#ashlad

[illustratus]

The Ash Lad beheads the Troll by Theodor Kittelsen

[grimmborg-in-the-bog]

lately this scene has been stuck in my head like an annoying song.

Originally from the fairy tale "Herding the King's Hares", the brothers Per, Pål, and Askeladden get a chance to help out this old lady who claims to have been stuck in this stump for over 100 years. Only Askeladden actually helps her and she gives him a pipe that helps him accomplish the impossible task of herding hares.

An old woman stuck in a stump also appears in Reve-Enka by Ivo Caprino, and many other norwegian fairy tale themed things.

[salem-house-press]

Ashlad saves a witch who got her hair stuck in a tree.

[dreadsnail]

i swear if i don't get any new dragon age news soon im gonna start eating rocks

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Gender Swapped Fairy Tales

by Karrie Fransman & Jonathan Plackett (2020)

My mother-in-law got this book and for obvious reasons she lent it to me. I have far more thoughts about it than I expected, so I thought I'd do a little ramble review for those of you that are interested in looking at fairy tales from a gender perspective:

Firstly: I think this is a very interesting, well introduced project

Fransman and Plackett, who are married, explain in the introduction that they didn't want to retell fairy tales but specifically chose to simply swap out all relevant gendered words (with a computer program created by Plackett) in an attempt to "illuminate and disrupt the gender stereotypes woven into the stories we've been told since childhood". This is also the reason, they explain, why they've stuck to a very binary approach to gender, not just changing "princess" to "prince" etc, but also changing "dress" to "suit" and so on. They used the text from the Langs' Fairy Books and tried to change as little as possible, to show how different it would be to have Cinderella's actions attributed to a man and Hansel's to a girl. It's a solid concept and I appreciate the effort they put into it.

Second: It's a beautiful book with gorgeous illustrations

Just look at these takes on Rapunzel and Beauty and the Beast, delightful!

So, if this looks like something that's your thing, I encourage you to check it out!

But of course I also have many nitpicky folklore feelings about this, so for anyone who is interested I will put those under the cut~

So, folklore feelings and ruffled fairy tale feathers:

This is a project with a very specific concept (complete binary gender swap, but edit as little as possible besides) and it's unfair to fault it for sticking to it, but I do think that not every fairy tale is equally well suited for such a treatment. I also think that the authors cheat a little here and there and if you start cheating then why not do it to make things a little more elegant?

Here are my thoughts on the gender swapped fairy tales this book contains:

Handsome and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast)

This one works very well, I think. Having a female merchant be the protagonist of the first half of the story and a male romatic hero the willing captive of a female beast changes the feel of the story completely while leaving all its main elements intact. It's interesting to see a female character lose her monstrous characteristics through the dutiful devotion of a man and it also highlights the uncomfortable parts of the story by recontextualizing them. I like it!

Cinder, or the Little Glass Slipper (Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper)

From a story perspective this one is as good as the previous one. It's fun to have an evil stepfather and stepbrothers obsessed with beauty, a fairy godfather, and a beautiful boy who longs for a ball. However, I really don't think "Cinder" has the same feel as "Cinderella" as a name. In the Langs' translation the protagonist is called both Cinderella and Cinderwench, which they swapped for Cinder and Cinderboy. This isn't quite right. "Wench" is a much nastier word than "boy" and "Cinder" is just the full noun not made into a name. If more editing was allowed, I would have taken inspiration from Norwegian fairy tales about Askeladden and called the protagonist "Ashlad".

How to Tell a True Prince (How to Tell a True Princess / The Princess on the Pea)

This one is silly, but so is the original. You can really tell that this is a literary fairy tale. But honestly the nonsense of it call is kind of the point and a princess looking for a dainty prince who bruises like a peach is a story worth telling.

Jacqueline and the Beanstalk (Jack and the Beanstalk)

There is nothing wrong with this one at all, but I don't like it much because there are plenty of trickster tales with women as the protagonists. Changing Jack into a girl doesn't really have much bearing on the story for me and it doesn't create a sort of story that's all that new. If I wanted to a girl defeating a giant I could also read Molly Whuppie. But I do see that Jack's characterisation of being silly and thoughtless, brave and brazen is unusual to see for a heroine, so there is that.

Gretel and Hansel (Hansel and Gretel)

Similar to the previous one I don't think this particularly benefits from a gender swap. Hansel and Gretel are both clever in their own way. There is a clear difference in Gretel being the one who cries more and has to do chores for the witch, but still. It does make me think though, because the male witch/wizard wanting to eat Gretel makes me more uncomfortable. One thing I find very funny in this one is that they didn't just change the duck they meet along the way into a drake (as in male duck, but now seems like a dragon), they also have the wizard call Hansel a "silly gander" instead of a "silly goose".

