Dear Readers,
I am not really sure what I am going to post on this blog, but I plan on reviving it in some form or fashion. I might use it to critique pieces of literature, or I might use it to ramble on and on and on and on about............ I don't really know.
Today's Random Ramble is brought to you by the Brothers Grimm, always a good source. I have long aspired to someday have read every last story penned by the famous duo. This is quite the undertaking, as there are over 211 such stories, and many of them are very similar to each other. Nonetheless, I hope to complete this task before I die, so I have renewed my efforts.
A great way to accomplish this, I have realized, is the invention of the audiobook. (And to think I used to hate them, too.) Two of the great many lesser-known fairy tales are "The Golden Bird" and "Jorinde and Joringel." The latter story is much shorter than the first, but I thought both to be good examples of the quintessential fairy tale.
SPOILER ALERT!
"The Golden Bird" is not really about a golden bird so much as it is about two families who are brought together by a golden bird. It includes such classic motifs as a man with three sons (the first two are useless, but the third is a hero), a random character with fantastic powers and a strangely strong desire to help, and a single princess. Trust and obedience are strong themes in this story. All in all, it's a fun story with a classic feel-good ending to it.
"Jorinde and Joringel" has a more narrow scope, as there are only three characters in the story, and the little travel that happens in the story is not discussed at length. A pair of lovers goes for a walk in the woods, and a fairy (more like a witch, but more on fairies later) turns the girl into a bird. The man is despondent until a dream shows him the only way to withstand the power of the fairy and save his girlfriend-- and also all the other girls who are being held captive. I can't really put a finger on what makes this one stand out more. Maybe it is that a fairy is holding hundreds of girls captive by turning them into birds, maybe it is the initial helplessness of the hero, or maybe it is the fact that the hero's weapon/safeguard is a magic flower that appeared to him in a dream.
Brief discussion on fairies: it seems that at some point in our history, fairies were turned into these tiny little flying humans with diaphanous wings and flower-petal dresses. Our fairies are always nice, but don't always talk. These seems to be a trend as far as all fantastic creatures are concerned, whether they are mermaids, fairies, dragons, or even Grendel himself. Pre-Victorian creatures of the fantastic realms, however, are rarely good and innocent, and certainly are not misunderstood. They are annoying at best, and are often downright evil. A fascinating observation.
Sincerely,
Hans My Hedgehog
