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Author
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Comment
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Kerrie
Registered User
(9/26/02 5:37:55 am)
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Fairy tales regarding coping with illness...
I was thinking this morning, since I'm home from work and because I used to work in Child Life, are there any fairy tales that involve coping with an illness, for the main character? If I recall correctly, Little Red Riding Hood is visiting her ill grandmother, and the girl in The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf is visiting her dying mother, but I can't seem to recall any where the main character is ill. The closest I can think of is The Velveteen Rabbit, where the boy who the velveteen rabbit belongs to is ill, and The Secret Garden, where Colin has never left his bed until he is 10 years old and his cousin Mary arrives from India. Any others?
Forest frosts,
Kerrie
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Yellow
McMaggie
Registered User
(9/26/02 7:14:36 am)
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Re: Fairy tales regarding coping with illness...
How about the Never Ending Story? In it the Childlike Empress, the ruler of Fantasia, is dying, and crippled by the illness that plagues the land. And it is up to the warrior, Atreyu, to try and find a cure.
The Princess Bride also comes to mind (both film and novel). I immediately think of the young grandson to whom his grandfather is reading to him "S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure" :0) The grandson is quite a crucial character, for if it weren't for him feeling ill, then we wouldn't get to hear this wonderful fairy tale!
I can't think of any classic fair tales though at this moment that include illnesses, I'll try to keep thinking.
Cheers,
Katie
Edited by: Yellow McMaggie at: 9/26/02 7:15:46 am
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(9/26/02 9:26:04 am)
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some ways of coping.
In the Grimm (?) story "The Water of Life" the father is ill and possibly dying. In thre CHinese "Weaving of a Dream" the mother is ill and possibly dying. In the Middle Eastern story (I have seen Jewish and Arabic cersions, as well as a version written by O. Henry, so am not sure which came first) a mother with a dying child who has decided she will die when the last leaf of fall flies off, paints (or pastes) the leaf to the wall. See my book MIRROR MIRROR for one version.
Jane
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Jess
Unregistered User
(9/26/02 11:00:42 am)
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O. Henry
Jane,
Actually the O'Henry story (Autumn Leaf or Falling Leaf(ves)) is a good example and one of my favorites. There are two shop girls, one of whom gets ill and says she will die when the last leaf falls. The artist in the basement paints the last leaf on a cold and rainy night, then contracts pneumonia and dies himself. The girl survives. It is a beautiful story.
I know there are more though that I read recently. Aren't there some tales about someone picking a flower or fruit to prevent the death of a loved one, only to have to pay an enormous price of personal freedom for the choice?
Jess
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Heather
KT
Registered User
(9/26/02 11:47:32 am)
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Re: illness
In Arthurian legend, the Fisher King is ill, kept alive by the Grail. Parzifal fails to ask about his illness and is sent away to learn through trials and tests before he can return to the Grail castle and heal the king.
(Sorry if this double-posts-- my computer is hiccuping today.)
Heather
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isthmus
nekoi
Registered User
(9/26/02 1:18:42 pm)
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Re: illness
Hm, main character? That's pretty tricky. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. Ashitaka's cursed which is not exactly the same thing, but he has some physical symptoms.
The other thing that comes to mind (other than stories like Heidi, A Christmas Carol and suchlike) is the alchemical king who takes ill. Alchemical texts work more on the level of image rather than language, but you could argue that the king is a sort of main character.
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Yellow
McMaggie
Registered User
(9/26/02 2:55:16 pm)
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dying father, lovesick son
There is Grimm's tale #6 titled "Faithful Johannes." In it the father is lying on his death bed, and he makes the faithful servant, Johannes, promise him that he will make sure that his son does not open the forbidden chamber, as it would put his son's life in danger.
However, after his father's death, the prince (who is actually now the king) has the strongest desire to see what is in this room, and he is unable to find a peace of mind until he sees inside. So, after a wee bit of persuading his servant to open the door, the servant does so. Inside there is a picture of a beautiful princess and after he saw her image, he fell unconscious to the ground.
Okay, it is not really a chronic illness, but it leads to some very bad things, but then ultimately a Happy Ending :O)
Katie
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gale
ni cathasaigh
Registered User
(9/26/02 4:44:09 pm)
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Re: dying father, lovesick son
what about the tale of the thief who finds the blue rose that cures the princess's magical illness and wins the kingdom for himself. there was a movie about it years ago.
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rachael
Unregistered User
(9/26/02 5:07:28 pm)
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illness
not an illness but the little lame prince has a disability if that would qualify.
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Delia
Unregistered User
(9/27/02 2:15:04 pm)
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Illness
As far as I can figure, illness in fairy tales is more a function of giving the hero/heroine an impossible task than it is something that can be overcome by the ill person. In one of the Andrew Lang fairy books (one of the more unusual colors, like Brown or Lilac), there's a story called "The Satin Surgeon," where the statutory sick king is healed by a woman dressed as a man. I always loved it, even though in the end, the woman is rewarded by being turned into what she had pretended to be. No, not a doctor. A man. It's mostly so she can get the girl, but still.
Come to think of it, MacDonald does use a sick child as a fantastic hero in *At the Back of the North Wind.* When Diamond goes with the North Wind for the first time, it's because he's at the point of death. Which is, of course, the point, since Death is one of the things the North Wind is. There's something similar going on in Charles Kingsley's *Water Babies,* too.
But that's not what you asked, was it?
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ahahapa
Unregistered User
(9/27/02 5:42:33 pm)
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Storybook characters, but not folktales
Tiny Tim from "A Christmas Carol" was lame, though I don't know if that is what you are looking for. Beth from "Little Women" was also sickly and died.
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Kerrie
Registered User
(10/1/02 3:41:59 am)
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Re: Fairy tales regarding coping with illness...
Thanks for all of the suggestions! I forgot about several of these, and the Never Ending Story and Princess Bride, though not "classic" fairy tales, are just what the doctor ordered!
I also remembered the story of the child who is gathering wood, and a little boy helps and gives a rose, saying he'll return for the child when it is fully bloomed. The day the rose blooms, the child dies.
Though I'm looking for happier endings.
Still home...
Forest frosts,
Kerrie
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Colleen
Unregistered User
(10/10/02 10:28:27 am)
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The Magician's Nephew
Don't forget Digory in The Magician's Nephew (C. S. Lewis). It's Digory's mother, rather than Digory himself, who is ill and dying. Digory is tempted to steal an apple that will cure his mother but in the end does the right thing and takes the apple to Aslan (which is what he'd been told to do in the first place). Aslan tells him that, had he given the apple to his mother she would've had eternal (?) life but implies that it wouldn't have been a good one. Aslan buries the apple Digory brought to him and another tree grows from it. He gives an apple from that tree to Digory, who takes it to his mother and feeds it to her. She is cured and he plants the core in the yard. A tree grows from that core and eventually it's cut down and made into a wardrobe....
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