Animated Fairy Tales Get A Real World Edge At 'Animation Reimagined' (Modern Eden Gallery)

Mulan - Olga Esther

Curated by Michael Cuffe of Warholian, the 'Animation Reimagined' exhibition will bring together many animated classic icons - both past and modern-day - "fantastically recreated in new paintings and from new perspectives". While there are more than just fairy tale characters, we're focusing on those that are most closely linked to our favorite subject here. (We've included a list at the end of the post with all the other cartoon characters we've been able to discover - and identify - to date.)

Official poster, featuring a reimagining of Dumbo (artist unknown)

Cuffe has asked all artists to bring a bit of realism into their paintings and works. We will see these animated classics re-imagined in a way we’ve never seen before, from a unique artistic viewpoint.

It's always interesting to see what sort of spin artists will put on animated icons, especially fairy tales. These paintings and sculptures belong in the 'fine art' realm, though at a glance it may be easy to dismiss some of these as 'professional fan art'. They all, however, share the intent to bring some realism - and real-world consideration - to their interpretations of flat cartoons and animated characters. The idea is to take them beyond the realm of the "safe" screen and have them "intrude" on ours, creating a response in the viewer. From the selection we've been able to find scattered around social media corners, the achievement is quite impressive. We hope to see more/better quality images, once the show is opened to the public today (Saturday, April 14, 2018) and the Gallery puts the collection online.

In the meantime, enjoy! (We've included artist's titles, comments, and statements where they were available.)

Alice In Wonderland (2018) - Brianna Angelakis

"Frozen in Time" - Ania Tomicka

“The Young Goddess Artemis” - Richard J Oliver
I went to the source of what I believe inspired the character
of a well known Disney’s Animation. For a while I’ve been wanting to
make a painting based on DIANA (Roman Goddess)
or ARTEMIS (Greek Goddess) of Hunting and nature. After
some research the similarities between these
Goddess’ and the princess character Merida
were uncanny so I drew my inspiration from the mythical
daughter of Zeus.

Kiki's Delivery Service - Carly Janine Mazur

Ratatouille - Richard Ahnert

Pinocchio - Hanna Jaeun

"Bibbedi bobbidi boo" (Cinderella) - Anne Angelshaug
As a child I adored the story of Cinderella, but rewatching it
as an adult it conjured very different thoughts and feelings.
Thoughts of abuse, apathy and delusion....
sorry I took it to a dark place, but it just seemed right...

The Little Mermaid  - Meredith Marsone
"This (is a close-up of) a painting of The Little Mermaid just after
the point of her transformation, still underwater, but human now and
so in imminent danger in the place she used to call home."

Sleeping Beauty - Sheri DeBow 

“Guardian” - Lena Danya
The Little Mermaid Meets Marlin and Dory from Finding Nemo

Sometimes Ups Outnumber the Downs - Jessica Dalva
"My sculpture based on Disney’s Robin Hood."

"The Strands the Bind" - Stephanie Pui Mun Law (The Fox and the Hound) 

There are many more cartoon classics reimagined, of course, these are just the most fairy tale related of those revealed (whether in close-up or as finished pieces). Others include Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat, Sponge Bob, The Aristocats, Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Lady and the Tramp, Frankenweenie, Pink Panther, Coco, Jessica Rabbit, Betty Boop, Toy Story, Gumby, Sailor Moon, Bambi, She-Ra and more.

The exhibition is free to the public and opens today, Saturday April 14, 2018, at The Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco.

Exhibition Dates: April 14–May 4, 2018

Opening Reception: April 14, 2018  6 pm–9 pm

Featuring the artwork of Adam Hunter Caldwell, Alec Huxley, Amanda Banker, Amy Mastrine, Ania Tomicka, Anne Angelshaug, Aunia Kahn, Brianna Angelakis, Carly Janine Mazur, Catherine Moore, Chris Leib, Christina Ridgeway, Daniel J Valadez, David Natale, Glenn Arthur, Hanna Jaeun, Hikari Shimoda, Jacyln Alderete, Jessica Dalva, Joshua Coffy, Julie Filipenko, Kathrin Longhurst, Lee Harvey Roswell, Leegan Koo, Leilani Bustamante, Luke Allsbrook, Marcos LaFarga, Marie Larkin, Marjolein Caljouw, Mark Bryan, Meredith Marsone, Michael Cuffe, Nathalia Suellen, Nick Stathopoulos, Olga Esther, Rachael Bridge, Rachel Silva, Raúl Guerra, Rene Cuvos, Rich Pellegrino, Richard Ahnert, Richard J Oliver, Robert Bowen, Sarah McCloskey, Sheri DeBow, Simona Candini, Stephanie Law, Steve Javiel, Susannah Martin, Susanne Apgar, Sybiline , and Zelyss.

