#persian fairytale

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 3A, MATCH 2 OUT OF 4!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Settarah:

Settareh lives among her many sisters, being considered an outcast due to the star-shaped birthmark on her cheek. Still,  she is very kind, giving a poor elderly woman most of her money that was to be spent on new clothes for the Prince's party. She is then entranced by a small blue jug that she buys, which secretly grants her wishes, including clothes for the party. When her sisters find out about the jug, they ask it for a way to be rid of her,  and it gives them hair pins which turn Settareh into a dove. Still, she keeps the prince company as a bird until he finds and removes the pins

Mofurun as "Mofurella"

listen. they do an episode where they're all sucked into Cinderella and they make the trans teddy bear Cinderella. Incredible story writing, 10/10, no notes.

Mofurdella is even plot relevant, that episode is how they get the Rainbow Carriage for their group attack anyway MOFURDELLA FIRST CINDERELLA PRECURE EPISODE TO GET ONE MOFURILLION VOTES

[4dmc]

Wait till they (bigoted conservative right wing white supremacists) realize the Cinderella, Snow White, many fairy tales and folk tales ALL have origins from MANY places that aren't from Europe/originated from stories from pre-European & peasant folk/are recurring tropes and narratives from across the globe (sorry there was a typo here😔 but i meant to say check the Motif Index on Folk Literature and the study of folklore, it's a branch of anthropology, and studies literature and oral traditions that are shared by humanity across ages!)

and they're simply clamoring for the white washed versions because they don't know how to step out of their bubble

The One Thousand and One Nights, and various versions of Cinderella are said to have Persian/Arab and Chinese roots! And there's even a Cinderella story in ancient Egypt!

And from just looking up fairy tale as a term, ancient India has the Jataka, a collection of stories about Buddha reincarnated as different people, and this is described as one of the best surviving fairytale compilations

And regarding the Shanameh, the heroine Rudaba is described with long raven hair and such. But I won't spoil it: here's the Iran online site where Shanameh fairy tale is:

https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/rudaba

Another online site, with lots of Islam literature, where Rudāba's story is:

[caterpillarinacave]

Ah, young love

[annachum]

👏👏👏👏👏

Ignoring the pathetic racists, an Indian rendition of Rapunzel would literally be the most gorgeous thing ever. Like y'all never seen a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie? Pushpa? Countless others, which showcase how visually stunning the culture is?

In my opinion, The Little Mermaid (2023) being set in the Caribbean was such an upgrade from the original - I much preferred the scenes on land rather than underwater BECAUSE it have us something other than generic European village #4. People are so damn afraid of the idea that fairytales can exist outside their snowy-white bubble, and I think they should be publicly shamed.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Arash featuring Rebecca Zadig - Temptation 2005

"Temptation" is a 2005 major hit single by Iranian-Swedish singer Arash featuring Rebecca Zadig and taken from Arash's self-titled debut album. The music for "Temptation" is from "Baila Maria", a Spanish tune recorded by Ishtar Alabina featuring Los Niños de Sara in 1996. "Temptation" in its own right has been subject of many covers and in a number of languages.

"Temptation" was first recorded by Swedish singer Rebecca Zadig with additional lyrics and rendition vocals featuring Arash, who started his career performing under his mononym Alex. The first version had English as main vocals by Zadig featuring Arash that interpreted some additional Persian language lyrics. "Temptation" was re-released as a song mainly in the Persian language, this time crediting Arash as the main vocalist, and Rebecca Zadig was reduced to a featuring role. This release became the definitive version and was Arash's third successful consecutive single after "Boro Boro" and "Tike Tike Kardi" (poll #137). The song credited to Arash made it to number 2 on the Swedish Singles Chart, and also charted in Germany, Switzerland and Finland.

In 2005, a Russian language version of the song was made by Arash with the Russian girl group Blestyaschie. The song titled "Vostochniye skazki" (Eastern fairytales) was credited to Blestyaschie featuring Arash. In 2006, the South African cover boyband Hi-5 covered the song in Afrikaans under the title "Versoeking". It was a main single and the title track of their album. In 2015, the Dutch group Wing-Men covered the song in Dutch under the title "Verleid Mij", and released it as their debut single.

"Temptation" received a total of 75,4% yes votes! Previous Arash polls: #137 "Tike Tike Kardi".

[the-ghost-rat]

Nothings funnier to me then learning that most of the fairytales credited to brothers grimm dont even belong to them-and many of them actually came from different non eroupean cultures

Like repunzel being Persian or cinderella being from either China or Egypt im not quite sure

Not only does it make white disney adults whinning about race swapping more hypercritical but also make the brothers grimm being in charge of ever after high ironic

Tho ngl now i rlly wanna either redesign them myself or see someone else redesign poppy & holly as Persian & Ashlynn as Chinese ..