Mr Rapunzel (Rapunzel)

Now here I get very picky. I think "Mr Rapunzel" is a ridiculous way to solve for the fact that leaving it unchanged would make it seem like the same fairy tale. In fairy tales people are hardly ever addressed with titles like Mr or Mrs and it completely breaks the tone. I would have just kept it Rapunzel, as they do in the actual text of the story. What I do appreciate is the complete ambiguity in this version as to whether it is the husband or the wife who gives birth to the baby. But here is also the first moment of cheating: they have Rapunzel grow a long beard. That is a decided change. A boy could grow long hair just as well as a girl, it did not need to be altered. But it is an amazing image. I'm all for it. But if you make this change because it's cool, you can change more things. The dynamic between the Evil Wizard, Rapunzel and the Princess is very interesting with swapped genders though.

Snowdrop (Snow White)

I wanted to yell about unnecessarily changing the name again, but Andrew Lang was the one that changed the name from Snow White to Snowdrop, so my yelling is directed at him. In this story the gender language program comes up with some changes I just don't like the sound of. "My Lady Queen" turns into "My Gentleman King", while I think "My Lord King" would work a bit better, and "My noble King" a lot better. It also changes the Princess' bodice being laced up so tight it nearly kills her to the Prince's shirt. That's one hell of a shirt. The preoccupation with beauty is interesting with a king and prince though, and the female dwarves are fun.

Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red Riding Hood)

This certainly is interesting, because it's one of the versions where both Grandmama (so Grandpapa in this version) and Little Red Riding Hood get eaten and never rescued. I would have liked to see a brave female woodcutter, but having this story of straying off the path and getting preyed upon for it be centered around a boy is definitely impactful. The wolf is introduced as "Mistress Wolf", which I don't love but since the Langs' originally chose "Gaffer Wolf", I can't really argue with that. I do argue with the way the wolf is illustrated though. Because they gave her a head of blonde hair on top of her fur and a red lipstick mouth.

The Sleeping Handsome in the Wood (The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood)

This is very interesting with the genders swapped. (Again could be read as the King giving birth, fun.) I'm all for armoured princesses climbing towers and falling to their knees at the sight of slumbering princes. This is also the Perrault version with the second plot where the in-laws want to eat the new spouse and the royal children, which adds the dynamic of the young Queen going to war while the beautiful King stays home and is endangered. The title irks me though. While I fully supported the use of "Handsome" as a name in the Beauty and the Beast story, I do not like it here. I'm sure there is something patriarchal about the way "beauty" can be used as a noun describing a person, while "handsome" cannot, but "the handsome in the woods" just sounds very jumbled to me.

Frau Rumpelstiltzkin (Rumpelstiltzkin)

Again with the unnecessary name change. "Frau" is an interesting pick, perhaps they were inspired by Frau Holle, but it's really not needed and it looks very forced. I don't like this story as much as most of the others, but mostly because it's not a very nice fairy tale to begin with. The romance isn't romantic, the kindness isn't kind, and changing the genders doesn't change that. The young king fighting to save his baby daughter is very charming though.

Mistress Puss in Boots (Puss in Boots)

Listen. If you insist on having a different title for it, go all the way with the old-fashioned language for animals and make it Pussy in Boots. Or go with the "Madame Puss" that is used in the story since the Langs' decided to use "Monsieur Puss" (hilarious). But the gender changes are fun in this. The Prince falling head over heels for the freshly-fished-from-a-ditch miller's daughter is very good.

Thumbelin (Thumbelina)

Another one by H.C. Andersen and very clearly a literary fairy tale. I really like the name change to Thumbelin and having a single (?) man wishing for a child and finding one in a flower is very lovely. I've always liked Thumbelina's aesthetic but rather disliked the story, everyone is forever trying to marry her against her will. I don't like the story more with a boy in the same position, but the change does hit hard because it.

If I had to pick a favourite from this book, I think it's Handsome and the Beast, but Cinder is also very fun with the genders reversed. I like this book very much as an experiment, but while I agree with the choice not to make it actual retellings, I wish a few more tweaks were allowed to make some parts flow more smoothly.

[sigyn-foxyposts]

Headcanon/Theory: If Loki is Askeladen then..was Sigyn the princess?

So I felt like researching was very fun and not talked about enough folklore surrounding Loki. Like we all know how he has his own little traditions: being the tooth fairy and the vættir living under or in the fireplace. 

Some like to think that this very well know tale of a boy named Askeladen "The ashland" is actually Loki, or based on him anyways! 

After all the ashland does start out as being regarded as an incapable underachiever, but eventually proves himself by overcoming some prodigious deed, succeeding where all others have failed.

Too add further comparison, in the stories Askeladden is characterised as the runt of the family, being:

"the youngest, smallest, and weakest", yet "clever, bold, patient"

He had two brothers, who he often proved wrong whenever they teased him and when they failed in a task, their father would be surprised, since he thought his brothers would succeed. No, in fact it was askeladen.

He is also said to love the fireplace, poking around the ash all day watching over the fires while his mother nags him in doing something with his life, hence the nickname his family gave him! 

In the story: "The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body" or "The Boy Who Had an Eating Match with a Troll". He ends up tricking a giant/troll into.. taking his own life in an eating contest. How Loki is that? 

Now onto the princess part! The whole reason i am writing this. In the story titled: "The Princess who always had to have the Last Word" (Which I love so much!! Sounds like a girlboss) 

First published in 1843, this fairytale tells of a princess who is "so headstrong and obstinate", that her father the king promises her hand in marriage and half of the kingdom to the whoever who can silence her tongue. 