No One Is Alone

by Rune Guneriussen

Today has been... shocking. Everywhere people are devastated and outraged by the terrible, violent terrorism in Paris. And it's hit home particularly for communities of cartoonists, animators and artists. It's all I've been able to think of all day. Two images have stayed with me. One is the response by artist Lucille Clerc, that was helped into wide circulation in social media by the well known controversial street artist, Banksy. All I can add is simply a determined "Yes":

I'm going to keep a copy of this close to my desk from this day forward.

The other is a photo of the rally in Paris tonight/last night, condemning the terrorism and showing solidarity, holding large, lighted letters that read: NOT AFRAID.

While there are many bad and terrible people in the world there are many, MANY, good as well.

Paris, we stand with you.

You are not alone. Truly.

Je suis Charlie

Snow White (& Her Apple) is on Display at the American Museum of Natural History

The poisonous apple that Snow White ate, causing her to collapse, produced a similar effect to pufferfish poison, according to the exhibit. The poison blocks nerve signals that make muscles move, but victims are otherwise awake.

A new exhibit called The Power of Poison opened in late November in New York, at the American Museum of Natural History, last year and our gal Snow White - and her poisoned fruit - features as a major installment. (Yay!)

The whole exhibit looks fascinating but the section on Poison in Myth and Legend (get a brief overview HERE, though I gather there is much, much more) looks particularly so, with nods to the Mad Hatter, Harry Potter, the witches of Macbeth and much more. Take a look at this brief video by curator Mark Siddall (who seems very in touch with the 'now' and obviously loves educating people in the most entertaining way possible) and tell me you're not intrigued:

Here's a summary of the exhibit from popular family blogger MommyPoppins, who picked it as one of the best family exhibits currently out there this 2013/2014 Winter:

The exhibit begins by putting you in a Columbian rainforest, complete with toxic creatures...

The Power of Poison examines facts, fictions and legends about deadly toxins. While the subject may seem offbeat for families (how many kids know what arsenic or mercury are anyway?), the presentation is totally engaging. Kids can explore the role of poison in famous fairy tales, solve mysteries at digital kiosks, get up close and personal with deadly creatures, and watch a live presentation about a historic poisoning. Both my son and I were completely absorbed by the one-of-a-kind display. For once, picking our poison had a totally awesome outcome. 

The Power of Poison is divided into two distinct sections connected by a live dramatic presentation. The first part explores the back story of toxins: where they come from, what they do, how they were used and who used them. Armed with this knowledge, you're able to solve three different poison-related mysteries in the second section. 

You enter The Power of Poison through a dimly lit Colombian jungle where you're introduced to poisonous plants and animals like live golden poison frogs and Zebra Longwing caterpillars. There's also an interesting short about a lone camper found dead in the woods with no evidence of foul play. I won't give away the ending, let's just say the culprit turns out to be one of nature's toxic creatures. 

One of our favorite parts was the Poison in Myth and Legend gallery, where life-size dioramas reveal the truth behind well known legends and stories. Find out why Lewis Carroll called hatters mad in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, whether Snow White would have really died from eating a poisoned apple and just what those witches in Macbeth were brewing up in their cauldron. 

We also enjoyed searching through the Hogwarts-style magic book, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and Dioscorides' De Materia Medica. As you flip through the animated tome about poisonous plants, the text and illustrations seem to appear out of nowhere as if the book were enchanted... 

(Read more on the fascinating exhibit areas HERE.)

Apparently the presentation is quite different from the usual AMNH exhibits, being rather more interactive and hands on. There's even a section where you can solve a mystery by following clues It's very multi-media too. There are full-scale, semi-animated scenes, actual venomous/poisonous creatures, audio and visual presentations and slideshows and a very special interactive projected 'Enchanted Book' (also mentioned above), which looks like something straight out of the Hogwarts library, that you can turn the pages of and see move under your hands when you touch the pages (much like you might expect a magic book to do), to learn more about poisons. There's an online version of it HERE. 

