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Author
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Comment
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deliriumfish
Registered User
(10/18/04 12:36 pm)
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sacrifice
I'm working on an art project (lithography, if anyone cares) which is supposed to be a series on "an issue". Oh gee, I said, that's helpful...
So I choose sacrifice, with a focus on sacrifices made in fairy tales.
I have the first two done:
-the heart the huntsman brings back in place of Snow Drop's to fool her evil step-mum
-the hair that the little mermaid's sisters cut off to try and save her from her deadly fate. (and the scissors they use to do so).
But I need a third and hair keeps coming up (geh. no more, no more), but I've already got that... I was hoping for a sacrifice made for romantic love (especially of the unrequited sort).
Does anyone with a better memory than I have any thoughts on the matter?
Something easily illustrated, it's hard to illustrate, say, pride or that special bond one has with one's mother. Then again, so much of it is about sacrifice of vanity (the little mermaid (hair), the snow queen (gerda's new red shoes (shoes are way overdone)) (and here I am pursueing the Hans Christian Anderson end of things far too much, eh?).
Thank you!
When we say "The Man", we mean a certain gentleman. He's dead now, but we love him just the same. Don't get me wrong, we love him in a conjugal, biblical kind of way.
-Rasputina |
Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(10/18/04 3:18 pm)
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Re: sacrifice
The evil stepsisters cut off pieces of their feet in order to fit into Cinderella's shoe. They're not the good guys, but they do it in obedience to their mother. This part of the story has always creeped me out--there're so many metaphors there about expectations of feminine beauty and what women give up in order to fit into them that I've always felt sympathetic to them at that part of the story. Also because I wear a size 10 and a half.
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Helen J Pilinovsky
Registered User
(10/18/04 3:35 pm)
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Re: sacrifice
Perhaps "Rumplestiltskin," and the peasant-girl/queen's offered sacrifice of her child? Or the attempt made by the father in some of the later versions of "The Girl With the Silver Hands" to give his daughter to the Devil? In terms of self-sacrifice, you might think of either the step-sisters, or perhaps the White Cat, whom the prince *does* behead (on her command) as a form of sacrifice.
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Colleen
Unregistered User
(10/19/04 9:55 am)
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Little Mermaid Again
If you don't mind using two examples from one story, you could use the Little Mermaid again. She sacrificed her tongue/voice (didn't she literally give up her tongue in the original?) to gain legs.
In The Seven Swans, Elise gave up comfort to gain her brothers' freedom from the spell (pain from the nettles from which she wove shirts).
In Rapunzel, the prince sacrificed - albeit not willingly - his eyes. Rapunzel sacrificed (again, not willingly) her hair.
I'm guessing Han Christian Andersen's and Oscar Wilde's stories would be good places to look.
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Erica Carlson
Registered User
(10/19/04 11:35 am)
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Re: blood and feathers
In 'The Singing, Springing Lark,' the enchanted prince, after turning into a bird, leaves a feather and a drop of blood every seven steps so that his lover can follow him. If memory serves, this goes on for seven years, which adds up to a lot of feathers. You can find the tale on this website if you go to the annotated tale of Beauty and the Beast and then click on "similar tales across cultures."
Erica
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deliriumfish
Registered User
(10/19/04 1:28 pm)
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Re: blood and feathers
Oh, that one, that one. That was the story that was half-hidden in the back of my head. Ah, poor bird...
Thank you all so very much, it been a real help.
And now back to printing...
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Kel
Unregistered User
(10/21/04 10:40 am)
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Sacrifice?
I remember reading a story in a book of fairytales about a bird that was watching a young man who was in love with a girl. The girl said she would love him if he would get her a red rose, but he could not find one and the bird decides to help him look. In the end, the bird dies and his blood creates the red rose for the boy to take to her.
I can't remember what the story was called, but I have the book. I can look it up when I get home later today, if you want to use it.
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(10/21/04 3:04 pm)
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Re: Sacrifice?
It's a Hans Christian Andersen, I think. I can't remember what it's called either, but the bird sacrifices itself, the blood becomes the rose, the lover takes it to his beloved, and she rejects him because he's poor. Typical HCA.
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blisslessly
Registered User
(10/21/04 5:18 pm)
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Re: Sacrifice?
Isn't there a story somewhere about a pelican that's so annoyed by her loud chicks that she finally kills them and then, overcome with remorse, she impales herself with her beak to give them blood and bring them back to life?
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...give me wings......... |
Kel
Unregistered User
(10/21/04 6:36 pm)
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*subject*
I had thought the story was Andersen, too, since his stories make me cry most of the time, but it is actually Oscar Wilde. It is called "The Nightingale and the Rose", and I know you can find it in a book edited by Maria Tatar called The Classic Fairy Tales.
I think I may have read that once, blisslessly, but I don't really remember anything about it.
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(10/22/04 10:53 am)
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Re: *subject*
Sorry--am I embarrassed!
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Kel
Unregistered User
(10/23/04 12:12 pm)
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*subject*
Why be embarrassed? It was just a little mistake about a fairytale I think I have only seen in two books.
I've been reading posts on this site for a while, I am so amazed by what y'all know about folklore and fairytales. This is such a great site.
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GailS
Unregistered User
(10/25/04 6:51 pm)
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Christian Variation
Not exactly a fairytale, but isn’t there a Nativity Legend about a bird that fanned the fire in the stable during Christ’s birth? As a symbol of bird’s efforts, its breast was stained red, and became known as the robin red breast or something like that?
GailS
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Kel
Unregistered User
(10/25/04 9:17 pm)
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*subject*
I don't remember that one, GailS, but you did remind me of this story I heard about why moths don't have colorful wings. Its a story to make kids stop being afraid of them. They had prettier colors than the butterflies, but used them up to create a rainbow to make someone (I've forgotten who) happy.
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