By the way, they're indicating that she has a silver tongue and a loud-mouth to anyone that she meets. 

By and by, the royal estate becomes so run down by people, that the king decides that if they fail, they will have their ears swayed with an iron.

(I dont really know what this could mean, but im guessing they became a slave or its a way of burning a mark into them?? feel free to share what we know about that one.)

Nonetheless, three brothers set off to try their luck with the princess. 

The youngest, called the Ashlad, picks up several items along the way, consequently being ridiculed by his two older brothers.

As the story unfolds however, it appears that it is not necessarily the things in question which prove to be helpful in the end. 

Mind you the whole time, when his brothers ask "what could you possibly need that for?"

He responds "Oh, I have things to do, and this will do,"

The Ashlads' approach to the road ahead of him reminds us to be attentive and mindful of events and coincidence on our way. Although he is initially mocked in the beginning, it turns out that doing things differently is perhaps not such a bad idea after all.

After his older brothers go in first they're ridiculed by the princess. 

"Good day," he said.

"Good day to you too," she answered and turned in her seat.

"It sure is warm in here," he said.

"It's warmer in the coals," answered the princess; the branding iron was lying there, ready to be used. 

When he saw that, he couldn't say a word, and he failed. It didn't go better with the second brother.

"Good day," he said.

"Good day to you too," she said and turned in her seat.

"It's very warm in here," he said.

"It's warmer in the coals," she answered. 

Then the cat got his tongue as well, and the iron was pulled out again.

Then it was the Ashlad's turn.

"Good day," he said.

"Good day to you too," she said and turned in her seat.

"It's nice and warm in here," he said.

"It's warmer in the coals," she answered; she did not care to be nicer to him than she was with the others.

"Then maybe I can fry my magpie there?" he asked, pulling out his first find. 

"I'm afraid she'll burst," said the king's daughter.

"Not to worry, I'll put this birch ring around it," said the boy.

"It's too wide," she said.

"I'll use this wedge," said the boy.

"The fat will drip out of her," said the princess.

"I'll hold this underneath," answered the boy, showing his broken pottery.

"Your words are all crooked," said the princess.

"No, I'm not crooked, but this is crooked," answered the boy, pulling out one of the ram's horns.

"Now, I've never seen anything like it!" yelled the princess.

"Here's one like it," said the boy, and pulled out the other horn.

"You're trying to wear me out, aren't you?" she said.

"No, but this is worn out," answered the boy, pulling out the sole.

The princess didn't know what to say.

"Now you're mine," said the Ashlad, and he got her and half the country into the bargain.

Now don't we all also theorise that Sigyn might be related to Freya or at least have been raised by Njord, one you'd consider wealthy and a "king" of the vanir? 

Just a thought! Might make a fan fiction of this in the future. 🤭

[mioritic]

Theodor Kittelsen (Norwegian, 1857-1914)

“Askeladdens eventyr” (“Ashlad’s adventure”), 1900

[yumeyleo]

the story starts with brothers per and pål getting chased out of the forest by a troll as they were chopping down trees from the oldest part of the forest and the troll wanted to keep the forest safe

the mc askeladden (ashlad in english) is aksed to go out into the forest to try the same (mostly because they consider him the disposable one since hes the youngest) and in the forest he meets the troll

he threatens the troll by pretending some of the cheese he brought with him for lunch is a stone and squeezing it, the troll gets scared and helps askeladden chop down trees until evening comes

when it finally gets dark the troll invites askeladden to his home and when they get there askeladden challenges the troll with a eating competition

askeladden puts his backpack on so its on his stomach instead and pours the porridge into the bag, and when the bag gets full he takes a knife and cuts a hole in it, then challenges the troll to do the same saying that the best way to win a eating competition is to cut open ones stomach so you have as much space as you need

the troll does just that, dies from getting his stomach cut open, and askeladden takes all the treasure in the trolls grove and the wood they cut down earlier back to his family and they live happily ever after

stupid ass troll

[adarkrainbow]

The Ultimate Fables Catalogue (C)

I know, I know, I haven’t released part “B” yet. But as it turns out, I finished the part C long before the part B, so I will release this one first. 

In this continuation of the “Ultimate Fables Catalogue”, I will cover a part of the spin-offs. To be precise I will take a look at the two Cinderella spin-offs (Cinderella: From Fabletown, with love ; and its sequel Cinderella: Fables are Forever), and the entirety of the Fairest series (including its graphic novel, Fairest: In All the Land). 

SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD! 

The Cinderella spin-offs

Cinderella: From Fabletown, with love

# The title of the series is an homage to the James Bond novel “From Russia, with love”. Cinderella’s own adventures as Fabletown’s spy evoke those of James Bond and of the Bond girls. The writer of this series, Chris Roberson, evoked the two main influences of the plot by describing the comic as “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service meets Sex and the City”. 

# Crispin Cordwainer is the shoemaker from the Grimm fairytale “The Elves and the Shoemaker”. His name comes from saint Crispin, patron of cobblers and leather-workers. 

