This website is dedicated to everything related to fairy tales. Expect articles about fairy tales (including fables, stories for children, and nursery rhymes), their authors, and illustrators.
Most of all, expect a lot of magic!
This post will stay at the top of the blog as ‘sticky’. In time, it will transform into a comprehensive table of contents.
Frog Symbolism: The Meaning of Frogs in Dreams and Other Areas of Life
The frog is a popular symbol in many cultures but can mean different things depending on several factors. Thanks to its close association with water, it mostly bears positive connotations but can also be linked to witchcraft, illness, and other dark areas of our lives. Frogs and toads (biologically the same species) were one of the ten plagues in Egypt. There are also countless superstitions related to these amazing amphibians. What does the frog actually symbolize? What does it mean to dream about a frog?
Frogs can symbolize many things
A Symbol or a Totem?
Frogs fascinated humankind from the beginning of time. Thanks to shedding their skin and going through at least one major transformation (from egg to tadpole, from tadpole to adult frog), they became a symbol of growing up, changing, transforming, and adapting.
Latona transforming the peasants into frogs, Johann Hulsman
Olmecs are familiar with a toad god who is constantly eating his own skin, symbolizing the life cycle, going from birth through life to death and rebirth, just like everything in nature constantly grows up, dies, and is born again. In some parts of China and Japan, the toad is considered a magical creature with the power of immortality. Many people there still carry frog-shaped amulets said to bring good luck.
Illustrations from The Frog King by Warwick Goble (left) and Sleeping Beauty by Arthur Rackham (right)
The Frog King by the Brothers Grimm, The Tale of the Toad by Johann Gustav Gottlieb Busching, or The Frog Princess from Russian folklore feature a frog in a title role, in the Piedmont’s version of Beauty and the Beast the latter reveals himself to the world as a toad, at the beginning of The Sleeping Beauty it’s a frog who brings the message about the birth to the queen, in the old poem A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go (Frog Went a-Courtin) the title character also obviously represents fertility …
Illustrations from The well at the World’s End by John Dickson Batten (left) and Tale of the Toad by George Cruikshank (right)
Frogs were closely associated with the Nile’s flooding, which brought water and fertile soil and thus new life. Considering frogs to be symbols of fertility and abundance was (and still is) a logical step. In ancient Egypt, the frog is the symbol of the number hefnu, translated as ‘a huge number’.
Illustrations from The Frog Princess by Viktor Vasnetsov (left) and Ivan Bilibin (right)
In Latin America, frogs and toads are considered creatures with supernatural powers by native people. Some believe they have the power to bring or withhold rain. Others see them as protectors during childbirth, while others see them as symbols of destruction.
Did you know a coqui frog is one of the symbols of Puerto Rico? The sound produced by a coquí can reach up to one hundred decibels, making it the loudest known amphibian. People see it as small but loud and proud – just like people of Puerto Rico!
Coqui frog, Public Domain Photo
In general, frogs were associated with water, life, and new beginnings. They were a symbol of good luck, and talismans in the shape of frogs can still be found in virtually all parts of the world. With all the magic powers assigned to these little amphibians, it’s no wonder they were used in many rituals performed by shamans, magicians, and witches. We shouldn’t forget that most frogs are essentially nocturnal creatures. In medieval Europe, parts of frogs were used as protectors against poisoning among the nobility.
The Plague of Frogs, engraving by Gerard Jollain
Such beliefs were in sharp contrast to Christian beliefs, in which frogs symbolise evil. In the Bible, they were sent to destroy crops in Egypt. Frogs and toads were closely related to witchcraft. They were seen as something ominous and unwanted. Frogs are spirit or totem animals of several Native Indian tribes. A spirit animal acts as a guide, helping a person on their journey. It can serve as an advisor or protector.
Such ambivalence about the frogs is reflected in dream dictionaries where the dreaming of the frog doesn’t have a uniform meaning.
Dreaming about Frogs
To put it short – a frog in your dream predicts a change. Specifically, this is an important change that could be either good or bad. Seeing a frog in the grass, for instance, suggests you’ll meet somebody new. It can be a new friend or a new business partner and this meeting will likely evolve into a long, fruitful relationship. A frog in your house is good news too. It prognoses a productive period of your life.
On the other hand, frogs in water mean negative changes. Some serious problems may be ahead of you. Catching or stepping on a frog also brings bad news. You’ll likely get sick. Holding or even killing a frog represents negative emotions or aggressive actions, which can have long-term damaging consequences for you, no matter against whom these feelings are directed.
Frogs symbolize transformation
Several characteristics of the frogs can be used in dream interpretations about toads and frogs. Their ability to regulate their body temperature by entering or exiting the water is reflected in dreams in which frogs alter their surroundings. If a frog goes into the water, your situation at the moment is likely too stressful, so you need to cool down a bit. If a frog leaves the water, you may be ready for an important life change. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it will very likely create an additional burden for you.
If you dream about a lot of frogs, your love life will probably improve. The color brings additional info. Black and dark colors are generally bad. They are associated with losses. If you see red, it means that you will react very passionately. Don’t overreact! White and gold frogs bring good luck.
How About Frogs in Fables?
Frogs are popular characters in fables. They are always associated with changes and transformations.
Illustrations from The Frog Who Aspired to Become as Big as the Oxx by Eugene Louis Gillot (left) and The Ox and the Frog by Victor Wilbour (right)
Let us remind ourselves about:
The Frog and the Ox (known under various titles): The frog inflates itself to become as big as the ox, but explodes.
The Frog and The Rat: The frog tries to drown a rat by tying its leg to the rodent and dive, but ends up as a hawks pray.
The Scorpion and the Frog: The scorpion asks the frog to carry it across the water. While the frog initially refuses the poisonous partner, she eventually helps and is then bitten.
The Frogs Who Wished for a King: Frogs demand a king from Jupiter. He gives them a log, but they are not satisfied. Then they get a crane and their world turns much worse than ever.
Illustrations from The Frog and the Rat by Benjamin Rabier (left) and Frogs Wishing for a King by Walter Crane (right)
In all the presented cases, the frogs tried to escape the natural rules. For that, they are always punished. While change is natural, certain cosmic rules still apply.
Caricature of William McKinley presented as the illustration from The Frog Who Tried to be as Big as a Bull by John Samuel Pughe
Feng Shui
Feng Shui is an ancient mix of science and art, one of the so-called Five Arts of Chinese Metaphysics. A frog plays an important role in it. We can find traces of a Feng Shui frog in Chinese folklore. To put it short, there were eight immortals and one of their wives secretly drank the elixir of immortality. She also became immortal, but was punished by being transformed into a toad. According to common belief, a three-legged (hind legs are fused into one) toad appears at some homes mostly on a full moon and brings good luck – what is often closely related to money.
Photo of a three-legged money frog
Three Legged Frog and Money
For obvious reasons, the three-legged frog from Feng Shui became one of the most popular symbols of money and wealth, not only in China, but around the world. It’s also a popular decorative element in the form of the three-legged toad with a coin in the mouth. Everybody who knows anything about Feng Shui probably knows this philosophical system deals with energy flows. Placement of objects is extremely important.
So how to place a money frog? The science behind it suggests that you should start with relatively complex maps. However, if we follow some general guidelines, we still have a good chance of attracting positive energy and improving our financial situation. These are some common rules:
place it near the front door with its face inside (so the money is oriented towards the inside of the home!)
it should never be in a straight line from your entrance towards the living room
if you have more than one money toad, place others in the north and south-east parts of the living room, on the table or close to the table if possible (don’t forget the orientation – the coin in the mouth should never be oriented away from your home)
never put it on the floor
never place it in a bedroom, a room with running water, or garbage
if your money toad is broken, replace it immediately.
Photo of a golden money frog
There is another trick, not practiced by every Feng Shui master, yet worth trying. Many people believe a three-legged frog should be activated first. This can be done by placing a red ribbon around its neck or putting it on red paper.
Illustration from A Frog He Would a Wooing-go by Constance Haslewood
May the frogs in all kinds of forms bring you good luck!
The Princess and the Frog from Arranged Marriages to Kissing Frogs
Over numerous editions, the classic fairy tale The Frog King was adapted to reflect changing societal norms and the writers’ beliefs.
