Fairy+Tale+Allusions

The Fairy Tale is more than just a story. Rather, it shows a Western cultural hot-spot and has lessons that have been internalized by society. The proof of this comes from the fact that these stories continue to be passed down and read to children, as well as made into films. While this folklore often includes mystical elements such as fairies, it is not a defining feature of a fairy tale, and is not required.

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**__Hansel and Gretel__**


__Story:__ Hansel and Gretel are the two children of a Woodcutter. When a famine hits the land their mother creates a plan to take them into the woods and let the children die, in order to prevent her and her husband from starving, with two less mouths to feed. Hansel and Gretel over hear their mother telling their father the plan and sneak out that night after their parents fall asleep and collect as many white pebbles as they can. When the parents try to ditch them in the woods they lay a path of the pebbles behind them to follow to get home. They wait until the moon rises and illuminates the pebbles and follow them home. They are abandoned once again in the woods after their parents find them at home again, they wander for days and find a house made of cake and bread, and begin to eat the home. The owner emerges from the house and the children do not know that she is a cannibalistic witch who built the house to entice children to her so she can eat them. The witch locks Hansel into a cage and feeds him regularly in order to fatten him up, she makes Gretel become her slave. The witch prepares the oven for Hansel but then decides she is hungry enough to eat Gretel too, she asks Gretel to come over and look at the oven to see if the flames are high enough. Gretel is smart enough to know the witches intents and tells the witch that she does not understand what the witch means. The witch gets angry and demonstrates, thinking quickly, Gretel shoves the witch into the oven, closes and bolts the door shut and turns up the heat, burning the witch alive. Gretel then frees Hansel from the cage, they find a chest filled with gold, diamonds and jewels, shove them into bags and find their way home to their father, their mother had died. The father is delighted to see them and they live happily ever after.

Don't let your hunger get the best of you.
 * __Moral:__**

__Citations:__
__Story:__ "Hansel and Gretel." //Wikipedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. "Hansel and Gretel." //Wikipedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <[]> ansel_andGretel_>

__Image:__ "Hansel and Gretel." //Wikipedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. .

**__The Ugly Duckling__**
The Ugly Duckling is a fairytale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Anderson. The story was first published November 11, 1843

Story: There once was a duck who laid many eggs. When all of the eggs hatched, bright yellow ducklings emerged, except for one one brown and discolored one. It was alienated from the rest of the group of ducklings because of these looks. However, the "ugly" little bird eventually tureds into a beautiful swan, overshadowing all of the other ducks.

Morals: The story presents a personal transformation of the "ugly" duckling, disproving first impressions and demonstrating that majority opinions are can be faulty.



**__The Princess and the Pea__**
The Princess and the Pea is also by Hans Christian Anderson.

Story: There was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a real Princess. He traveled right around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real princesses he had great difficulty in discovering; there was always something which was not quite right about them. One evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightninged and the rain poured down in torrents. In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself sent to open it. It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess. The queen went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. In the morning they asked her how she slept. ‘Oh terribly bad!’ said the princess. ‘I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!’ They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin.

Morals: This story also has a bit of a don't judge a book by it's cover aspect. The princess was judged because she didn't look like a REAL princess, yet her physical sensitivity proved her to be real.



Sources: http://childhoodreading.com/?p=5 http://anyoneordinary.wordpress.com/2008/06/

__**Cinderella**__
Cinderella (also called __The Little Glass Slipper)__ has countless different versions. -The word "Cinderella" can mean one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. Knowing the fairy tale of Cinderella, this seems to fit very well. -Since there are reportedly over 200 versions of Cinderella, it is hard to say who the //real// author is... This picture is from the Disney portrayal of Cinderella. It's somewhat of a "rags to riches" story. here is another version from an earlier version:

**__Bluebeard__**
Bluebeard is a french folktale written by Charles Perrault (Charles Perrault is also one of the potential authors of Cinderella) -Bluebeard was published in January of 1697

The tale tells the story of a violent and wealthy man who doesn't get attention at all from women because of his blue beard. He desires marriage and finally persuades a woman to marry him. He goes off on a journey for weeks and tells his wife that he can go in all the chests of his she wants except for one closet. She agrees and he departs for his journey. Of course, the woman opens the closet and finds to her horror that the "floor was all covered over with clotted blood, on which lay the bodies of several dead women" She becomes scared and tries to clean the blood of the key and when her husband gets home he finds out and attempts to kill her as well. At the very moment the woman is about to be killed her brothers run through the door on horseback and kill Bluebeard. The woman inherits all of his estates and fortune and the story does in fact, have a happy ending. - the woman's name is never mentioned but it is speculated to be Fatima -It is said that Bluebeard could potentially be from the 15th Century Breton nobleman who was later a self-confessed serial killer named Gilles de Rais. -The BLUE BEARD comes from other worldly origins and the key that would not be washed of blood is also considered magical.