[dross-the-fish]

What do you think Erik's past was with women, when it comes to dating and women. I'd like to know what your take is.

"dating" is probably not the word I'd use. Delving into the text of the book there are two parts that stick out to me as indicating that Erik may have a history with women other than Christine this segment here from the scene at Apollo's Lyre where Christine is recounting events to Raoul "You wanted to know what I looked like! Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? I'm a very good-looking fellow, eh? … When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind of Don Juan, you know!' And, drawing himself up to his full height, with his hand on his hip, wagging the hideous thing that was his head on his shoulders, he roared, 'Look at me! I AM DON JUAN TRIUMPHANT!' And, when I turned away my head and begged for mercy, he drew it to him, brutally, twisting his dead fingers into my hair." Seems to indicate that this kind of thing has happened before. It is possible Erik is speaking generally and it's not definitive proof but it is interesting, the verbiage he uses.

And this scene towards the end of the book when he has Raoul and the Persian in his torture chamber

"What are you running away for?" asked the furious voice, which had followed her. "Give me back my bag, will you? Don't you know that it is the bag of life and death?"

"Listen to me, Erik," sighed the girl. "As it is settled that we are to live together ... what difference can it make to you?"

"You know there are only two keys in it," said the monster. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to look at this room which I have never seen and which you have always kept from me ... It's woman's curiosity!" she said, in a tone which she tried to render playful.

But the trick was too childish for Erik to be taken in by it.

"I don't like curious women," he retorted, "and you had better remember the story of BLUE-BEARD and be careful ... Come, give me back my bag! ... Give me back my bag! ... Leave the key alone, will you, you inquisitive little thing?"

And he chuckled, while Christine gave a cry of pain. Erik had evidently recovered the bag from her." He says he doesn't like "curious women" and makes a reference to Blue Beard, which is a fairytale about a serial killer who murders his wives. There's a scene in Blue Beard where the most recent wife discovers a room with the bodies of his previous wives. The first quote could be dismissed but this is the second time Erik has indicated a dislike for curious women. Erik's lair is canonically full of traps and features a very cruel torture chamber. By evoking the image of Blue Beard in particular the narrative seems to be further implying that Erik does have some history of women and not a pleasant one. It's possible that Erik is just trying to scare Christine out of looking in the room but it's equally likely that it's not an idle threat. He's shown that he's not above putting hands on Christine and treating her roughly despite his claims to love her. I have a personal theory that Christine is not the first but Erik knows she is going to be the last. I've always kind of run on the idea that throughout the book Erik is aware his health is failing and the clock is winding down for him and that's why Christine is different, because she's his last chance and in the end she does give him, not a living bride, but something much more needed: redemption and forgiveness from someone he's harmed. Proof that he's not unworthy of human compassion. A lot of people in the Phandom don't seem to recognize how dark of a character Erik is. I find him legitimately scary as much as I also find him sympathetic and I think he is fascinating in part because there is something genuinely terrifying about him that tickles my love for horror stories. I feel like it's vague enough that you can leave it up to interpretation, so if you don't really like the idea that he's had women in his past that he ended up killing you can chalk it up to Erik just trying to frighten Christine into compliance but I think it's interesting to look at the darker takes and speculate about the skeletons in his closet.

[aikainkauna]

The slashy tragedy of Ahmad

Another variant Thief of Bagdad headcanon, with illustrations.

Premise: Ahmad is gay (yes, this point has been made since 1940, but bear with me),

But he is also too dumb to realise he's gay, and thus strings poor Abu along...

What’s medieval Arabic for “bullshit?“ No, Abu... he’s set his sights on pussy. He thinks he can do it. And yet, he still has the fucking nerve to utter this line:

Abu’s face says it all. Bitch, now you’re just twisting the knife.

But Abu helps him anyway, because he loves him that much. Thus, we have Ahmad The Clueless bumbling his way into heterosexuality through Yassamin's garden, because that's what he's read princes and princesses do.

He’s seen this miniature of the badass legendary hero, Prince Zal, climbing up the passionate Princess Rudaba's harem walls to get laid (note the pink walls and everything)!

And then he recites poetry at her, because that's what you do.