The Brothers Grimm wrote more than two hundred fairy tales, and about a dozen of them became classics, known all over the world. The Frog King, also known as The Frog Prince, is one of them. They considered it particularly important because they placed it at the top of their collection, where it remained in all seven editions published during their lifetime.
The Princess from The Frog King plays with the golden ball, ilustration by Blanche Fisher Wright
This story has also entered popular culture, thanks to its well-known quote about kissing frogs to find a prince. With a history spanning over five hundred years and many variations, it provides us with valuable material for studying important changes in society. Our focus will be on the three main characters and the story’s central theme of the marriage between the princess and the frog.
Brief Summary
The princess lost a golden ball, and the frog helped her in exchange for her word. She promised to be his friend only to get her toy back and then ran away. However, her father insisted that she keep her promise, which ultimately resulted in the frog transforming into a handsome prince.
There are many ways to interpret this tale, and you are welcome to explore them through further readings at the end of the article. We will only investigate the powers and conflicts of the characters involved in relation to the marriage here.
The Princess and the frog makes a deal, illustration by Paul Meyerheim
The Princess
She is young and beautiful. (Even the sun admires her.) Her immaturity is shown on several occasions. It looks like playing is all she does in her life. Losing a ball is not a sign of responsibility either. Keeping her word? No, thanks! Even when her father gave clear directions, she still tries to avoid the responsibility. The grand finale is the scene in her bedroom. She drops the annoying frog against the wall so hard it transforms!
While the princess is desirable as a possible wife from the physical point of view, she is incompetent and obviously needs guidance. This is provided by the highest authority – her father.
The Frog
He is the ultimate suitor. When the frog notices her problem, he is willing to help but only if she promises to start a relationship with him. Being ugly, even repulsive, he doesn’t care about his physical appearance. All his actions are directed in one way only: he wants to get in her bed. He uses everything he can to achieve his goal. If this is not enough, he capitalizes on her father’s authority. Her feelings are never his slightest concern.
It is only after his transformation into a prince that we discover he was under the spell of a witch. None of the dozens of known variations of the story explains why it happened. Perhaps every man is a frog by default until he finds a woman willing to help him become a true human?
The King
It’s hard to read anything from Carl Jung without immediately connecting a king with a figure of the father, and we all know what the father’s role is: to protect and guide his offspring. He does exactly that in The Frog King. Although he is not violent, his authority is indisputable. His word is a command.
The princess is a teenager. Like every teenager, she tests the boundaries. Father’s job is to keep her in the safety zone until she settles up with another competent person: her husband. Please note: there is no mother in this fairy tale.
Apperance
One of the most obvious messages in The Frog Prince is not to judge others by appearance. The same is true in The Beauty and the Beast. But if we stay at this statement, we would be hypocritical. In both cases, the brides’ beauty is described in superlatives. After the grooms’ transformations, we are also told that they are handsome. Appearance matters in most fairy tales, as is most clearly demonstrated in The Puss in Boots.
Marriage
The fairy tale of the princess and the frog is very stereotypical. It’s all about male dominance and female submission, but it actually faithfully reflects the situation in society. Everyone has to play the role they were born into. The frog has to conquer her. She plays hard to get. Her father leads their actions to the successful ending.
From a biological perspective, success is defined as procreation. Marriage is not necessary for that, and in early versions young couples actually sleep in bed before the marriage is even mentioned. But in their later versions, marriage becomes more important. That’s why the Brothers Grimm systematically removed all references to extramarital activities from their later editions of fairy tales. They even deleted the mere mention of the bed!
Many old fairy tales follow the same story pattern. He has to prove his abilities before he ‘earns’ her. We can easily find hundreds of examples of the same behaviour in the animal kingdom as well. While it looks like she is considered only as a sort of trophy, biology never cared about emancipation. The male should carry on the best possible genes (fast, strong, courageous), so he has to be tested.
Children are the reward for all his risks. While the mother always knows her children really carry her genes, the male never knows, so he is trying to be as sure as possible. This is the reason why brides in fairy tales are always very young and isolated from the rest of society. This is the reason why they are passed directly from fathers to husbands.
Originals and improvements
The numerous rewritings by the Brothers Grimm are probably what make this particular fairy tale stand out from the crowd. Not only were they collectors of old tales and guardians of folklore, but they were also active chroniclers of their time. They lived in the 19th century when new states were formed, traditional centres of power vanished, and many time-tested patterns were lost.
One of the biggest changes was a breakdown of the traditional family as a basic social unit. Thanks to many societal changes, young people suddenly gained a lot of freedom, and with freedom comes risk. We could also say it is a synonym for responsibility. The Brothers Grimm were probably aware of the danger posed by the thousands of marriages based on impulse rather than careful consideration.
This is where the king is irreplaceable. He not only shows authority, but he also upholds traditional values and guides young people who are passionate about what they do. Brothers Grimm believed traditional marriage was the best possible environment for raising children (they had plenty of opportunities to see how hard a life can be for a child without one or both parents; they lost their father at an early age, too), and in traditional marriage, the love of two young people wasn’t enough.
Love is only one part of the winning equation. In fairy tales, fathers’ opinions are important too. Were they conservatives? Yes, of course. Did they try to preserve the status quo in society? Not really. It’s better to say that they wanted to maintain some order amidst chaotic changes with unpredictable results.
Revolution
We can look at fairy tales from a different perspective as well. ‘Living happily ever after’ is a cliché, but for a young audience it probably has a much better (and comforting) effect than ‘they lived until they divorced’. While it may seem monotonous to adhere to her father’s directives, intergenerational strife is a recurring theme in fairy tales. Yet, in most cases, the young characters gain independence in the end.
This is probably the most important message of fairy tales. Kids grow up. They make mistakes, but in the end they become responsible citizens. As in the story of the Frog King, they could benefit from the wisdom of the older generation; they can succeed despite the mistakes of their parents (like in The Sleeping Beauty), or they can even find happiness thanks to the mistakes of their parents (like in The Beauty and the Beast).
And the most subversive message? Despite all the archetypes, everything is possible!
Do you want more?
If you would like to learn more about The Frog King (The Frog Prince), you can check the article, which deals with frog symbolysm, found in this and other fairy tales and fables!
The story of Cinderella offers a wide array of literary themes and motifs. We will present only a fraction of the possibilities.
Cinderella is probably the most popular fairy tale in the world. It is known in more than one thousand documented versions and variations. (We covered the impressive Cinderella’s history in a separate article.) One of the reasons for its success is probably the simplicity of the plot with the riches-to-rags-to-riches scheme. Another important reason is the high number of themes and motifs. Many of them are so universal that almost anybody could identify with the title character and her situation.
These themes are what make Cinderella a classic. We will present them with examples and draw comparisons with other well-known fairy tales. Then, we will provide a few ways to apply the story’s lessons to real-life situations.
Artwork by Moritz von Schwind
Absent Father
Absent father is one of the most common themes in literature, especially in fairy tales. The reason is simple. Many fathers are not there for their kids when they need them. Think about Red Riding Hood, Goose Girl, Briar Rose, and many others. The reasons for the absence (physical, emotional, intellectual, …) are so many we could write a series of books. The story of Cinderella uses the absence of her father, who seemingly remarries just to make her life harder, to initiate a major change. It’s time to grow up. Growing up means taking responsibility. Break some eggs to make an omelet. When Cinderella’s father can no longer protect her, change is inevitable. In her case, things turn worse before they can improve.
Illustration by Evelyn Stuart Hardy and painting by Edward Burne-Jones
The Plot
There are two basic plots in all stories in the world: rags-to-riches (an example is Puss in Boots, with the main character who starts at the bottom and climbs up) and riches-to-rags-to-riches (an example is Cinderella, where the main character starts in a good position, loses it, and then climbs even higher). We can argue that rags-to-riches is just a variation of riches-to-rags-to-riches with a later start of narration, when the main character is already down.
Climbing up the social ladder / Marrying Up
Cinderella is not born in the worst possible conditions. Depending on the version, she can be perceived even as a princess. Yet her status degrades fast when her mother dies, and her father remarries a woman who already has two daughters. Cinderella falls to the bottom of the social ladder when she starts working as a maid and sleeping at the hearth. These changes eventually force her to look for an alternative, which, in her case, shows in the form of the ball at the castle and the possibility of marrying the prince.
Marrying up is a popular theme in fairy tales. Giambattista Basile most likely created it as a way to entertain the nobility by presenting them with the completely unimaginable. However, the audience perceived it differently, especially when fairy tales were introduced to all social classes.
