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

[kickthehobbit]

The Seven Swans.

Pretty much. When I was really tiny it might have been Beauty and the Beast but I don't think so.

It's fucked up and kind of awesome?

Elise.

...that I need to speak up for myself more? I dunno.

[cielamara]

The Seven Swans/The Wild Swans is one of my favorites as well, just behind the Snow Queen, I think.

I love that she makes such an amazing sacrifice for her brothers. Stinging nettles. Eeesh.

[dulcinbradbury]

You know... you *can* weave from stinging nettles, just like linen. :)

Very straightforward.

[alexandraerin]

1. Little Red Riding Hood
2. No, I think once upon a time I preferred Hansel and Gretel.
3. The part where she gets eaten.
4. Yes, the title character.
5. That I like stories about women who get eaten.

Re: Very straightforward.

[cielamara]

The icon with this comment is absolutely amazing. :D

Were you ever frightened by the story?

Re: Very straightforward.

[alexandraerin]

Oh, yes, that's a big part of where the fascination came from.

[madwitch]

Snow White and Rose Red. Though I read a far harsher version than the Grimm one when I was younger.

It has always been my favourite (though Cat-Skin is a close second), though really, the less sanitised version is best. It's just kind of fucked up and I love it.

I always identified with Rose Red, who was by far the more savvy girl in the version I grew up with.
I don't know what it says, really. Something, probably. :)

[cielamara]

Is Cat-Skin the same as Many-Fur, the girl who had a coat of many different furs and hid from her father or what have you?

Snow White is one of the most iconic fairytale figures out there, and I have always disliked her greatly, ESPECIALLY how Disney portrayed her. Snow White and Rose Red, however, doesn't bother me as much.

[madwitch]

Snow White in SW & RR is completely different, yes, just with confusing same name trauma.

And yes, that's Cat-Skin. The girl with the three dresses, one that shines like the sun, one like the moon and one like the stars.

[cielamara]

I started to read a really horrifying retelling of Cat-Skin once. I don't like rape scenes in the first fifty pages...or really, ever, but especially not so soon into a book.

Speaking of snow-themed stories, are you familiar with Snegorochka/The Snow Maiden?

[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.

[beaucadeau]

What is your favorite classic fairytale?
Probably Alenushka her Brother or The Milk Maid. When I was younger I loved Thumbelina
Has it always been thus?
Yes
What do you like about it?
Both have drama and tragedy. The Milk Maid is very sad though, there is no happy ending.
Do you identify with any of the characters?
Not really, I mean, I love the stories but I never saw myself in the characters.
What do you think your favorite fairytale says about you?
That regardless of the terrible things that happen I want a happy ending or that I know I have to learn from my mistakes.

[cielamara]

I don't believe I've read The Milk Maid, unless I know it by another name. I need to go find that.

My favorites: #1 is the Snow Queen. Tied for #2 is the Wild Swans , The Snow Maiden and the Goose Girl. #3 is the Steadfast Tin Soldier.

[beaucadeau]

I had an illustrated copy of the Wild Swans as a child. I didn't like the Steadfast Tin Soldier mainly because it made me cry a lot.

I don't know if you'd be able to find The Milk Maid, it's a Polish story my mother used to tell me.

[cielamara]

It also makes me cry a lot, but it's so sweet. I mean, he loved her so much, till the very end of their time.

I am looking for the Milk Maid. Are you of Polish descent, or did your mom just happen to know a really cool Polish story?