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.

[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.

[brushwolf]

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

[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 :).

[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.