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So, yesterday I saw a post about fairy tales and whether or not they’re “gruesome”. I wanted to expand on that in the tags, because a) I’m coincidentally finishing the preparation of the fairy tale history part of my workshop and b) I think there’s a huge part played by the intent of the writer/compiler and the audience it was aimed that, and that’s also very interesting to me; but then decided against adding it. 

Still, @akallabeth-joie and @aurora-australis-tumbles wanted to know what I had to say, but tumblr ate half of my response last night. Here it is again, on read more not to bother those who don’t care about this. 

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Of course, I cannot actually talk about Paul O. Zelinsky and not complete his trilogy of fairytale works... With what I think was his most awarded work? His fabulous, Southern Renaissance-styled Rapunzel illustrations.

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When it comes to Paul Zelinsky's art, most people are rather aware of his fairytale work through his "Hansel and Gretel" book. I also love it, and it has also very nice details to point out. Such as how the outfit of the witch was made to counter traditional witch attire (all white, with a headwear but NOT a pointy hat), or how in her cute, lovely home there's still little disturbing clues of witchcraft here and there (like a pentagram hanging on the wall, or a candle shaped like a hand of glory), and how not only the witch parallels the wicked stepmother, but also Gretel herself as their white-and-blue outfits form a trinity a la "Maiden, Mother, Crone".

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One of the important things you need to keep in mind with fairy tales, in my opinion, is that colonization is a huge factor to take into account when trying to place a fairy tale variant and its actual cultural “source”. 

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There's also the elephant in the room. Class mobility was NOT a subject you could treat randomly back in 17th century France.

In almost all of the salonnières stories, poor girls do not become princesses - nobility and princesses become princesses and queens. This comes to quite funny twists and turns when d'Aulnoy adapts stories where the traditional heroines are poor girls - resulting in tales where you have princesses, queens and kings that fell on such hard times they literaly now live in little huts at the back-end of the woods. This seems just comical to us now, how instead of going with a poor woodcutter's daughter d'Aulnoy went through the trouble to explain she was a princess all along... But it was actually REQUIRED at the time.

People underestimate how ridig and strong the social hierarchy was back then. The 17th century was notably the rise of the bourgeoisie, and it was a SCANDAL. There's a reason why bourgeois back then were treated as the laughingstock of everybody or as vile and pitiful characters to only be despised (at least fiction-wise). The rule that nobility only mingles with nobility, that royals stay with royals, that titles like dukes or count could only be inherited by those WORTHY of it was one of the defining rules of French society. Louis XIV had introduced a HUGE reform in the French nobility by valorizing, alongside the "nobility of the sword" (the old aristocracy of knights) the "nobility of the robe", aka new nobility earning their titles and wealth due to being part of governemental administration. This was a very divise decision that was quite criticized, and for quite a long time the "real" nobles (of the sword) considered those "of the robe" to not be "actual" nobles.

In such a context, stories of a poor farmer's daughter or of a poor miller's daughter marrying a prince and becoming a princess... It would have been deemed shocking and indecent. Already the women authors of fairytales introduced various subversive elements, but they had to keep a low profile and not make stories TOO jarring or too shocking - royal censorship was still a thing back then. It was part of the same rule according to which tragedy could ONLY be about nobility and royalty - as tragedy, in theater, was deemed a "noble" and "high" genre. If you wanted to treat low folks, bourgeois or peasants, you HAD to go with a "low" undignified genre... like comedy.

Now the big objection one could have to literary fairytales of this era not encouraging the "social mobility" would be Perrault's fairytales... Cinderella and Puss in Boots and The Fairies (Diamonds and Toads). But here's the thing... A) Perrault was a famous man, a recognized scholar and intellectual, the public leader of the ground-breaking "Modern movement" and protected by members of the government. He could pull off such a move, whereas women of criminal past and sulfurous reputation like d'Aulnoy couldn't (and even women in general). B) People forget today that Perrault's fairytales were... subversive. Characters like the protagonists of Puss in Boots are basically amoral and are to be seen as anti-heroes rather than true heroes, because think about it from a 17th century perspective... Here's this poor person who tricks royalty into marrying their daughter, earns the title of prince, and this after usurping the wealth and lands of a lord they MURDERED. Cinderella's social mobility can pass off since she was still part of a "family of quality", but in the Fairies such an extravagant wedding as the one of a poor girl and a prince can only be justified by a fairy miracle... and the implied greed of the prince.

In fact Perrault, who was not of the high or old nobility, was quite sensible to the struggle of the bourgeoisies and the nobility of the robe, and his fairytales are kind-of encouraging and praising the rise of bourgeoisie against traditional aristocraty - most of his morals about social mobility either denouncing the hypocrisy of the "rigid" social structure (Cinderella's moral) or praising a form of meritocracy deemed amoral by 17th century standards (Puss in Boots)

@donttouchmyasymptote replied to your post

I also see that there's less class mobility in D'Aulnoy than other writers - could that come from a feeling of being trapped by her (albeit, noble) social position?

