True Love's Kiss & Grim Beginnings

The modern Fairytale has developed certain expectations, whether you recognize them or not. There are recipes that have become a staple in the tales and myths surrounding folklore. The first is that the story must begin with: Once Upon a Time, then through exposition we are introduced to a character who has experienced some form of hardship whether it's social status, economic hardship or simply put, a curse. As with most enchantments we come to expect that the only way a spell can be broken is not necessarily by fighting dragons or finding the right counter-spell but through an act of innocence, True Love's Kiss. This act has become almost as prevalent as the opening and conclusion of modern fairytales. When we think about Snow White and Sleeping Beauty they are tied together by True Love's Kiss, for it was the Prince who came to wake them from their enchantment. And as for the cursed Frog Prince, it is widely accepted that it was a kiss that lifted his curse, this is not really the case. While we see these acts through out the media, through children books and now big budgeted movie productions we stride further from more grim elements that made these tales stand out. There is irony in the largest collections of folktales, even in Jacob & Wilhelm's last name: Grimm, for that's what they were, dark and gruesome. Witches were more than old hags, they were wicked and malevolent, most wanting to destroy any and all who had the potential to gain any power over them. In the whole catalog of fairytales there are actually few circumstances where True Love's Kiss held any power, it is the advent of a modern desire for repetition and expectation. Most tales are shared as: Faithful Retellings, they are anything but.

'Rapunzel',Trina Schart Hyman 1982 

The original version of the Frog Prince saw a lonely frog who in returning a priceless golden ball to a carless Princess is granted his greatest desire. The Princess loses the item to a deep pool of water and cannot retrieve the object herself.

plus.maths.org

"Never mind, do not weep," answered the frog; "I can help you; but what will you give me if I fetch up your ball again?" (This suggests perhaps it was not the first time of her carelessness.)

"Whatever you like, dear frog," said she; "any of my clothes, my pearls and jewels, or even the golden crown that I wear." (Here it is understood that the little creature is not wearing a crown or any other item that might expose his true form, although in recent culture we always see him depicted with a tiny crown.)

"Your clothes, your pearls and jewels, and your golden crown are not for me," answered the frog; "but if you would love me, and have me for your companion and play-fellow, and let me sit by you at the table, and eat from your plate, and drink from your cup and sleep in your little bed---if you would promise all this, then would I dive below the water and fetch you your golden ball again." ---Brothers Grimm 

Janet & Anne Grahame Johnstone, Dean's: A Book of Fairy Tales 1977

After the ball is retrieved the Princess runs from the small creature ignorant of her promise. Later he comes knocking upon the palace door demanding what was promised to him. When the King learns of his daughters promise he orders that she must see it through. This perhaps is a lesson to what seems a very spoiled Princess. After feasting with the frog and letting him eat off of her plate the Princess is mortified.

Janet & Anne Grahame Johnstone, Dean's: A Book of Fairy Tales 1977

"I have had enough now," said the frog at last, "and as I am tired, you must carry me to your room, and make ready your silken bed, and we will lie down and go to sleep."

Then the King's daughter began to weep, and was afraid of the cold frog, that nothing would satisfy him but he must sleep in her pretty clean bed. now the King grew angry with her, saying, "That which tho hast promised in thy time of necessity, must tho now perform."

So she picked up the frog with her finger and thumb, carried him upstairs and put him in a corner, and when she had lain down to sleep, he came creeping up, saying, "I am tired and want to sleep as much as you; take me up, or I will tell your father."

Arthur Rackham, Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm 1900

Then she felt beside herself with rage, and picking him up, she threw him with all her strength against the wall, crying, "Now will you be quiet, you horrid frog!"

But as he fell, he ceased to be a frog, and became all at once a prince with beautiful kind eyes. And it came to pass that, with her father's consent, they became bride and bridegroom." ---Brothers Grimm

Originally this tale had no moment even closely resembling True Love's Kiss, it is the Princesses' brut rage that breaks the spell upon the poor creature and in it's glory this tale is successful without kisses. The twisted notion of having a a slimy creature in your clean silky bed is the original element that made this tale memorable. (*Frogs make appearances in many other familiar tales. The other most notable appearance is in the beginning of Sleeping Beauty, when a Queen is bathing in a pool and is told by a frog who emerges out of the water that she will bare a child. It is sort of gruesome thinking about frogs watching women silently, even more disturbing them watching Queens, for as in the Frog Prince's tale perhaps it was he who calculated everything. Ewe.)

Another circumstance where True Loves Kiss is not the element that breaks a curse is found in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This is rather disheartening for all children who grew up watching this...

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dawarfs

        As is tradition for the Brothers Grimm, Snow's awakening is out of macabre circumstances.