Note that in the 1001 Nights, anything and everything is accomplished by reciting/quoting something beautiful and/or witty on the spot. This is not just a "chicks like romantic stuff, better throw some at her" thing. So to all the morons who scoff at this stuff now when they watch the movie? Tough. It's a *major* rule in all these stories, often forgotten in Western screen adaptations, because Westerners just don't randomly quote song lyrics all the time (which would be the closest equivalent--poems were the pop songs of the day, passed along in song format). So they don't get it/and or don't think it fits unless you’re going for a musical. But it's a big deal in the Near East, Persia in particular. (I'm told in Teheran, taxi drivers will quote Hafiz at you. Which is awesome). And this is actually pne of the major reasons why I really like ToB, because everybody *does* speak in poetry all the time, Ahmad especially!

Even at Jaffar’s pet lesbians. So this dialogue retains a major element of the original culture that makes up for the elements they *didn't* get right (ladies wearing turbans would have *actually* been considered drag in this era, BTW, but then again, I’m sure they are Halima’s pet lesbians). But anyway, Ahmad just does the standard cool thing to do, whenever you want to benefit from a situation. Hence, poetry.

Also, Yassamin?

Bitch is twenty-one. She's basically an old maid by medieval standards, when girls were married off as soon as they hit puberty, or even earlier. Thanks to her dad being what we scientifically call batshit fucking crazy, the poor girl has been locked up in a harem until she's hit her twenties (I actually imagine her to be 17 or so, but June was 21). So she's been there, sexually frustrated as *fuck,* for years and years, fantasising about djinn or mythical heroes like Zal and shit (because it's not like a flesh and blood guy could ever have a chance).

She’s been stuck there dreaming about Wild Ravishments (TM), and been hot and bothered thanks to whatever sexy sexy seductive magic our resident creepy stalker wizard has been throwing her way.

FINALLY her dark shadow lover has arrived!

So, of course she falls for the first guy that shows up. She doesn't know what the fuck, except

So. You know. He’s like

“What do I do now? Is this how you heterosexual? What does a modern, liberated 9th century Arab girl even want from a man? Poetry? Shall I try poetry?”

And she’s like

Two fools deluding themselves.

Which is a shame. Because they really are cute in their own, innocent fairytale way. And really pretty, too.

While Abu, who's the smartest of the bunch and who *does* know a vagina-incompatible guy when he sees one, sighs in exasperation...

Look, he is a pretty lad. It would *not* be the first time a guy's had a crush on him (also insert here an essay about how the love of a man for his beautiful youth was THE most common form of love in the aforementioned medieval Persian poetry)... so he's done all this shit for his beloved Ahmad, saved his life time and time again (NOT UNLIKE A CERTAIN WIZARD with his equally dim Pwinzezz) and the guy still doesn't get it.

No amount of pretty, shirtless, glistening and collared boys can help poor Abu's cause. Ahmad, buddy, you may have got your eyesight back, but you're still blind.

Jaffar, on the other hand, basically fucking brought Ahmad up from a baby. He *knows* what's up; knows it intimately. So it's honestly no surprise that he looks so fucking satisfied (and disturbingly horny) when he sees Ahmad in the marketplace. His plan of turning Ahmad into a sex object for other guys is complete, and he looks like he's even tempted to sample summa that.

Just for a test drive, you know. He is an engineer after all.

But no. Even if he arranges Ahmad out of the way and keeps on creeping on Ze Pwinzezz, proving his love over

and

over...

Nothing comes out of it.

"Goddammit, bitch! At least *I* am into pussy! I am the LONE bisexual penis-owner in this sea of gays!"

But all to no avail: in the classic tragedy of the guy who's everything Yassamin's dreamed of (cultured... sensitive... an eye for rakish beggar fashions that are *so* chic for 816 CE...) turning out to be a closet case, she hurtles on towards a lifetime of sexual dissatisfaction.

(A medieval Muslim princess glomping a guy she’s not married to, in public?! See what a raunchy little wench we lost here? O, the potential!)

When the guy who's quite clearly a fucking expert at hot hard kinky wizard sex, the guy who can control the elements and who builds fucking sex toys in his basement, the only one who could’ve truly helped that Babylonian harlot within her to flourish, hurtles towards the Tigris with an arrow in his skull.

Just fucking wait until he gets back onto Tumblr and writes a seething post on how this is a classic oppression case. #panthersexualerasure #anti-persian sentiment #MUGGLES!

And so it comes to pass that Ahmad, the guy who's confessed he has had 365 wives and doesn't know how to love them, enters into marriage with wife no. 366.

Note that she’s wearing part drag with that turban again, so I reckon she’s starting to realise what’s up. And I suppose the nosebag helps collect all her tears of DEEP REGRET AT NOT HAVING CHOSEN THE HOT SEX WIZARD INSTEAD.