__**The Wonderful Wizard of Oz**__


By: L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow in 1900.

Overview: Dorothy is an ordinary girl in Kansas and like every teenager she wants to run away from home. After getting caught in a hurricane, she travels off to an imaginary land, Oz. She meets various characters, munchkins, witches- good and bad, Oz, the lion, tin man, and scarecrow. She is set on a mission to find the Emerald City, so she can return back home. On the way the way there learns more than just following the yellow brick road. She gets to know herself and help others around. By the end of the novel, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, truly believe that there is indeed no place like home.

Symbolism:

The Wizard of Oz is a political metaphor analyzing the Populist Movement and coinage of silver for farmers. Contrary to film interpretation, Dorothy has silver shoes, which represent the goal of making silver into currency by bringing it to Oz, literally the abbreviation for "ounce". The characters in the story represent different groups of people in the US and how they are affected by current economic policies.

Citations:

Chelsi, "Political Symbolism in the //The Wizard of Oz// Book & Movie". Associated Content. September 26, 2007. (Accessed October 25, 2010) http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/388326/political_symbolism_in_the_the_wizard.html?cat=40

Schultz, Kevin M. "HIST". Chicago: Cengage, 2010.

__Little Red Riding Hood__


By: The Brothers Grimm

Story:

Little Red Riding Hood is a girl bringing food to her grandmother through a forest. However, a wolf stalks around the forest and finds out where she is going. The wolf goes to the grandmother's house, eats her, and pretends to be her. When Little Red reaches the house, she asks the wolf about his appearance, wondering why he looks so funny. After questioning his teeth, Little Red is also devoured by the wolf. The story ends with a hunter who comes into the house and cuts open the wolf, saving both the grandma and Little Red.

Morals:

While open to much interpretation, common threads revolve around sexual parallels, as Little Red is a virgin, yet wearing a dark, revealing red. In one version of the story, Little Red is told by her mother to not "go off the path" on the way to her grandmother's house, which is what she does and how she comes across the wolf. This could also be a sign of common sexual mores starting to be challenged, and the possible negative implications of that challenge.

Citations:

Ashliman, D.L.. "Little Red Riding Hood." //University of Pittsburgh//. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. .

Dezutter, Olivier. "Little Red Riding Hood : a Story of Women at the Crossroads." //GRIT - Groupe de Recherche sur l'Image et le Texte//. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. .

__**The Frog Prince!**__
Best known version is by the Brothers Grimm.

Story: A princess went out to take a walk when she came to a cool spring of water, she sat down to rest. She had a golden ball that she loved to play with when she mistakenly threw it so high that it fell into the pond. The princess looked into the spring after her ball, but it was so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. She only wanted to get her ball back, so she said she would give anything, pearls and jewels to get it back. Whilst she was speaking, a frog put its head out of the water, and said, 'Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?' 'I want not your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me, and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep upon your bed, I will bring you your ball again.' The princess agreed, although she was lying. The frog put his head down, and dove deep under the water; and after a little while he came up again, with the ball in his mouth. As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up; and she was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she could. The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise, and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said: 'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and there she saw the frog, whom she had quite forgotten. As fast as she could, she shut the door and came back to her seat. The frog then repeated: 'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! She reluctantly let him in, and the frog hopped into the room, and then came up close to the table where the princess sat.The rest of the night, she had to do as he asked.In the morning, the frog was gone, and the princess relieved. But the frog came once more, and said: 'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and standing at the head of her bed.He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights. 'You,' said the prince, 'have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father's kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.'



Moral: Never judge a book by it's cover.

Source: http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/grimm12.htm

__**Rumpelstiltskin**__


Story:

To talk to the king, a poor miller wanted to appear important, so he claimed that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king took the daughter into his palace with a spinning wheel and straw, and said that if she did not deliver, she would die. The distressed girl cried, but a short man comes into her room and spun the straw into gold in return for her necklace. The next day, the greedy king was extremely impressed and put her in a room with even more straw. The girl cried again, and the short man came again and spun it all into gold for her ring. However, the third time the king put her into a room to spin even more straw, he said that he would marry her if she completed the task. This time, the little man asked for the miller's daughter for her first-born son when she married the king.

Time passes, and the girl, now a Queen, has a child when the short man appears. He demands the child, but the queen cries and begs to keep her child. With pity, the little man says that if the queen guesses his name, then she can keep his child. She looks for all of the names in the kingdom, all of them wrong, when a messenger scouted the man's camp in the mountains. The man was chanting and dancing in triumph, but revealing his name-- Rumpelstiltskin-- in the process. The queen guesses it, and the man rips himself in half.