'The dwarfs, when they came home in the evening, found Snow-White lying on the ground, and there came no breath out of her mouth, and she was dead. They lifted her up, sought if anything poisonous was to be found, cut her laces, combed her hair, washed her face with water and wine, but all was of no avail, the poor child was dead, and remained dead. Then they laid her on a bier, and sat all seven of them round it, and wept and lamented three whole days. And then they would have buried her, but that she looked still as if she were living, with her beautiful blooming cheeks.

Charles Santore

So they said, "We cannot hide her away in the black ground." And they had made a coffin of clear glass, so as to be looked into from all sides, and they laid her in it, and wrote in golden letters upon it her name, and that she was the King's daughter. Then they set the coffin out upon a mountain, and one of them always remained by it to watch. And the birds came too, and mourned for Snow-white, first an owl, then a raven, and lastly, a dove.

Now, for a long while Snow-white lay in the coffin and never changed, but looked as if she were asleep, for she was still as white as snow, as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony.

'Snow White' by Marianne Stokes

It happened, however, that one day a king's son rode through the wood and up to the dwarf's house, which was near it. He saw on the mountain the coffin, and beautiful Snow-white within it, and he read what was written in golden letters upon it. Then he said to the dwarfs, "Let me have the coffin, and I will give you whatever you like to ask for it."

But the dwarfs told him that they could not part with it for all the gold in the world. But he said, "I beseech you give it to me, for I cannot live without looking upon Snow-white; if you consent I will bring you to great honor, and care for you as if you were my brethren."

Belz & Gelber

When he spoke the good little dwarfs had pity upon him and gave him the coffin, and the King's son called his servants and bid them carry it away on their shoulders. Now it happened that as they were going along they stumbled over a bush, and with the shaking the bit of poisoned apple flew out of her throat. It was not long before she opened her eyes, threw up the cover of the coffin, and sat up, alive and well.' ---The Brothers Grimm

'The Glass Coffin', Paul Hey

The grim notion here is that many men were involved with Snow White's remains and made deals with her body. Another gruesome thought is that if not for her beauty she might have been buried, and as her beauty was a danger in her life now it has become her saving grace. The Sleeping Death Curse (,which is cause for another whole post,) is worse than death because in it, meticulously the subject appears dead. It was most likely the Queen's plan that Snow-white be buried alive.

The most bizarre and disturbing way that a Princess is awoken occurs in one of the earliest versions of Sleeping Beauty predating the Brothers Grimm, written in the 1600's. The majority of tales that the Brothers Grimm collected were directly from French and Germanic oral tradition. Sleeping Beauty's oldest variant comes from Italy by an author named Giambattista Basile. Basile's tale sees a young Princess who is cursed into a sleeping death by means of a splinter of flax that becomes lodged into her fingernail. The Princess, named Talia is left upon her velvet throne by her father, who's grief leaves him to abandon the palace without her remains. After much time has past she is discovered by another King who climbs into the abandoned palace. After he finds the sleeping beauty he cries aloud that he cannot wake her, then proceeds to carry her to a bed and rape her. Afterwards he abandons the Princess and travels back to his palace. In her unconsciousness she births two twins. One of the hungry infants sucks upon her finger and removes the splinter of flax. Later it is revealed that before he happened upon the Princess the King was married. The second half of the story surrounds the Queens efforts to have the twins killed. At one point she orders the Royal Cook to prepare the twins into a dinner for the King, who is unaware. The Cook cannot complete this task and prepares lamb to convince the Queen. The Queen who thinks herself successful, announces to the King after he compliments the food, "Eat,eat, you are eating of your own."  The evil Queen invites Talia to her kingdom with the plan to burn her alive. After the King Discovers the truth of her actions he turns around and has his Queen burned, along with everyone who betrayed him. Talia and the King then marry and live happily ever after.

Read the full version Here.

Arthur Rackham, Richard Wagner's Die Walküre 1910

  While variants on our beloved tales offer up faithful folkloric elements, they were originally anything but tales for children. The moments of panic and malevolent force drove these narratives. In a dangerous world these are more relatable, and while most classics don't end with a Happily Ever After, it can be argued that they lived better lives after their toils were over. Tales about Prince's and Princesses emerge out of a medieval culture when men did not have the capability of living long lives, when men still wondered about magic and the old spiritual ways.


Source Material:

• Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, Barnes & Noble 1993 Edition
• Sleeping Beauty--- Giambattista Basile (The Sun, Moon, and Talia), uncoy.com
• Wikipedia.com
• Dictionary.com

Winter Witches & Spring Goddesses

'The Snow Queen', PJ Lynch 1994

Long before the advent of 'Frozen', winter witches subtly graced the pages of literature. Though limited appearances till now, they are some of the most intriguing and powerful sorceresses in the whole catalogue of folklore.