Abu, however, knows what up, and makes his exit from this charade along. A. Fucking. Rainbow.

Have fun discovering the truth about yourselves in, oh, maybe the next 20 years of sexual frustration, guys!

[microcomets]

hi hi, I saw you said a while ago that you have some sapphic SF&F book recs. can I ask what they are?

sorry for my delayed response — always happy to share!!! <3 here’s my list (always hoping to expand + add more recs):

THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE and its prequel, A DAY OF FALLEN NIGHT by samantha shannon (roots of chaos series) — a classic high fantasy saga with dragons & rich worldbuilding. all of the major relationships in both books (and most of the main characters) are queer!

THE LOCKED TOMB series by tamsyn muir — man idk how to even describe this series. yes it’s about lesbian necromancers in space because technically the books contain those things. it is definitely about necromancy in space. and there are lesbians

SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN by shelley parker-chan (the radiant emperor duology) — this probably technically leans more historical fiction than SF/F, but it’s about a girl who takes her brother’s identity and rises to power to become the emperor of china

THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT by seth dickinson — a lesbian machiavelli takes down an evil empire from within to save her colonized country

THE JASMINE THRONE by tasha suri (burning kingdoms series) —  a captive princess and a mage maidservant battle an empire in a fantasy world based on indian myths and history

THE FINAL STRIFE by saara el-arifi (the ending fire trilogy) — two girls switched at birth, a princess and a rebel fighter, band together to overthrow the hierarchy of a blood magic caste in this fantasy world inspired by african and arabian culture

OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA by julia armfield — a marine biologist wife goes off to sea, gets stuck in a submarine for weeks, and Comes Back Wrong

THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET by becky chambers — queer found family in space!

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by amal el-mohtar & max gladstone — rival agents fall in love and write letters to each other across, you guessed it, a time war

GIRL, SERPENT, THORN by melissa bashardoust — a story about a girl whose touch is poison based on persian fairytales

IN THE VANISHERS’ PALACE by aliette de bodard — a dreamlike vietnamese retelling of beauty and the beast where a girl falls in love with her dragon captor

THE DEEP by rivers solomon — a novella about an underwater world where merpeople are descendants of enslaved african women thrown into the atlantic that features a sapphic love story

OTHER WORDS FOR SMOKE by sarah maria griffin — a set of twins is sent to live in a spooky house of witches

[i-dont-know-my-name--anymore]

I'm in love with a fairytale

Even though it hurts

'Cause I don't care if I lose my mind

I'm already cursed

ALASTAIR COMPERING THOMAS TO KNIGHT AND THOMAS COMPERING ALASTAIR TO PERSIAN PRINCE IS MY EVERYTHING

[aratilightwood]

Thomas’s crush over Alastair is so real. If I was around a well-built, handsome Iranian man all day, I too will be considering how his thick eyelashes framed his black eyes like petals of a flower. I too will be mentally gushing over how his broodiness and ferocious demeanour, reminds me of an Persian Iranian prince that’s walked straight out of a fairytale. I too will be telling myself to SHUT UP out of embarrassment and focus on the situation at hand.

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 2A, MATCH 3 OUT OF 8!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Hamupipőke:

Look at this animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTMprYTJDxA

[Image]

Settarah:

Settareh lives among her many sisters, being considered an outcast due to the star-shaped birthmark on her cheek. Still,  she is very kind, giving a poor elderly woman most of her money that was to be spent on new clothes for the Prince's party. She is then entranced by a small blue jug that she buys, which secretly grants her wishes, including clothes for the party. When her sisters find out about the jug, they ask it for a way to be rid of her,  and it gives them hair pins which turn Settareh into a dove. Still, she keeps the prince company as a bird until he finds and removes the pins

[whovianshifts]

shifting to the hunger games universe: moodboard

non-violent dr

↳the snow family guest room:

final year academy student, the capitol

3 students chosen for competitive sabbatical year in the districts as part of course during the year before university

travel through the districts for 12 months, observing culture, art, ways of life - 1 month : 1 district

also chosen for the programme: coriolanus snow, sejanus plinth

NOTE: not evil, au snow!

close friends: clemmie dovecote, lyssie vickers & tiggy snow

NOTE: younger, 18 y/o tigris (same year as the rest)