Morals:

There are a couple morals just by analyzing each character. The moral from the miller is to not lie, and to not use other people as a means to a selfish end. The lesson from the miller's daughter is to be wary of going into debt when desperate. Rumpelstiltskin shows that taking advantage of people can backfire, and that one should not boast and gloat over issues concerning other people.

Source: Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. "Grimm's Fairy Tales" Various publishers: 1812. Accessed online. http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Rum.shtml

Picture: Anderson, Anne. //Anne Anderson's Fairy Tales and Pictures.// Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1935. http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/rumpelstiltskin/images/anderson_rumple1.jpg

"It was as though she were a cauldron issuing spinning gold. Like the miller's daughter-the one who sat at night in a straw-filled room, thrilled with the secret power Rumpelstiltskin had given her: to see golden thread stream from her very own shuttle" (13). This allusion to Rumpelstiltskin draws a parallel between Ruth breast feeding her son and the miller's daughter spinning gold from straw. . Ruth feels as if she is creating something special and sharing an important connection with her son. She is amazed at her ability to nourish her son with her own body, like the miller's daughter is amazed by her ability to create something of value from straw. This amazement helps create a strong connection between Ruth and her son. Earlier in the book, Ruth reveals that this breastfeeding is one of her two secret indulgences. She knows what she does is wrong, but, like the miller's daughter continues to do it, ignoring the consequences that could come from it. In the miller's daughter's case, she is forced to give up her child to Rumpelstiltskin or guess how to spell his name. In Ruth's case, she must deal with the embarrassment of her secret indulgence becoming public knowledge. The allusion that Toni Morrison makes to Rumpelstiltskin allows the reader to see Ruth's desire and ignorance of the consequences that will come when it is revealed to others.
 * Allusions to Rumplestiltskin in //Song of Solomon// by Toni Morrison:**

__**The Fisherman and His Wife**__ -Story written by the Brother Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm)

Story: Once there was a fisherman and his wife who lived by the sea. The fisherman went out and fished every day. One day his hook caught something big and he was able to reel in a huge flounder. The fish spoke to him and said, "Fisherman, I beg you to let me live. I am not an ordinary flounder, but an enchanted prince. How will it help you to kill me? I would not taste good to you. Put me back into the water, and let me swim." The fisherman let the flounder go and watched as it swam away. When the fisherman came back with no food and told his wife about the encounter with the talking fish, his wife responded that the next time he caught the fish he should ask him to give them a nice little cottage to live in, instead of the shack they currently occupied. He went out and called for the fish, who came and told him that his wife already had what she desired. The fisherman returned to home to see a lovely cottage instead of where the old shack used to be. But his wife continued to request more, she wanted a bigger house. The fisherman did not want to ask for more but he also did not want to obey his wife so he left to find the flounder. The flounder once again replied that they already had the stone palace his wife had requested, and when the fisherman went home he found this to be true. But the wife wanted more! She now wanted to be king of the land, so once again, the task was repeated, and the fisherman's wife became king. Each time the fisherman becoming more and more saddened by his wife's requests. She continued and became emperor, then pope. When she decided she wanted to become god, her husband attempted to refuse to go, but she became VERY angry, so he went and told the flounder she wanted to be like God. But this time the flounder responded that she would be in her filthy shack once more. And they are still in that shack to this day.

Morals: Biting off more than you can chew has grave consequences. Also allowing greed to completely take over can ruin a person's life by making them so focused on themselves and their selfishness that that becomes the only thing in their life. Lastly, never want to become God. It is too great a request.



Site: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm019.html Also: http://gledwood2.blogspot.com/2010/05/fairytale-fisherman-and-his-wife.html And: http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=treadwell&book=first&story=fisherman

From the 1001 Nights.
 * __Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves__**

