Welcome to the penultimate Fairy Tale Re-Draw blog post! I can’t believe we’re nearly at the end! Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading, commenting and liking as we’ve gone on - I hope you’ve been enjoying reading these as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them!
If you’d like to catch up with any of the tales so far, click here, and make sure you’re following the Puddles of Ink Instagram to catch DAILY fairy tale uploads until Sunday! That’s also the place to be if you want to have a say in which fairy tales go into the final zine, so keep your eyes peeled on my Stories!
The FINAL post will be going up on Sunday, and it will feature the final 4 tales in the project, so I hope you’re excited to see that! I’ll be talking more about what’s going to happen with the zine in June, so keep your eyes peeled for more information on that!
The Spirit in the Bottle
This is one of my favourite ‘hidden gems’ of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale collection. It involves the son of a poor woodcutter who accidentally unleashes a vengeful demonic spirit by breaking the glass bottle it was confined to. Chaos ensues, but it has such a satisfying ending that leaves you with a positive message that is guaranteed to make you smile. Have a read of it here, or alternatively, you can listen to it on the Podtail Podcast. There is also an alternate ending that you can read about here if you’re interested.
There isn’t too much available on how the Brothers Grimm came up with this story, and I didn’t want to spoil too much of the plot here, so I hope you give it a read if you’re interested. What do you think of the illustration? I think I could have made it a touch more magical, but I was also torn between that and going down a slightly creepier route; let me know which you' prefer in the comments - I may tweak it before publishing the zine!
Little Red Riding Hood
Potentially the oldest story in the project so far, Little Red Riding Hood needs no introduction; I’ve actually had messages about if and when I’ll be featuring it, so it’s obvious how popular this story really is! You can read the Charles Perrault version here, but if you want to choose from some of the other versions, such as Little Red Cap by the Brothers Grimm or The True History of Little Golden-Hood by Charles Marelles, then click here and have a browse!
There are so many studies that have been conducted, and are still being undertaken, in relation to where the original story of Little Red Riding Hood came from. This really interesting article on the National Geographic website gives a really good visual analysis of how the story can be traced back to an early 11th century poem, and how over time two key versions of the story were spread out internationally before Charles Perrault published his adaptation in the 17th century. If you want an even more in-depth analysis, this study on whether the story is a work of oral or literary tradition conducted by Durham University, is really fascinating - you see a lot of it used in shorter articles, so going directly to the source is valuable.
I didn’t use the image of Little Red Riding Hood as a child for my illustration, mostly because since reading Angela Carter's adaptation in The Bloody Chamber years ago I’ve never been able to look at her in that way, but also because the earliest versions are far more violent and suggestive, which makes me uncomfortable with portraying her as a child. Maria Ness unpacks this more here, but you can also learn more about them here and here. If you’re more interested in fashion, and how various illustrations and costumes hint at different origins and time periods, you’ll find this an amazing read!
Fairy Ointment
This fairy tale is a little less complicated in terms of its origins compared to its predecessor, but it’s roots in folklore are far from insignificant. ‘Fairy Ointment’, also known as ‘The Fairy Nurse’, is an English fairy tale that was written by Joseph Jacobs. It has been adapted quite a few times, most famously by Andrew Lang in his Lilac Fairy Book, which was published in 1910, meaning that Jacobs probably wrote his version in the mid-late 1800s. You can read the story for yourself here, but it basically follows a midwife called to tend to a newborn baby. She is given a special ointment to rub onto both its eyes but, curiosity getting the better of her, she uses it on herself and suddenly finds herself seeing mysterious things. The story goes on from there, but I was drawn to the concept of this special fairy ointment and the unique and alluring magic that the realm of the fairies has across cultures.
This article on the British Fairies blog explains more about the tradition of an ointment in fairy lore that unveils their existence to the human, so if this is something that fascinates you too it’s a great place find out more. If you want to read more stories in a similar style that tackle the same sort of theme, you’ll find a fun selection here.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and if you look into any of the stories I hope the links provided are helpful! Let me know your thoughts in the comments and I’ll see you on Sunday for the FINAL post!