Fairy Tale Friday: Jack and His Golden Snuff Box

This post is part of our weekly Fairy Tale Friday feature/meme co-hosted with Books4Learning. Click below to add your post to our Fairy Tale Friday Round-Up!

Adapted from Joseph Jacob’s English Fairy Tales.

Once upon a time there was a boy named Jack who was sent out into the world by his parents with a large cursed cake and a golden snuff box, the former from his mother who was both sad and angry to see him leave and the latter from his father who told him never to open the golden snuff box unless he be on the verge of death.

Jack wandered very far and ate his way through the entire cursed cake before arriving one day at a tavern. Having run out of cursed cake, Jack was quite hungry and was pleased to make the acquaintance of the pretty barmaid. The pretty barmaid fed him heartily and, over ale and pie, they fell madly in love.

Unfortunately for Jack, the pretty barmaid was no free agent and, as most girls in such stories do, had a disagreeable father. The disagreeable father did not appreciate penniless Jack making eyes at his pretty daughter and told Jack that, if he wanted her hand, he should make a lake and the largest warship in the world appear outside the tavern by morning. If he failed in this, he would lose not only the girl, but his life.

Jack decided this was a close to death as he was like to get and whipped out his father’s golden snuff box. The moment he tipped open the lid, three little red men popped out and asked him what they could do to help. He told them he needed a lake and a big warship. “Easy peesy,” said the three little red men and it was done.

Fairy Tale Friday: Fairy Tale Illustrations

This post is part of our weekly Fairy Tale Friday feature/meme co-hosted with Books4Learning. Click below to add your post to our Fairy Tale Friday Round-Up!

For my post this week, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate fairy tale illustrations. In my humble opinion, they are often the most beautiful and evocative illustrations provided in books, perhaps because of the inherent magic and creativity of the stories themselves.

There about a million wonderful illustrators I could call out, but I’m just going to touch on my favorites and hopefully you all will chime in with yours!

Arthur Rackham is probably the most famous fairy tale illustrator, giving us many instantly-recognizable images of fairies throughout his career:

Fairy Tale Friday Reborn!

It’s back! Launching this very week, Fairy Tale Friday is now a weekly meme hosted by us here at Literary Transgressions and Books4Learning. Everyone is invited to join in the discussion and/or share a related blog post.

You can participate on your blog in several different ways:

1. Join in the weekly theme (when offered) by writing about some aspect of it or sharing a related story.

2. Share a favorite or recently read myth, legend, or fairy tale book—fractured, traditional, or modern.

3. Deconstruct fairy tales in general or a particular one.

4. Unearth a “forgotten” myth, legend, or fairy tale and write about it.
Rewrite a traditional tale or share your own original myth, legend, or fairy tale.

Whatever you chose to post about, make sure to link your post up to the weekly Fairy Tale Friday Round-up (alternating between Books4Learning and us) and add the Fairy Tale Friday badge (above).

So, in celebration of this exciting new start to our long-running Fairy Tale Friday series, I thought I’d take a moment to appreciate contemporary fairy tales.

Fairy Tale Friday: The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh

As I mentioned last week, as part of the Classics Challenge and as an homage to A.S. Byatt’s Possession, this Friday will be a Victorian Fairy Tale Friday.

Unlike our usual Fairy Tale Fridays, I have not retold this story or changed it in any way. It is taken directly from Joseph Jacob’s English Fairy Tales (1890), the entirety of which you can read at Project Gutenberg if you should be so inclined.

The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh
as told by Joseph Jacob

In Bamborough Castle once lived a king who had a fair wife and two children, a son named Childe Wynd and a daughter named Margaret. Childe Wynd went forth to seek his fortune, and soon after he had gone the queen his mother died. The king mourned her long and faithfully, but one day while he was hunting he came across a lady of great beauty, and became so much in love with her that he determined to marry her. So he sent word home that he was going to bring a new queen to Bamborough Castle.