Illustrations by William Henry Margetson and Richard Andre
Siblings Rivalry
Everyone with a brother or sister can identify with the rivalry that often arises between siblings. Kids demand attention from their parents. Some parents deal with their competitive kids better or worse, but none of them is perfect. In some cases, some children will inevitably be favored over others, which will make some feel unjustly treated. Although Cinderella is an extreme example, everyone can relate to her in some way. Even people without siblings experience similar injustices, which makes Cinderella so relatable to the wide audience.
The story of Cinderella offers a solution: patience, waiting for the opportunity, and leaving the toxic home environment to find a better place to live where she can realize her potential.
Illustrations by Henri Thiriet and Walter Crane
Broken Promise
The importance of a given word (after all, the Grimm Brothers were educated as lawyers) is often used as a theme in fairy tales, especially since they became considered educational material for children. In real life, the given word is supported by contracts, lawyers, and judges. Fairy tales and other literature provide a foundation for moral values accepted by society.
When Cinderella solves an impossible task, but her stepmother still doesn’t let her leave home for the ball, we clearly see that the girl shall find an alternative way of solving her situation. The decision to participate in the ball is understandable and justified.
Postcard by Jenny Nystrom and illustration by Daan Hoeksema
Leaving Home
Leaving home is very likely the most often-used theme in fairy tales. Cinderella’s position is very bad. We don’t see any way to improve it within the existing parameters. Leaving home, taking risks, and finding new friends are obvious choices. When her wish to leave the house at least for the ball is denied, she is forced to break the rules, disobey her stepmother’s orders, and go anyway.
Her decision to participate in the dance is a decision to grow up. Essentially, every classic fairy tale is about growing up, and Cinderella is a perfect example.
Illustrations by Arthur Rackham and Henri Thiriet
Fairy Helper
Humans are social beings. Even Robinson Crusoe had company. Cinderella is no exception. She is alone and abused in her own home, where she doesn’t have a single ally. Kindness brings her helpers in the form of birds, but this is not enough. Then the fairy godmother (French version) or a magical tree (German version) brings her some valuable support. A splendid dress and a luxurious carriage will serve as necessary tools to enter the ball. There, she excels and wins the main prize – a marriage with a prince.
Illustrations by Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac
We shall note that Cinderella doesn’t achieve her breakthrough alone. She had help. She will continue to have at least one ally – the prince. Even the prince has to earn his status. As a married man, he can become a king. He has to disclose her identity. This is not an easy task. He only had a lost slipper and has to try it on numerous girls before he finds the right one.
Wall Painting by Paul Hey
Revenge
Cinderella is not a typical revenge tale. Although kindness is considered the sweetest revenge and success is considered the best revenge, different authors offered different solutions to her problems with her siblings. The most popular versions are almost diametrical. French Cinderella (Cendrillon) is forgiving, and she even finds appropriate husbands of noble origins for her wicked stepsisters. German Cinderella (Aschenputtel) ends with cruel punishment – both stepsisters end with mutilated feet and without eyes.
Happy End
Not all fairy tales end with happily ever after, but the majority of the most popular ones do. Her ending, in which she leaves all her bad experiences behind to start a new life with a prince as the personification of an ideal partner, has inspired generations of people on the verge of adolescence and adulthood. Two traditions and rituals are especially closely related to Cinderella. This is evident in the popularity of Cinderella themes for birthdays, especially Quinceaneras, and weddings.
Illustrations by Sarah Noble Ives and Paul Hey
Conclusion
Cinderella is not so globally accepted for nothing. Its seemingly simple storyline addresses universal themes each of us can identify with. Everyone will feel like Cinderella at some point in their life. Knowing her story from an early age can be crucial to one’s perception of life.
Yes, life is not fair. However, it’s up to us whether we see ourselves as victims or underdogs determined to win. If you’ve never read Cinderella to your children, do so as soon as it’s appropriate. If you already told it, do that again.
Cinderella – A Fairy Tale About the First Feminist?
Cinderella is, according to numerous surveys, the most popular fairy tale in the world. There are officially hundreds of documented and classified versions, starting with a 3,000-year-old story about Rhodopis (Greek), a 1,200-year-old story about Ye Xian (Chinese), and a 500-year-old story about Cenerentola (Italian). Nevertheless, most people are familiar with Cendrillon, a French variation by Charles Perrault from the end of the 17th century, and Aschenputtel, a German variation by the Brothers Grimm from the beginning of the 19th century. Their differences are small, but they reveal how Cinderella reflects changing ideas about women and society.
Aschenputtel by Ernst Erwin Oehme
The secret of her success
Cinderella’s story inspired many picture books, movies, theater plays, and computer games.
While it is known in hundreds and hundreds of variants, from the best-known, with a carriage made of pumpkin and a pair of glass slippers, to bloody versions where Cinderella killed her stepmother and got away with it, they all share an important element: injustice.
With such a wide spectrum of plots, we can’t begin any comparison without a few necessary simplifications.
Illustration by Wilhelm Schaefer
The Case of Cendrillon, Aschenputtel, and Cinderella: How do fairy tales reflect the changing role of women in society?
If we want to find the truth behind the success of the story of Cinderella, we have to start somewhere. Why not with two of the most popular literary versions?
One was written by Charles Perrault in 1696, and the other by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. They are both based on La gatta Cenerentola by Giambattista Basile from 1634 and are similar, but when we dig into the details, we’ll find several surprising facts about Cinderella’s character, her role in our culture, and – probably most importantly – about our society.
The main plot (summary) of Cinderella
She lives with her stepmother and two stepsisters, and they treat her as a servant. When an opportunity shows in the form of a ball at the castle, Cinderella’s stepsisters can go, but she is not allowed to. With some magic help, she transforms into a noble lady of astonishing beauty, goes to dance, and charms the prince.
Aschenputtel by Herman Vogel, Aschenbrodel by Carl Offterdinger, Cendrillon by Frederic Theodore Lix
He wants to learn more about her, but she escapes and loses a slipper, which ultimately helps him recognize his future wife in her humble position by the hearth, full of ashes.
Basic differences
We’ll look at Cendrillon (or Little Glass Slipper) by Charles Perrault and Aschenputtel by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
Illustration by Oliver Herford
Charles Perrault:
We don’t know what happened to Cinderella’s mother.
We don’t know how her stepsisters look, but Perrault wrote that Cinderella looks a hundred times better, so they were probably not very attractive.
Cinderella doesn’t express a wish to go to the ball until the ball has already started.
When her stepsisters leave the house, a fairy godmother shows up and performs all the known tricks with a pumpkin, rodents, and lizards.
The fairy changed her rags into beautiful clothes.
She gave her a pair of glass slippers.
She goes to the castle two evenings in a row.
After the second ball, Cinderella loses one of her slippers.
When the prince announces he’ll marry the girl who can put the slipper on, Cinderella’s stepsisters unsuccessfully try to squeeze a foot into a slipper. After that, she is also offered a trial.
Sisters apologize to Cinderella for their improper behavior; she forgives them, marries a prince, and finds two grooms for the stepsisters as well.
Illustrations by Blanche Fisher Wright Laite (left), Anne Anderson (middle), and Hugo von Hofsten (right)
The main distinctive elements are: fairy godmother, the glass slippers, and a happy ending.
Illustration by Elenor Plaisted Abbott
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The story starts with her mother dying. Mother instructs her to plant a tree after her death and promises she will help her daughter even after death. (The version with gifts brought from father’s journey and sprig being rubbed against his hat was added later from Beauty and the Beast and is not originally by the Grimms’.)
When the father remarries, we are informed that both stepdaughters are beautiful but have nasty characters.
Cinderella mourns her mother under a tree, grown from a branch brought by her father, on her mother’s grave.
Stepmother and her two daughters are really mean to Cinderella (they call her Aschenputtel). They make fun of her, they take her clothes, and they give her meaningless tasks related to ash.
When the king announces the ball, Cinderella clearly says she wants to go too, but she can’t because she has no proper dress (no sorting of the peas from ashes in exchange for permission, sorry).
When her stepsisters leave, pigeons come and offer her help.
She gets a dress and shoes (golden) from the tree growing on her mother’s grave. This tree was watered by Cinderella’s tears.
She goes to the castle three evenings in a row, and she mocks her stepsisters when they return from the dance.
