istorytell

La Cenorientola

21 Oct 2011 1 Comment

by María Gómez de la Torre in Story insights

Settled in my new place, Italy, I decided to look a little bit into some fairy tales from here.  I tried to find Roman folktales but to my surprise, I found this: La Cenorientola.

Many storytellers have already written lots of things about this story and one of the most interesting facts is that there are around 500 hundred versions of the same story in Europe alone: Cenicienta (Spain), Cinderella (France), Catskinella (African – American folktales), Sapsorrow (Germany), Billy Beg and the Bull (Ireland), and in other continents there are: Benizara and Kakezara (Japan), and many others.  It is known that Rhodopis (Egypt) has the earliest record of the shoe motif and there are some who claim that the Chinese version called: Yeh-Shen (850 AD China) is most likely the oldest story of Cinderella; The Canadian Opera Company published in the following link:

http://www.coc.ca/ecms.ashx/StudyGuides/cinderellaschooltourstudyguidearoundtheworldfinal.pdf

Like all versions, this tale has its own characteristics.

From "Her Stories" - Catskinella

The usual story of Cinderella tells the tale of a normal teen-aged girl who is brutally mistreated by her step mother and sister.  Magic is around everything that involves Cinderella but in the Italian version Cinderella also has some sort of magical powers.

She demonstrates it with the following sentence: “But you will bring me a little bird, won’t you, papa?’ pleaded the little girl; ‘and I can tell you that if you don’t the boat you are on will stand still, and will neither move backwards nor forwards.’”  As one can probably guess, the father forgets about the bird and his daughter’s prophecy is fulfilled.

There are other details that make this story worth reading and telling: the fact that there is no fairy godmother, but the “bird” that the father brings back is truly a fairy and helps Cinderella to have a “happy ever after” ending; the slipper was made of gold instead of crystal or glass; it’s the king who falls in love with Cinderella and does learn her name from Cinderella herself but not where to find her. There is also the fact that Cinderella – in this version – shows no signs of defect.  She is again an image of perfection.  Well, there are other details but the idea is to pick your curiosity so you will read it.

A drawing by Arthur Rackham

What is always a main factor in all the versions of the story is the innocence and kindness of the heroine.  In many versions, Cinderella – after marrying the Prince or King – forgives her step-sisters and they all live happily ever after.  But this made me question: why is it that the character who most suffers and is adorned by goodness of heart is the one who always gets “the prize”?

If you think about it logically, with the wit and the meanness of the sisters, Cinderella should have ended up with nothing and less than nothing.  In the real world, many bad deeds end up with good results – at least the expected results.  Why is it that in most stories – especially the classic fairy tales – the ones who end up with complete happiness are the ones who strive for moral excellence?

I’ve already written a bit about suffering when I analysed “The Ugly Duckling”, but the natural tendency of rewarding goodness of heart that is stamped in human nature is something that is intriguing to all.  In all the versions of this beautiful story there lies the fact that there is true justice in them – the virtue of giving to each person what they are due – and the fact that this heroine always follows a natural law that is written in each of our hearts: do good and avoid evil – even though this is a hard task.

A beautiful picture by Howard David Johnson

I once read this: In the depths of the conscience, the human person detects a law which s/he does not impose upon himself / herself; always summoning him/her to love good and avoid evil; the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his/her heart.  Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man.  And in the inmost part of the human soul, s/he knows that only through goodness and love comes happiness.  Cinderella – Cenorientola in Italian –  incarnates this, though it’s not the only story.

Though to follow this “natural law” that we all have in our conscious is not easy – and even painful  at times – this story tells us that what awaits us after is worth enduring whatever we may have to face.

For the full story click: http://www.italiansrus.com/etexts/cenorientola.htm

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

14 Aug 2011 3 Comments

by María Gómez de la Torre in Story insights

Also may be known as The Search for the Lost Husband or The True Bride (although it is a German version) and probably much older than the date when it was collected into written word by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, this Norwegian folktale relates human weakness and redemption.

Like many oral traditional stories, for instance Bearskin (Germany), in this story, the two main characters don’t have names.

It tells the tale of a youngest daughter of a poor husbandman who consents to go with a great White Bear in order to make her family rich and happy.

By Kay Nielsen

Interestingly enough, the family doesn’t worry about the safety of their youngest family member.  In fact the father was very willing to give up his most beautiful child in order to get rich, without worrying what would happen to her.

So she is left to the care of a great White Bear who turns out to be gallant, protective and wise.  In some cultures, some the Native American tribes, the bear – especially the grizzly bear – was associated with healing as well as immortality. The bear expressed many meanings: bravery and strength as well as brutality or clumsiness.  One can understand how the bear is in this story.

They thus travel to a castle and supposedly all is well.