Princess Margaret was not very glad to hear of her mother’s place being taken, but she did not repine but did her father’s bidding. And at the appointed day came down to the castle gate with the keys all ready to hand over to her stepmother. Soon the procession drew near, and the new queen came towards Princess Margaret who bowed low and handed her the keys of the castle. She stood there with blushing cheeks and eye on ground, and said: “O welcome, father dear, to your halls and bowers, and welcome to you my new mother, for all that’s here is yours,” and again she offered the keys. One of the king’s knights who had escorted the new queen, cried out in admiration: “Surely this northern Princess is the loveliest of her kind.” At that the new queen flushed up and cried out: “At least your courtesy might have excepted me,” and then she muttered below her breath: “I’ll soon put an end to her beauty.”

Fairy Tale Friday: Novelized Fairy Tales

It seems to me that there’s been a trend in the last 30 years or so to rewrite classic fairy tales from a new perspective or with a twist. I’m talking about books like Ella Enchanted, Beauty:A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast, and Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl (which I’ve written about on LT before).

These books reexplain a popular fairy tale, bring it more to life by telling the whole story from a new perspective (often that of the leading lady), or seek to emphasize different aspects of the story to align with more modern sensibilities. (i.e. Have you ever seen a modern version of Cinderella that includes the part about the stepsisters chopping up their own feet to fit in the shoe?)

Fairy Tale Friday: Nix Nought Nothing

Once upon a time there was Queen who gave birth to a son whilst her warrior King husband was off slaying infidels. Not wanting to christen the boy until his father came home, the silly Queen told everyone to call her son Nix Nought Nothing.

Bluebeard

Once upon a time, there was a very rich man who had lots of silver, gold and beautiful houses. Unfortunately, the man also had a distinctly blue tinge to his beard, which for whatever reason scared away most of his potential lady friends.

One woman, however, had two beautiful daughters whom she was very keen to marry off to a rich man. Neither of the girls was particularly fond of Bluebeard, sadly, on account of his beard and because he had married several times before but no one really knew what had happened to his other wives. But Bluebeard threw a rather lavish week-long party at his country estate (is it me, or do you picture Pemberley?) and the youngest daughter decided that if she had to be married, it might as well be to someone filthy rich, blue beard or no.

Fairy Tale Friday: The Fish and the Ring

Once upon a time in England there was a magician/baron who, whilst practicing his necromancy, learned that his son was fated to marry the daughter of a pauper down in the village. This daughter had just been born so the magician/baron swept down into the village and bought her from her poor father. (He apparently had many other children and could not even venture to think what he could possibly do with another.) The magician/baron, horrified that his near son would one day ally himself so low, proceeded to toss the newborn girl into a nearby river. The girl, however, being already lovely and virtuous, floated along the river to the house of a kindly fisherman who proceeded to raise her as his own.

One day some years later (after the girl had grown into a beautiful young woman, as girls in these sorts of stories are wont to do, and after the magician/baron had grown even more proud and nefarious, as villains in these sorts of stories are also wont to do if their villainy goes unchecked), the magician/baron was out hunting with a companion. The companion spotted the lovely maiden down by the river and immediately inquired who such a girl of unsurpassed loveliness was to marry.

Bedtime Stories

The news

just came in

From the County of Keck

That a very small bug

By the name of Van Vleck

Is yawning so wide

You can look down his neck.

Warning: this is not technically a fairy tale, nor is it strictly fantasy. But I am writing this post sort of late at night (though most of you are reading it in the morning), and I found myself thinking about my favorite bedtime stories.

We were never huge on bedtime stories in my family, but there was one I loved and still read to kids when I babysit — The Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss. Did any of you love this book, too?

Fantasy Friday: Boy and girl fantasy?

My cousin recently recommended a series of fantasy books to me called A Song of Ice and Fire. Having not read much fantasy lately and being in the mood, I was pretty pumped and happily accepted the books from him. I then opened up the first book, A Game of Thrones, and immediately had a sinking feeling in my gut. Boy-fantasy, I thought glumly to myself.

I can’t say I thought deeply about my designation in that moment, but the more I pondered it later, the more I came to believe there is actually some kind of divide.