Story: There once lived in a town in Persia two brothers, one named Cassim, and the other Ali Baba. Cassim had married a rich wife, but Ali Baba was poor. One day Ali Baba was in the forest cutting wood when he saw a troop of horsemen coming toward him. Fearing they might be robbers, he climbed a tree to hide. When the horsemen came up Ali Baba counted them and found they were forty in number. The one who seemed to be captain, said the words, "Open, Sesame," when instantly a door opened in the rock. Then they all passed through, and the door closed after them. After awhile the door opened again, and the robbers came out. Then the captain closed the door by saying, "Shut, Sesame," and they all rode away. When they were out of sight Ali Baba came down, and, going up to the rock, said, "Open, Sesame." The door at once opened, and Ali Baba, entering, found himself in a large cave, lighted from a hole in the top, and full of all kinds of treasure. He loaded his three horses with as many of the bags of gold as they could carry; and, after closing the door by saying, "Shut, Sesame," made his way home. When he got there and told his wife of their good luck she was overjoyed, and wished to count the gold to see how rich they were. "No," said Ali Baba, "that will take too long. I must dig a hole and bury it at once." "You are right," said she, "but at least let us form some idea how much there is. Let me measure it while you dig the hole." She had no measure of her own, she ran to Cassim's wife to borrow one. Cassim's wife wanted to find out what they were going to use the measure for. When Ali Baba's wife had done with it she carried it back, but did not notice that a piece of gold had stuck to it. When Cassim's wife saw the gold she wondered greatly--knowing Ali Baba to be so poor--and told her husband about it. He went to Ali Baba, and persuaded him to explain how he had become rich enough to have to measure his money, and when he heard the story, he made up his mind that he, too, would get some of the treasure.Cassim then went to the rock and said "Open, Sesame," and when he went in, it closed after him. He then found that he had forgotten the magic words which opened it, and before he could recall them, the robbers returned. The moment they caught sight of him they rushed upon him and killed him. When night fell, and Cassim had not returned, his wife was greatly alarmed and ran to Ali Baba. He tried to comfort her; but when morning came, and Cassim did not yet appear, he set out for the cave.. When he reached there, and saw his brother's body, he was struck with horror at the sight, but he quickly wrapped up the pieces and carried them home. He wished to get Cassim buried without letting anyone know that he had not died a natural death. The body was sewn together so it looked like a natural death. Then it was given out that Cassim had died, and the funeral was held without betraying the secret of his death.

Morals: This story also has a moral about greed, and if you get too greedy without being aware of what is going on around you, there can be consequences. It also touches on the theme of not taking what you don't need. Although Ali Baba didn't need all the money he took, he started with none, where as his brother wanted more, which was adding to his already amounted wealth.

Sources: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/alibaba.html http://www.writeopenstory.com/Topics/fairy_tales.html?page=3


 * __The Pied Piper of Hamelin__**

Story: The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a legend concerning the missing or death of a many children from the town of Hamelin, Germany in the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in pied (multicolored) clothing, leading the children away from the town never to return. In the 16th century the story was expanded into a full narrative, in which the piper is a rat-catcher, hired to lure rats away with his magic pipe. He retaliates by turning his magic on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. This version of the story spread as a fairy tale. This version has also appeared in the writings of Johann Goethe, the Brothers Grimm and Robert Browning.

Morals: (themes) A very common theme in many of these supposedly labeled Children's Fairytales is death and dying/murder. A moral is hard to come about in this story because it mostly seems as if the Pied Piper is just a bad person who gets upset at the towns people, so he decides to kill their children. Moral?



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/piper/ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pied_Piper_with_Children.jpg

__**Aladdin**__:
//A Middle Eastern Folktale//

Story (the oldest version): A young poor man named Aladdin, lived in a Chinese city, and was told by sorcerer from the Maghreb, that he knew how to make Aladdin and his mother rich. Aladdin, convinced made arrangements to voyage with this sorcerer, whose main goal was to persuade Aladdin to retrieve an oil lamp from a tricky cave. Aladdin manages to get the lamp and get away with it (after he figured out the sorcerer's motive). However, he is stuck in the cold cave and as he rubs his hands together a genie appears from the sorcerers magical ring. He wishes to go home to see his mother. When he arrived home, his mother attempted to clean the lamp, and in doing so, a more powerful genie came out. He spoils them, building palaces, making them wealthy, and overall more happy people. Eventually, Aladdin marries Badroulbadour, the Emperor's daughter. Meanwhile, the sorcerer doesn't give up, he comes to Aladdin's palace and offers Aladdin's wife a trade, new lamps for old. She, unknowing the importance of the special lamp, gives it to the sorcerer as well as being kidnapped. Fortunately for Aladdin, he has the magical ring! He summons the less powerful genie and manages to find the sorcerer, get his wife back as well as his lamp. (Since then, the story has been modified and translated into many different versions) Themes:

There are many morals in this story but the main one is that happiness, greatness, and strength comes from within, not from without. One can see this through Aladdin's bravery and intelligence despite all his poor upbringing. Even when he made into a wealthy man, that happiness was short term. He was happy with his family and he never conformed into the stereotype wealthy man. This is why he is referred to as a diamond in the rough, all around him people were lying, cheating, and stealing, but he held his stance.



"Aladdin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. . Kempley, Rita. "'Aladdin'." //Washington Post - Politics, National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - washingtonpost.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. .