# Cinderella mentions “an ogre and a talking cat”, referencing Charles Perrault’s “Puss in Boots”.

# Among the magical items found among the Mundies, Beast mentions the “seven-league boots” (from Charles Perrault’s Little Thumbling), a “horn of plenty” (the Cornucopia), a magical flute (I don’t have any specific reference for this one) and a “singing sword” (I don’t have any clear reference, though the “singing sword” concept appears here and there - it is the name of an Arthurian novel by Jack Whyte, and an episode of the cartoon “The Legend of Prince Valiant”, among many other things). 

# The silhouette of the tourists are seen, and while we already know of Mowgli and Cinderella, we will discover the other two to be Feathertop (see later) and the... what was originally planned to be the Huntsman and then became a Woodsman apparently (it is one of those unclear points). Cinderella in turn has her group of three spies: Puss in Boots (who likes to be known as the “Marquis of Carabas”), from Charles Perrault’s fairytale of the same name ; Dickory, the mouse that ran up the clock, from the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock, and finally Jenny Wren, whose lover Robin Redbreast was murdered - from the cycle of nursery rhymes surrounding Cock Robin (”Cock Robin Got Up Early ; Who killed Cock Robin? ; Jenny Wren Fell Sick). 

# Aladdin, and the djinn of the ring, are both from the “Aladdin” story of the One Thousand and One Nights.  I suspect his driver, Farid, to be the prince Farid from the One Thousand and One Nights story “Farizad of the Rose’s Smile” - given it is the only Farid character in the Arabian Nights I know of.

# The ghuls are creatures of Arabian folklore.

# Ultima Thule (named after the legendary island of Thule that cartographers of Antiquity believed to exist north of England) is the realm of Scandinavian fairytales, especially Norwegian, filled with trolls and talking polar bears and giant elks. Its former ruler was king Valemon, from the fairytale “White-Bear-King-Valemon”. Other inhabitants of Thule include the widow Gudbrand (wife of Gudbrand from “Gudbrand on the Hill-Side”), Askelädden (the famous Norwegian folktale character known as “Ashlad” in English), Little Freddy (from “Little Freddy with his fiddle”), Little Annie the goose-girl (from the fairytale of the same name), Butterball (from the Norwegian fairytale of the same name), as well as the ram and the pig, from “The Ram and the Pig who went to live in the woods by themselves”. 

# The Fairy Godmother is here another “archetype character” in the likes of Frau Totenkinder, Prince Charming or Jack of All Tales. She was the fairy godmother of Cinderella, but also alongside her sisters the “good fairies” of the Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty fairytale, and she secretly worked to help Rapunzel by sending the prince rescue her. The Fairy Godmother’s perpetual fight against Frau Totenkinder has notably been the source of numerous of the fairytales: it seems to have started out by Frau Totenkinder “ruining” the fate of Briar Rose by playing the role of the “wicked fairy/angered wise woman” in the tale, only for the Fairy Godmother to retaliate by sending the prince of Rapunzel (whose witch-adoptive motive was Frau Totenkinder). The evolution of her role throughout the fairy tales is also explained by this perpetual duel: after sending Prince Charming to save Briar Rose from Frau Totenkinder’s curse, the witch fought back by killing the Fairy Godmother’s two sisters with poisoned apples (evoking Snow-White), which is why she was alone when helping Cinderella ; and the reason her spells only last to midnight is because her powers were weakened due to her actions in the Rapunzel story, all of her efforts exhausting her spells so that they could only work for a day and no more. It is also confirmed that the prince of Rapunzel is NOT prince Charming, as the Fairy Godmother “reused” the same prince to save both Briar Rose and Cinderella.

The Fairy Godmother is also very clearly an homage, or rather a dark parody, of the fairy godmothers of Disney movies. Her being part of a trio of benevolent fairies looking like little grandmothers at the times of Briar Rose’s birth is a nod to Fauna, Flora and Merryweather, the three fairy godmothers of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, while her being the kind, elderly, grey-haired, plump godmother of Cinderella is an obvious nod to Disney’s interpretation of the fairy godmother of Cinderella. 

# The palace being made of glass is of course a nod to the glass slippers of “Cinderella”, but I wonder if it isn’t a reference to the Norwegian fairytale “The Princess on the Glass-Hill”, or something similar... 

Cinderella: Fables Are Forever

# The title of the series is again a James Bond reference, this time to “Diamonds are forever”.

# The “Shadow Fabletown”, the Soviet community of Fables living beyond the Iron Curtain and opposing the American Fabletown, is composed of Ivan Durak (Ivan the Fool, a folk character of Russian fairytales), Tugarin Zmeyevich (the Slavic character known as Tugarin or Zmey Tugarin), Meng Chiang-Nu (the character of the Chinese folktale Lady Meng Jiang), the Seven Chinese Brothers (see below), and Anansi the spider (a folkloric character from West African tales and legends)

About Tugarin Zmeyevich, the Fables Encyclopedia explains a bit more the process behind choosing this character that turns into a dragon: they explain Tugarin Zmeyevich started out as the antagonist of a folktale where he was opposed to the Rusian folkloric hero Alyosha Popovich - and in the oldest/”first” version of this folktale Tugarin Zmeyevich was “merely” a man as tall as a giant, riding a horse that had fire coming out of its nostrils and smoke from its ears. However, throughout adaptations and expansions of the tale, Zmeyevich inherited the “breathe fire and smoke” traits of his horse, and then from a fire-breathing man became a dragon. So, for the Fables comics, they decided to have Zmeyevich look like a man at first, but be able to turn into a dragon at will. 

