First movie stills from Disney's "Into the Woods".

As many of you know, Disney's string of fairy tale reimaginings is set to continue with an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical Into the Woods.  There was some controversy recently about supposed changes made to the story in order to make it more family-friendly.  These supposed changes were also supposedly refuted by Sondheim who had mentioned their possible existence in passing previously.

Anyways, over at the website Den of Geek, they apparently have the first stills from the movie up.  You can see them by clicking HERE.  There's apparently also a trailer out there somewhere.  I tried to access it on Den of Geek's page, but was informed that the video was "private" and was not allowed to see it.  I'll keep looking, though.

Update: I found the trailer: Into the Woods trailer.

Any thoughts about Disney, Sondheim, Into the Woods and these movie stills, make yourself heard in the comments below.

On Internet Lists and Ruined Childhoods.

Okay, internet, I think it’s time to stop it.  No really, just stop.  Enough with the lists already!

Maybe I should start at the beginning.  I was surfing along the internet when I found this on the comedy website Dorkly: “The Real Stories Behind 9 Disney Movies”.  You know the drill, they list 9 movies and their literary and folk tale counterparts and write a little piece on the differences between the two.  All in the interest in somehow getting a couple of laughs (I’ll get back to that point later).  No big deal, right?  Well, it’s not the only one.  Listverse had a list like this.  Buzzfeed (king of internet lists and countdowns) had a couple.  Cracked (the website of Mad Magazine’s edgier spinoff) had a couple of them as well.  Huffington Post had one with a particularly memorable title: “The Real Stories Behind These Disney Movies will Ruin Your Childhood”.  This seems to be just the tip of the iceberg.  I mean, take a look at my Google search results (click HERE).

So, I get the idea.  People are more aware of the Disney versions of these stories, so people write articles on the internet pointing out the differences.  Now, I’m no fan of Disney and the “Hollywood fairy tale machine”.  I’m also all for getting the original tales some more exposure.  However, I’m not sure these lists are helping.

Every one of these internet lists I read has a tendency towards sensationalism.  The problem with sensationalism is that it can drive people away too.  An outsider may come in thinking “Gee, it’s a good thing Disney came along and fixed these stories” (I’ve encountered that attitude elsewhere online before).  These articles all trade on the notion that something sweet and precious from your childhood was based on something awful and violent and terrible.  However, the original fairy tales are not awful.  They’re fantastic!  I mean, sure, there’s violence in many of them.  However, there’s also violence in the real world.  I don’t want to say that children have to learn to live with violence, because that would be stupid.  If there’s violence in your life, you have every right to try and get away from it and no one should try to hurt a child.  However, children should also know that violence does exist in the world.  Many of these early stories weren’t concocted expressly for children, anyway.  They were created for everybody with children just being part of that greater audience.  Now some of these stories were written for children, like the tales of Hans Christian Anderson and Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.  With these cases, it could go one of two ways.  In one case, they may stem from a time when children weren’t quite as sheltered as they are now.  The truth is that childhood as we know it didn’t always exist like it does now.  For a long time, children were mostly treated as little adults.  In agrarian communities when whole families lived in one room houses, work was often dangerous and wakes were held in the home, it was hard to shield the little darlings from things like sex, injury and death.  It was a change that only really came about with the process of industrialization.  The notion of adolescence as a transition period between childhood and adulthood really didn’t exist either.  The other possibility is that, well, they figured kids could take it.  I mean, children aren’t as fragile as some people seem to think they are.

They leave out all sorts of great stuff, too.  Take, for instance, when these lists write about Pinocchio.  Do they ever mention that despite the darker bits, the original Pinocchio is actually quite funny.  I’ve been telling the story of Pinocchio in installments at storytelling guild meetings for months now and I’ve gotten laughs every time.  Of course, my delivery might help.  However, there is a humor to all of Pinocchio’s trials and tribulations.  Many of them are so over-the-top and ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh.  They also neglect to mention that the characters are more complex and interesting in Collodi’s version.  Geppetto is more of a hothead and originally created Pinocchio to make money, but also tries his best to do right by him.  Pinocchio is equal parts mischievous, selfish and innocent and really does love his father despite being drawn to trouble.  It all reflects a more real and complicated view of family where people are flawed and expectations aren’t always met.  Instead, it’s always just “Oh no, he killed the cricket” (so much trouble over squishing a bug).  Many of these lists get their facts wrong as well.  I don’t know how many I’ve seen that refer to the Grimms’ version of “Cinderella” as the original.  The truth is that Charles Perrault’s version “Cendrillon”, which is very much like the Disney adaptation, predates the Grimms’ “Aschenputtel” by about two hundred years.

