Precious
I was reading this Japanese manga yesterday (Ludwig Kakumei by Kaori Yuki), and because it was based on fairy tales, I was reminded of some of the fairy tales which I had read as a child.
Tales like The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Goose Girl, Snow White and Rose Red, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Fisherman and His Wife, Puss In Boots, The Wild Swans, and The Red Shoes.
It was so long ago since I'd read these stories that I had actually forgotten about them, but the truth is, you don't really forget about things. They only get pushed to the back of your mind; given the right trigger, they will come rushing back out to the front. And a talking horse named Falada is definitely the right trigger. All of sudden, I remember the story of The Goose Girl, and of course, one thing led to another, and I found myself reading up on more and more fairy tales.
The ones which I have listed above, I can definitely remember reading them. It's just the matter of whether I remember them vividly or vaguely.
I can, very vividly, remember seeing pictures of the shoemaker laying out the leather on the table, the elves making shoes, the little clothes that the shoemaker's wife made for the elves, and the elves dancing happily in their new clothing.
I can, very vividly, remember seeing pictures of the princess dropping the hankerchief with her mother's blood droplets on it into the river, talking to the talking horse Falada's head, combing her golden hair while herding the geese, and Curdken running after his cap that was being blown away by the wind.
I can, very vividly, remember seeing pictures of Snow White and Rose Red with their mother and the lamb and the dove in front of the fireplace, the bear, the dwarf, and the 2 rose bushes.
I can, rather vaguely, remember seeing pictures of the princesses, the silver twig, the golden twig, the diamond twig, and the twelve boats.
I can, rather vaguely, remember seeing pictures of the fish, the small cottage, the big house, and the king's palace.
I can, somewhat vividly, remember seeing pictures of the cat trapping rabbits and birds to present to the king, the youngest son bathing in the river while the king and his daughter rode past in their carriage, the ogre turning into a lion and then a rat, and the cat catching the rat and eating it.
I can, somewhat vividly, remember seeing pictures of the sister gathering nettles from the graveyard at night, knitting shirts for her brothers even as she was being imprisoned to be executed, and throwing out the finished shirts to her brothers as they flew down from the sky as swans, turning back into men.
I can, somewhat vividly, remember seeing pictures of the girl buying the red shoes, dancing non-stop in them, begging the man to cut off her legs, and kneeling down on her fake wooden legs to pray.
I wish that my mother hadn't given the books away to my younger cousins, and I was back home in Malaysia, so that I could look for these books and go through them again.
Tales like The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Goose Girl, Snow White and Rose Red, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Fisherman and His Wife, Puss In Boots, The Wild Swans, and The Red Shoes.
It was so long ago since I'd read these stories that I had actually forgotten about them, but the truth is, you don't really forget about things. They only get pushed to the back of your mind; given the right trigger, they will come rushing back out to the front. And a talking horse named Falada is definitely the right trigger. All of sudden, I remember the story of The Goose Girl, and of course, one thing led to another, and I found myself reading up on more and more fairy tales.
The ones which I have listed above, I can definitely remember reading them. It's just the matter of whether I remember them vividly or vaguely.
I can, very vividly, remember seeing pictures of the shoemaker laying out the leather on the table, the elves making shoes, the little clothes that the shoemaker's wife made for the elves, and the elves dancing happily in their new clothing.
I can, very vividly, remember seeing pictures of the princess dropping the hankerchief with her mother's blood droplets on it into the river, talking to the talking horse Falada's head, combing her golden hair while herding the geese, and Curdken running after his cap that was being blown away by the wind.
I can, very vividly, remember seeing pictures of Snow White and Rose Red with their mother and the lamb and the dove in front of the fireplace, the bear, the dwarf, and the 2 rose bushes.
I can, rather vaguely, remember seeing pictures of the princesses, the silver twig, the golden twig, the diamond twig, and the twelve boats.
I can, rather vaguely, remember seeing pictures of the fish, the small cottage, the big house, and the king's palace.
I can, somewhat vividly, remember seeing pictures of the cat trapping rabbits and birds to present to the king, the youngest son bathing in the river while the king and his daughter rode past in their carriage, the ogre turning into a lion and then a rat, and the cat catching the rat and eating it.
I can, somewhat vividly, remember seeing pictures of the sister gathering nettles from the graveyard at night, knitting shirts for her brothers even as she was being imprisoned to be executed, and throwing out the finished shirts to her brothers as they flew down from the sky as swans, turning back into men.
I can, somewhat vividly, remember seeing pictures of the girl buying the red shoes, dancing non-stop in them, begging the man to cut off her legs, and kneeling down on her fake wooden legs to pray.
I wish that my mother hadn't given the books away to my younger cousins, and I was back home in Malaysia, so that I could look for these books and go through them again.