cinderellainrubbershoes:

Little Red Riding Hood trivia:

1. Name. In some accounts, the name of the girl in red riding hood is Maisie.
2. A tale of seduction. A French engraving that accompanies the first published version of the story (1697) shows a girl in her déshabille, lying in bed beneath a wolf. The story says that she has just strips out of her clothes and joins the beast in bed, whom she thinks is her grandmother.This is Charles Perrault’s version (Le Petit Chaperon Rouge). The wolf’s act of “eating” is sometimes interpreted as a metaphor for sexual assault.
3. Lost Virginity. Because of this tale, the popular slang elle avoit vu le loup, which translates to “she’d seen the wolf”, is an expression commonly used when a girl loses her virginity.
4. Color of Sin. Still in Perrault’s story, the color red of the hood signifies the girl’s “sinful nature”. Perrault said that red symbolizes scandal and blood, which in turn implies the girl’s sin and her impending fate in the hands (or jaws) of the wolf. Some versions said this symbolizes rape.
5. Wolves in Court? In the earliest versions of the tale, the antagonist is sometimes portrayed as an ogre or a werewolf (also known as a ‘bzou’). This makes the story a bit relevant in a time where inquisitions and witch trials are rampant as well as trials for werewolves (see the case of Peter Stumpp).
6. No happy-ever-after. Little Red Riding Hood was intended to teach children and well-bred young ladies the danger of talking to strangers. In the Brothers Grimm’s desexualized/sanitized version, a hunter or a last minute rescuer comes for the heroine; in the earlier versions, she is just devoured by the wolf, and no rescuer came.
7. Cannibalism. In an Austrian version, the grandmother is eaten by the wolf before Little Red Riding Hood arrives. Granny’s entrails are used to replace the string on the door latch and her teeth, jaws and blood stored in her cupboard. When Little Red arrives, she is hungry and so is directed to eat her dead grandmother’s teeth (rice) and jaw (chops) and drink her blood (wine). 
8. Variations. Since then, a lot of other writers create their own versions of the tale. There is one where there is striptease or defecation involved; there’s one where the werewolf is a vegetarian and the heroine is a lesbian; there is also a version where Little Red Riding Hood kills the wolf with a revolver.

art by ciahra.

cinderellainrubbershoes:

Snow White trivia:

1. A historical figure? Eckhard Sander, a German scholar, wrote a book called Schneewittchen: Marchen oder Wahrheit? (Snow White: Is it a Fairytale?) where he pointed out a lot of similarities between the children’s story and the life of Margarete von Waldeck, countess and the lover of Philipp II of Spain.Because of her allegedly bad relationship with her stepmother, Margarete was forced to leave home at an early age and live in Brussels. She grew up in a mining town where children are forced to work in the copper mines. Working conditions in the mine and malnutrition affected the children’s health and growth, and as a result they are ridiculed as “dwarfs”. Margarete’s love affair with Philipp II is frowned upon by the latter’s relatives since no real political benefit will be gained if the two get married (remember that politics is more important than love in their time). To get rid of Margarete, she is believed to be poisoned. 
2. Cannibalism. The latest versions of Snow White say that the Queen orders a huntsman to bring the Princess’ heart in order to prove her death. However, in the earlier versions, the Queen didn’t just ask for the heart—she asks for the lungs and liver as well, to be served as dinner that night. Some sources say that this is so that the Queen can enhance her beauty when she eats Snow White’s entrails.
3. Incest. It is said that the Brothers Grimm has two versions. The first one, also known as the “peasant version”, does not have a stepmother or a Prince; instead, the mother kills Snow White because she is jealous of her husband’s overwhelming affection for their daughter. The father finds out, kills the mother, and then tries to revive Snow White. This tale is said to involve a lot of incest and conflicts with Christian values at that time, so it is “sanitized”.
4. Necrophilia? Contrary to Disney’s lighthearted happy-ending tale, a lot of earlier versions of Snow White say that the princess was not woken up by the handsome Prince’s magical kiss. The Prince stumbles upon the glass coffin of Snow White and, enchanted by her beauty, begs the dwarfs to give her to him. Now what does he want to do to a dead girl’s body? You answer that yourself. En route to his Kingdom, his horse jolts the coffin and shakes Snow White. This causes a poisoned chunk of the apple to be dislodged from her throat, bringing her back to consciousness.
5. Perverse Dwarfs and Huntsman. Several analyses of the story say that most of the characters in the story are pervert. It is said that the dwarfs take in Snow White because of her beauty. The reason why they put Snow White in a glass coffin is so that they can stare at her. The huntsman hired by the Queen spares Snow White’s life because he likes her looks (in the sanitized version, her life is spared because the huntsman saw her putting an injured little bird back to its nest).
6. Punishment for the Queen. There’s a varied array of punishments for the Queen in the old and newer versions of the tale. Some said she is killed by the dwarfs; some said she is thrown off a cliff. The most popular death sentence for this villain is dancing in a pair of heated iron shoes.