Now, you’re probably thinking that I shouldn’t be getting so up and arms over something that’s being posted on comedy websites.  Here’s the thing: these lists aren’t really funny either.  Oh, they’re trying to be.  Most of them have a sort of jokey, wise-cracking tone.  But they don’t really have any laugh-out-loud lines or anything.  So, that kind of just makes it worse.

I don’t know.  I’d just like to see more on the internet about how terrific the old stories are instead of how awful they are.  That’s more or less what blogs like this one are for, though.  Maybe I’m overreacting.  After all, Soman Chainani (author of The School for Good and Evil) posted a similar list on Buzzfeed.  If someone who's so clearly a fairy tale fan can do it, maybe it's not so bad.  I’d like to hear your thoughts.  Post in the comments below on any impressions about the internet, old fairy tales and “ruined childhoods”.

Folk Tale Secret Stash: The Golden Twig.

Some may argue about it.  Some may deny it.  However, it’s a simple fact.  The fairy tale as we understand it now, was invented by the French.  Specifically, we owe it to the writers of the French salons of the Seventeenth Century.  Now, some could say that the fairy tale existed in folklore for centuries before that.  It is true that the “salonistas” did draw on folklore.  However, their stories would also be drawn into folklore to the point that the folk and literary feed on each other to the point that it’s hard to separate the two (I don’t know if this tale has a literary counterpart, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it did).  So, it is past time that I focus on a French fairy tale.  Some of the most notable French fairy tale writers include Madame D’Aulnoy, Charles Perrault and Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont.  This tale, however, comes from a different place.  This is one of the tales collected by one Henri Pourrat.  Pourrat was an anthropologist and writer who spent much of his life collecting the folk tales of the Auvergne region of France.  Now, not only does this tale come from a classic fairy tale location, it also touches on a classic fairy tale theme: ugliness.

Now, the story starts out with a king’s son.  This isn’t your typical handsome Prince Charming type, though.  You see, this prince was born kind of . . . ill-made.  Okay, I’ll just say it.  He was ugly.  Heck, he was deformed.  He had a hunched back and a twisted neck.

It was because of this that people called him Crickneck.  His case was supposedly so hopeless that even his uncle, who was a magician, couldn’t fix it.  The only thing he could do is give Prince Crickneck a magical golden twig that could cut through evil enchantments (Hey, at least it was something).

Now, the time came for the prince to marry.  The king, who’d been kind of volatile since his less-than-handsome son was born, decided to marry him off to a king’s daughter who was similarly afflicted with poor looks.  People called this princess Bootface.  Well, Crickneck didn’t like this idea.  He told his father, in no uncertain terms, that he would rather die than marry Princess Bootface.  Of course, he also did this over dinner with poor Princess Bootface right at the table.  This didn’t go over well.  The king got angry and ordered his son locked in the tower for the night.

Well, the tower was old, run-down and dusty.  However, the prince has the run of it to himself.  He explores the tower until he finds a room hidden behind a tapestry.  There, a woman lies as if asleep, covered in cobwebs.  He touches her with his golden twig and she wakes up.  She explains that she was a fairy who was cursed by an evil fairy.  Now, to reward him, she uses her magic to straighten out the parts of him that are crooked and make him conventionally handsome.  She renames him Peerless and sends him off to some distant place to live the happy life of a shepherd.

Next morning, the king decides that his son has been grounded long enough and goes to release him.  Surprise, surprise, they can’t find him.  They do, however, find two sets of footprints.  One belonging to Crickneck and a woman’s footprints.  The king arrives at the only logical conclusion: Princess Bootface broke into the tower and killed Crickneck and then disposed of the body to avenge her pride!  Anyway, she gets locked in the tower as punishment.