Prince decides to cover the stairs with a pitch on the third evening to prevent her escape, and she loses one of her shoes.
Search with a shoe becomes a bloody event when the first sister cuts the heel and the second the toe so the slipper would fit on.
Birds told the truth to the prince both times.
Prince finally finds the real owner.
When they marry, birds attack the stepsisters and peck their eyes (this punishment wasn’t in the first edition, but was added to the second and all later editions).
Illustrations by Emil Lohse (left), Caroline Klauhold (middle), and Edward Henry Wehnert (right)
The main distinctive elements are the magical tree, the golden slippers, and revenge at the end.
Which variation of the story about Cinderella is better?
Brothers Grimm, without doubt, wrote a better story.
The motifs of all characters are much better explained, the main character is active, she fights for her right to go to the ball, and there is logic behind her helpers.
The prince is quite active, too, and is making a concerted effort to win her over.
The Brothers Grimm spent a great deal of time rewriting their fairy tales, which began as an idea to collect traditional German folktales. Aschenputtel was no exception. The part with the pigeons pecking the eyes of the evil stepsisters was one of their improvements according to their sense of justice.
This gory detail was skipped in many versions after their death and is probably one of the reasons why the variation by the brothers Grimm never defeated Perrault’s in popularity, despite the fact that his other fairy tales, like Sleeping Beauty in the Woods, lost popularity contests against The Briar Rose, Little Thumb against Hans and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood against The Red Cap.
Why is Cendrillon by Perrault more appealing to the audience? She is nice and beautiful, but she is also a perfect example of the passive damsel-in-distress stereotype that is so prevalent in fairy tales that some people try to remove them from library shelves.
Why not Aschenputtel, who embodies hard work and the Calvinist values of the Brothers Grimm? Not only is she nice, beautiful, and persistent, but she also fights for her rights and has a sense of humor.
Illustrations by Hanns Anker
Position of women in society in the 17th and 19th centuries
Charles Perrault was a smart guy who, of course, noticed changes in the French court during the reign of Louis XIV. While all important positions in the state were still reserved for men, the rising influence of the fair sex was obvious. Women of noble origin had more and more money. Many were well-educated and became quite powerful. They organized parties and invited whomever they wanted. Ladies, like Madame d’Aulnoy, were actually quite influential.
If someone was skipped from the invitation list, their social standing suffered. Perrault, as a typical guy who climbed the ladder in civil services, didn’t like the idea of being dependent on the fads and mercy of the ladies. His fairy tales give a clear message.
Illustrations by Warwick Goble, Gustave Doré, and Thomas Edward Donnison
A girl should be nice and pretty, but all important decisions should be made by men. His Cinderella is pushed around because she doesn’t have free will. Although she became a princess, it is clear she only changed one passive position for another.
Brothers Grimm were smart as well. Changes in their time were different. Small countries joined together to form larger states with centralized governments. While the nobility remained untouchable in some areas of society, the real power was shifting to those with money.
A new class of bourgeoisie emerged, and women (some of them, at least) began earning significant incomes. The situation in society was changing fast, and the Brothers Grimm realized this was inevitable.
Painting by Emile Meyer (left) and illustration by Gertrud Caspari (right)
But they still believed in some traditional values. While in their opinion, the primary role of a woman should still be raising kids and taking care of the home, she should show much more initiative than ever before. The main character in Grimm’s adaptation of Cinderella is an active participant who defends her rights.
Enters Disney!
After World War 2 and a series of financial flops, Disney Company was on the edge of bankruptcy. When they decided to make a movie about Cinderella, they were not in a position to take any risks. They wanted as much profit as possible to pay out the debts and revive the company.
They had many options when creating characters for the movie and explored many of them during the screenplay drafts, but ultimately used the most stereotypical ones. Family values in American society favored the passive role of women much more than they did in the time of the Brothers Grimm.
Illustration by John Rea Neill
In the 19th century, the bourgeoisie viewed children as an expense, so they preferred working women to the middle class of the post-war 20th century. The increase in population meant more women stayed home and “produced” babies, who soon became the driving force of modern consumerism. society.
Disney’s Cinderella is a nice, beautiful, and passive lady without real ambition and becomes a model for every modern princess, also known as the Daddy’s Girl. While women eventually gained more power in society, many girls still grow up in the expectation of finding their Prince Charming, who will take care of everything. They are not willing to invest too much in the search, because they are: good-looking, elegant, and friendly (at least to animals) – just like Cinderella!
One more thing: this fairy tale is also one of the most popular (and influential) stories among boys, too!
Additional info
All presented images were created by artists who died at least 70 years ago and published before 1923. This makes them public domain in the European Union and the United States of America.
The Grimm Brothers – Facts You Probably Don’t Know
Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm are famous for their collection of fairy tales. It was first published in 1812 as Children’s and Household Tales and went through seven editions during its lifetime. Today, it’s by far the best-known book with fairy tales featuring Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, The Town Musicians of Bremen, and many other classic works for children.
King of the Golen Mountain by Max Teschemacher
Despite the worldwide popularity of the Brothers Grimm, most people don’t know much about their lives and works. This article will address numerous misconceptions, so you will be better informed and able to use your newly acquired knowledge to your full advantage. Let’s dive into their magical world!
Harsh Life, Hard Work
Jakob and Wilhelm were born to a jurist with a well-established business and a mother who was the daughter of a city councilman. They were the oldest surviving sons in a family with eight boys and a girl. Three of their brothers died before they reached the age of two. Kids were schooled at home by private tutors and lived happily until their father died of pneumonia.
The Land of Plenty, postcard by Oskar Herrfurth
This led to significant financial hardship for the family. They suddenly became poor and lost their large home and servants. They then had to rely on their mother’s family for financial support. When a year later the grandfather died as well, the brothers had to leave the rest of the family and move to Kassel. They enrolled in a gymnasium, paid for by their aunt.
Portraits of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm
After that, they slowly built their positions with hard work and renunciation, taking responsibility for other family members, including their brother Ludwig, who became a painter and made the first illustrations for their most famous book.
The pattern of riches-to-rags-to-riches appears in more than half of their stories for children, but it is not the only pattern.
Injustice
Fairy tales by the Grimm Brothers are characterized by another recognizable element: the pattern of injustice. They experienced it from an early age. It followed them for the rest of their lives. Let’s highlight a few examples:
Father dies, and the young children have to take the responsibility of adults.
Despite hard work and top achievements (they both graduated as the best in the class), they couldn’t get scholarships because they belonged to a lower social class. Instead, they had to find jobs. Jacob abandoned his studies to work as an assistant in Paris and earn enough money to feed his family.
Cinderella (Aschenputtel) by Georg Albert Strodel
Both brothers became librarians at the King of Westfalia, where they were overlooked when the post of the chief librarian was available.
They became professors in Gottingen but lost their jobs and income during political unrest.
Absent Father, Large Families, and Sacrifice
For most of his life, Jacob was responsible for other family members. He also helped Wilhelm, who suffered from poor health, missed a year of school due to scarlet fever, and had to visit a sanatorium to heal his heart and respiratory conditions. Sacrifice is another pattern in their fairy tales. Another characteristic is the presence of a family with many boys and a single girl. This is just like the Grimm family.
We can find six brothers and a daughter in Six Swans, seven brothers and a daughter in Seven Ravens, and Snow White, who takes care of seven dwarfs. The theme of sacrifice appears in dozens of other fairy tales from their collection, but all of them share almost the same trigger: an absent father.
Seven Swans by Willy Juttner
The death of Jakob’s and Wilhelm’s father undoubtedly marked their lives. It’s no coincidence that so many of their fairy tales start with one of the following situations:
The King dies, and his immature children are forced to find a way to survive in an unhospitable world.
A poor family is suffering from hunger with an incompetent father and cruel mother (in most cases, replaced by a stepmother).
Mother dies, father remarries and gets out of the picture so the new wife can take control of the household, favoring her children from before and humiliating her stepchildren.
Kids are so poor they have to leave their homes and look for any kind of job to put some food on their plates.
All Kinds of Fur by Rudolf Geissler
But wait! Didn’t the brothers Grimm collect the tales from folk tradition? Aren’t those patterns just coincidental with their life experiences?
