This week, I read English Fairy Tales (1), which included excerpts from a compilation by Joseph Jacobs. As I read through the unit, I was struck by how many stories were based off of more well-known versions of fairy tales, and I was also surprised that even if they didn't contain the same story line, they still had similar themes and motifs.
The first story, Tom Tit Tot, was strikingly similar to the more famous Rumpelstiltskin. The background provided in the Un-Textbook was helpful; I had heard different variations of "Rumpelstiltskin" but I wasn't aware of other versions that incorporated different names. After skimming through Dan Ashliman's compilation of these stories, it was fascinating to see so many different styles and tones of storytelling in what is essentially the same tale. Tom Tit Tot and each of the other stories in this collection all had different introductions and ways in which the author set up why the daughter must spin straw into gold (or whatever the materials may be), but the trajectory of each story remained the same throughout the compilation.
Another story in this unit that struck me in a similar fashion was the one about Cap o' Rushes. This story was another version of Cinderella, except, like in Tom Tit Tot, the introduction was different. In this tale, the maiden is kicked out of her home because her father asks each of his three daughters how much they love him, and Cap o' Rushes gives an unorthodox answer: "I love you more than meat loves salt." Because of this, her father believes that she does not love him at all, and sends her away to find another place to live. She finds work with a family elsewhere, and is treated kindly. When the prince of the state holds a ball, she claims that she is tired and chooses not to go (as opposed to the original Cinderella story, where the maiden's stepmother and stepsisters do not allow her to go). Later in the evening, she decides to attend the ball anyway. The rest of the story is the same: she goes to the ball, the prince falls in love with her, and they live happily ever after--including Cap o' Rushes's father, who realizes that meat really does love salt at the wedding feast.
In the story of the Rose-Tree, similar themes to those found in the original Cinderella popped up as well. I had heard a version of this particular story before, but I was curious to see if it borrowed ideas from Cinderella. The fact that the brother's tears watered the ground where his sister was buried, enough so that a tree would grow from it, reminded me of the fact that Cinderella's tears watered the ground where her mother lay and a tree also sprung from the land. In the original story, this became a place of guardianship, and Cinderella's mother watched over her and provided her with necessities. In the Rose-Tree, the brother gets the same kind of protection, and even though the rest of the story and the revenge that the sister takes is morbid, it was sweet to see this familial relationship.
After reading this unit, I realized that it reflected the themes that have been emphasized in this class. Throughout the semester, we have learned different methods of storytelling, and these fairy tales embody the very essence of good storytelling. The fact that, for example, Tom Tit Tot is just one version of a multitude of the same story shows the power of small changes within the themes of a story. If nothing else, this was certainly an inspiring unit to read; it gave me new ideas for different forms of storytelling.
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