I'm glad that my response was of use! I'll answer you this in a separate post because I know myself and I can't promise this to fit in a reply lol

I think that it might have been a combination between the context of production of the stories and their aim with them, especially d'Aulnoy's, but most of the salonniers as well.

In terms of production, compilers like Basile, Straparola, Perrault the Grimms, Afanasyev, etc., even if with different intentions (which influenced the types and forms of stories they had in their publications), were adapting, writing or compiling stories that were inherently folkloric. There are many theories about the origin of stories (some even speak of a spiritual level of wisdom that's very interesting) but it's known that these authors, as the original post said, took them from working classes, "lower" classes.

They adapted them, like I said, to their ideologies or their audiences, but they came from an ancient place and were shared from person to person.

For example, there is said to have been thousands of versions of Cinderella (or what we'd categorize as Cinderella today) around the world, Ye Xian being the first one written and surviving that we know of. It's very likely that the idea of class mobility that many versions of Cinderella carried came from the poorer classes that transformed the story through the centuries. When it reached Perrault, for example, that wasn't something his audience (or himself) would approve of, so he made Cinderella the daughter of a nobleman who had fallen in misfortune after his death, rather than a poor class girl.

The salonniers weren't really adapting folk stories as much as they were using them (and other elements) as inspiration to create their own, which were most often wish-fulfillment stories. Class mobility wasn't a priority for them to depict because it wasn't their issue, but sexism was, so most of the stories had female protagonists who did quests, rescued princes, were cursed or broke curses. They were also flawed in the stories, made mistakes they had to pay for, so if there were any morals they were mostly from women to other women of the same class.

I think this is mostly why that is, the interest wasn't on the class aspect but on the gender aspect for her. She certainly did feel trapped by the way her gender was perceived in her class at her time, by the limitations they had to live with, many scholars discuss that as a key element to read stories by the salonniers.

This is why it's very interesting sometimes to compare versions of the same inspiration in different authors and see what they prioritized. For example, I think Green Serpent by d'Aulnoy, Beauty and the Beast by Villeneuve and later adapted by Beaumont, Blue Beard by Perrault and Hans my Hedgehog by the Grimms are all coming from the Cupid and Psyche myth, with more or less degrees of evidence. The stories are so differently developed and the point is placed in such different places that you'd think they were all coming from entirely different sources.

Also, it's very interesting what you're doing with d'Aulnoy stories! I hope this helps!

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I REALLY like Paul Zelinsky's illustrations for Rumpelstiltskin, and how he embraced the architecture, perspectives and style of ancient paintings.

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All of this true! Plus:

Her husband wasn't just a gambler but also a heavy drinker and might have been physically abusive.

The plot to get rid of her husband actually was quite crazy - as to scheme to have him accused of treason against the king (and thus put to death) she worked with her mother and her lover (plus her mother's lover if I recall well?). But when the false accusations were revealed to be a scam, the two men were arrested and killed - madame d'Aulnoy and her mother barely escaped (and yes she did hid in the church - I think it was under a staircase of the church, like in a secret place under the stone? I don't remember the exact details, I haven't checked her biography in a while but she truly had a crazy life).

For the Angélique Ticquet situation we don't know for SURE madame d'Aulnoy helped her kill her husband. All that is certain is that she was friend with her, and Angélique poisoned her husband. It is suspected and it was suspected at the time, she might have influenced or helped her in the murder based on her own past of making plans to kill husbands, but nothing has been confirmed.

And you know, madame d'Aulnoy was not the ONLY fairytale author with crazy lives. With all the women-authors of fairytales are the type, it is either "We basically don't know anything about them and the few biographies we have are contradictory and nonsensical historically-wise", or "They had this crazy life of adventurers, murderers, outlaws, were daring, rebellious, very intelligent, and underwent all sorts of disguises to escape prison, and lesbian experiences, before settling in as proper court ladies in literary salons and living a quiet little life." It' s wild

some bullet points about Madame D’Aulnoy that you may want to know:

she was given by her father as a bride at the age of 15 to a man 30 years older than her, who was a known gambler and overall not good person

she was pregnant at least 4 times before the age of 20, and bid her time until she could get enough information to get her husband convicted for treason

after her husband was released, by convincing the authorities of his innocence, she ran away through a window and hid in a church (some sources say she did some time in prison while pregnant, but the child died young)

she spent years working as a possible spy to gain access to the country again

once back, and after writing spicy memoirs of life in court, she surrounded herself with literary ladies and created salons where they could tell their own stories, starring powerful characters taken from folklore like fairies, goddesses and witches, which could emancipate themselves in ways they had never been able to in real life