Closer to Writers than Collectors
Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm began collecting fairy tales, fables, and other similar stories at the suggestion of Clemens Brentano. Brentano believed in a united Germany, which, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, was divided into approximately 200 kingdoms, counties, cities with special status, and other entities. Brothers Grimm shared Bretano’s views on the situation. They were pretty confident that the Germans could live in a stronger, more centralized state if they recognized their shared history and language. This could be achieved through shared myths and stories.
Vintage book covers of Grimms’ Fairy Tales by Blanche Fisher Laite (left) and Noel Pocock (right)
Jakob and Wilhelm started collecting both. But they were not traveling across the country looking for old storytellers, as many believe. They didn’t have the financial resources to do that, and they also wanted to accomplish as much as possible in the shortest time possible. Instead of working on the terrain, they preferred to talk to people from the neighborhood. In this manner, they collected dozens of fairy tales from their neighbors. One of these neighbors was Henriette Dorothea Dortchen Wild, who later became Wilhelm’s wife and the mother of their four children. They didn’t know that the fairy tales they were writing had often been published many years before they were born. These tales did not belong to the German tradition (most had already been printed in Basile’s Pentamerone), nor were they written by unknown authors. Many were written by well-known authors like Hans Christian Andersen.
The brothers also didn’t care about the suitability of their collection for children because they were targeting academic circles. After publishing, a few people suggested softening or excluding some of the stories from the collection because they have tremendous potential to teach important lessons to children.
Vintage book covers of Grimms’ Fairy Tales by Arthur Rackham (left) and Monro Scott Orr (right)
So Wilhelm rewrote most fairy tales to make them appropriate for kids. He added aesthetic descriptions, deleted allusions to sexual activities, but never really bothered with violence. In Sleeping Beauty, he even added the part with princes dying on thorns while trying to rescue the sleeping princess.
The Brothers Grimm’s collection was not an immediate commercial success. In fact, they had serious problems convincing the publisher of the second edition. Their contemporary Ludwig Bechstein, who published a very similar collection with numerous fairy tales with the same titles and plots but written more tailored to the audience of the time, was considerably more successful.
Vintage book covers of various myths and legends by the Grimm Brothers
Anyway, today we can say that Jakob and Wilhelm made a much bigger impact. They were awarded several honorary doctorates for their writing. Apart from fairy tales, they published myths, sagas, and the first volumes of the German dictionary.
More vintage book covers by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm
Their fairy tales became a part of the school curriculum and were heavily abused during both world wars while German nationalism was on the rise. They were translated into all major languages, although often adapted and censored. Now, it is regarded as the second most influential book in the Western Hemisphere after the Bible. The collection made its way into popular media.
Did you know that in computer science, the term “breadcrumbs” refers to user interface elements such as internal links on websites? The term comes from the story of Hansel and Gretel.
Did you know that modern medicine uses terms such as the Cinderella complex and the Sleeping Beauty syndrome, both of which are taken from the Grimm’s fairy tales?
While many modern parents don’t read Grimm’s Fairy Tales to their children because they believe they are too violent, a growing number of experts in children’s psychology believe exactly the opposite – they provide a perfect opportunity to learn about the injustice and cruelty of the real world in the safe environment of their parents’ laps. On condition, of course, they are presented at the right time in the right way.
But this is a theme for another debate.
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Bremen Town Musicians – a classic story with invaluable lessons
The timeless messages of the classic fairy tale, The Town Musicians of Bremen, by the Grimm Brothers, have stood the test of time. It’s a story about respect, cooperation, and bravery.
Illustrations by Leonard Leslie Brooke (left), and Harry Rountree (right)
This fairy tale is a bit different than most classic stories for kids. It has animals in the main roles, and all the people in the story are presented in a bad light. Of course, we need to understand the narrative approach – animals are just examples of individuals who have lost their positions in society and are trying to find a new meaning in the slowly but surely approaching ends of their lives.
All the chosen animals also carry rich symbolism, so we can perceive them as characteristics, functions, or traits in a dramatic expression of social conditions. To make them more relatable, they picked animals that most of us are familiar with. This makes them feel more at home. There are dozens of similar stories with different numbers, sometimes up to six animals, but all of them always belong to livestock and poultry. A bull, a duck, or a sheep are just a few examples. All of them can also be associated with positive and negative traits that give depth and humanity to the characters.
Different versions of this story are found in the folklore of many countries all over the world, from Norway to South Africa. In these cases, Bremen can be replaced with another fictional or real location, or left unspecified.
Illustration by Paula Ebner (left) and postcard by Oskar Herrfurth (right)
Such a scholarly approach is even more understandable if we know the circumstances in which this story was written. Let’s explore a few interesting facts about the Bremen Town Musicians and try to learn a lesson or two by the way.
Short Summary of Bremen Town Musicians
A donkey becomes old, slow, and weak. He realizes his master will get rid of him, so he leaves him and goes toward Bremen, where he plans to become a town musician. On his way, he meets a dog with a very similar perspective, and the animals join their forces.
Illustrations by Frederick Richardson (left) and Blanche Fisher Wright Laite (right)
Before the end of the day, a cat and a rooster become members of the group as well.
Night comes before they reach Bremen, so they try to find shelter in the woods. There, they see a hut with a few robbers inside. They have their loot and a lot of food on the table. Animals make some kind of pyramid and look like some kind of monster. They scare the robbers out of the hut.
Illustratons by Paul Hey (left), Paul Friedrich Meyerheim (middle), and postcard by Oskar Herrfurth (right)
They enjoy food, and each one of them finds a place to sleep.
Illustrations by Monro Scott Orr (left) and Paula Ebner (right)
Later, one of the robbers comes back. It’s dark, so he tries to make a fire in the heath. But there is the cat who jumps into his face, hissing and scratching. The robber escapes through the doors, but the dog that lies behind bites him. In the yard, a donkey kicks him, and for the grand finale, a rooster comes at him from the roof.
Postcard by Felix Elsner (left) and illustration by Wilhelm Schaefer (right)
When the robber returns to his gang, he explains that different monsters attacked him. Others, seeing his wounds, decide never to return there. The Town Musicians of Bremen stayed there and enjoyed their lives without ever reaching Bremen.
Why Bremen?
Most fairy tales don’t say exactly where they take place, but this one tells us that animals go to Bremen. Bremen has been around for over 1200 years and has managed to stay pretty independent for most of that time. It was one of the few cities where an ordinary man had more chances to prosper than in others. For a long time, it was one of the main ports for Europeans, particularly Germans, heading to America in search of a better life. It’s still the capital of the German state, the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, made up of just two cities: Bremen and Bremerhaven.
It’s very likely that the donkey in the story opted for Bremen because of its image of the place, where you can get a second chance. Or more chances than in other places. Or, any chance at all. Choosing a musical career is not surprising as well. In medieval Europe, traveling musical bands with animals playing simple instruments were quite popular, and Bremen is a town with a long tradition of festivals and similar events.
Is this story so different than other classic fairy tales?
At first glance, the Grimm Brothers’ The Bremen Town Musicians looks quite different. Yet it’s still a story where one (or more) characters try to improve their life. Finding partners, finding treasures, and improving social status are major goals of all the best stories, and this one is no exception. Members of this unusual group leave their homes (the standard beginning of countless fairy tales), find partners (in this case, friends, not spouses), and earn a fortune (the robbers’ hut is full of food and stolen stuff).
Like in all great stories, the protagonists had to conquer mighty opponents and break at least some rules. In this scenario, they have the opportunity to escape the constraints imposed by society’s expectations (in this case, facing a certain death) and defeat a group of robbers. The robbers are stronger and armed, but the animals are smart and work as a team. Cunningness defeats brute force again. There are no kings or queens in this tale, but the animals clearly conquer their very own kingdom where they intend to live happily ever after.
To make our case even more convincing, let’s borrow, for instance, an observation from Maria Tatar, who noticed that all four animals tested their possible places for sleeping just like Snow White or Goldilocks checked several beds before choosing one for resting.
The story of second chances
We can explain the popularity of the Bremen Town Musicians in different contexts. One of them is definitely the critical view of a capitalist society in which people are valued only for their usefulness. When the donkey can’t carry as much burden as before, it’s best to make glue of it. Metaphorically speaking, we can clearly see an aging human in him.