This “enchanted” book resembles an ancient botanical volume. It displays animations of poisonous plants and how they were used in the past. Drawings appear to come to life as the reader touches the pages.

While it's nothing compared to the exhibit piece, it still gives a lot of truly fascinating information on various poisons, how they came to be, the history and myth-tory behind them and more and is well worth your time to browse through and set all the animations and videos happening.)

The exhibit also explores myths and legends associated with poison. It features a life-sized scene of the Mad Hatter from the book "Alice in Wonderland" to explain the origin of the term "mad as a hatter." The saying dates back to the 19th century when mercuric nitrate was used by hat makers to turn fur into felt. Prolonged exposure led to mercury poisoning with symptoms that included trembling, memory loss, and anxiety.

I'm so thrilled that fairy tales are not only included in the exhibit but are showcased the way they have been. While the truth is you could have an entire exhibit just on poisons in fairy tales, getting people thinking about possible real-world origins of tales is a good way to get people to go back and look at their favorite tales, rethink folklore they know, and maybe do a little research beyond as well. Blogger Sonic Eclectic looks to be one of these since their summary of this part of the exhibit is as follows (section in bold is my emphasis):

Once the exhibit gets into the details of the environment then the specifics of countering poisons and folklore arrives.  Details are offered about witches, stories of Hercules using the toxic hydra blood, an excerpt of Snow White, and also information from Harry Potter.  What’s best is the exhibit ties the fiction and folklore to real life.  Tying poison and its affects to literature is something I would not have guessed to read and see.  Paired with the information are well-crafted artistic visuals and interactive information you can touch and hear.  Thankfully we don’t have to smell it if we could because that would not be enjoyable.

This life-size diorama of three witches circling a boiling cauldron recreates a famous scene in Shakespeare's "Macbeth." The witches are drawing on the magical powers of a few highly-poisonous plants.

The AMofNH also has a great Pinterest board full of information (and cool visuals) that you can browse HERE. While fairy tales aren't featured here, it's still intriguing (I need more words for fascinating...).

You can see more displays from the exhibit HERE and there's a whole set of behind-the-scenes photos on creating the exhibit HERE, where you can see much larger images of those below, get more information about the section, what went into putting it together and some of the varied skills employed for the presentation. (I don't see the video and animation artists included but no doubt they were hard at work as well.)

I now want to see a fairy tale exhibit JUST LIKE THIS! (Please.)
The Power of Poison runs until August 10, 2014.

Cinderella's Sizzling Dress (Live Action Film Update, With Bonus Ashes)

Fan made Cinderella 2014 poster by Zhivko Petrov (myrmorko)

Not long before Christmas, while shooting at Pinewood Studios, the extravagant wedding gown Lily James was wearing, caught fire (she - and no one else- was hurt).

Here's what happened, told best, and with gentle humor, by the DailyMail (extract):

The 24-year-old had been shooting a scene at Pinewood studios. The bridal dress — with its voluminous skirts, three miles of hemming and covered in Swarovski crystals — is a work of art in its own right. It covers so much square footage the actress can’t always see what’s in front of her. 

She was led into her dressing room (a large tent in a corner of the vast 007 sound stage) and her hem brushed against a heater and began smouldering.‘It had turned really cold and someone had put a three-bar heater a bit too close to where Lily was going to sit on a stool,’ explained distinguished costume designer Sandy Powell. 

Lily James channeling Bridget Bardot for Tatler UK Magazine

‘Luckily, just a segment of the silk dress got burnt. Thank God Lily wasn’t harmed,’ added Powell  who has collected three Oscars and two Baftas for her screen creations. 

‘I wore this wedding dress for about 20 seconds before I walked past the heater and burned some of it.’

She said she was in tears at first — until Ben Chaplin, who plays Cinderella’s father, lightened the mood by saying: ‘Well, I’ll wait a while before I make the Cinders joke.’  

Lily said: ‘I went: “Oh, no!” And I was laughing through my tears. 

...incendiary dresses aside, Lily said she’s been having ‘a ball’...