As for the Seven Chinese Brothers, the Fables Encyclopedia also brings more information: they are actually part of a popular Chinese folktale merely known as “The Five Brothers” - which became well-known in the West thanks to Claire Huchet Bishop’s “Five Chinese Brothers” in the 30s ; but there are several variations of the story where the number of brothers change, up to seven or ten. And the idea of the five brothers being actually seven was also popularized in the English-speaking world thanks to Margaret Mahy’s “Seven Chinese Brothers” at the end of the 19th century. 

# Dorothy Gale, aka “Silverslipper” is from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, by L. Frank Baum. Beyond her first nickname (evoking the magical “silver slippers” of the book), she is also called “The wicked bitch of the east” (a nod to the Wicked Witch of the East from the book). Numerous other characters and entities from the Oz books appear: the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion (from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”), the Chiss, Bungle the Glass Cat (”The Patchwork Girl of Oz”) and the Spoon Brigade (”The Emerald City of Oz”). We also see in the flashbacks all four witches of Oz (Good witches of the North and South, Wicked witches of the East and West), alongside the Munchkins and the Scarecrow. 

# Other pop culture references include the line “Cheshire cat got your tongue” (referencing “Alice in Wonderland”), “Are you done quoting Donny and Marie?” (the television series of the same name) and Cindy describing the relationship of Bigby and Snow White as “That whole Cheers things”, paralleling the couple with the characters of Sam and Diane from the “Cheers” show

 FAIREST

Wide Awake

# The main character is Ali Baba, from the One Thousand and One Nights story “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”. Morgiana of the same story is briefly mentionned in flashbacks. Interestingly, in the Fables universe Ali Baba went from a thief killer to the “prince of thieves” himself, something pointed out as weird in-universe. I believe it is a reference to how in American culture at the time of the comic’s release, the name of Ali Baba was so strongly associated with thieves you often saw it being reused for a thief character. 

# The many modern USA culture references made by the Bottle Imp are too many for me to record them all.

# The fact of having the two “Sleeping Beauties” be a red-clad Briar Rose and the white Snow Queen isn’t just some fancy aesthetic choice. This plays on a common duality in fairytales between white and red that the comics itself already illustrated throughout the duo of Snow-White and Rose-Red. More interestingly, Ali Baba describing one as “the color of winter snow” and the other with “the color and heat of the first days of autumn” seems to be a play on the “seasonal” reading of the fairytale “Sleeping Beauty”, this analysis and belief that the fairytale actually depicts a metaphor for the cycle of seasons, Sleeping Beauty herself embodying nature falling asleep during the winter, and her awakening symbolizing spring. 

# The version of Sleeping Beauty’s backstory here is quite interesting because it clashes with the one presented by the Cinderella spin-offs - a “retcon” here that is present inside the main series itself, since it began with the implications that Frau Totenkinder was the one who cast the curse, being the “evil witch” against the “three good fairies” (a la Disney), but then switched to make this new backstory canon. In this version of the story, we are more faithful to Charles Perrault’s version of the tale, since we have seven fairies gifting the child and the evil fairy being the eighth. The fairies here are actually a mix between the actual “fairytale fairies”, as in French fairytale fairies, and British fairies of folklore and legends. The seven gifts here are as such: beauty (for Katrya the Pure), wit (for Sofiya the wise - though it is the “wit of an angel”, so it is actually naivity), elegance/grace for Nyura the Graceful (which is extended to being graceful and elegant in all things... including the bedroom), walth for Ionna the Gifted, the talent of singing for Alyas the Noble (though it is “singing like a nightingale”, quite literaly, so singing like a bird), the talent of writing good songs and playing music perfectly for Yeva the Lively. The last gift of not dying but falling into an eternal sleep is given by Leysa the Defender against the curse of the evil fairy, Hadeon the Destroyer - and here, as with all magic process, we receive an explanation for the why: as it turns out, Leysa could only “split” the death curse across so many people the death became a “mere” endless sleep. 

Beyond this, each of the fairy embodies a specific concept associated with fairies in general, or magic beings. Katrya the Pure is focused on purity and chastity (since her magical waters heal all knights chaste and noble) ; Sofiya the Wise is noted to have written a very famous grimoire ; Ionna the Gifted represents the “benevolent” fairies associated with darkness, since she is a daughter of the night who tames and traps nightmares (as opposed to Hadeon the Destroyer who is an “evil” fairy of darkness, shadow and fogs that rules over a typical “evil, nightmarish forest”), Yeva is strongly associated with music, merriment and parties, etc... The habit of Hadeon of turning her former lovers into objects she uses later (like into a boat) is also a very typical trope of fairy tales. 

