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Author
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Comment
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(11/2/05 12:19 am)
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"Three Golden Hairs of the Devil"
I'm working on a retelling of this. On a quick look here (and at Ashliman's site) all I've found are these.
www.surlalunefairytales.c...hairs.html
www.surlalunefairytales.c...hairs.html
I'm making the story a little more logical and believable, and "Go fetch three golden hairs from the devil's head" is a little too far out, unless there's some explanation of this odd request. One of the stories says that it's an impossible task, just to get rid of the hero, which makes sense. But why does the King think the Devil (or Grandfather Knowitall) has golden hairs? Is it some expression like our "snowball in hell"? If so, where did it come from? It seems very odd even if the King is just making the whole thing up.
I need to either change it to something more believable, or put in some explanation. If it has a meaning, I don't want to throw the task out with the bathwater -- or to invent some meaning in ignorance of what it already has.
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Erica Carlson
Registered User
(11/2/05 2:13 am)
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Re: "Three Golden Hairs of the Devil"
There's an episode of Jim Henson's The Storyteller called "The Luck Child" that involves the not quite impossible task of getting a golden feather from a Griffin rather than 3 hairs from the devil, but there it's part of the King's ongoing attempts to kill off the protagonist. I rather like the "snowball's chance in hell" idea, though. Probably about the same chance that a king in a fairy tale has of outwitting a prophecy, now that I think about it.
Erica
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Writerpatrick
Registered User
(11/2/05 9:15 am)
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Re: "Three Golden Hairs of the Devil"
Many of these stories are about the cleverness or intelligence of the hero overcoming something that brute force can't. However, many of the problems seem to be a case where one either knows how or is told how rather than something a person could work out, like a riddle where either you know the answer or don't. It likely deals with the mindset of the people at the time.
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DividedSelf
Registered User
(11/2/05 9:21 am)
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Re: "Three Golden Hairs of the Devil"
First thought was the king has some hubristic agenda of his own, hence the rapidity with which he's off on the ferry. So on that account I bet he's run into the devil before, ages back - some kind of grudge match I should think.
David Copperfield was born with a caul, and wasn't Dickens a bit of a fairy tale fan? Is there inspiration there? I only remember that because Salinger's Holden Caulfield was supposed to be a nod in the same direction.
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(11/2/05 2:38 pm)
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caul
I'm not even sure what a 'caul' is, and I don't expect my 4th grade readers to know either. So I was going to change that to a star-shaped birthmark on the forehead or something.
But if a caul has some special meaning, I don't want to throw that meaning out with the bathwater either....
Holden Caulfield would be interesting.... The "luck child" of the "golden hairs" story is a little over-confident but I don't want him to look stupid. So the "golden hairs" needs to be something he can believe really exists, and the King might have a real use for.
I like the gold hairs, if I can figure out how to make it believable that humans would know about them and want them, and the whole quest wouldn't seem insane from the beginning.
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AliceCEB
Registered User
(11/2/05 4:23 pm)
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Re: caul
This may be no help at all but why not invent a reason for the hairs
yourself? There's plenty of lore about the devil--for example, you
could mine the story that he was God's favorite before being thrown
out, and perhaps the three golden hairs are all that is left to
remind him of his glory days. Or perhaps he won them in a trade
of some sort, being a wagering creature. Or they are all he could
capture of someone who outwitted him. There are lots of possibilities.
Best,
Alice
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cammykitty
Unregistered User
(11/2/05 7:23 pm)
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re caul
4th graders may not know what a caul is but they can learn if you want to explain it. The caul shows up as a sign that someone is born with special powers so often in folklore that I think it could only add to your story. & just an aside, I remember when I learned what a caul was. I was in about 4th grade, reading the Ghost Belonged to Me by Richard Peck -- so yes you'd have to explain it, but it's worth kids learning about.
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(11/2/05 9:17 pm)
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inventing stuff
Okay, I looked up cauls. I'm going to use a birthmark on the forehead instead.
As for making up a rationale for the three golden hairs, that's possible. I just want to know any other meaning it may have already.
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DividedSelf
Registered User
(11/3/05 4:49 am)
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Re: inventing stuff
Just want to put in a vote for cauls! A bit of eeugh! never goes amiss!
There's a story in Lang called The Dragon and his Grandmother which is kind of similar. Instead of hairs, it's three riddles which the dragon has promised to ask, only his grandmother sneaks the answers out of him.
Sadly, no cauls though.
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(11/3/05 2:11 pm)
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dragon
Found Lang's "Dragon and His Grandmother", thanks.
www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/042.htm
Must be the same grandmother. :)
Here's another at Lang with a Serpent King
mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/081.htm
THE STORY OF THREE WONDERFUL BEGGARS
But no golden hairs in those.
As for the caul, you may have it with my blessing. :)
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