she helped friends deal with their abusive husbands, sometimes it went into extreme directions (Angélique Ticquet got her abusive husband murdered and she was executed for it in the end) 

the growth of the stories in her salon got her to include a story in one of her published works in 1695, though she had been telling stories like these since at least 1690

subsequently, she coined the term “fairy tales” (contes de fées) and defined the genre as we know it today

she generated a retroactive popularity of the genre, going back and forth from print to salons, which served to ignite the genre as it was known in Europe in the late 1600s and early 1700s

the majority of published authors of fairy tales during the birth of the genre as a publishing success were women, most of whom were inspired in the salons or by d’Aulnoy’s stories and some of which were friends (some of these include Marie-Jeanne L'Héritier, Catherine Bernard, Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force, Henriette-Julie de Murat and Catherine Durand)

contrary to earlier folk story works, like those of Basile or Straparola, d’Aulnoy and her storytellers were centered on ideas of magic women archetypes

in 1697 she published the first volume of her most famous compilation of stories, which would solidify the genre and its archetypes

that same year Charles Perrault would publish his first fairy tale collection (Histoires ou Contes du Temps passé) under his son’s name, to avoid criticism from the “Ancients” and avoid being connected to a “lesser genre”, having been entirely aware of the salons, the genre and D’Aulnoy’s work, yet this let him be credited, to this day, as “the founder of the modern fairy tale genre”

which is why most of you don’t need bullet points to know who Perrault was, but you possibly don’t know about Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy

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Also you can't forget the funniest fact. Serpentin Vert is supposed to be big enough to carry a human woman as you say. "Serpentin" is the diminutive form of "serpent", so it means "little snake". In fact VERY little snake as "serpentin" is also a common term used to describe cotillons and those other little pieces of paper you throw at parties in the air.

The motif of madame d'Aulnoy not just referring Cupid and Psyche but including it within her narrative in a "magical husband" story is actually a recurring habit of hers. She first did it with "Gracieuse et Percinet", which was a much more direct Psyche and Cupid retelling. This was a reference to the huge boom of Psyche tales at the time - it kept being adapted for operas, ballets and rewritten in French at the time.

Serpentin Vert (aka The Dragon Husband) won my fairy tale poll, so here's more about him

Serpentin Vert is both a character and the title of a fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy, published for the first time in 1698.

Even though the name is closer to "serpent" and some illustrators have depicted him as such, d'Aulnoy's description of him is closer to a dragon than a snake, and his size is big enough to have allowed him to physically carry his bride to safety.

Here is an English translation of the description by James Robinson Planché:

He has green wings, a body of a thousand colours, ivory claws, fiery eyes, and on his head is a bristling mane of long hair.

This is him rescuing his soon-to-be bride in an illustration from the Garnier edition, circa 1850 (my favorite one of him):

Serpentin Vert (translated by Planché as Green Serpent and in Spanish by Editorial Siruela as Serpentino Verde) is a fairy tale in the category know as "The Animal as Bridegroom" (Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index's ATU 425).

Some of these, and this one is no exception, work with Cupid and Psyche as a foundation (the most popular being Beauty and the Beast), but d'Aulnoy's style doesn't just use it as reference, she includes it in the story, as a tale the lead character reads and, much like Psyche or even Orpheus, still does what she shouldn't.

The lead of the story is Laideronnette, a princess cursed by a fairy to become the ugliest person alive, while her twin sister doesn't get said curse. She exiles herself after her family treats her poorly and meets Serpentin, who falls in love with her but she rejects him, since she's afraid of him. When he talks to her without her seeing him, she distrusts him, because she doesn't believe a king would fall in love with her, but starts having feelings for the person she spends so much time talking to. Their marriage is the halfway point of the story, because it's through Laideronnette breaking her promise (much like Psyche) that she will have to face many challenges to save the dragon she has fallen in love with. Of course, like most Animal Bridegroom stories, Serpentin is actually a cursed man.

Like most fairy tales written by the salonnières, this is a very long story, that takes twists and turns, has the characters move through different settings and gets in there a couple of songs and poems. If you're more used to the Perrault-like or even Grimm-like fairy tales, you may not be too familiar with the way in which salonnières told fairy tales, but these stories, born for the entertainment from women to other women in salons, are not always devoid of lessons but are more focused on the storytelling aspect and take a lot more pages to tell the story, describe surroundings and have the characters express their turmoil to the reader (or listener, originally).

Serpentin is always gentle and caring, although able to drop an "I told you so" when he feels it's warranted. Differently from Villeneuve's Beast (or Beaumont's even), he's more eloquent throughout the story and more active as well. There is a mutual saving between him and Laideronnette and her tasks to save Serpentin come after realizing she's in love with him, which makes their relationship dynamic a longer element to develop.