# In a flashback, Ali Baba is seen stealing from Abd al Quadir. He is a character from the One Thousand and One Nights story “Ala al-Din Abu al-Samat” (253rd night). 

Lamia

# Lamia is of course the legendary monster/bogey-woman of Greco-Roman culture. 

# Saint George, his sword Ascalon and the village of Silene are from the legend of “Saint George and the Dragon”. Saint George seems to embody here the archetype of the “dragon slayer-hero” since he lists other famous dragons among his list of kills: the Chimaera (not an actual dragon, but the fire-breathing Chimera of Greek mythology, killed by the hero Bellerophon), Illuyanka (a Hittite dragon killed by the god Tarhunz), Tiamat (the Mesopotamian goddess-dragon killed by Marduk) and finally Vritra (the Indian reptilian demon slain by the god Indra). 

# When Beast lists the various fictional characters he becomes “like” during his various hunts for the Lamia, he mentions in order Auguste Dupin (created by Edgar Allan Poe), Sherlock Holmes (created by Arthur Conan Dole), Hercule Poirot (created by Agatha Christie), Sam Spade (from “The Maltese Falcon”) and Philip Marlowe (created by Raymond Chandler). 

The Hidden Kingdom

# The three movies seen at the theater at the beginning are “Bunny Lake is Missing” ; “Don’t Look Now” and “Picnic at Hanging Rock”. Rapunzel later compares the flying origami attack to Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”.

# This is I think the first time paintings are hidden around in the background. In Rapunzel’s flat there are two pictures on the walls: one is the poster for Kubrick’s “Clockwork Orange”, another is a reproduction of  “The Lady of Shalott” by Waterhouse. Frau Totenkinder rather has in her flat Fuseli’s “The Three Witches”. 

# Frau Totenkinder here appears mostly in her role of “the witch/adoptive-mother of Rapunzel”. Interestingly however, while Totenkinder is the witch that locked Rapunzel in a tower, and banished her after she slept with the prince, in the Fables continuity of the role of the witch in the Grimm fairytale got split with... the Fairy Godmother, who is revealed to have been the one preventing Rapunzel’s prince from returning to her.

# In the Japanese realm of Fables, the main characters include Mayumi (who is the Kuchisake-onna of Japanese ghost stories), Tomoko (a kitsune), a bakeneko (that just goes by “Neko”) and Katagiri (a kappa). Other supernatural beings coming from “The Hidden Kingdom”, the Japanese Homeland, include: funayûrey (ghosts of the drowned at sea), tanukis, a noppera-bo, a rokurokubi, an oni, an hitotsume-kozo, several kirin... 

# When Neko first appears to Rapunzel, he imitates Totoro, from “My Neighbor Totoro”. 

# Rapunzel briefly prays to the Jizo Bosatsu. 

# Rapunzel, in her numerous travels throughout the Homelands searching for her missing babies, adopted several different identities. In the Hidden Kingdom she was Okiku, the famous Japanese “ghost” in the well. In the Ancient Greece equivalent in the Homelands she also played the role of Theseus, by slaying the Minotaur. And she is noted to have assisted to the “birth of an empire” by seeing twins by a she-wolf: they are Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of the Roman Empire. 

# The treacherous shogun Ryogan actually fulfills the role of both the jealous samurai who mutilated the Kuchisake-onna and the samurai that killed Okiku. 

# When the Hyakki Yagyo, the “Night Parade of the One Hundred Demons” is invoked, we also see among the numerous yokai tengus, chochin’obakes, an hebi, the wanyudo, and a nue. 

# Jack ends up thrown into the claws of the famous Japanese movie monster, Gdozilla.

# Lauren Beukes, the writer of this arc, listed her several inspirations as: the manga Tekkonkintreet, “The Pillow Book” ; the movies of Kurosawa, Miyazaki and Miike ; the work of the three Murakami (Haruki Murakami, Ryu Murakami and Takashi Murakami) ; “The Tale of Genji”, “Tokyo Vice” (no, not the television series, but the memoir of Jake Adelstein), and “The Illustrated Night Parade of the Hundred Demons”.

Aldered States

# The various suitors of Princess Alder include Mr. Pickles (from “The Magic Fishbone” by Charles Dickens), Trotty Veck (from “The Chimes” by Charles Dickens) as well as Farmer Giles (from Tokkien’s “Farmer Giles of Ham”). 

The Return of the Maharaja

# Nalayani is actually the past life of Draupadi, from the Indian epic “Mahabharata”. 

# There is a LOT of characters from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book here: Tabaqui the jackal ; the dholes ; Nathoo ; Buldeo ; Pudmini... 

# Prince Charming makes a reference to the “golden ticket”, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

# Among beings from Indian folklore, beliefs, folktales and Hindu mythology/religion we have the asuras, the pishachas, as well as a host of Hindu gods - Rama, Ganesha, Manasa, Kamadhenu, Nandini...  The Trishula trident is also important for the ending of the story. 

Of Men and Mice

# The very title is a reference to the story “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. 

# The cubs are being read one of the Harry Potter books - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to be precise. 