Once the emergency is over, you have to admit, it's a perfect behind-the-scenes story for a Cinderella. (Cinders! lol)

Producers for the film confirmed at the time of the incident, that the movie wouldn't be ready/released until Easter 2015. Considering the buzz around Maleficent and Frozen right now, and with Into the Woods heading for the 2014 Christmas release slot, it's probably a good thing.

"If the Slipper Fits" (aka Occupy the Palace) At Philly Fringe Fest

While this new, and relatively small, production of Cinderella is only running for one more night (tonight, September 21st) as part of Philadelphia Fringe Festival, I feel it's noteworthy for the interpretation and modern parallel it makes with the very current issues of today.

Whoever would have thought the Occupy Wall Street issue was playing out a version of a fairy tale? (Note: By fairy tale I mean variation of the old tale, not "fairytale" aka happily-ever-after definition that the media and general public tend to use.)

Here's an excerpt from an article in Newsworks, explaining a little of the production and how the characters are represented:

"The class thing is in the original story," he said, explaining that his inspiration to revamp the story in favor of the "99 percent" was due in part to his own daughter's involvement with the original Occupy movement in New York City, adding that she was in Zucotti Park the first night of the movement.  

"If the Slipper Fits," performed in the church hall, opens in a rather timeless setting: The kingdom is getting ready for its Jubilee, a three-day celebration that happens once every 40 years. Once upon a time, the Jubilee was a time for the crown to release prisoners, forgive debts and party with the villagers. But now it's a ritzy gala exclusively for the very rich, who have been raising taxes on the uninvited commoners so the palace can afford the festivities. 

"This system is really starting to stink," the Occupy chorus sings. "We gotta do...something." 

A local singer named Lisa DeChristofaro lends a beautiful voice to the principal maiden, known to her friends as Cindy. The home she shares with her stepmother and stepsisters (Susan Blair, Adrianna Marino and Kiera Mersky) isn't an acrimonious one. The stepsisters are just a little distracted by their tap-dancing career. 

When they leave Cindy to wash the windows during the Jubilee Ball, an impatient yet theatrical Fairy Godmother (Trudy Graboyes) pays a visit. "You've gotta understand, I've got other clients," she sings. But the plot really thickens when a Fairy Godfather and his lackey, Rob, show up in dark suits and posh vests with a little proposition for Cinderella. They have their own reasons for crashing the ball. 

Posing as the Countess Von Wiggandbottom, Cinderella charms her way through the palace, but instead of losing her shoe, she hurls it at Rob's angry pursuers (good thing it's not actually made of glass). When it's time for the besotted Prince Charles (Nick Picknally) to put her shoe back on, it's more of a fairy-tale fingerprinting than a moment of true love.Cindy finds herself in an unfortunate love triangle that never made the original story, caught between an amorous prince and a would-be gangster with a Robin Hood complex. The musical (almost) ends in a marriage proposal. 

"Share the riches equally...Heal the kingdom for you and me," the Prince sings, once Cindy and her Occupier pals help him see the light.

There's more about the show HERE, along with links to where it's playing and how to get tickets. The official website is HERE (and follow the links for more).

A Real Life Glimpse Into Snow White's Revenge

From Camille Rose Garcia's Snow White

Warning:

This post is NOT for everyone.

It discusses historical torture methods.

Skip this if you have a sensitive stomach.

At first she did not want to go to the wedding, but she found no peace. She had to go and see the young queen. When she arrived she recognized Snow-White, and terrorized, she could only stand there without moving.Then they put a pair of iron shoes into burning coals. They were brought forth with tongs and placed before her. She was forced to step into the red-hot shoes and dance until she fell down dead. (Grimms Household Tales 1857)

Although I've yet to finish this (and am late in getting it done), I'm working on putting together a slideshow retelling of Snow White for one of the tech challenges in the fairy tale MOOC. Since I'm focusing on how the Queen and Snow White affect each other, I did a little digging into history to see if I could make a little more sense of the "red hot iron shoes" the Queen was forced to dance in at Snow's wedding.

Dance to death - Kelly Mccracken
✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Local News: Fairy Tale Ending For Reckless Cinderella Driver

23:59 by Sergio Otero on Flickr

Yes - this is a real story and has so many Cinderella parallels it's almost a "stranger than fiction" case (and kind of hilarious).

Earlier in July, in Seattle WA, a Cinderella story unfolds as police sight a reckless driver in a speeding car...