Yes, we can say that everybody’s time is up one day, but the donkey refuses this simplistic approach. He is willing to pursue a second chance and at least try to do something else. If he can’t pull the cart, he might play a lute. While we may see him as a rebel at first, we soon learn he is not alone, which brings us to another valuable lesson. Animals can act as a group. They join their abilities to chase away the robbers and find a place to live. Robbers, on the other hand, take an ‘everybody for himself’ approach and lose everything.
Illustrations by Leonard Leslie Brooke
One obvious message of the fairy tale is that teamwork triumphs over selfishness. Another is probably the importance of maintaining optimism and focusing on the future.
All used images are in the Public Domain or used by permission of the author.
When you face trouble, do you try to see it as a challenge and an opportunity?
Beauty and the Beast is an extremely popular fairy tale with hundreds of variations. While it is one of the rare classic tales with attributed authorship, a closer examination reveals a number of shared elements with many other timeless stories.
Beauty and the Beast by Anne Anderson
The Brothers Grimm believed every fairy tale is actually an echo of an ancient myth. The narrative of a beautiful girl, isolated from the world and at the mercy of a beast, is not as original as it might seem, as it appears in not just one but several myths.
So join us in exploring various Greek and Roman myths, with brief summaries and comparisons!
Summary of Beauty and the Beast
Here are the main elements:
Beauty (Belle in French) is the name of the youngest and most beautiful of three daughters.
Her father is a merchant. When he asks his daughters what they want as gifts from his upcoming trip, the two eldest wish for clothes and jewelry, but the youngest wants only a simple rose.
The merchant finds a rose in a mysterious garden, where he encounters the Beast.
Beast is willing to spare him only if he sends one of his daughters in exchange for his life.
Beauty goes to his castle to save her father’s life.
Beauty and the Beast by Elizabeth Tyler Wolcott (left) and Evelyn Stuart Hardy (right)
Every evening, Beast asks her if she will marry him, and while she refuses him answers, she gradually becomes accustomed to his amiable personality.
Every night, she dreams about a charming prince who needs her help, but she doesn’t know how to help him.
Beauty becomes homesick, and Beast gives her permission to leave, but she has to return before a certain date. If she doesn’t, he will die.
When she tells her sisters about the luxury in Beast’s castle, they become jealous and try to delay her departure.
Beauty dreams of the Beast being sick and returns just in time to save his life. She accepts his offer of marriage, and he transforms into a beautiful prince.
From Fairy Tale to Myth(s)
Cupid (Eros) and Psyche
1. Psyche is also the youngest and prettiest of three sisters.
2. Venus (Aphrodite) becomes jealous and plans revenge: She wants her son, Cupid, to make her fall in love with the ugliest creature in the world.
3. Instead, Cupid falls in love with Psyche.
4. Psyche, on the other hand, is so beautiful that no mortal man dares to propose to her.
Amor and Psyche by Ernst Roeber (left), Psyche Entering Cupid’s Garden (middle), and Psyche Opening the Golden Box by John William Waterhouse (right)
5 . Oracles advise her parents that Psyche should be sacrificed to a monster with supernatural powers.
6. Psyche is taken to the mountain, where invisible hands transport her to a mysterious castle. She lives there, being served by invisible servants.
7. Somebody joins her every night, but he stays invisible, too.
8. She falls in love with the ‘monster’ (Cupid) but must promise she will never look at him.
Charon and Psyche by John Roddam Spencer (left) and Psyche Showing Her Sisters Her Gifts from Cupid by Mary-Joseph Blondel (right)
9. Cupid arranges the visit of her sisters, who convince her to break her promise, and Cupid disappears.
10. After long periods of wandering (underworld included) and several trials, Psyche eventually finds Cupid, and they reunite. In both cases, we deal with the use and abuse of power, isolation, jealousy, sacrifice, revenge, and above all – love. It is claimed that love is the best remedy for the seemingly unsolvable issues.
What About Other Myths?
Aphrodite and Hephaestus
Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of love and beauty, is so beautiful that other gods almost start a war for her hand, so Zeus (her father) promised her to Hephaestus, the most unattractive (to put it bluntly, the ugliest) of all gods.
Venus at the Forge of Vulcan by Francesco Solimena (left) and Venus Visiting Vulcan by David Teniers the Elder (right)
They live in the underworld, but she finds many ways to be unfaithful. It remains uncertain whether Eros (Cupid) is their son or the outcome of her affair with Ares (Mars).
While the story doesn’t have a happy ending, it still shares several important themes with the tale of Beauty and the Beast: isolation, sacrifice, jealousy, violation of trust, and abuse of power…
Galatea and Polyphemus
She is in love with handsome Acis, but ugly Cyclops Polyphemus wants her for himself. While Polyphemus plays music, Acis and Galatea enjoy each other’s company.
Polyphemus and Galatea by Gustave Moreau (left) and Galatea and Acis by Claude Lorrain (right)
Cyclop decides to destroy his rival with a huge rock (he can be explained as a personification of volcano Etna), and Galatea turns Acis into a river (this is a real river in Sicily).
There are versions of the story in which Galatea eventually falls in love with Polyphemus, and others in which they don’t end up together.
In any case, we have the same elements of isolation, magical transformation, jealousy, revenge, and unpredictable love.
Story of Europa
In this tale, Zeus changes himself into a bull and carries beautiful Europa (she probably belongs to the nobility) to the island of Crete.
Abduction of Europa by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
We have another tale which starts with a beast who desires a beauty, and she comes to his place (an isolated island) against her will. After a while, she becomes accustomed to him, and the legend says their relationship produced three kings. Again: love, passion, and magical number three!
Daphne and Apollo
In this myth, we meet Eros (Cupid) again.
Apollo and Daphne by Paolo Varonese (Caliari)
He is in charge of love, after all … well, Apollo insulted him, and he ensures he falls in love with a nymph (Daphne) who can’t return his love. The reason? She was hit by Cupid’s arrow, too, but in her case, the arrow was made of lead!
Daphne and Apollo by Benedetto Luti (left) and Piero del Pollaiolo (right)
To protect her virginity, her father, Peneus, transforms her into a laurel tree, and this is why Apollo bears laurel leaves on his head – and they are evergreen, just like his love!
Daphne and Apollo by Louis de Boullogne left)and Victor Bertin (right)
See? Revenge, use and abuse of power, magical transformation, he wants her, she doesn’t want him, the important role of her father … ?
Persephone and Hades
Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Hades is not just another ugly guy from Greek mythology. He is probably the second most powerful god after Zeus, and when he wants Persephone for his wife, nothing can stop him. He kidnaps her, and she becomes his wife. Demeter cursed the earth and promised nothing would grow until her daughter was back with her.
Abduction of Persephone by Ulpiano Checa (left) and Proserpine on the Throne b Harry George Theaker (right)
Zeus had to intervene. Persephone had really been sent back, but Hades had one more ace up his sleeve. The conflict was solved in an interesting way: she spent part of the time on the surface of the world and part in the underworld with Hades. Persephone’s time with Hades is called winter. We don’t know if she eventually fell in love with her husband.
In this case, identifying Beauty and the Beast is straightforward. The narrative involves a significant parental figure (typically the mother), forced isolation, abuse of power, a return to one’s roots, and various transformations.
Pluto and Proserpine by Henry Bryson Burroughs (left) and Fate of Persephone (Walter Crane)
Yes, the elements of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale can be traced in more than one classical myth!
What About Other Fairy Tales?
We can go even further. This fairy tale shares numerous similarities with other widely recognized stories.
The jealousy part (among sisters) can be recognized in Snow White (stepmother-stepdaughter).
Father, incapable of protecting or even endangering his daughter, is present in Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, and other tales.
The theme of isolation in a castle is also popular. The most similar situation is probably seen in Sleeping Beauty, where we even have invisible hands helping Beauty (older versions).
Let’s mention one of the most powerful messages from Beauty and the Beast, which is, of course: ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ which is cynically twisted in Puss in Boots, where obviously ‘clothes make the man’.
The theme of the animal bridegroom is one of the most popular themes in the world of fairy tales, with the Frog Prince probably being the most well-known.
We could go on and on, but the point should be very clear by now – dealing with a single fairy tale, we are instantly involved with centuries of world cultural heritage. Civilization didn’t start with Walt Disney. The world of fables is as old as humankind, and every one of us has a more or less active part in it. Which myth related to Beauty and the Beast do you prefer?
While everybody knows Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, or Charles Perrault, they all borrowed material for their masterpieces from a single book written by Giambattista Basile. Who was this Italian writer? Why is his work so important, and why do most of us never hear of him?