Now, Bootface is of a similar mindset as Crickneck.  She explores that tower top to bottom until she finds a drawer with a severed hand locked inside.  When she pulls it out, she gets attacked by a one-legged eagle that snatches it away.  The eagle turns into a sorcerer.  He explains that he was cursed by an evil fairy (a lot of that going around).  He then transforms her into a beautiful girl who he dubs Radiant.  Then he sends Radiant off to live as a shepherdess in some distant place very close to where a young man named Peerless is also herding sheep.

Now, this is where things start to really get interesting.  This is also where I usually give you a link and tell you to read the whole story for yourself.  However, I just can’t.  Apparently, this one isn’t online.  I can’t find it anywhere.  What I can do is give you a link to an entry for the book in Worldcat, the world’s largest library catalog (the link is right HERE).  I can then suggest that you check your local library system.  If you can’t find it locally, well, interlibrary loan is a wonderful thing.

Really, there are a lot of good stories in this book, so you should check it out.

Fairy Tale Media Fix: Jack and the Beanstalk

I got a Classicflix in the mail!

What is Classicflix?  Well, it’s kind of like Netflix only all the movies and TV shows they carry are from before 1970 (I find it useful for watching old monster movies and classic comedy team flicks).  When I started this blog, I made it a point to go onto Classicflix and put some older, non-Disney fairy tale movies on my queue.  Now, the first one has arrived.  So, what fantastic actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood are here to depict the tales and lore of yesteryear . . .

Okay, so maybe not what everyone was expecting.  I actually have a better picture around here somewhere that I used for a different post.  Where is it?  Ah, here we go . . .

Yes, this is Jack and the Beanstalk, a 1952 picture starring comedy team Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.  Now, I don’t know if I’ve made it clear here or not, but I am a big fan of the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk”.  Everyone’s got their childhood favorite and that was mine.  It had a young boy as the protagonist, plus a giant, lots of climbing, some mischief (stealing the gold, hen and harp), ax-swinging and best of all there were no princesses and no kissing!  What more could a 7-year-old boy ask for?  I’m still a fan.  In fact, such a fan that I actually bought this shirt online:

And I wear it proudly!  Now, you may think that as such a big fan that I wouldn’t be happy with a couple of clowns like Abbott and Costello adapting it.  But I’m actually a big fan of Abbott and Costello too.  I’ve liked those guys ever since I saw them meet Frankenstein.  So, let’s see how the boys do with their fairy tale adaptation.

Now, the plot starts out in a sepia toned “real world” setting.  Here, we’re introduced to the players.  Jack (Lou Costello) and Mr. Dinkle (Bud Abbott) are looking for work at an employment agency.  Jack makes a pass at the woman at the desk (Dorothy Ford) only to run afoul of her boyfriend, a very tall police officer (Buddy Baer).  The duo get assigned to a babysitting job looking after an intelligent but problematic child named Donald so that his big sister (Shaye Cogan) and her fiancée (James Alexander) can go out for the night.  Upon arriving, Jack attempts to read Donald the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk” (which our hero refers to as his “favorite novel”) only stumbles over the big words.  So, he gets Donald to read it to him instead.  Jack starts to fall asleep and dream the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk”.

So, they’ve already turned the Hollywood cliché of the kid dreaming the story he’s being told on its ear b having the kid read the story to a dreaming adult.

Anyway, here is where the color kicks in.  The story starts as expected.  Jack (Costello again) has to sell his cow because they’re too poor not too.  Only this time, along the way he meets a prince (Alexander again) and princess (Cogan again), both of whom are not eager to enter into an arranged marriage to fix the kingdom’s giant-induced monetary crisis.  When Jack gets to the market, he meets with the butcher Mr. Dinklepuss (Abbott again) who swindles him into selling the cow for beans.  Jack plants the beans and they  grow into a giant beanstalk.  Now, here’s where the story alters a little.  Jack does indeed climb the beanstalk.  However, upon hearing that there is a hen that lays golden eggs at the top, the selfish Mr. Dinklepuss joins him.  Also, rather than hiding and stealing from the giant, they find themselves prisoners of the giant and all sorts of schtick results.  There are some exploding eggs, resulting from when Jack feeds some hens gunpowder.  There’s some matchmaking for the prince and princess who previously got captured and don’t know who each other is.  Finally, there is an escape attempt involving trees being used to catapult people over a wall.  Now, as you can probably guess the giant and his housekeeper (replacing the giant’s wife found in many versions of the story) are played by Buddy Baer and Dorothy Ford.  Now, there aren’t any big special effects in this production.  Buddy Baer as the giant is just as tall as, well, Buddy Baer.  Maybe about 7 feet.  This may seem kind of weak sauce, but let’s remember that putting aside technical limitations, height for giants has never been standardized.  At one point in history, a 7 foot tall man may have been called a giant.  Heck, lets look at this illustration by Arthur Rackham:

The giant is only twice as tall as his wife, who looks to be an average size human.  Yet, in some versions of the story, regular people are practically the size of bugs by comparison.

