|
Author
|
Comment
|
KathieRose
Unregistered User
(4/15/05 1:45 pm)
|
Dolls in fairytales
Hi all--- I've been thinking I'd like to write something on the symbolism of dolls and am trying to think of fairytales other than Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Brave in which a doll plays a main part in the tale. Any other tales like this that you know of? Thanks!
|
avalondeb
Registered User
(4/15/05 1:53 pm)
|
Re: Dolls in fairytales
I supposed Pinocchio is out?
|
GailS
Unregistered User
(4/15/05 2:37 pm)
|
Dolls
Does the dancer in The Brave Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen count as a paper doll?
GailS
|
A Jessica
Registered User
(4/16/05 11:39 pm)
|
Re: Dolls
Mm. Pains me to admit, but I don't remember a doll in Baba Yaga and/or Vasilisa the beautiful tales. However, if you're going to be broad in your definition of "doll" ...
I do remember a "doll" in Italian fables, generally made of flour, sugar, and filled with something sweet, to replace the true bride on her wedding night --since, at least in the version I remember, the husband has a grudge against his new wife and kills her. But when he tastes her how sweet her blood is he mourns his wicked deed, and the real wife pops out from behind whereever she was hiding. Can't remember any particular titles, but I should think any book of Italian folklore should have at least one example of this tale type.
--Jessica
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(4/17/05 11:08 am)
|
Dolls
One of the tales in Zipes collection of French tales has the main character start out as a doll or doll like figure, "Princess Camion".
Jess
|
gigi
Unregistered User
(4/17/05 2:00 pm)
|
dolls
Do Ballets count?
If they do...
What about Coppelia or the ballet Petrushka [sp]?
How about The Nutcracker as that includes dolls that dance in some versions. ?
Good luck
gigi
|
Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(4/17/05 4:03 pm)
|
Re: dolls
Coppelia and The Nutcracker are based on the tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann, which I think sometimes are counted as fairy tales. The Nutcracker is also the name of Hoffmann's tale, and Coppelia comes from..."The Sandman," I think?
|
Crceres
Registered User
(4/17/05 4:14 pm)
|
Re: dolls
How about Doll in the Grass (I think that's the title). A prince goes off to find a bride, encounters a beautiful little doll in the grass by the road who convinces him to get engaged to her. The standard plot ensues: the doll performs several tasks that outdo the other girls of the kingdom and is eventually turned back into a human.
Although they aren't dolls, would the gingerbread man or the snow maiden count? There is also the petulant corn dolly in Terry Jones' Fairy Tales, who ends up too close to the fire and burns up.
|
Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(4/17/05 4:30 pm)
|
Re: dolls
Or the blubber boy in the Eskimo tale of the same name!
|
KathieRose
Unregistered User
(4/17/05 4:50 pm)
|
Re: dolls
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone; I guess these are harder to
find than I thought. Interesting, since dolls appear in almost every
culture and are so important in some. In Vasilissa the Brave, the
doll is central to the story. Given to Vasilissa by her mother just
before she died, the doll is a magical doll who talks to, comforts,
gives advice to Vasilissa and helps her with the impossible tasks
that Baba Yaga sets out for Vasilissa to do. I love the story anyway
but I'm especially intrigued with the doll. I wrote a short piece
for a Jungian symbols dictionary on Dolls and that got me started.
What amazed me especially were all the materials that dolls have
been made of-- fruit, nuts, the usual wood, bone, straw, etc but
even GRISTLE.There MUST be other tales of magical dolls somewhere.........
or, hmm, maybe I'll have to WRITE one. Can't leave the symbol all
to Chucky the demon doll in contemporary horror-- heh heh.
|
evil
little pixie
Registered User
(4/17/05 5:19 pm)
|
Re: dolls
In some stories Anansi captures a fairy by using a doll made of something sticky. I think there's a similar Brer Rabbit story, but I'm blanking out on the details.
Edited by: evil little pixie at: 4/19/05 9:20 am
|
sagana
thas me
Registered User
(4/17/05 8:04 pm)
|
Re: dolls
Quote:
I do remember a "doll" in Italian fables, generally made of flour, sugar, and filled with something sweet, to replace the true bride on her wedding night
I read a version of this called "The Arab Girl". She seemed
to be one of the more resourceful fairy tale heroines
I think the Brer Rabbit story is Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby - not exactly a doll, maybe, but close. I believe there's a Kentucky tale called "The Corn Dolly" but I can't remember where I read it.
