#FolktaleWeek2020 - Day 3 Picks: Courtship (+ some late entries from earlier prompts)

Promotional pic to re-post/share to spread awareness of #FolktaleWeek2020 by Julia C. Illustration

Today's prompt was COURTSHIP.

Click HERE to find out more about #FolktaleWeek2020 - happening all this week.

Day 1: BIRTH (click for our picks post)

Day 2: RITUAL (click for our picks post)

by Scott Keenan Illustration
“The jolt jostled the piece of poisoned apple loose from Snow White’s throat. Not long after, she opened her eyes, lifter the coffin lid, and sat up, alive again”

by 

Sojung Kim-McCarthy is seeking representation 

@creativesojung
The Weaver Girl(Vega) fell in love with the Cowherd(Altair) & god,
her grandfather, permitted them to marry. But when the newlyweds spent all the time
together without doing any work, god separated them with the Milky Way
in between. On the lunar seventh of July, the only day of the year they were permitted
to meet, the two of them ran to the shore of the celestial river but there was no way to
cross over. The crows and magpies took pity of them as the couple weeped,
and formed a bridge over the Milky Way.

by Diana_Renjina
Eglė the Queen of Serpents - “A young maiden named Eglė discovers a grass snake in the sleeve of her blouse after bathing with her two sisters. Speaking in a human voice, the grass snake repeatedly agrees to go away only after Eglė pledges herself to him in exchange for him leaving her clothes. <...> Instead of seeing a serpent or a grass snake on the seashore, Eglė meets her bridegroom Žilvinas, who appears to be a handsome man - the Grass Snake Prince.”

by 

katyareyda_plasticine

Day3 ☆Courtship☆
Courtship doesn't require words, just a look

by @dianamayoillo
“The True Bride” for #Courtship - Following my journey for #folktaleweek2020 by revisiting old #Grimms tales I used to enjoy, I remembered this story about a man who ‘forgot’ the woman he said he loved! So many of these tales sit very uncomfortably in the present, like this one where the woman waited and waited for her ‘true love’, whilst he planned to marry another. But, by disguising herself in increasingly beautiful gowns of moons, suns and stars, the other bride is discarded and the prince recognises his #TrueBride. Shocking! However, when I was little, all that counted were the magical dresses she wore...

by @kathwaxman

Day Three Prompt: Courtship, Petruccio and Kate, Taming of the Shrew - Familiarize yourself with the Renaissance courtship traditions in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew via this artistic rendering of Francis Bacon, the protagonist’s foil in The Mostly True Manuscripts of Wee Will Shaxbard. Considered within its historical context, this work does extol some common stereotypes. However, Shrew also provides an opportunity to challenge common folklore regarding “appropriate” behavior within the confines of marriage. Controversial yet educational.

by @marjolaneroller
Bluebeard (Marjolaine Roller is retelling the tale of Bluebeard and has mixed up the prompts to better serve the story sequence. Courtship was the first prompt of the series.)

by @ruthburrowsillustration
I am looking to Lincolnshire Folklore to inspire my work this week and in the book Lincolnshire Folk Tales by Maureen James there appears a gruesome tale - “The Lass That Saw Her Own Grave Dug” - Bessie, invited out to walk by Mr. Fox has a strange dream the night before and says to herself, “I hadn’t that there dream for nowt. I’ll be in Galley-dales before he gets there, I reckon; then I shall get to know what he’s up to.” - She climbs into a tree and witnesses Mr. Fox digging a grave. Eventually, he tires of waiting for her to arrive, fills in the hole and leaves. Bessie runs home and tells her Father who captures Mr. Fox the next day when he comes a courting!

by Eleonora Asparuhova @elleasparuhova
There was once a man in love with a Samodiva... - Day 3 from #folktaleweek2020 ‘Courtship’ is based on the Bulgarian folktale about the beautiful mythical forest creature Samodiva...

by ayukotanaka
Day 3. Courtship - Knights and princes visited the castle to rescue the princess who keeps on sleeping inside the castle...

by shelleyaldrichminimuseum
THE STAR LOVERS - Once there was a young maiden on the edge of the Milky Way who wove lovely white clothes for the gods. She never stopped weaving because of the warning she heard, “Sorrow, age-long sorrow, shall come upon the Weaving Maiden when she leaves her loom” - At her father’s request she takes a break and falls in love with a Herd Boy. In their happiness, they forget their duties and anger the gods. Because of their carelessness, the gods create a delicate bridge of magpies for the Herd Boy to cross. Once the boy is on the far side of the bright river, the magpies fly away, thus splitting the lovers. - The maiden then returns to her loom in sorrow, weaving cloth in greys and color now that she has experienced love and loss. On the 7th day of the 7th moon, the magpies return, allowing the lovers a single day together. In Japan, Tanabata or the Star Festival, celebrates the lovers reunion on July 7th.