Getting back to the movie itself, it’s really not a bad little film.  There are some songs, as many family films of the time had.  They’re not fantastic, but they’re not bad either.  As for Costello’s performance as Jack, he doesn’t come across as a typical hero.  However, that’s what makes it work.  While “Jack and the Beanstalk” is a fairy tale, traditional English “Jack Tales” are often fool stories about a foolish boy whose actions defy traditional logic yet comes out okay in the end.  I have to say, other than maybe the version from Into the Woods, there are few versions that capture the essence of “Jack as fool” quite as well as Costello’s version.  It’s not to his detriment, either.  While he may be a fool most of the time, he also proves himself uncommonly brave and resourceful at other times.  It’s just what you’d want in a Jack.

Jack and the Beanstalk isn’t any kind of landmark film when it comes to fairy tale inspired cinema.  It didn’t redefine any genres or anything.  I also can’t say that it’s Bud and Lou’s best film.  However, it is a fun little family-friendly romp with a classic comedy duo.  I won’t say run out and see it, but it could be worth a watch if it pops up on Turner Classic Movies or something.  I don’t know what to say to finish this off, so I’ll just say something that I’ve always wanted to say:

 

Heeeeeeeey, Abbooooott!

Visit Scenic Chelm!

Well, summer’s here and pretty soon it’ll be time to think about heading out on vacation.  But why go to all those typical vacation spots like the beach or the amusement park?  Instead, why not visit scenic Chelm?  That’s right, Chelm!  This little village is located in one of the loveliest parts of rustic Poland.  Steeped in rich, Jewish tradition, Chelm is a one of a kind vacation spot.  Legend has it that two angels were once walking in the area of Chelm.  One carried a jar full of wise souls and one carried a jar full of foolish souls.  One day, unused to the rocky terrain of the mountains around Chelm, one of the angels tripped and spilled his jar right in Chelm.  Ever since then, the people of Chelm have possessed a very unique character.

Here in Chelm, enjoy traditional, rustic cuisine.  Enjoy the local music scene.  See unique sights like the world’s first and only indoor sundial.  Visit the salt fields where only the finest salt is grown.  See the hill of Chelm, which the residents of Chelm pushed from its previous location (though, some reports vary).  Interested in spirituality and religion?  Visit our synagogues and enjoy the wisdom of our local rabbi.  Did you know that the temple at Chelm has the most unique shoyfer (ram’s horn) around?  Some uninformed visitors even think it looks like an old boot.

However, the greatest asset of Chelm is its people.  Come and be astounded by their traditions and wisdom.  The people of Chelm are so wise, gentle and appreciative of beauty that they refused to let a sick man ruin the pristine snow with his footprints as he walked to the hospital.  Instead, four men put the sick man on a board and carried him there instead.  The officials in Chelm are so wise and invested in justice that when a live fish slapped a man with his tail, they knew they had no choice but to sentence it to death by drowning.  But don’t just listen to me!  Listen to these satisfied visitors:

I went to Chelm on vacation and had a great time enjoying the local food and attractions.  However, I had a small crisis when I lost my room key in the hallways of the inn.  What did the good folks of Chelm do?  They helped me by looking around outside under the streetlights where the lighting was better.  What a great bunch!  I tell you, the Chelmites are my kind of people.

                                                                                                Jack

                                                                                    Gotham, Nottinghamshire, England

I went to Chelm for a long weekend and brought my cat Fraulein Fluffypaws with me.  The attractions were superb, the food was delicious and the people were so nice!  One day, Fraulein Fluffypaws got away from me and climbed up onto the roof and I couldn’t get her down.  The fire chief of Chelm came up with a fantastic plan: set the building on fire and my cat would eventually leap down to safety.  Fraulein Fluffypaws did jump over to some neighboring houses along the way, but we only had to burn down three houses before Fraulein Fluffypaws came back down to me.  I’m very thankful to the people of Chelm for their hospitality and for getting my little kitty back to me.