NOTE: au, no hunger games mentorship programme in july

shifting to the morning of the sabbatical announcements

other courses also announced: ie tigris hoping to move onto fashion internship

waking up in the snow family guest room, sleepover w/the girls

vintage floral wallpaper, deep blue with gold accents

chest of drawers, dark mahogany, furthest to the wall

a few books, including a red hardback copy of grimm's fairytales

golden mirror with a simple necklace hanging from it

painting of a black swan hanging overhead, gold frame

my glossy red boots, next to the drawers

persian carpet, red and blue, on the floor

overlooking bed, with golden frame, crisp white bedsheets and a dusty-blue bed cover

side note: i admit that shifting to the hunger games is definitely a choice. the position of privilege as an academy student, being able to temporarily visit the districts, is something i am already aware of. whether this ultimately deters me from sticking to the dr long term is only something i can decide with personal experience; i would anticipate that i eventually script out aspects of the universe that are plain unethical, the hunger games themselves being the main one, though i cannot deny my curiosity with dystopian worlds (especially as an aspiring writer) and the specific career cultures of districts 1 & 2, as well as the more intricate cultural aspects of the universe that the book does not elaborate much on. ultimately, however, as a first time shifter, the endless nature of shifting and the ethics of it all is something i want to form my own opinion on, especially based on my own experiences.

[caterpillarinacave]

James: Thomas your bleeding! Quick, what’s your type?

Thomas: 5’10, Persian, beautiful eyes, looks like a prince from a fairytale-

Matthew: No! He means your blood type

Thomas: Oh, uh, b- positive?

Alastair: We’re trying, Tom, but your losing a lot of blood!!!

[malkaleh]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (if you feel like it, no pressure) Spread the self-love 💖

Thank you lovely <3. I thought I’d be incredibly self indulgent and select a bunch from my main fandoms (so Grishaverse, Tudors, Criminal Minds and West Wing)

Tagging: @emilykaldwen @onekisstotakewithme @shes-a-voodoo-child @the-ships-to-rule-them-all @sherwoodknights @nocompromise-noregrets @bessemerprocess @miabicicletta

The Tudors

Such A Time As This "You have come to your royal position for such a time as this" or a retelling of the story of Queen Esther with Anne Boleyn as a Mizrahi Jewish lady.

A Favourite Line: And so Anne has three selves. Three stories. Anne Boleyn, English Lady with an interest in the reformed religion, Amara who learns the Hebrew and Persian tongue and keeps the Sabbath with joy and Esther who wishes she did not hide herself.

Rewrite The Stars In another world this is how it might have gone between the three of them. The story of how the love between three extraordinary people change the world for the better and made it the kindest. The story of a fight for a fairytale.

A Favourite Line: “His name was Lucius - from before I met your mother. I never understood why the Church condemned love, not when I read of David and Jonathan and Ruth and Naomi - it seems to me that above all, the Lord holds love as sacred. Just, tell me that you will not cause your betrothed pain - if you cannot bear it then I will have Mary’s children inherit, but do not bind yourself to a marriage with no love.”

Crown Of Ashes It is everything Mary has ever wanted - a good Catholic husband, the crown upon her head, retribution upon those who had wronged her (not that she was giving in to so base a notion as vengeance, merely that the Lord had seen the righteousness of her cause and she was glad of it), the stamping out of heresy in England. No, all is well. All is very well

A Favourite Line: Mihrimah does not say that, not exactly. Tommy she knows, will always hurt for his siblings, for his nieces and nephew not much younger than he whose mother had bastardised and killed their father. For his parents, killed for Mary’s hurt - she has no patience with it, with the way Mary has tried to make her certainty through blood and pain. Not when it ended with her husband in a monsters bed.

Criminal Minds

Monuments, Historical and Contemporary The FBI was still there - though the uniforms may change, the bureaucracy remained.

A Favourite Line How they could build statues and memorials and think that by paying homage after the fact, they were doing an honor.

Grishaverse

Karma (is my family) Inej smiles at her friends who are her family, warm and full of love. Smiles at her husband, who has never possessed her or owned her - has never thought of their love that way - only as two hearts shared. [Inej and her power, her kindness, her love and the way karma comes for Tante Heleen]

A Favourite Line “You would have been dead long ago, believe me but the choice will always be Inej’s. That choice is not my gift to her, because it will always be her choice but it is for her.”

The West Wing

It’s The History Of Man (Rewritten By Women) Four women of The West Wing - Trauma, sisterhood and power (or not).

A Favourite Line You shouldn’t have to be, to give any of a damn - shouldn’t have to find motivation in sister or daughter or someone that makes a something real when you could just find humanity - she’d said it too many times, to too many people. Too many men.

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Rapunzel was actually a Persian fairytale, originally. About a girl with very long hair named Rudaba. But of course, since the racists won’t bother doing their research, they’ll keep saying it was only ever a German fairytale. 🙄

heyyy thanks for this!!!

mod ali