"A real-life Cinderella story played out early this morning (July 2, 2013) in a north Seattle cemetery as officers searched for a reckless driver. 

At about 1:45 AM, a patrol officer spotted a blue Ford Explorer speeding down the center turn lane near 125th St and Aurora Avenue N and tried to pull the car over. Instead of stopping for the officer, the suspect turned into a motel parking lot, (Edit FTNH: Not a pumpkin?? Oh wait, they mean turned the corner and entered a parking lot... Heh.), struck a parked car and crashed into the wall of the motel, (Edit FTNH: Wow - when your magic runs out these days it can get really dramatic!), causing at least $2,500 in damage. 

The driver jumped out of the car, took off running, and hopped a fence into a cemetery. (Edit FTNH: I'm guessing from all the athleticism no ball dress was involved at this point.. The cemetery aspect is a nice touch - harks back to Grimm's version.) Patrol officers surrounded the cemetery and called in K9 police dog, Ziva, to help track the suspect. (Edit FTNH: From Slavic mythology meaning living, alive/ Hebrew form is brilliance, brightness)

While searching the cemetery, Ziva came across a stray shoe, and later found the suspect hiding in a patch of ivy. (Edit FTNH: Bright dog indeed!) He was missing a shoe just like the one Ziva had found earlier. (Edit: FTNH: And whaddayaknow? It fit!) 

Officers reunited the man with his lost shoe (Edit FTNH: Aw.) then booked him into the King County Jail for reckless driving, hit and run and other traffic crimes." (Edit FTNH: And they lived with a record, for ever and ever after, The End.)

No additions or liberties taken with this story. The only changes have been in punctuation and spelling correction for readability. (And I couldn't help but add a little commentary along the way... all clearly noted.)

Apparently, there's more than one way to have a fairy tale life. ;)

Source

"It won't cost much... just your voice!" (aka The Fairy Tale Fortunes of a Voice Actress)

Samantha Morton loses her "voice" (image via The Film Experience)

From a little story I came across yesterday, which reminded me of another little story you may have heard of, in which a desperate mermaid bargains away her voice for something she wanted even more...

(Via Slashfilm):

Most of us don’t spend a lot of time considering the nuances of disembodied robot voices like Siri’s or the GPS navigator’s. But then most of us aren’t directing movies in which an operating system is one of the romantic leads.
Scarlett Johansson has replaced Samantha Morton as the computerized love interest of Spike Jonze‘s Her, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as a writer who falls for his operating system. The change came about at the last minute — initial shooting had already wrapped when Jonze decided to recast the part.

Samantha Morton as Agatha in The Minority Report

The Film Experience put it this way:

I realize it's only* voicework but I'm bit sad that Samantha Morton's voice has been removed from the upcoming Spike Jonze picture Her. She was to voice the operating system that Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with in lieu of, one supposes, flesh and blood options. I thought Samantha was brilliant in insert anything from her filmography here, and even though it was only* voicework, I was anxious to "see" her again.
Morton has the most terrible ratio of talent-to-role opportunities. I don't quite get what's happened to her career as she's one of the best screen actors alive. Still, since the world has a very short memory I didn't notice much mourning online about her replacement when the news broke.

Samantha Morton

It should be noted that Spike Jonze has released a statement saying he has the utmost respect for Ms. Morton, that she's a longtime friend and remains so.

The parallels with Andersen's The Little Mermaid are fascinating as it's an aspect of the story not concentrated on as much - that of losing your "voice", or position, or "say" when someone else comes along and (through no fault of their own) takes your place. It's the biz. It's actually most "biz" and it kinda sucks. But this is one of the reasons we love the tales. Because they're very good at showing the consequences of various scenarios and we have a better chance of making an informed decision when it comes to our own lives.

Unlike Disney's version, Andersen's Little Mermaid doesn't have a happy ending in that she doesn't get the "role" she had her heart set on, of being the prince's True Love. Even though Samantha Morton earned her "legs" (or as IMDB puts it "is known as one of the finest actors of her generation") she still got bumped by the star du jour (who, to be fair, is not without "legs" herself).