                                                                                                Elsie

                                                                                      Schilda, Germany

So this year when everyone else is out at the beach, camping or enjoying overpriced amusement parks, come enjoy the hospitality of Chelm and its many attractions.  You’d have to be a fool not to!

This message paid for by the Chelm Tourism Board.

Four Color Fairy Tales: Castle Waiting

One of the interesting things about fairy tales is that despite what fantastical, magical happenings are going on, they’re actually really down-to-earth in a way.  Amidst all the struggles between good and evil, many of the biggest victories are little, personal ones.  They’re usually not about saving the world or even saving a kingdom.  They’re about a girl escaping from a toxic family situation.  They’re about a boy getting enough money to live on and prove to his mother that he’s not a screw-up.  They’re about a soldier coming home from war with nothing but the clothes on his back and trying to make a life for himself.  Sometimes you have some stories that involve rights of succession for princes, but they’re also usually set in a context of coming-of-age, family issues and jealousy.  However, Hollywood doesn’t always realize this.  So many adaptations of fairy tales have big, scary villains who want their own kingdoms or have some other kind of big ambition that it’s easy to lose touch with the smaller, more human side of it all.

That’s why it’s nice to have a little Castle Waiting in your life.

Castle Waiting is an Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series by writer and artist Linda Medley.  The story follows the lives of a group of unusual people as they deal with the ins and outs of living in a fairy tale castle turned sanctuary.  And  . . . that’s it. 

Well, I say “that’s it” because there’s really no major antagonists or conflicts.  Most of the major conflicts lurk in the characters’ pasts and are revealed as the characters’ histories are revealed.  What a strange and vibrant group of characters they are, too.  First of all, there’s Patience, Prudence and Plenty, one time ladies-in-waiting to a certain sleeping beauty who now own the castle.  That castle, is of course, the setting of the story.  There’s Lady Jain, a young woman on the run from an abusive husband, and her green-skinned beast-like infant son Pindar.  There’s also Rackham Adjutant, a bird-like dandy who serves as the castle’s steward.  There’s also the cook Dinah Lucina and her half-giant son Simon.  They’re just the tip of the iceberg, though.  Every character has a story to tell and a past they’re dealing with.  All the while, they have to deal with a number of everyday events in a sanctuary castle ranging from Pindar’s birth to enduring mischievous house sprites to fixing the roof so it doesn’t leak.  On top of all this, the book is filled with references to fairy tales.  In reading both volumes, I spotted references to “Sleeping Beauty”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Frog King, or Iron Henry”, “Puss in Boots”, “The Three Little Pigs”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “Jack the Giant Killer” and “Snow White”.

I don’t have any pictures I can legally post of the artwork, but you can find plenty if you do an image search like I did here.

Now, when I talked about Fables, I used the phrase “it’s not for everyone”.  I’m going to use that again here.  Personally, I like Castle Waiting but I can see why others might find it a bit on the boring side.  If you read some of the reviews out there, many will focus on the feminist side of Castle Waiting.  This isn’t a bad thing.  It’s true that many of the characters are women and their lives do get a fair bit of focus.  However, what I think makes Castle Waiting unique is that it shows us “ever after” in action.  Castle Waiting is what happens after the prince comes, the villain is defeated, the princess is rescued and the rice is swept up following the royal wedding.  This just leaves the supporting characters and characters on the periphery to live their lives.  Even after the major conflicts are dealt with, life goes on.  There are still meals to cook and roofs to fix, babies to birth, games to play, community to take part in and most of all, stories to tell.  So, if this unusual group of characters interests you or you wonder what happens after the “ever after”, you should give Castle Waiting a try.  It might not be for everyone, but it just might be for you.

Fantasy Literature Rewind: The Snow Queen.