LATE ENTRIES FOR PREVIOUS PROMPTS WE HAD TO SHARE!

PROMPT 1: BIRTH

Artist unknown! (We found the pic then clicked to see the name of the artist but the post disappeared as the app reloaded! Instagram is not searchable via hashtags at present, Facebook doesn't show all results or in order and Twitter is used less for posting under this hashtag. Apologies to the artist whom we've spent multiple hours trying to track down without success. Any info on this artist would be greatly appreciated so we can correctly credit them.)

by Freyahartas
Tatterhood - Once upon a time there was a Queen who desperately wanted children of her own. She met an old hag who told her to plant a seed and eat the beautiful flower that grew from it, but she must not eat the weed at the base of the flower as this would bring her great misfortune. When the flower eventually bloomed the queen plucked it from the stem and ate it, the flower tasted so sweet that she couldn't help herself and ate the ugly weed that grew underneath. Later the queen gave birth to twin daughters, one as beautiful as the sun, the other an ugly little girl who clutched a wooden spoon and rode on the back of a goat! This child was named Tatterhood because she was always so ugly and ragged and wore a hood which hung about her ears in tatters.

by @victoria_fomina_art
"Birth"

by @apolin.art

by @dressenmcqueen
“BIRTH #folktaleweek2020 - From the Woman with Three Hundred and Sixty-Six Children. - A countess is cursed by a beggar woman when she refuses her any scrap of assistance then forcefully throws her from her garden - and scolds her for having two children when she, the countess, has none. The curse is for her to have as many children as days of the year. The woman intended only three babies, since she delivered these words on January 3rd. It came to be, though, a baby for each and every day of the year plus it was a leap year....here we see the progression of babies on every tray and bowl from the house on their way to be christened.

by Anne-Marie Farrell (@farrell_annemarie)
Maleficent’s FOMO is in full force as she gate-crashes Aurora’s Christening.

PROMPT 2: RITUAL

by Critterwings
from an Italian folk tale, the “Colony of Cats” a gentle variation on story of the Gatto Mammone or the Mammon Cat. There was a nice girl who was always being treated poorly by her mother and older sister. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. Nearby was a large, villa owned entirely by cats, who always needed a human servant to help out with chores and paid well, but no one ever wanted to stay with so many cats for too long. She was desperate though, so she went to ask them for the job. She cooked and cleaned and helped take care of the kittens and older cats, and was happy enough for awhile. She was so kind and gentle and generous that the cats were always happy too, and when they noticed that she was lonely they took her to their leader, Father Gatto, aka the Mammon Cat. 

#FolktaleWeek2020 - Day 1 Picks: Birth

This beautiful illustration, created to share and spread the word, is by one of the organizers, Jennifer M. Potter @jennifermpotter (IG)

It's that time of year again: #FolktaleWeek! 

It’s that time of year, time to celebrate the changing season by getting cozy with some great stories. That’s right, @folktaleweek is just around the corner! Are you excited? I know we are! Let us know you’re joining by reposting this image or making your own! (Promo by one of the organizers, Jennifer M. Potter)

What is #FolktaleWeek? (Or #FolktaleWeek2020?)

#FolktaleWeek is a week of creation and expression for artists and creatives of all kinds, inspired by a set of prompts for a whole week that everyone uses (released at the end of October so folks can prepare if they'd like). Everyone is encouraged to create something based on that prompt, with folktales and fairy tale in mind, and post it on social media (Instagram is the main one but also Twitter and Facebook) with the hashtags #FolktaleWeek and #FolktaleWeek2020 so folks can find them via a simple search. 

