old in the Grimm version!) and more compassionate to myself, especially when I think about my own challenges through the lens of this particular fairy tale. 

Thanks Sara & Brittany! We love the humor, delight and insight you bring to every conversation - even pop-quizzes!

We at Once Upon A Blog have participated in a few Carterhaugh courses and highly recommend them both to people new to fairy tale studies, as well as those looking for something a little more in-depth. Both Sara and Brittany are wonderfully enthusiastic while being well-researched and clear in their unique tag-team style teaching. There's nothing quite like it anywhere else, and best of all, being based in an online format, their courses are available for ANY enthusiast, no matter their background, level of education, or location (yes - there are students joining from all over the world!) and they are committed to making this learning opportunity available at an affordable price. They are forever expanding their courses and the ways in which they are teaching and we feel lucky to have seen the formation of this wonderful school that was recently awarded the Dorothy Howard Prize, as recognition of

excellence, relevance, and innovation in folklore education, by The American Folklore Society. (In case it's not clear - this school is considered excellent by all those professional folklorists you respect!)

We hope to see some of you in the courses to come!