# At Cinderella’s ball, the transformed mouse ends up seducing Lady Isabelle du Lac, daughter of Lord and Lady du Lac. I wonder if it is a reference to Edmund Dulac... 

# I also believe the giant sentient humanoid rat-ninjas might be a reference to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. 

# The “King’s men” are the same from the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty”. 

# Rama is the divine hero of Hindu mythology/religion, while Varuna is... I am a bit confused because to my knowledge Varuna is an Hindu god, not a tiger-headed fish... The only tiger-headed fish I know of is the Japanese Shachihoko... This leaves me confused.

# The Rodgers and Hammerstein’s version of Cinderella is explicitely referenced here. 

Clamour for Glamour

# Lady Maeve of Dunhollow seems to be Maeve/Mebd of Irish mythology.

# Mary, after losing her little lamb, took up gardening - and thus became the Mary from the nursery rhyme “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary”. 

# There is an entire section of the Farm called André’s Garden, where the Mean Sunflower Kid/Mister Sunflower lives, and we see here five other Fables living in this area: Snapdragon, Old Maid Hollyhock, the Dormouse Juggler, Alderman Poppy, and a woodpecker. Given this is the living area of the Sunflower, and named “André’s garden” I am pretty sure they are meant to be part of this same Victorian book of nursery rhymes written and illustrated by R. André/R. Andre from which the nursery rhyme “Mister Sunflower” comes. The problem is that I cannot have access to this specific book, which seems to not be easily available anywhere, so I cannot actually check... 

In case you want to know, I will place here the Mister Sunflower nursery rhyme as it was revealed in the Fables Encyclopedia:

In your dress of brown and yellow

What a stiff-necked 

Long legged fellow! 

Must you stare, although the bees,

Settle on your face and tease?

Can’t you turn your big flat head

Till the sun has gone to bed?

Fairest in All the Land

# This is where Mrs. Ford was confirmed to be “the old woman at the ford in a river”, the deadly and ghostly “washing woman” from Irish beliefs and folklore.

# While not an exact reference, the seven magical swords kept in the office named after concepts (Mercy, Justice, Regret,  Rage, Judgement, Love and Wisdom) are part of a long tradition in fantasy of magical swords with meaningful names (for example, take Tad William’s trilogy “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn”). The powers and nature of Maerorgladi, the Sword of Regret, is especially interesting, as its “hunger” forcing it to take a second life for each kill is clearly inspired by a famous trend of “sentient, soul-hungering swords” in fiction which was started by Poul Anderson’s “The Broken Sword” and Elric of Melniboe’s famous sword, Stormbringer. 

# Hautboy/Cendrée, the wizard that created the seven magical sword, is confirmed to have lived in the Dark Tower, from “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came”, before Roland actually arrived to said tower. The fact his main feats were creating buildings, magical chariots and magical weapons, makes him part of a long line of legendary magical smiths - in Fables, the main series, we already saw Weyland Smith and Daedalus appear, but I can also mention the Greek Hephaestus or the Finnish Ilmarinen. The Ilmarinen comparison is especially interesting, since the mythical ancestor of the evil swords I talked about (Moorcock’s Stormbringer, or Tolkien’s Gurthang) is a sentient, talking sword from the Kalevala. I have however very curious about the names chosen for him, both very French in nature... I think they might have been chosen at random (especially since “Cendrée” is actually the FEMALE form of the adjective “Ashen”/”Cindered”, the proper male form would have been Cendré), but maybe there is some obscure reference I am missing... though I slightly doubt it. 

# The topic of “swords that must kill” is also very frequent in Norse sagas: to quote TV Tropes, “Tyrfing of the Saga of Hervor and Heidrek, the sword of Bodvar Bjarki in the Saga of Hrolf Kraki, and Dainsleif from the Prose Edda”. Which brings me to the hero the Sword of Regret was built for, Turgo of Nor, who is the stereotypical “Norse barbarian”. He likes in a world shaped after Ancient Norse society, and he is a muscular, bearded warrior always eating and drinking, but going berserk every time he drinks too much (which is often, since he is a drunkard). However, the fact that he keeps flying into mad rages he then regrets, and that he wears a hood made of animal pelts, make him VERY similar to Herakles of Greek mythology. 

# The coat of Padarn Beisrudd is one of the “Thirteen Treasures of Britain”, part of Welsh folklore. 

# The Blue Fairy mentions the “Unseelie Midwinter Ball”. The Unseelie Court is one of the two fairy “courts” or fairy “hosts” of Scottish legends, alongside the Seelie.

# I can’t help but wonder if Hadeon’s role as a sentient, magical but malevolent red car isn’t meant to be a nod to Stephen King’s Christine.

[themousefromfantasyland]

11, 4 and 14 for the ask.

11. Have a bit of folklore trivia you'd like to share?

There's a male Cinderella archetype in Norwegian folk tales, Askeladden, the Ashlad, and he may be connected to Loki.

4. Did you grow up hearing or reading folktales?

Yes, but only the Disney versions and cheap mock-ups of them. I had to research to find a non-Disney version.