Family
Reliable documentation about the birth of Giovan Battista (shortened Giambattista) Basile is scarce. We don’t even know his father’s name. Obviously, the Basile family has enough talent to put several of its members in the history books. Giambattista had at least one brother: Lelio, a successful poet and composer, and three sisters: Adriana, Margherita, and Vittoria, all popular singers in their time.
Adriana Basile, and later her daughter, Leonora Baroni, were the most famous singers in 17th-century Italy. Adriana especially played a crucial part in Giambattista’s literary success.
Portraits of Adrana Basile (left) and Leonora Baroni (right)
Family Basile is from Napoli, where Adriana very likely started her artistic career, but we can only find documents of her move to the court of Vincenzo Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua. Mantua was the musical center of Italy in those times. The famous Monteverdi opera L’Orfeo premiered there in 1607. But let’s not skip the events.
Portrait of Giovan Batista Basile
Giambattista was probably born in 1566, and we know he served as a soldier of the Venetian Republic for a short time. He also visited Crete, one of the cultural crossroads of the then-known world. He was talented in linguistics and fluent in three languages from an early age. He probably first came into contact with Giovanni Francesco Straparola’s Facetious Nights, a collection of tales containing several early versions of fairy tales, such as Puss in Boots, Donkeyskin, and Hans My Hedgehog.
Sun, Moon, and Talia (left) and Petrosinella (right) by Warwick Goble
These tales and short stories are arranged in a format similar to Boccaccio’s famous Decameron, with storytellers telling tales to one another. The same form was later used by Giambattista Basile.
Between Mantua and Napoli
In 1610, Adriana and her husband, Muzio (Mutio) Baroni, moved to Mantua on the condition that Giambattista be hired as well. To be honest, a whole extended family, including her sisters Margherita and Vittoria, and children moved. The Duke accepted this condition, but Giambattista had another idea – he stayed in the Stigliano court, trying to occupy the emptied position of Muzio. He wrote a pastoral poem dedicated to the Prince of Stigliano, Carafa, and became a founding member of the Academy of Naples. The Academy became one of the major intellectual forces in southern Europe and an important crossroads of Italian and Spanish culture.
Map of Medieval Italy
In 1612, he finally moved to Mantua, where he composed numerous pieces of music for weddings, funerals, and other events of the local nobility. New duke Ferdinando promoted him to the position of the court gentleman. He proved himself a skilled organizer of various spectacles, earning him another invitation from Napoli. He became a feudal administrator and later a governor.
In a way, we can compare his roles to those of another important author from several centuries later who also worked primarily as an official in Louis XIV’s court: Charles Perrault.
These undoubtedly successful financial years probably ingrained his anti-court feelings and bitterness, which became more obvious in his later works, especially those written in the Neapolitan dialect. He signed his works in Italian and Spanish with his name and Neapolitan ones with a pseudonym – an anagram of his name – Gian Alesio Abbattutis. He maintained contact with the Neapolitan dialect and peasants throughout his life because his position required frequent visits to various properties belonging to his masters. One of his greatest wishes was to elevate the Neapolitan dialect to the status of the Tuscan dialect. Boccaccio, Dante, and Petrarch popularized the Tuscan dialect to such an extent that it later became the official language of Italy, which did not become a state until the second half of the 19th century.
The Count of Torone
Giambattista Basile worked for various princes and dukes as a governor and court writer, writing in Italian, Latin, and Spanish. He wrote many spectacles, including a masquerade for the visit of Maria of Austria, the sister of the Spanish king, to Naples.
Pippo (Cagliuso) by Warwick Goble
Basile was an important member of several academies. He officially became Count of Torone, a town in the province of Caserta, in 1624, signing all subsequent works with this title. His final position was governor of Giugliano in the province of Naples. In 1631, Mount Vesuvius erupted, followed by a deadly flu epidemic. Basile was one of its numerous victims. He died on February 23, 1632.
Several of his works remained unpublished, but fortunately, his sister Adriana decided to find publishers and preserve the literary heritage of her brother, who never experienced even a fraction of her glory but created one of the most important literary works in human history. Adriana decided to continue his legacy by signing his books in Neapolitan dialect with Gian Alesio Abbattutis.
Portraits of Adriana (left) and Giambattista (right) Basile
The Pentamerone
The Pentamerone was originally titled The Tale of Tales, with a subtitle, Entertainment for Little Ones. It is the first national collection of fifty fairy tales arranged in a frame format similar to that of Boccaccio’s Decameron, Straparola’s Facetious Nights, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and the Arabian Nights. There are numerous old versions of today’s classic fairy tales, such as The Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Goose Girl, and Diamonds and Toads. This book inspired many major fairy tale writers in the following centuries and remains an invaluable source for fiction writers and other artists.
First editions of Il Pentamerone (in two books)
Written in the Neapolitan dialect, the text presented a significant challenge to translators and raised controversial issues for editors. Sir Richard Francis Burton completed the first full English translation, which was published posthumously by his wife. She did not allow any changes to the translation. But the second edition was rigorously censored just like all previous translations. Finally, in 2007, Nancy L. Canepa, a longtime scholar of Basile’s life and work, completed a full translation into modern English, which has been available in paperback since 2010.
The 2015 movie of the same name is based on three stories from the book and uses elements from several others. Don’t miss it. Giambattista Basile would love it!
Can you add another fact about Giambattista Basile’s life and work?
Il Pentamerone: The Oldest Known Collection of Fairy Tales
Il Pentamerone (also known as Lo cunto de li cunti, or The Tale of Tales) is little-known outside academic circles, yet it is foundational to many popular fairy tales. Published in the 17th century, it predates Perrault’s Tales of Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm’s Children’s and Household Tales, thereby setting the stage for classic fairy-tale literature.
Understanding Il Pentamerone’s special place in history requires context about its era and Basile’s intent. Its importance lies in its role as the cornerstone of the evolution of fairy-tale storytelling.
Indeed, some of the oldest versions of well-known tales, including Rapunzel, Cinderella, and The Beauty and the Beast, can be found in The Pentameron.
The Book
One of the most popular books in the 15th and 16th centuries was definitely Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. It presents 100 stories, each told by one of 10 people over 10 days.
How the Tales Came to Be Told by Warwick Goble (left) and The Goat-Faced Girl by Henry Justice Ford (right)
Such a framed format, with fictional people telling fictional tales, was popular for centuries and reached its peak with the publication of Galland’s Arabian Nights at the beginning of the 18th century. Gianbattista Basile chose the same format but decided to write 50 stories, not 100, as in the Decameron. This logically leads to the unofficial name Pentameron. Another important influence was Giovanni Francesco Straparola’s The Pleasant Nights, perhaps the first collection of written fairy tales (though it contains other types of stories as well). Some of the plots that appear later in Basile’s book were already present in The Pleasant Nights. Straparola’s major contribution to the then nonexistent genre was the structure of the tales. It was revolutionary in that it presented the possibility of climbing the social ladder thanks to magic. Straparola introduced a so-called rags-to-riches plot.
Basile, who likely held a higher social position than Straparola (whose life is shrouded in mystery), preferred a different kind of plot. The main character starts out as a prince, rich merchant, or similar member of the upper class, but loses this position due to circumstances beyond his or her control, such as war, illness, or accident.
But through the story, the fallen star regains his or her position, which may be even higher at the end of the story. Such a plot was definitely less problematic for the target audience than Straparola’s.
Yet just like Straprola, Basile didn’t want to risk – he never published his stories. They were printed only several years after his death, when his sister brought the manuscripts to the printers.
Portraits of Giambattista Basile and his sister Nicoletta
Basile’s Tale of Tales was published in two volumes: the first in 1534 and the second in 1536. Not even his sister dared to use the author’s real name, so the book was published under the pseudonym Gian Alesio Abbatutis.
The style of narration is typical baroque with numerous unnecessary descriptions, which soon made the tales unfit for the new times, and they were almost forgotten until Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm discovered them in the translation of one of their colleagues, Felix Liebrecht.
They praised the book as the first collection of national fairy tales in history. Its famous collection contains recognizable plots of many well-known tales. One of the reasons for staying unknown to a wider audience was the language of Pentamerone. It was written in Neapolitan dialect with numerous vulgarisms and many elements unsuitable for sensitive ears.