The prompts are written in the window below (illustration also by Jennifer M. Potter):

While this started as a challenge for professional children's book illustrators from around the globe to join together and focus on something many of them loved, rather than deadlines and briefs (because, if you didn't already know, fairy tales and folktales are very much loved thing among this group of creatives!), it has grown to be a worldwide community event for artists of all types, all ages, all styles, and all experiences. Everyone is super encouraging and the delight shared by everyone discovering other artists, tales they haven't heard of before, and new takes and twists on old tales, is such a magical boost. 

@sabinewaldmannbrun

@charitytheiss

@s_e_r_p_r_e_k_a

It's a wonderfully uplifting and positive place to be on the internet this week!

It's not just about painting and drawing; every medium is welcome, including writing, poetry, photography, cosplay, baking, papercraft, needle felting, graphic design, cartoons, collage, sculpture, linocut prints and so much more (these examples are just some of the media used to date over the past couple of years and new folktale expressions and creations appear all the time!).

@april.mawhinney.illustration

@ruthburrowsillustration

Most folks do something different for each prompt but there are a growing group of folks who are taking the challenge to the next level (like the artist below) and finding a way to link all of the challenges into a story through the week. It's all quite amazing.

@martadorado

Ideally, we would just take the week off and scroll all social media hunting for lovely art and tales, and discovering new and emerging artists, but reality is unlikely to let us do that. (Last year there were tens of thousands of entries for the hashtags (!!) - which was awesome but impossible to keep up with.) HOWEVER, we had to at least prompt you at the beginning of the week, to go hunting yourself and revel in the lovely fairy tale and folklore creations appearing this week as we count down to a very bizarre zoom-based Thanksgiving. (And if we get to post some more pics on another day, we will be thrilled!)

Today's prompt is BIRTH. 

(Click to enlarge - any info re the tale included by artists is also below their name)

Phillipa Carrington

@pipcarrington - PRINCESS KAGUYA

elitsa nedyalkova 

 @

elitsa_nn

Hlebojarka I art page

 @hlebojarka - GIRL WITHOUT HANDS

nora barry

@norathebean

Emily Ursä

@emilyursa_ - MOMOTARO/PEACH BOY

mark hoffmann

@studiohoffmann

·

In a fun tall tale about Paul Bunyan, S.E. Schlosser writes: “His first bed was a lumber wagon pulled by a team of horses. His father had to drive the wagon up to the top of Maine and back whenever he wanted to rock the baby to sleep.”

stillwater teacup illustration

@stillwater_tcup

The traditional Scottish midwife was known as a Howdie (handy woman), and part of the midwife's duty was to open the windows & doors to let the soul of the baby into the room (and also later putting whiskey into baby's mouth after birth)

anna violet

@annadviolet

·

BIRTH FROM THE SEVEN RAVENS

Imogen Joy Illustration

I have written my own folktale, “CORVELLO & THE BIRD QUEEN” for folktale week. Please bear with me as this is my first attempt at one! It takes reference from two folktales I love, Hans Hedgehog, and the Seven Ravens both from German folklore. But actually the inspiration for this tale first came from a line from Seamus Heaney’s poem Sweetpea: “Stuck a feather in the ground and thought it would grow a hen”

Shawna J. C. Tenney Illustration

This is a scene from The Snow Maiden, a Russian Fairy Tale. An old couple who have never been able to have children, make a snow maiden that comes to life. In the original fairy tale, she is a young woman. But I grew up with a book called “The Snow Child,” by Freya Littledale and illustrated by Barbara Lavalee- an adaptation of the original tale, where she is a child. I always loved this version, and incorporated it into my version!

Sabine Waldmann-Brun

The Tale of Zabiba and Phoenix

Once upon a time in a deep forest, where she had fled from the rebels, a young woman gave birth to her baby and died. So the animals and plants cared for the little girl.

Cathy Rowe Arts

There are so many great folktales about a child being gifted to a sweet couple by some miracle of nature. Like finding a thumb sized baby in a flower.

Moving Doodles

Story of Amalbiso. Which was a story generated orally in ancient Sri Lanka. (story is here)

Laura Irrgang Artist - original story

Amy June Bates

Lucia Spinoiu

All artist's names are below the work and are linked to their page or post as we could manage. Note: the images included are the ones that caught our Newsroom's eyes for multiple reasons but we have not been able to see everything posted so can guarantee we're missing some gems (in other words, go look for yourself to find even more!)

Another illustration made to promote #FolktaleWeek2020 by Renske Karremans @rfgka (IG)