Well, it’s summer and the temperature out there seems to keep climbing.  So, maybe it’s a good idea to find a tale to cool off.  How about Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen”?  Now, I’ll admit that I’ve never been a big fan of Andersen.  When it comes to the great fairy tale writers, I gravitate more towards the earthy, rustic tales of the Brothers Grimm or the courtly wit of Perrault.  Something about Andersen’s tales always left me cold (you might want to prepare yourself, because these puns are probably going to keep coming).  However, I figure that no one can write a fairy tale blog without talking about Andersen eventually.  Also, I remember thinking “The Snow Queen” wasn’t so bad the first time I read it.  Actually, I’ve wanted to do something regarding this tale ever since Disney’s Frozen came out, seeing how this story and the movie it inspired are so completely different.  If there are any huge Frozen fans out there who would have a serious problem with how different the title character in this story is from Princess Elsa, may I suggest before continuing that you just . . . let it go (I swear, I am so awful sometimes).

Anyway, let’s start with some information on the author.  Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark on April 2, 1805.  Andersen was a product on two towns and two lives.  His youth was spent in the poor, rustic Odense.  His adult life was spent in the up-scale literary circles of Copenhagen.  So, for most of his life, Andersen was kind of a man of two worlds.  In some cases, he was even at war with himself.  This feeling of being “between two worlds” has become a feature of most of his stories (one notable example being “The Little Mermaid”).  He even stood between the worlds of folklore and literature.  In his youth, he would often hear tales from the elderly female inmates of the Odense Hospital (it was really more of a workhouse).  This would provide the basis for his adaptations of popular folk stories like “Little Claus and Big Claus” and “The Wild Swans”.  However, many of his most popular tales like “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “The Little Mermaid” and this story were his own invention.  Another big influence on Andersen’s writing was his religious faith, which was what has been described as a sort of “undogmatic Christianity”.  This is just a brief overview.  If you want to read more about Andersen’s life, you can click the link HERE.

Now, “The Snow Queen” is a tale split into seven smaller stories.  So, I’ll try my best to give a brief gist of the story without spoiling it and give my impressions. 

First Story.  Here, we find out about a very specific magic mirror.  This magic mirror was created by a terrible troll.  That troll was called the devil (sometimes “troll” is translated as “sprite”).  The mirror had the ability to cause anything good or beautiful reflected in it look ridiculous or repulsive.  Through a series of events, the devil’s mirror gets shattered and little shards of it spread throughout the world.  Some are no bigger than a grain of sand.  The mirror will become important later.  However, what I find interesting is the combination of Christian mythology with Scandanavian folklore.  I would have never thought to characterize the devil as a troll before.  I suppose it should come as no surprise, though.  These things dovetail together all the time.  In Arabic folklore, ghouls are both described as evil djinn and as demons that are the children of the devil.  Also, in Scottish lore, the fairies supposedly owe a tithe to the devil.

Second Story.  Here we are introduced to Kai and Gerda.  They’re two innocent little children who are close friends and share a garden.  It’s also here that we’re introduced to the idea of the Snow Queen.  The Snow Queen in this story doesn’t seem to be so much a character as a force of nature.  She’s described as someone who flies right in the center of fierce snowstorms and returns to the clouds when it’s all over.  The snow flakes are described as being “white bees” and she is the queen.  She’s essentially the mother of the storm.  Now, all seems to go well until little Kai (which I believe is pronounced “Kay” with a long “a” sound) gets a little piece of the devil’s mirror caught in his eye and a little piece caught in his heart.  As a result, Kai changes.  He becomes mean and only sees the flaws and everything.  He teases the old grandmother who tells him and Gerda stories.  He even stops playing with Gerda and would rather go play with the other boys.   Essentially, what we have here is a metaphor for pre-adolescent cynicism.  It’s age 10-13 for boys with a magical twist.  If you’ve ever had to deal with middle school kids, you know what I’m talking about (I don’t blame them, it’s a hard time).  Anyway, Kai goes off to play with the boys but ends up getting led away by the Snow Queen.

Third Story.  With Kai missing, little Gerda decides to go out in the spring and look for him.  This is actually kind of awesome for a little girl.  One little girl against the world to find her best friend!  She ends up staying at the house of an old woman who knows magic.  The old woman enchants her to forget she’s looking for Kai until she sees a rosebush in the garden (Kai and Gerda used to play near a rosebush in their own garden).  She then goes and talks to all the flowers in the garden and they all tell their own story.  Honestly, I don’t really know what to make of their stories.  They’re all just little vignettes that seem like they should be part of bigger stories.

