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Author
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Comment
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enchantmentweaver
Registered User
(2/11/03 7:01:37 pm)
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Imbibing In fairy tales
well, here i go again with a zany request.
My group of teenage boys are tackling the teenage "drinking" issue. (alcohol) Half the group is taking the position that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 with variations (like, instituting responsible drinking programs) The other half is taking the position that the drinking age should stay at 21. They are exploring some interesting themes, some of which have been discussed on this board - (for example, "American society should not try and impose morality on everyone else).
Anyway, do any stories/fairy tales/folklore come to mind that might be informative, useful? -
ex. stories where characters imbibed?
I may be way out on a limb here - but you guys are so TERRIFIC at making connections through story - go with your first impressions -please just jump in with whatever comes to mind....
Thanks so much!
Margaret
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Kerrie
Moderator
(2/11/03 7:27:09 pm)
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Re: Imbibing In fairy tales
Hmmm, before I go to sleep, I'll try to think of a few:
Snow White- in Disney version, queen drinks a potion to turn herself into an old woman.
Alice in Wonderland- Eat Me, Drink Me- I think the Drink Me bottle makes her smaller?
The Crow and the Pitcher- the crow keeps adding pebbles to a pitcher of water until he can drink.
The "fact" that if you eat or drink anything while in the realm of Faerie, you may never leave.
Little Mermaid- she drinks a potion and she switches to legs.
Ok, I have to go now, but I'll try to think of more tomorrow.
Sugarplum dreams,
Kerrie
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Helen
Registered User
(2/11/03 8:12:17 pm)
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Cruikshanks ...
George Cruikshanks was very, very much a part of the temperance movement in the nineteenth century (Dickens felt that his insistence on including its tenets in his work was detrimental, but others disagreed). His retellings typically emphasize the evils of liquor, and, in fact, sometimes add it in to undercore the diabolical natures of existing villains. He does this to rather amusing effect in his version of Donkeyskin, I believe - bad enough that the king has incestuous designs on his daughter ... worse that his fountains run with wine. Will try to think of more ... I vaguely remember a thread on this topic from a year or two ago (begun by a gentleman who was recovering himself ... I could be making this up, but I'll see if I can hunt it down). Good luck!
Best,
Helen
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Jess
Unregistered User
(2/11/03 8:31:48 pm)
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The Table, the ass, and the stick
I believe in this story there is an innkeeper that takes advantage of the brothers' imbibing. Then there are stories about fountains with magical powers.
I am sure I will think of more stories.
I know that the Arabian Nights has at least one story, the title escapes me now, about a merchant who marries, drinks and has everything valuable stripped from him. This is not surprising since my understanding is that Moslems do not partake in drink.
I will give this more thought.
Jess
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enchantmentweaver
Registered User
(2/11/03 10:29:13 pm)
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Re: Imbibing In fairy tales
Helen, i found the thread on Cruikshanks and alcoholism in the archives - June 2002 - so rest assured, you didn't make it up.
Feedback that's coming is great! Thanks all.
blessings, margaret
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swood
Registered User
(2/12/03 7:29:11 am)
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Rip Van Winkle
I've always thought Rip Van Winkle was an excellent allegory for alcoholism. Rip drinks with the "faeries" (mysterious people in the mountains) and sleeps away twenty years. Once he returns from the influence he finds his life has passed him by.
Sarah
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Jess
Unregistered User
(2/12/03 7:56:25 am)
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A couple of thoughts
OT - you might want to discuss the difference between using alcohol as a metabalite (i.e., a food) v. as a mood altering substance.
Back onto the thread. As you are discussing the appropriateness of various drinking ages, you might want to look to tales with prohibitions too (we sometimes call these curiosity tales), and discuss the affect of the prohibitions. It might give the discussion balance.
Jess
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swood
Registered User
(2/12/03 1:48:45 pm)
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Re: A couple of thoughts
There are many positive references in folklore about alcohol. It is, afterall, one of the hallmarks of civilization. The ingredients and the fermentation process indicate a agricultural society.
I can't think of any specifics right now, but I seem to remember hearing a story about how the gods gave humans alcohol to compensate human's knowledge of their own mortality. Mind altering substances have positive places in many traditions. Even Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding at Canaan, and the miracle of transubstantiation involves the transformation of wine into the blood of Christ.
Sarah
P.S. Dionysis
A poet has died,
drink and be drunk for all time,
for the soul of poetry,
is found in wine.
(Greek poetry fragment.)
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