The fact that they're both cursed by the same fairy also generates an interesting dynamic in which both are at the mercy of a same enemy and can bond through the isolation caused by their self-imposed exiles. Of course, this being a classic fairy tale, she doesn't remain "ugly" and he doesn't remain a dragon.

The story isn't devoid of problematic stereotypes, these were French women in the 1600s, but most of the elements included trace back to the typical inspirations for d'Aulnoy: Greek mythology, opera and the folklore shared by midwives and nurses that accompanied women through motherhood. I talked a bit more about d'Aulnoy on this post, she was wild.

Now, to some more illustrations of the man of the hour:

This one is from Harriet Mead Olcott (1919), who went more snake-like but kept the wings.

Another one from the Garnier edition, it didn't stay very consistent on the size of him.

This is a part of the engraving made by Jean-Louis Delignon over this original by Clemént-Pierre Marillier (1785):

Maria Pascual played a bit more with Laideronnette's features, but it's more evident when she's beside her sister.

And a very recent depiction came from Natalie Frank in 2017 for Jack Zipes's compilation of d'Aulnoy stories titled The Island of Happiness, I think this is after Laideronnette was already transformed and changed her name into Discrète.

Serpentin Vert is actually the first of the fairy tales I included in my virtual workshop that starts next month (in Spanish). I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that it won the poll because of a) the nature of this site and b) the fact that d'Aulnoy would vibe with the discourse on here if she was around. You can find the original fairy tale in French here, the Planché English translation here and the Lawrence and Bullen translation here. For the Spanish version I had to translate it myself for the workshop, but there is a good translation in Siruela's edition of El cuarto de las hadas.

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I just discovered the existence of the "Upside-Down Tales" series. They are those books that were "double books". If you read them like a regular book, you have a traditional fairytale, but if you read them from the back, in reverse, you have a parody of said fairytale where everything is... well, upside-down, with the villains becoming martyrized victims and the heroes turning into evil antagonists.

There is also a Beauty and the Beast book in the series but I can't find any pictures of its covers...

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Hi! I wondered if you had anything (you probably do) on La belle et la bête ? Specifically looking for origins of the Mme Leprince de Beaumont one, but anything else goes :)

Hi! Well, unfortunately... Not much!

I know it sounds surprising but here's the thing... I do specialize in French literary fairytales of the golden age. But only 17th century... Beauty and the Beast belongs unfortunately to the 18th century fairytales, the "second generation" of French literary fairytales (or third if you count the Arabian Nights-era as the second generation). As a result I do not have a LOT of interesting info to share...

It is too bad because had you caught me six months earlier I had a copy out of the library of the Bibliothèque des Génies et des Fées's volume dedicated to Leprince de Beaumont, which was one of the most complete things ever... Unfortunately I can't get it back for now... All I can suggest you so far is to check my "Beauty and the Beast" tag because I did reblog a LOT of interesting posts throughout the years made by other people WAY more knowledgeable than me.

On my own side all I can do so far is dig up in my own books see if I have any article Beauty and the Beast adjacent which could be of some use... Outside of this sorry, you knocked at the wrong door...

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Reblogging those again because they are really cool.

One day I shall talk of the endless debates about whether Griselidis should be included alongside Perrault's other female farytale characters.

The full set of the series “Fairy tales by Charles Perrault” by the artist Rork Maiellano

Featured: Sleeping Beauty, Fairy Godmother, Bluebeard, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Faeries, Donkeyskin. 

(11x17" archival prints available/contact artist at Instagram or Facebook)

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OUR NURSE’S PICTURE BOOK (c. 1870) Chromolithographs by Kronheim& Co.

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THE CRIMSON FAIRY BOOK by Andrew Lang. (London/New York: Longman, 1903) Illustrated by Henry Justice Ford.

source

[How did I miss this one?]

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GREEN WILLOW AND OTHER JAPANESE FAIRY TALES by Grace James. (London: Macmillan, 1910) Illustrated by Warwick Goble. [ A stunning book]

source

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THE PIED PIPER OF HAMLIN by Robert Browning 1812-1889. (New York: Rand McNally, 1910 [1937]) Illustrated by Hope Dunlap.

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THE FAIRY TALE BOOK translated from the French by Marie Ponsot and stunningly illustrated by Adrienne Segur (New York: Golden Books, 1958)

28 Traditional Stories from the French, German, Danish, Russian, Japanese by Hans Christian Anderson, The Brothers Grim, Charles Perrault, and others.

[I received this book as a child, and it continues to be one of my most treasured possessions.]

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TALES OF FOLK AND FAIRIES by Katharine Pyle (Boston: Little Brown, 1919). Illustrated.

Project Gutenberg