14. If you could change something about a specific fairy tale what would it be?

The ending of Grimm's Little Sister and Little Brother.

The queen dies and keeps visiting her baby as a ghost, promising to visit him for three nights and then disappearing forever. But then the king opens the door to the room she was killed and she magically comes back to life. It is not that I want a sad tragic ending, which would be fine too, not gonna lie, but the way this plot is handled implies that at some point there was a version where the queen actually dies. The shifting in tone is very abruptly

[snowy-weather]

Even the English dubs of Vinland Saga can't agree on how to pronounce Askeladd's name. XD Is it 'Ashlad' 'Ashelad' or 'Askelad'. Who knows? XD

[booboolance]

I dont really know how to celebrate pride whit my theme of fairytales, don’t get me wrong folk lore is gay as hell. But there’s to much gay to me to comprehend. So I’m just going to say that ashlad from the movie gives bi frat boy vibes and move on.

[afoolandathief]

Yeah I know the fire thing sounds like it came from PJO but I swear, I swear it's from a paper I found online on Loki's relation to the Ashlad in folklore

[movie--posters]

[folklohre-a]

what if i write anna from frozen and infuse her canon with loads of norwegian folklore/folktales

[eng-nor-words]

🧚🏻‍♂️Eventyr - fairy tale; folk tale

Asbjørnsen og Moe - Collectors of Norwegian folklore.

H.C. Andersen - A Danish author who wrote many fairy tales.

Det var en gang ... - Once upon a time ...

Askeladden (Esben Askeladd) - Ashlad or Boots in English. The main character in many Norwegian folk tales.

Per og Pål - Ashlad's or Boot's brothers.

(en) Helt(inne) - Hero(ine)

(et) Troll - Troll, an ugly cave-dwelling creature

(ei) Trollkjerring - Female troll; witch

(ei) Heks - Witch

(en) Alv - Elf

(en) Dverg - Dwarf

(en) Fe - Fairy

(en) Jette - Giant

(en) Nisse - Pixie; gnome; goblin; brownie

(en) Tuss - Gnome; goblin; troll

(et) Underjordisk vesen - Creature of the underworld

(ei) Nymfe - Nymph

(ei) Havfrue - Mermaid

(ei) Hulder - Wicked wood nymph

(en) Nordavind - North wind; norhterly wind

(et) Barn - Child

(ei) Jente - Girl

(ei) Pike - Girl (old fashioned)

(ei) Kjerring - Old woman; old bag; hag; crone (is mostly used today in a derogatory way)

(ei) Enke - Widow

(ei) Kone - Wife

(en) Mann - Man; husband

(ei) Prinsesse - Princess

(ei) Dronning - Queen

(en) Konge - King

(et) Kongerike - Kingdom

(en) Keiser - Emperor

(en) Bror - Brother

(en) Far - Father

(ei) Bestemor - Grandmother

(en) Ulv - Woolf

(en) Bjørn - Bear

(en) Rev - Fox

(en) Gris - Pig

(en) Frosk - Frog

(en) Andunge - Duckling

(ei) Pannekake - Pancake

(en) Ert - Pea

(et) Godteri - Candy

(en) Fortelling - Story; tale

(en) Gjentakelse - Repetition

(en) Kontrast - Contrast

Så levde de lykkelig alle sine dager - And they lived happily ever after

Snipp, snapp, snute, så var eventyret ute - Snip, snap, snout, then the story was out

Some folk tales and fairy tales in Norwegian:

Askeladden og de gode hjelperne - Boots and his Crew

Askeladden som kappåt med trollet - Boots Who Ate a Match With the Troll

Per, Pål og Espen Askeladd - Boots and His Brothers

Prinsessen som ingen kunne målbinde - The Princess who always had to have Last Word

Kvitebjørn kong Valemon - King Valemon, the White Bear

Tommeliten - Thumbikin; Tom Thumb

Reve-enka - The Fox's Widow

Hvorfor bjørnen er stubbrumpet - Why the Bear Is Stumpy-Tailed

De tre bukkene Bruse - The Three Billy-Goats Gruff

Kjerringa mot strømmen - Goody Gainst-the-stream

Den syvende far i huset - The Father of the Family

Mannen som skulle stelle hjemme - The Husband Who Was to Mind the House

Pannekaken - The Pancake

Rødhette og ulven - Little Red Riding Hood

Hans og Grete - Hansel and Gretel

Snøhvit - Snow White

Askepott - Cinderella

Rapunsel - Rapunzel

Tornerose - Sleeping Beauty

Piken med svovelstikkene - The Little Match Girl

Den stygge andungen - The Ugly Duckling

Prinsessen på erten - The Princess and the Pea

Keiserens nye klær - The Emperor's New Clothes

Den lille havfrue - The Little Mermaid

Tommelise - Thumbelina

Gullhår og de tre bjørnene - Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Resources:

Website with Norwegian folktales: https://folkeeventyr.no/

Website with podcast for kids (with dialects): https://snippsnappsnute.com/pages/lytt

YouTube channel with animated fairy tales for kids (with subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/c/Barneforlaget/videos