*photograph by Baltazarart

cinderellainrubbershoes:

THE RAVEN. Edgar Allan Poe didn’t earn a cent from his most famous poem, The Raven, having published it first in a newspaper for free and thereby losing any and all future copyright monies. The original title of The Raven was To Lenore but upon having dinner with Charles Dickens and learning of the great writer`s recently deceased pet bird, which just happened to be a raven, Poe reworked the poem to include the black bird as a central figure.

Poe wrote The Raven with the intent of creating what he called an “adult fairy tale” and when asked why he didn`t start the poem with the traditional “Once upon a time” but used “Once upon a midnight dreary” Poe replied, “In my `time` it`s always `midnight dreary.`” All of Poe`s stories took place at night, or if a day scene was required, it was the bleakest, foulest day of the year.

art by Amir Taqi

-I Am An Emotional Creature| Eve Ensler

-I Am An Emotional Creature (Eve Ensler)

THE RAVEN. Edgar Allan Poe didn’t earn a cent from his most famous poem, The Raven, having published it first in a newspaper for free and thereby losing any and all future copyright monies. The original title of The Raven was To Lenore but upon having dinner with Charles Dickens and learning of the great writer`s recently deceased pet bird, which just happened to be a raven, Poe reworked the poem to include the black bird as a central figure.

Poe wrote The Raven with the intent of creating what he called an “adult fairy tale” and when asked why he didn`t start the poem with the traditional “Once upon a time” but used “Once upon a midnight dreary” Poe replied, “In my `time` it`s always `midnight dreary.`” All of Poe`s stories took place at night, or if a day scene was required, it was the bleakest, foulest day of the year.

art by Amir Taqi

Sleeping Beauty trivia:

1. Names. Disney’s 1959 version named her Aurora; the Brothers Grimm’s 1812 version called her a variety of names, two of the most popular being Briar Rose and Rosamund. In Charles Perrault’s story “The Beauty Asleep in the Wood” (La Belle au bois dormant), the princess is called Helen. The medieval courtly romance “Perceforest” named her Zellandine and some versions called her Talia.
2. Norse myth and no kiss. The story of sleeping beauty is actually inspired by a 12th century Norse saga entitled Volsunga, where a valkyrie named Brynhild upsets Odin, causing him to curse her to a deep sleep. She would be placed on a couch on fire and would only be woken up by the man who will rescue and marry her. She is rescued by Siegfried, waking her up by cutting her armor.
3. Somnophilia. A prince stumbles upon the secret place where the princess is sleeping and, enchanted by her looks, he kisses her. The magical kiss wakes her up from a 100-year slumber. That’s Grimm’s sanitized version. The earliest tales say that the prince does not just kiss her; he rapes her and gets her pregnant. She gives birth to twins, and when one of the kids sucks her finger, the poisoned flax comes out, waking her up. (Just an FYI: technically the princess is not dead, so it’s not considered necrophilia. But still…)
4. Sun and Moon? The children’s names vary too—there’s Sun and Moon, Day and Night, and there’s also Dawn and Day.
5. Ophiuchus: the Thirteenth Constellation. Some analysts claim that the story of Sleeping Beauty is actually related to astrology, especially that the princess’ kids are allegedly named Day and Night, referring to earth’s rotation. Ophiuchus, the thirteenth constellation (which recently caused a ruckus in the internet because of the “new set of zodiac signs”), is actually represented by the thirteenth uninvited fairy who puts a curse on the princess.
6. The Ogress Mother. Perrault’s tale does not end when the princess wakes up; it’s actually just the denouement of the story. The prince takes the princess as his wife when it’s finally his turn to rule the kingdom, angering his Queen mother. This Queen is said to come from an ogre lineage. The prince then leaves his wife and children to his mother while he goes to war.
   The Ogress sends her daughter-in-law and grandchildren to a secluded place in the woods, then orders her cook to kill the children and serve them as dinner for the night. The cook, who is kind-hearted, substitutes lamb and goat meat for the meal, fooling the Ogress. When she learns of the trick, she prepares a pit full of vipers so she can push the family there. She fails when the prince arrives and catches her in the act. In shame, she jumps into the pit and kills herself.
   AND THEN THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER (well at least). 

*art by kmeychan