'The Snow Queen',Vladislav Erko 2000

In December of 1844 one of the first winter witches was fictionalized by an author named Hans Christian Andersen, in a story titled: The Snow Queen. Andersen is most famous for his tragic tale of the sea titled: The Little Mermaid. The Snow Queen, second in popularity to Andersen's work is actually one of a few of his tales that does not end on a tragic note. The story is weaved with subtle Christian folkloric elements, utilizing the means of Angels and Demons.

'The Snow Queen', Tomislav Tomić 2010

The tale begins when an evil Troll called the 'Devil' creates a magic mirror that manipulates the appearance of it's reflections. He toils with personal pupils who follow him around the earth carrying the heavy mirror.

Vilhelm Pedersen, 1845

"In this mirror the most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best persons were turned into frights, or appeared to stand on their heads; their faces were so distorted that they were not to be recognised; and if anyone had a mole, you might be sure that it would be magnified and spread over both nose and mouth." (Andersen, 1844)

'The Snow Queen',Vladislav Erko 2000

"That's glorious fun!" said the sprite. If a good thought passed through a man's mind, then a grin was seen in the mirror, and the sprite laughed heartily at his clever discovery. All the little sprites who went to his school--for he kept a sprite school--told each other that a miracle had happened; and that now only, as they thought, it would be possible to see how the world really looked. They ran about with the mirror; and at last there was not a land or a person who was not represented distorted in the mirror. So then they thought they would fly up to the sky, and have a joke there. The higher they flew with the mirror, the more terribly it grinned: they could hardly hold it fast. Higher and higher still they flew, nearer and nearer to the stars, when suddenly the mirror shook so terribly with grinning, that it flew out of their hands and fell to the earth, where it was dashed in a hundred million and more pieces. And now it worked much more evil than before; for some of these pieces were hardly so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about in the wide world, and when they got into people's eyes, there they stayed; and then people saw everything perverted, or only had an eye for that which was evil. This happened because the very smallest bit had the same power which the whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even got a splinter in their heart, and then it made one shudder, for their heart became like a lump of ice. Some of the broken pieces were so large that they were used for windowpanes, through which one could not see one's friends. Other pieces were put in spectacles; and that was a sad affair when people put on their glasses to see well and rightly. Then the wicked sprite laughed till he almost choked, for all this tickled his fancy. The fine splinters still flew about in the air: and now we shall hear what happened next." (Andersen, 1844)

'The Snow Queen',Vladislav Erko 2000

The story centers around two childhood friends Gerda and Kai who live amidst lush flowers and vegetables that grow in window boxes on the garrets of their adjacent roofs. After likening falling snow to a swarm of bees, Kai asks his grandmother if "Snow Bees" have a queen. She responds,"she flies where the swarm hangs in the thickest clusters. She is the largest of all; and she can never remain quietly on the earth, but goes up again into the black clouds. Many a winter's night she flies through the streets of the town, and peeps in at the windows; and they then freeze in so wondrous a manner that they look like flowers." Later looking out the window Kai sees the Snow Queen who beckons him to follow. He draws back in fear, "at last it was like a young lady, dressed in the finest white gauze, made of a million little flakes like stars. She was so beautiful and delicate, but she was of ice, of dazzling, sparkling ice; yet she lived; her eyes gazed fixedly, like two stars; but there was neither quiet nor repose in them." 

'The Snow Queen', Debra McFarlane 2007

Later in the summertime Kai is affected by the 'Devil's' broken mirror when several shards fall from the sky and pierce his eyes and heart. He is corrupted and becomes cruel. He pokes fun at his Grandmother and no longer cares for his friend Gerda. The next winter Kai hitches his sled to a white snow carriage that is being operated by the Snow Queen, she offers him two magic kisses, one to numb his body to the cold and another to make him forget his past, a third kiss would surely kill him. (This magical kiss of protection predates the most famous one given to Dorothy before she sets down the Yellow Brick Road in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Sorceress who kisses the child is called the Good Witch of the North, the North perhaps is allegorical to the Winter.) 

The Snow Queen by Anastasia Arkhipova

The journey in this tale really begins when Gerda sets out to find her companion, traveling through many lands and working through many obstacles to save him. While in the Snow Queens dominion, the Land of Permafrost, Kai is given a task. If he can form the pieces of a puzzle that spell 'Eternity' together then the sorceress will set him free. Kai is ultimately saved by Gerda's love when she cries warm tears upon him, melting his heart and melting the piece of mirror lodged inside. In turn Kai's tears remove the fragments from his eyes and his vision is no longer distorted. They delight in joyful dance and ironically kick the pieces of the puzzle into their rightful place, securing Kai's freedom from the sorceress. 

