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Author
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Comment
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kristiw
Unregistered User
(3/8/06 6:13 pm)
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stealing the goodness
Someone suggested this to me in the past, so now I'm tracking down specifics :) Can anyone think of examples of stories in which faires "steal the goodness" out of food, so the people eating it are never satisfied?
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(3/8/06 6:36 pm)
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Re: stealing the goodness
Stealing the goodness (ie the nourishment) from food seems a very abstract concept, which I'd be surprised to see in the Grimm/Lang/Propp/Calvino traditions. I'd expect it to be be expressed as 'stealing the bread' and substituting some non-edible thing like dry leaves or sawdust with an illusion to make it seem like food. Or maybe maybe giving someone 'fairy bread' that seems good but leaves them hungry.
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(3/8/06 7:49 pm)
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Re: misc
The only thing I can think of that's close is in <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i>, when Captain Barbossa tells Elizabeth that, as a result of the cursed gold, "food turned to ash our mouths." Or maybe Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," where as a result of eating the Goblin Fruit, Laura loses the desire to live, and stops eating, which I guess isn't quite the same thing.
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Writerpatrick
Registered User
(3/9/06 9:51 am)
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cursed fountain
I recall hearing one story of a town in Mexico with a hidden treasure and a beautiful, but cursed fountain. It was said that anyone who drank of the waters would never be able to satifsy their thirst. Only the townsfolk knew the secret to drinking safely. The story was part of an old radio play.
The common tale of fairie food is that it cannot be consumed by humans, and any mortal who does partake must stay with the fairies forever. Somewhat similar to the Percephony myth.
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(3/9/06 4:05 pm)
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Lud i' the Mist?
[[ The common tale of fairie food is that it cannot be consumed by humans, and any mortal who does partake must stay with the fairies forever. ]]
Wasn't the fantasy novel LUD I' THE MIST based on something like this, and "Goblin Market"?
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LadyErmine
Unregistered User
(3/10/06 2:26 pm)
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Fairies steal nourishment
In Ireland fairies were widely supposed to steal the nourishment in food - milk or corn - while leaving it, to all appearances, as it was before. But those who ate it could not be satisfied. In Roumania, too, female vampires were believed to steal the nourishment in their neighbour's milk - and their health and good looks as well.
People who eat well but fail to thrive could be suffering from a medical condtion - perhaps bulimia, perhaps tuberculosis, "the curse of Ireland" - which is, of course, spread through untreated milk.
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kristiw
Unregistered User
(3/14/06 12:39 am)
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thanks
Thanks, Veronica and Rosemary, Goblin Market is definitely in. LadyErmine, the Irish stories about stealing goodness are just what I'm talking about-- do you know any specific sources or citations, though?
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LadyErmine
Unregistered User
(3/14/06 10:10 am)
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Stealing goodness
I can give a citation for the Roumanian stories - I'll go and look it up. There is certainly an Irish story in which someone visits the fairies and sees them slaughter and eat a neighbour's cow - an old hag is then wrapped in its hide, so, presumably, it is she that gets eaten by the mortals rather than the nourishing beef. Of course it would be helpful if I could remember where I did - I'll think about it.
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boco
Registered User
(3/19/06 7:42 pm)
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Re: Stealing goodness
there is a romanian fairy tale by Petre Ispirescu called Sarea in bucate (salt in food). A father is asking his three daughters how much they love him. He gets angry when the youngest tells him that she loves him as much as salt in food, considering that she doesn't love him. She has to leave the house, but returns as a cook help at the kitchen, where she cooks everything without salt. The father realizes how wrong he was
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