Branching out a bit, would you be interested in dolls that depict
fairytales and/or are used in transmission? (there's Trouble Dolls
and Listening Dolls etc.) Seems like more information on that kind
of role
-----
Here there be dragons. |
KathieRose
Unregistered User
(4/18/05 6:55 pm)
|
Re: dolls
<<<Branching out a bit, would you be interested in dolls that depict fairytales and/or are used in transmission? (there's Trouble Dolls and Listening Dolls etc.) Seems like more information on that kind of role>>>
Hmm, let me think about that awhile........... I started out just wanting tales of dolls that are children's companions or magical creatures but still identifiable as dolls. Pinnochio is a puppet-- not the same. The Tar Baby--- hmm, can you call her [is it a her? I forget......] a doll? I don't know. Haven't thought about trouble dolls and listening dolls, though I do know about them. Let me get back to the research I already did and try to get more of a sense of how to branch out. I'm really surprised there aren't more stories about little girls' dolls.........
|
Crceres
Registered User
(4/18/05 7:12 pm)
|
Red mare
There is an illustrated story by Ursula Le Guin called "A Ride on the Red Mare's Back," in which a girl tracks down the trolls who stole her baby brother with the help of a small, carved-wood horse.
|
redtriskell
Registered User
(4/19/05 1:19 am)
|
other dolls
I may be late, but have you considered looking into the Kachina dolls of the Hopi? I am not as familiar with Hopi lore as some others, but I know the Kachinas hold a religious/mythic significance. I am sorry I can't seem to recall much more about them, so I don't know if they'd be appropriate for what you're doing... happy hunting.
|
Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(4/20/05 7:07 pm)
|
Re: other dolls
Try Adamantina
and the Doll from Straparola's Facetious Nights.
Heidi
|
KathieRose
Unregistered User
(4/21/05 1:49 pm)
|
Re: other dolls
Thanks, Heidi! This doll is parallel in some ways to the one in the Vasilissa/Baba Yaga tale. Interesting that it 'knows its own mother' and will only serve those who genuinely care for it.
|
darklingthrush
Registered User
(4/23/05 10:06 am)
|
Re: other dolls
Isn't there some doll-like creature in Scandinavian folklore that has a hollow back? Of course I'm hard-pressed to remember what it's called. Nevermind I thought for some reason they were wooden but perhaps I'm just confusing some folklore together.
|
Caerdroia
Registered User
(4/25/05 12:12 pm)
|
Re: other dolls
Those are ellefolk/ellewomen. They are dryad-like tree spirits, rather than dolls or artifacts. They appear as normal women or girls from the front, but are hollow, with a bark-like surface, when seen from the back.
(I once read an interesting article about changeling myths and medieval medicine which suggested that the appearance of the ellewoman, with her trough-like back, could have originated from a description of a child with spina bifida. Unfortunately, I've misplaced the reference. Does this article sound familiar to anyone?)
Kobolds, on the other hand, are household elves which begin life as tree spirits, but, under certain conditions, continue to inhabit the wood after it has been harvested and used to manufacture objects. There are stories of elf-like dolls and other wooden objects made to house kobold spirits, or simply to remind household members to respect the spirits of the wood that makes up their house and furnishings.
|
darklingthrush
Registered User
(4/25/05 4:32 pm)
|
Re: other dolls
Thanks Craedoria...I thought my mind might be stretching a bit. I just remembered wood and human resemblances and the hollow back.
Perhaps there are more doll stories in say Japanese folklore. I have to wonder with the Doll festival etc. But then again, I don't know much about Japanese folklore. (a few ghost stories, a few anime episodes and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams do not make a good foundation.)
|
Ruby Weapon
Unregistered User
(4/27/05 10:06 am)
|
Swan Maiden
I remember a tale called The Swan Maiden. The maiden and the prince made a doll out of honeymeal to escape the witch. The witch thought the doll was the maiden, and slapped her for not speaking. The witch's hands stuck fast to the doll's cheeks, and she is stuck there forever.
|