Fourth Story.  Having gained no help from the flowers, Gerda goes on her way.  She meets a crow who tells her about a little prince who came to marry a nearby princess.  Gerda is convinced it’s Kai and has the crow’s tame fiancée sneak her into the palace.  One of the most interesting things in this one is that the shadows of dreams appear on the walls of the palace.  It’s just such a wonderful, fantastical idea.  It’s also kind of reflected in Andersen’s other story “The Sandman” (yes, that Sandman).  Anyway, it turns out that the prince is not Kai, so Gerda goes on her way with some new warm clothes and a carriage to ride in.

Fifth Story.  In this story, Gerda meets the Robber Girl!  There’s not much to explain here.  Gerda gets kidnapped by robbers and meets a crazy little robber girl.  Robbers are something of a fairy tale staple, even if a less mainstream one.  They kind of play both hero and villain, too.  There’s the dark and vicious robber of Grimm’s “The Robber Bridegroom” but there’s also the helpful band of robbers that take in the heroine in the Italian “Snow White” variant “Bella Venezia”.  Here, they’re a little bit of both.  They are violent and dangerous, but the robber girl does help Gerda in the end.  Anyway, Gerda gets a lead on Kai and sets off on a reindeer for Lapland.

Sixth Story.  In this story, Gerda and the reindeer meet two old women, one is a Lapp and one is Finnish.  They give Gerda advice as old women in fairy tales often do.  The Finnish woman tells Gerda that she has all the power she needs to free Kai.  We also find out that the northern lights are the Snow Queen’s fireworks, which is a fun little factoid.  Gerda also heads for the Snow Queen’s palace where she encounters some snow flake monsters.  However, here’s the strange part of this story.  When Gerda says her prayers, her breath turns into a legion of little angels with spears and helmets that fight the snow flake monsters.  Wiggy, huh?

Now, before we go any further, I have to give people a chance to get off this ride.  You see, I have to talk about the ending and there are SPOILERS a-coming.  If you don’t want to hear about the ending and the subtext of said ending, you should leave now.  I will, however, give you a link to the original story right HERE, so you can finish on your own time.  Everyone ready?  Good.

Seventh Story.  Gerda finds Kai, who is turned blue with cold.  He’s playing a game called The Game of Reason in which he puts together shards of ice to form the word “eternity”.  However, he can’t remember what the word is.  Gerda runs to Kai and her tears melt the glass shard in his heart.  She sings part of a psalm and Kai cries and the tiny piece of glass is cried out of his eyes.  Gerda kisses him and his warmth and color is restored.  So, everything is restored and they return to their happy lives . . . or do they?

Here’s the thing, I’m not entirely sure Kai and Gerda survive this encounter.  They do seem to go back home to the grandmother.  However, Kai is frozen close to death already.  Also, Gerda had lost her boots and mittens and was exposed to the elements as well.  Also, right before they leave, the Game of Reason rearranges itself to spell out “eternity”.  Two children, cold and exposed to the elements find eternity.  Now there’s a chilling thought (I knew I had another pun in me).  It wouldn’t be the first time Andersen has depicted Heaven as something earthly and comforting.  In “The Little Match Girl”, the titular character sees Heaven as a warm, cozy room.  The lines of the psalm at the end seem to hint at this too:

Our roses bloom and fade away

Our infant Lord abides always.

May we be blessed his face to see

And ever little children be.

This may be why I never cared much for Andersen’s tales.  I’ve never really been religious.  I’m more of a secular humanist, really.  However, in the world of many of Andersen’s stories, reaching Heaven is the ultimate happy ending.  For him the Ever After is actually The Ever After.  I can’t blame a man for building his beliefs into the stories he created.  However, as someone who sees death as more a sad ending than a happy new beginning, you can’t be surprised that I find his endings leave me cold.

Update: Well, we've been having some lively discussion in the comments section.  And the more I've been reading, the more I think I've been reading into things a little too much.  Kai and Gerda probably just went home rather than . . . passing on.  I'd say it was subtext but upon looking at some of Andersen's other works, I've noticed that he doesn't really do subtext (other than maybe how the themes in his writing reflect his own life.  If they had gone on to meet their maker, he'd have just said so.  I usually don't do much in the way of interpretation for these stories, but I chose to with this one and came up with something kind of surprising.  But that's what's so great about interpreting literature, two people can see two completely different things in the same story.