'The Snow Queen',Vladislav Erko, 2000

Though very powerful and superior to the central characters, the Snow Queen does not dominate or try to destroy the heroines success. Rather, she provides a pseudo-safe haven for Kai as Gerda adventures to him. It can be argued that the true hero in this tale is she, for without her protection Kai might have been lost to the world. The Snow Queen is in league with knowing both of the angels and demons sensibilities, and she exists behind the scenes overseeing forces that are more intune to her senses, i.e. winter and snow. 

Vera Smirnova, Palekh, 2011

Over a hundred years after the publication of The Snow Queen, another sorceress emerged into literature, Jadis the White Witch. Jadis is the antagonist of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. She first appears to one of the central characters named Edmond Pevensie in a similar fashion to The Snow Queen and Kai. She approaches the child by means of sleigh and wears an elaborate fur coat. Her greatest feat was freezing the whole of Narnia for a hundred years. C.S. Lewis in later books eventually characterizes her as a Northern Witch (,perhaps another origin for the famous witch in Oz). 

Jadis, the White Witch. Art by Leo and Diane Dillon

The Narnian Snow Queen is a little more ruthless than Andersen's. She takes pleasure toiling with the world and desires full control, where Andersen's was simply interested in the powers of winter. And while Edmond is taken to her frozen palace, it is definitely not for protection. Although Human in appearance, Jadis is eventually described as half-Jinn and half-giantess. C.S. Lewis, like Hans Christian Andersen also pays homage to Christian folklore. In his tale the central characters from our world are described as 'Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve'. Folkloric theologians have claimed that Jadis is the descendant of Adam's first wife Lilith, and thus from pure evil and not human at all.  

Tilda Swinton as Jadis the White Witch, Disney's Lion Witch and the Wardrobe 2005

C.S. Lewis definitely drew inspiration for his queen from Hans Christian Andersen's earlier work, for she has the ultimate power and  casts the world into perpetual winter. In a later work titled: The Magicians Nephew, we learn of Jadis' powerful sister who was also considered a Northern Witch. (Again there are influences most assuredly between Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen, C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz.)

'The Snow Queen', Nika Goltz

Andersen's Snow Queen also had a sister tied to nature, but in antithesis is likened to the ancient earth goddess Mother Nature. She is called, 'The Old Lady Who Knew Magic'. In the story she keeps a small home near a river where she has enchanted the area around her cottage to constantly remain in summer. Gerda on her quest to save Kai stumbles upon the witches garden and is so enchanted she nearly remains trapped in the witches simple realm, where the enchantments have cleared her mind of her quest. Gerda breaks the simple spell when she thinks upon roses, which were among Kai's favorite. 

"The Snow Queen', Boris Diodorov

'The Old Lady Who Knew Magic' is relatable to classic ideas about an anthropomorphized Mother Nature, as she is giving and nurturing. The fascinating element here is that by trying to keep Gerda from her path she is also overbearing, like so many mothers. 

Goddess of Earth by Phung Vu Lien Phuong

Traces of Mother Nature can be found throughout the world dating back as far as the middle ages and ancient Greece. The word nature in Latin (Natura) translates to meaning birth, or character. In an old English world earth was personified (Eorthe) as a goddess. The Grecian Goddess "Mother Gaia", the Mesopotamian "Ishtar", and the Norse Goddess "Jord" (Earth) are all representatives of the personification of Earth. Many Native tribes all over the world, American and aboriginal refer to the Earth as Mother. 

By Roslyne Sophia Breillat

Myths about Mother Nature around the world share a common element, water. Water is a representation of the constant flow of life. People have searched the world for sacred water, to cure ailments, to even regenerate life. "Water is the source of our existence, nurtured as we were in our mothers' amniotic fluid. The faeries gift of pure water is thus a potent one, cleansing and purifying the soul. It is the gift of life. In times past, the water of faeries springs was sought as a cure for infertility. Fertility Faeries, or Green Ladies, could become overenthusiastic in their work, however, enticing men into the woods, leading them on a merry dance, and leaving them exhausted...or worse."--- (Brian Froud, Good Faeries & Bad Faeries, 1998) 

'The Snow Queen',Vladislav Erko 2000

Snow Queens are likened to Green Ladies because they take the power of water and translate it into a 'frozen' realm.    

  Source Material: 

• Dictionary.com
• Online-literature.com
• Pinterest.com
• Wikipedia.com
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis , Macmillan Publishing Co, 1950
• Good Faeries & Bad Faeries by Brian Froud, Simon & Schuster, 1998
• The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, 1844

Artists:

• PJ Lynch
• Vladislav Erko
• Tomislav Tomić
• Vilhelm Pedersen
• Debra McFarlane
• Anastasia Arkhipova
• Leo & Diane Dillon
• Nika Goltz
• Boris Diodorov
• Phung Vu Lien Phuong
• Roslyne Sophia Breillat