Parsley (left), Three Enchanted Princes (middle) by Warwick Goble, and The Serpent Prince by Edmund Dulac (right)
The Stories
The Pentamerone starts with a frame story about Princess Zoza, who was unable to laugh. Her father finally manages to make her laugh, but she offended an old lady who put a spell on Zoza. She can marry a prince only if she fills a jug with her tears in three days. Just before the jug was filled, Zoza fell asleep, her slave stole it, and ended the task instead of her. The slave marries the prince, becomes pregnant, and demands to hear stories for her amusement. Ten storytellers, including Zoza (in disguise), told her five stories each, and one of them discloses a slave’s fraud. She is punished (cruelly), and Zoza finally gets her husband.
Among the told stories, we can find many of the first known written versions of popular fairy tales like Rapunzel (Parsley), Snow White (The Young Slave), Brother and Sister (Nennillo and Nennella), Diamonds and Toads (The Two Cakes), King Thrushbeard (Pride Punished) … Despite the subtitle (Stories for Little Ones) these tales were obviously not meant for kids. They are full of themes more fitting for yellowback literature, such as unfaithful spouses, treacherous servants, and evil neighbors. They are also the first written collection of fairy tales, most of which have plots present in many countries. This makes the Pentamerone a very special literary treasure.
Il Pentamerone, illustrations by George Cruikshank
Some of the biting sharpness of the original Pentamerone was lost through translations. Actually, most of the book was heavily censored. For example, the first English translation (Taylor, 1848) included only 30 stories instead of 50 because the general public deemed Basile’s humor unacceptable. The second edition of Taylor’s translation in 1912 kept only 12 stories! But thanks to the widow of Richard Burton, famous translator of the Arabian Nights, English still got a complete book in 1893, three years after his death. However, the second edition of this book in 1927 was heavily censored, a fact that the editors briefly explained as ‘some corrections.’The best available translation today is probably by Nancy Canepa. It is a direct translation from the Neapolitan dialect, featuring all 50 stories, and is backed by extensive research. It’s definitely not a children’s book, but an important document from which everybody can learn a lot about the literature, our society, and ourselves.
The Movie
The Tale of Tales (Il racconto dei racconti) is a movie extravaganza by Matteo Garrone, with Salma Hayek, Shirley Henderson, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly, and other movie stars. The book comprises three tales: The Enchanted Doe, The Flea, and The Flayed Old Lady, enriched with elements from other fairy tales in the Pentamerone.
The Enchanted Snake (left) and The Myrtle (right) by Warwick Goble
The movie is a unique creation with exotic settings, costumes, and music. Still, the plots and specific scenes may be a bit too gruesome for the general audience. The movie’s earnings (less than $6 million), despite its $12 million budget, reflect this concern. However, it will likely become a classic, a must-see for every film enthusiast willing to explore film beyond its ordinary limits. (And over two hours in length.) Beware: it’s R-rated for nudity and violence.
Giving Credit to the Original
The Pentameron, also known as The Tale of Tales, is arguably the most important book most people haven’t heard of. It introduced a so-called restoration plot into the story. In combination with fantastic elements, this plot forms the basis not only of fairy tales, but also of a significant portion of fiction in general.
The Enchanted Snake (left) and The Goat-Faced Girl (right) by Henry Justice Ford
The giants like Madame d’Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, but also J. R. R. Tolkien or J. K. Rowling all profited on this base, and it’s only fair to put the name of Giambattista Basile in the same group.
Her date of birth is unknown. Madame d’Aulnoy was born Marie-Catherine Le Jumel in Barneville-la-Bertrand, Normandy, around 1650, into one of the oldest and most respected families of Normandy. Her mother was about 16 years old.
Young Madame d’Aulnoy
Being the only child, she was raised by her grandmother as an heiress. When, at about 11 or 12, she had a baby brother, her parents switched to plan B: they sent her to a nunnery. In those days, nobility didn’t spend too much precious time with their own children.
Madame d’Aulnoy Fairy Tales covers by Clinton Peters (left) and Gordon Browne (right)
Marie-Catherine wasn’t happy about the idea, so she persuaded her father to find her a husband. At about 15 years of age, she married Baron d’Aulnoy. He was a heavy drinker, gambler, and abuser. He also had financial difficulties and was at least three decades older than his bride.
Portrait of Baroness d’Aulnoy
The young Baroness gave birth to three girls (two died soon after birth) in the first three years of her arranged marriage. She had at least one lover. With the help of her mother and two gentlemen, she entered into a conspiracy against her husband. He was subsequently accused of treason. Baron d’Aulnoy was cleared of accusations, and both false witnesses were executed. Madame d’Aulnoy had to flee Paris.
Blue Bird by Clinton Peters (left) and Warwick Goble (right)
We can only speculate what happened to her in the next few decades. She probably spent some time traveling. It is possible that she lived in Spain and England for several years. There are even rumors that she became an international spy, but we have no hard evidence to rely on.
The Invisible Prince (left) and Prince Cherry (right) by Warwick Goble
While d’Aulnoy’s memoirs mention another (illegitimate) daughter, a son, a new husband, several lovers (another widely accepted practice of the time), it is very hard to say what really happened. Facts in her writings are always fused with imagination.
She was involved in another conspiracy, resulting in the beheading of her friend Madam Angelique Tiquet. Because her brother died young, Marie-Catherine inherited a fortune after all. It is clear she lived in Paris from 1690 to 1701, when she died.
Hind in the Wood by Brinsley Le Fanu (left), Walter Crane (middle), and Warwick Goble (right)
Mme d’Aulnoy’s works
Memoirs from Spain and England brought immediate fame to Comtesse d’Aulnoy, as she signed her literary works. They were written in the fashion of the time. This means plenty of vivid descriptions of exotic places and rituals, with little attention paid to the facts.
Fair Goldilocks by Clinton Peters
Her memoirs have many elements of novels with long imaginary passages. Even fairy tales are woven into the narrative’s basic framework . The first fairy tale written by Madame d’Aulnoy (The Island of Happiness) was published in 1690, a year before Charles Perrault’s Tales of Mother Goose. Her first collection was published only a few months after Perrault’s.
Princess Belle-Etoile by Clinton Peters (left) and Walter Crane (right)
If we can say that Perrault is the father of a fairy tale as a literary genre, she is the one who coined the term ‘fairy tales’ (French: ‘contes de fées’, which actually means ‘tales of fairies’). Thanks to the huge influence of her salon, she can be credited as the mother of the genre. Her fairy tales were obviously influenced by folklore, with a dominant theme of animal brides or bridegrooms. It is likely that she was introduced to them through Straparola’s The Facetious Nights and Basile’s Pentamerone rather than through oral tradition.
Madame d’Aulnoy, mother of the fairy tale
None of Madame d’Aulnoy’s works was written for children. They were actually all penned as romantic novels, sometimes formed as travelogues, often with fantastical elements, and always in a conversational tone with a live audience in mind.
The White Cat by Thomas Derrick (left) and Warwick Goble (right)
Historical context of d’Aulnoy’s fairy tales
Despite the fact that her works were internationally popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, all of them are nearly forgotten today for at least three reasons:
Bee and Orange Tree (left) and Prince Sprite(right) by Gordon Browne
Fairy tales became popular material for collectors (the brothers Grimm being the most famous of all) who presented them as a part of the cultural heritage of certain nations, in times when nations were not yet fully formed. These collections were written by scholars who wanted facts, not imagination.
The genre entered mass production during the 19th century. As with any business, this was a world of power, dominance, and competition. In short, a world for men. Yet, d’Aulnoy’s fairy tales were still printed then. With the rising demand for educational messages (like in one of her literary successors, Madam Le Prince de Beaumont), they slowly vanished from the bookshelves.
The narrative style of d’Aulnoy fell out of favor. When the audience expanded to include lower classes with less free time, readers started to prefer more ‘to the point’ written stories. Her fairy stories are pretty lengthy (from 12 to 44 printed pages each), and her narration lacked the dramatic suspense we are still used to today.
The Yellow Dwarf by Gordon Browne (left) and Walter Crane (right)
While the fairy tales of Madame d’Aulnoy will probably never gain global popularity again, they represent an important milestone in the development of the genre and literature in general. They are full of emotion and have many complex, powerful female characters. She deserves a place right next to another master of storytelling: Hans Christian Andersen.