As one can imagine, the White Bear is an enchanted Prince and he visits the young girl every night.  There is little info given about him except that he “is the handsomest Prince that eyes had ever beheld” as the story tells.  He is also compassionate for wants to give the girl happiness when she tells him of her sorrows; he consents to help her as long as she gives him her word not to say anything of her life there.  She, of course, promises and as can be inferred, she breaks her promise as well as lies to some extent in order to cover her fault.

By Kay Nielsen

Because of this, she loses her chance of happiness and begins her long journey towards redemption.

Her journey is not easy for she must walk “many a day”; she meets 3 old women who – though they  don’t know the way to the Castle which lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon, where the girl’s love is – help her on her quest.  Here she just receives the help but afterwards, she asks for assistance from other elements, in this case the four winds – humanized -, and in the end retrieves her love as well as destroys evil but with sacrifice, for she gives up the gifts given by the 3 old ladies in order to achieve her goal.

In our own lives, this can have a great resemblance.  In our own journey through life, we receive many favors and gifts – big and small – from different people – sometimes without knowing or without wanting them – but they help us to reach our ultimate goal.   Similar to the heroine of the story, we should always be willing to use all the support that is given to us, because after all, true and lifelong happiness is printed in human nature.

Here is the link for the full story:

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/norway034.html

By Kay Nielsen

The Ugly Duckling

08 May 2011 4 Comments

by María Gómez de la Torre in Story insights

We all remember the sweet story of the creature that was beatened, insulted, scorned, discriminated and put down by others that didn’t know about him.  How many things he had to endure and one might ask, how could he have continued his life in such misery!  This is because pain – the main theme of this profound tale - and all that is related to it is now set aside without question.

The ugly duckling is a story that talks about true suffering and how only the strong can possibly continue without considering self-elimination.

Hans Christian Andersen – with his imaginative way of expressing things – shows the reader a deep sense of how hardships can get the best out of us.

However I’m not going to stop on all that this poor creature had to undergo but on the fact that he did endure them without asking himself if it wouldn’t be better to just disappear and leave everyone alone, as it was that his being “ugly” bothered them.  The Ugly Duckling is the representation of how we confront the difficulties that are presented to us in our daily lives.  If you come to think of it, the ugly ducking didn’t have any extraordinary difficulties.  He wasn’t attacked by eagles or even but the cats with which he had encountered. He suffered no illnesses, no mutations, nothing out of the ordinary.   His problems would be what we call “normal”: interactions with other farm animals, the changing of seasons and encounters with humans.

So why endure them if they would be so easily eliminated?  I think that HCA wanted to show the world that through hardships came beauty.  At first the creature was an ugly fellow and thats when it felt as if the whole world came at him.  We can relate this to what is known as bullying.  Only the strong survive, but is strength only measured physically?  When it comes down to it, the ugly duckling would be the characterization of strength both physically and spiritually.  Because of this, he obtains a humble and noble heart, making him the most beautiful swan of the area.

Pain and suffering are things that many scientists and all philosophers consider.  Some consider that it’s endurance is obsolete and unnecessary, which is why they try to eliminate it without asking themselves if some good could come of it.  Through this story HCA shows that suffering is not an absolute evil that has to be overcome by what ever means necessary.  It is only through them that we can gain other – if not all – virtues that is expressed as perfection and beauty – for what the soul is or has, it reflects in some physical way.

 We all know how the story ends and this makes us wonder if we will end our personal story the same way.

Here is the link for the full story.

http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheUglyDuckling_e.html

The Prince And The Dragon

16 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment

by María Gómez de la Torre in Story insights

Just a parenthesis from my journey through the story world of HCA, I wanted to share this quick insight about one of my favourite topics: Dragons.

From Volksmarehen der Serben this story is a classic tale where the dragon is the animalization of evil and humans are the righteousness.  From The Crimson Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, this story tells about how the youngest and also the wisest prince confronts the evil dragon in order to save his imprudent brothers.

The main character – the young prince – is (again) a person with no defects.  He is clever, humble and strong at the same time.

   Because of this, he triumphed over the same test that his brothers scummed to by not choosing the easy path.  He also uses wit as well as strength to over come his enemy and ultimately recover his brothers.

He thinks ahead and before setting off to his task and provides himself with what he will need when the time came to face up to the challenge.  He studies the best way to get to his opponent and with no problems he disguises himself as a servant rather than receive what should be given to him by his status.

The brothers are the typical people who go first to whatever is labour-saving.  Instead of considering that the their easy pray is perhaps a trap, they just lunge towards it in the hopes of achieving their goal with the least effort and of course we all know what happens.

The dragon on the other hand represents all that is evil like most mid-evil stories.  He is strong, intelligent and full of malice but he is also proud and conceited, for he bends to praise and flattery.  This in the end makes him vulnerable and is defeated.  Here one can see the representation of people who rely on their sole strength and boast of their virtues.  In a word, the typical “egotistical” person.

