Favorite Folktales?

[emberleo]

What are your favorite folktales with female protagonists?

I'll accept anything with unknown author as "Folktale" whether it's a parable, a legend, a saga, a fairytale, or whatever.

I guess I don't mind knowing about works with known authors too provided you cite the author's name for reference.

But I'm really looking for the kinds of patterns that primarily manifest when a story has gotten told and retold and reshaped and retold over time, rather than a single person's idea of a good story, however grounded in tradition it may be.

-E-

Comments

[elf]

Do you want "favorite" or "any you know of?" I've never liked the story of Bluebeard, but it's got a female protagonist. I did like
Secrets by mistykasumi. Short, 486 words.
Summary: He has many secrets, and even though you will uncover one of his secrets, you'll never discover the right one. A retelling of Bluebeard.

I liked Snow White & Rose Red, who made friends with the bear, more than the Snow White story with the trip to grandma's and the wolf. (*Sits on hands; does not dig out a cluster of excellent Snow White fanfics.*)

Diamonds and Toads was one I liked.

I've never actually read The Goose Girl, but I found both the Grimm version and another version, so maybe there's things worth comparing there.

The Fairy's Midwife is one we use in Feri; The Midwife of Listowel is another variant, and there's a very short version (with Welsh translation) at The Llanuwchllyn Version of the Fairy Mother and the Human Midwife.

Two Watership Down stories with folktales built in: Bright Moon, Who Goes Farther Still by hossgal and The Story of Marli-Hrair and the Black Rabbit of Inle by Edonohana. Not what you're looking for, but maybe after you track down patterns, you can see if they show up in new stories.

[emberleo]

Well, I was hoping for good ones, but for folks who don't know a lot, any they know of is good.

I know too many folklorists ;p

-E-

[emberleo]

> the Snow White story with the trip to grandma's and the wolf.

Er, that's Little Red Riding Hood.

Snow White is the one with the wicked stepmother and a bunch of dwarves.

I'm fond of the Goose Girl, yes.

Oooh, Fairy Midwife, I'll have to read those, thank you! And Yes, once I track the patterns, I'll notice them in new stories too, but that's not this particular project :)

-E-

[lferion]

I have always been fond of Donkeyskin - the folk/fairy-tale version with the dresses and the trunk that travels underground. Largely because of the dresses, and because the princess has gumption.

Tam-Lin, in a myriad of tellings - Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip, the ballad, etc.

Then there is Ursula K LeGuin's The Tombs of Atuan, which certainly had a formative influence on me, and for sheer word-wonder, just about everything Patricia Mckillip has written, particularly Ombria in Shadow and Song for the Basilisk.

[emberleo]

Donkeyskin... not sure I've heard that one. Do you have a link for it online?

Tamlin...ooh, hmm, I'd forgotten that, Janet IS the protagonist, isn't she, and she is a proactive one, at that, but is she tricky?

-E-

[lferion]

Here's a link to a bare-bones telling: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault11.html It was written/collected by Perrault.

Janet is certainly steadfast in Tamlin, tricky depends on the tale.

Other ones I've thought of: Princess and the Frog -- the one where she takes the frog back to the palace because she promised she would, after he rescues the thing she dropped in the pond.

Beauty and the Beast

[emberleo]

There are variations of the themes in Beauty and the Beast that occur in tales not reconstructed by Perrault, but Perrault's reconstructions seem to have the effect of constricting female characters to proper behavior in a way that non-Perrault versions don't. I'm twitchy about his work, although I do appreciate the way he takes fragmented stories and turns them into more cohesive tales.

I'm primarily familiar with the poem/song version of Tamlin. Are there other primary sources for the tale?

-E-

[lferion]

Child apparently collected some dozen or more versions of Tam Lin, and the Thomas the Rhymer story is related to it as well, and at least 200 years older (1300s rather than 1500s). Children/people stolen by fairies goes way back. I don't have resources to hand to give any details or references other than wikipedia though.

[emberleo]

That's ok, I can footnote chase from Wikipedia easily enough.

-E-

[jensurvivor]

What is this for?

[emberleo]

The tarot deck I've been working on.

-E-

[emberleo]

Oh, I see, Donkeyskin is a variation on Thousandfurs, ok.

-E-

[brushwolf]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasilisa_the_Beautiful

[emberleo]

YES. Vasilisa was already on my list, and I'm delighted to see she's your favorite too :)

-E-

[yallya]

I always loved the little robber girl, in the snow queen. I was amazed, when I reread it, to see that she only has a few lines. She seems such a full-fledged character.

In my mind, she is the hero :).

[emberleo]

That would be Hans Christian Andersen, yes?

-E-

[bearfairie]

East of the Sun and West of the Moon is one of my favorites ever with a strong female protagonist (it's an older version of Beauty & The Beast, where Beauty is way way way more kick-ass). I have a very intense retelling of the Donkeyskin story by Robin McKinnley called Deerskin. It's a great book but trigger-y subject matter http://www.amazon.com/Deerskin-Robin-McKinley/dp/044100069X

'Course some of the classics have their charm too - Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina, The Princess and the Frog, lots of others... each is challenging in its own way but there's value from each to be gleaned for sure.

[emberleo]

Thus far I'm leaning very strongly towards the pattern in The Six Swans (I haven't decided which rendition I like best for my purposes yet, but a woman under a vow of silence making shirts to transform her brothers back into human from birds, trying to navigate a judgemental world without being able to defend herself directly is one that appeals to me.

Vasilisa the Beautiful, East of the Sun, and Thousandfurs are the top individual stories in my list, but again, not sure which rendition of the Thousandfurs pattern I want to use.

I realize that I seem to go for Cinderella stories where the protagonist is more proactive (which both Thousandfurs and Vasilisa represent), but I like some of the other patterns too, including the Beauty and the Beast pattern, again, preferring renditions with a more proactive lead.

-E-