Maybe our mums and dads and carers read us picture books of Cinderella or Jack and the Beanstalk. Maybe we watched Disney’s Pinocchio or Little Mermaid as a family outing, or snuggled up at home on the sofa. Then we grew up.
If we look on Amazon for fairy tale books we’ll find a new genre – fairy tale retellings as novelizations, aimed perhaps at a teenage audience. Edith Pattou’s North Child is one example, and Shannon Hale’s Goose Girl. These retellings are less cosy, their heroines tougher, braver.
But what about adults? These stories weren’t meant for us, were they?
It’s debatable whether fairy tales were originally aimed at children. Perrault’s stories are short enough for telling or reading to a young audience, and his retelling of stories like Sleeping Beauty omit the sex of earlier versions like Basile’s. They also conclude with morals aimed at children. For instance, Red Riding Hood ends with a warning not to talk to strangers. But we need to remember, too, that many French writers at the time were writing fairy tales and sharing them in their literary saloons.
The Brothers Grimm began to collect their stories as a Nationalistic endeavour at a time that Germany was embroiled in the Prussian War. It was only in subsequent versions, when they found that parents were sharing them with their children, that the brothers began to trim features like the pregnancy of Rapunzel. They also played around with different versions of the stories in their collection, opting for the ones where the villains, for instance Cinderella’s step-sisters, were punished for their cruelty to the heroes and heroines.
Besides, there is a huge range of fairy tales that never passed the eyes of Perrault or the Brothers Grimm. From the Stories of Old features re-workings of stories from Japan, China, Norway and Ireland as well as France and Germany.
The story of Urashima Taro is first mentioned by name in the 15th century as a type of illustrated fiction called otogizōshi, a popular genre, but the story itself dates back even further, to the 8th century. There does not seem to be any evidence that it was a children’s story then. (Disney and Pixar have not yet made a film of this tale, but many manga and anime versions have been produced, including the oldest known animated film, which premiered in 1918.)
The story of Mulan is first recorded as a ballad composed in the 5th or 6th century. In about 1675 Chu Renhu wrote a version called the Historical Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, in which Xianniang, the Xia king’s daughter, is so pleased to discover that Mulan is a woman that they become sworn sisters. The Romance is a tragedy, but the ending seems to be Chu Renhu’s own invention.
Struwwelpeter was definitely written for children – one child, in fact, as Henrich Hoffmann originally wrote it as a Christmas present for his son. (Whether stories that feature children being burnt to death or having their thumbs snipped off are what we want our children to read is another topic altogether!)
Selkie stories abound round Scotland and Ireland. They are short, like children’s stories, but they never seem to have the happy endings we want for our boys and girls, especially as they often end with mothers abandoning their children.
The Little Mermaid is a Hans Christian Andersen story, and he wrote his stories for children, always thinking of the adults that might hear or read it too. Just as a good children’s film has jokes for the parents as well as the younger audience, Andersen slipped in comments that the adults would enjoy. Many of his stories have sad endings and they are quite a shock when you come to them after seeing adaptations. Disney’s resolution to Ariel’s dilemma is a far cry from Andersen’s!
So how do the writers of From the Stories of Old tell these stories? Are they writing for children or adults?
All the stories are told with a YA audience in mind. Not every story ends happily, or in the same way as the classic version. I’m not telling you which, though! Read the book for yourself and see.
If we look on Amazon for fairy tale books we’ll find a new genre – fairy tale retellings as novelizations, aimed perhaps at a teenage audience. Edith Pattou’s North Child is one example, and Shannon Hale’s Goose Girl. These retellings are less cosy, their heroines tougher, braver.
But what about adults? These stories weren’t meant for us, were they?
It’s debatable whether fairy tales were originally aimed at children. Perrault’s stories are short enough for telling or reading to a young audience, and his retelling of stories like Sleeping Beauty omit the sex of earlier versions like Basile’s. They also conclude with morals aimed at children. For instance, Red Riding Hood ends with a warning not to talk to strangers. But we need to remember, too, that many French writers at the time were writing fairy tales and sharing them in their literary saloons.
The Brothers Grimm began to collect their stories as a Nationalistic endeavour at a time that Germany was embroiled in the Prussian War. It was only in subsequent versions, when they found that parents were sharing them with their children, that the brothers began to trim features like the pregnancy of Rapunzel. They also played around with different versions of the stories in their collection, opting for the ones where the villains, for instance Cinderella’s step-sisters, were punished for their cruelty to the heroes and heroines.
Besides, there is a huge range of fairy tales that never passed the eyes of Perrault or the Brothers Grimm. From the Stories of Old features re-workings of stories from Japan, China, Norway and Ireland as well as France and Germany.
The story of Urashima Taro is first mentioned by name in the 15th century as a type of illustrated fiction called otogizōshi, a popular genre, but the story itself dates back even further, to the 8th century. There does not seem to be any evidence that it was a children’s story then. (Disney and Pixar have not yet made a film of this tale, but many manga and anime versions have been produced, including the oldest known animated film, which premiered in 1918.)
The story of Mulan is first recorded as a ballad composed in the 5th or 6th century. In about 1675 Chu Renhu wrote a version called the Historical Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, in which Xianniang, the Xia king’s daughter, is so pleased to discover that Mulan is a woman that they become sworn sisters. The Romance is a tragedy, but the ending seems to be Chu Renhu’s own invention.
Struwwelpeter was definitely written for children – one child, in fact, as Henrich Hoffmann originally wrote it as a Christmas present for his son. (Whether stories that feature children being burnt to death or having their thumbs snipped off are what we want our children to read is another topic altogether!)
Selkie stories abound round Scotland and Ireland. They are short, like children’s stories, but they never seem to have the happy endings we want for our boys and girls, especially as they often end with mothers abandoning their children.
The Little Mermaid is a Hans Christian Andersen story, and he wrote his stories for children, always thinking of the adults that might hear or read it too. Just as a good children’s film has jokes for the parents as well as the younger audience, Andersen slipped in comments that the adults would enjoy. Many of his stories have sad endings and they are quite a shock when you come to them after seeing adaptations. Disney’s resolution to Ariel’s dilemma is a far cry from Andersen’s!
So how do the writers of From the Stories of Old tell these stories? Are they writing for children or adults?
All the stories are told with a YA audience in mind. Not every story ends happily, or in the same way as the classic version. I’m not telling you which, though! Read the book for yourself and see.
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