This story helps us to consider how we should confront the difficulties that we are presented in our daily lives.  Strength is not the only thing that is needed to triumph in life but the story doesn’t say that this element is not important.  Everything counts wit, humility and prudence as well as strength.

http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/crimsn08.htm (the link for the full story)

The Ice Maiden

02 Apr 2011 2 Comments

by María Gómez de la Torre in Story insights

As if HCA wanted not only to show the world the beautiful side of the female sex, but also the dark side, the Ice Maiden is a profound and long story in which the main character – again another person other than the one mentioned in the title – trusting solely in his own strength, is captured and killed by the powerful and evil Ice Maiden.

Illustrated by Edmund Dulac

In this beautiful yet sad story, embedded with poetic allegories, as well as in The Snow Queen, women are the ones who take life away.

“To crush! To hold fast! That is my power!” exclaims the beautiful but deadly Ice Maiden, queen of the glaciars.   This character detests the human race and tries with all her power to kill every single one of them that crosses her path, both men and women alike, young and old.  The ice motif expresses desolation, despair and even death as well as eternal beauty.  In this case, Andersen links it with the feminine character.  Along side the Ice Maiden, stands Dizziness – again represented as a female character.  It’s up to Dizziness, and all “her sisters” to lure humans to dangerous crevasses and in doing so, hand them to the power of her mistress.

The only person who escaped this is the main character – Rudy.  Rudy is described as beautiful, bold and daring, as well as cold – after his encounter with the Ice Maiden when a child.  He is fearless to the point that he dares to do anything to accomplish his goal – even taking to unnecessary risks to gain the love of his life when he becomes a man.  Again, HCA soaks this story with elements of nature from which the main character learns several lifelong lessons, although because of his absolute trust in his own strength, he is taken by the Ice Maiden.  With this the author tries to tell his readers that, even though we may be gifted with good fortune or good health, to put our trust solely on ourselves will in the end lead us off the right path.

But women aren’t mistreated in the this story, for Andersen, through allegories,  describes to the warmth of the female sex as it is said in the following:  ”it was the harmonious tones of a chorus of other spirits of Nature, the mild, soft, and loving daughters of the rays of the sun. Every evening they encircle the mountain peaks and spread their rosy wings”.  ”Greatly do they love flowers and butterflies and mankind, and they had taken a great fancy to little Rudy.”  or  ”And every morning the sun’s rays shone on the sleeping child through the one tiny window of the old man’s house. The daughters of the sun kissed the boy; they tried to thaw, to wipe out the ice kiss given him by the queen of the glaciers”.  Although translated from Danish, HCA uses exquisite language to  ”paint” again the light and darks of the human race, specially the female character.

Andersen again embeds his religious beliefs in this overwhelming story, but does it through the stupidity of a cretin, who asks the main character to write a letter to Jesus Christ for him so as to give his life instead of his master’s (Rudy’s Uncle – almost like his father) – who was killed in an avalanche.  Here again is the willingness of self-sacrifice for a loved one and a complete trust in the power of a superior Being.

Although there is much more to this story, the thoughts and insights shared can shed some light of how we conduct ourselves regarding our own strengths and weakness.

I attach the link for those who wish to read the story.

http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/register/eventyr_e.htm

The Wild Swans

18 Mar 2011 5 Comments

by María Gómez de la Torre in Story insights

The Wild Swans is one of HCA’s earliest,  longest and most beautiful stories.  It talks about the human being’s ability to silently sacrifice him/herself for others.  As a Christian, HCA embeds this fairy tale with a strong trust in Providence, thus bring into light the religious aspect of the human being.

Although the story is titled “The Wild Swans”, it centres around Eliza, the youngest child of a King and the only character in the whole tale with a name.  Eliza’s brothers (11 in all) were transformed into swans and banished by their new stepmother who in fact is a witch.  The princes could only recover their human form during the night.   The only way to save her brothers, Eliza had to suffer great pains without uttering a single word and also without the possibility of defending herself when she is condemned to death in the final part of the story.

Eliza, as well as her brothers, is the characterization of virtue.  She is innocent, strong, loving and pious.  She is also very intelligent for she is able to extract moral lessons from different elements of nature. To this, we have to add the fact that there is no evidence of Eliza’s defects.  She is therefore considered as feminine perfection.

HCA also reveals the victory of good over evil for at some point, Eliza’s stepmother tries to cast a spell on her but fails.  Another interesting aspect is that, Eliza is the weakest person of the group but is the only one able to put an end to the spell.

Eliza’s brothers, are also the representation of the virtuous, although there is no large description of them.  The fact that they turn into swans is the result of it.  Swans have been long associated with grace and beauty as well as royalty or nobility.

Eliza’s father represents a person with a weak mind for after his remarriage he submits to the lies his new wife tells about his own sons – even though, as a father, he should know them very well.  This character has no will and is easily influenced without even questioning himself the truthfulness of what is being said to him.  He accepts everything without question.

Overall, Andersen gives us an insight of the different aspects of the human character, making it, personally,  one of my most beloved stories.