Once upon a time.

[cielamara]

What is your favorite classic fairytale?
Has it always been thus?
What do you like about it?
Do you identify with any of the characters?
What do you think your favorite fairytale says about you?

Comments

[kurainokoori]

Swanlake, The Wild Swans (I think it's the same one kickthehobbit mentioned - though my Andersen book in English calls it The Wild Swans so I don't know for sure) and Cat-Skin.

Swanlake and The Wild Swans were my favourite tale as a child. I think my mum got kind of sick of reading The Wild Swans, because I never tired off it. Cat-Skin (called Tusenskinn - Thousand-Skin - in Sweden) is more recent and largely because of the really beautiful illustrations in one my collections of fairytales.

I think I liked Swanlake because how sad it was (I'm not kidding - my favourite books by Astrid Lindgren was Mio My Son and The Brothers Lionheart). Same for The Wild Swans. Cat-Skin is really creepy, when you think about it, but it just appeals to me in a way.

No, I don't really identify with any of the characters.

It says that I've always had a morbid streak.

In case you can't tell I really love fairytales ^^

[cielamara]

Swanlake = the same as the story in the ballet, or is this another story I'm not familiar with?

The Wild Swans is, as I told kickthehobbit, a favorite of mine as well. I love how brave Elisa is, and how willing she is to sacrifice EVERYTHING for those she loves.

Cat-Skin, Thousand-Skin = Many-Furs? That's the name I know it as, if so.

I also really, really love fairytales. That's why both my tarot decks are fairytale-themed. :D

As it happens, my favorite story is the Snow Queen. I also love the Snow Maiden--so sweet, so simple, so SAD.

[kurainokoori]

Yep, the same as the ballet ^^

I think it might be that one. If it's about a princess who has to run away from her dad, since he wants to marry her, and orders three impossible articles of clothing to stall him at first.

I'm currently re-reading H.C. Andersen's fairytales :) I don't remember the Snow Queen that well, to be honest.

[cielamara]

madwitch has confirmed they're all the same. Isn't it interesting how the same story can carry different names depending on where you find it? You know it as Thousand-Skin in Sweden, Maddie knows it as Cat-Skin in the UK, I know it as Many-Fur in the US.

The Snow Queen always struck a chord in me somehow. I love winter, I love snow, and I love the epic and noble quest Gerta goes on. The damsel saves the HERO in distress.

[kurainokoori]

It is. The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure I've heard of it as Cat-Skin in Sweden as well. It's very interesting that they can have different titles within the same country. At least I think so, but I'm a bit of a dork.

I tried to talk about The Snow Queen with my mum, to find out if she used to read it to us when my sister and I were children. But she wasn't that helpful because I kept pronouncing Gerta's Swedish name wrong.