It should be noted, though, that Andersen's unnamed Mermaid did end up with a soul by behaving like the true princess she'd wanted to be (soulless to soul-having = not too shabby) so there's always hope that this unfortunate setback of Ms. Morton's will (somehow) free her up to move onto bigger and better things - especially with the support of so many critics shaking fingers at this odd last-minute change by Spike Jonez this week.

I do think it's pretty neat that in the middle of this (apparent) crisis, the general response from those looking on is that, no matter what, they still want Samantha Morton to be "part of that world"... ♫

Samantha Morton

Note: This message is brought to you by the DCA: Dinglehopper Colllectors Anonymous. ;)

*Please note that "only voicework" was not meant to be derogatory in any way. The writer even made his own little annotated note on the subject in The Film Experience's article.

News: Bear Visits Goldilocks

European brown bear by Claire Scully*

From AllVoices Local to Global News online:

Date: December 15, 2011

Headline: Bear Visits Goldilocks

The bear, who had been seen in the neighbourhood, made his way into the man’s basement and was sleeping when the cable repairman found the 500 pound ursine in his Hopatcong home Wednesday afternoon. 

State Conservation officer Michael Madoni arrived at the home and ensured the bear would not awake by shooting him with a tranquilizer. The bear was then relocated to the Berkshire Valley Wildlilfe Management Area and a return to its wilderness home.

Read the full article, with bonus cute baby seal home invasion story, HERE.

Gotta love it - if we could confirm the man was blonde this would be a doubly awesome story. :D Very glad no one - and no bear - was hurt and a merry Christmas snooze could then be had by all (after bear-proofing the house anyway!)

Why does this story seriously make me want to go write a fairy tale short story now? :D

Silverlocks by Ali Shaw

And for your bonus material, may I suggest having a read of Ali Shaw's great post about Goldilocks, bears and Scrapefoot HERE. 

Ali Shaw is the author of The Girl With Glass Feet (you can see my review HERE) who has a clear love and understanding of fairy tales, along with a talent for sketching fantastic and unusual things. I always wish there were more to look at!

His next book, The Main Who Rained, is about to be released on January 1st 2012. Although I haven't read it (and it has nothing to do with Goldilocks, Silverlocks or Scrapefoot that I can tell) I do recommend Mr. Shaw's writing and tale spinning.

And for a "beautiful things bonus" go visit Claire Scully's portfolio. The "Bejewelled" section is full of beautiful artistic tributes to animals and nature like the one at the head of the post, and fits the idea of respect that "Bear Visits Goldilocks" is telling us, at least in between the lines, we should have.

A Touch Of Reality To Classic Scenes Makes People Think Twice About Fairy Tales

 

Photographer Matt Hoyle uses a mix of computer graphics and photography for his art with memorable results.

Under his hand, adding a realistic touch to classic fairy tale scenes highlights the creep factor in many of these. Are we really OK with Snow White falling unconscious in the hands of seven men? They may be little but they're obviously very much men. (You can see his full gallery HERE which also shows other examples of his work.)

At a time when the dark side of fairy tales in very much in vogue, images like these are making parents think twice about reading fairy tales to their kids. (You may remember this New York Times article from 2009 HERE which cited a list of tales parents no longer read to kids. There's also a new one, prompted by art book publisher Taschen who released a fairy tale collection in October this year of stories and beautiful illustrations, HERE.) While I don't advocate showing creepy images to children, I think the stories and the dark possibilities make it doubly important for these tales to be told to little ones.

 

I learned a lot from Snow White as a child (especially what NOT to do) and the story remains one of my favorites as I age and begin to better understand how women age. Rapunzel, who once showed me there are worlds beyond your tower now reminds me not to be overprotective as a parent. Donkeyskin showed me (and still shows me) I can change my expected destiny if I'm pro active about it. Beauty and the Beast showed me the importance of courtesy and manners as a child and now reminds me to be patient (and remain courteous) in relationships. Red Riding Hood showed me I could be smart as a child when the odds were against me, if I kept my head and now reminds me to be more understanding and protective of precocious young girl-women, among other things.

There are many more lessons I've taken over the years from the tales quoted above, not all of them necessarily related to the ones cited here. Suffice it to say, no matter what age or where I am in life, the tales never stop speaking to me. My most resonant lesson remains the same though: there is a path through the woods, no matter what the woods look like and no matter the manner of creatures who step into your path. I'm so grateful for fairy tales and how real they can be. :)