National Fairy Tale Day - Guest Post Rachel Ann Michael Harris
Hello readers and Happy Fairy Tale Day!
I’m Rachel Ann Michael Harris and I’ll be taking over Jenelle’s blog for February is Fantasy Month. I’m a fantasy writer whose had several flash fiction and short stories published online and in anthologies and am the author of the fairy tale retelling The Beauty of Magic, a mash up of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Goldie Locks with Scottish vibes and bears. I’m a lifelong resident of Minnesota and love reading, dogs, and sunshine.
In honor of fairy tale day, I’ll be talking about five fairy tales that don’t have enough (or any that I know of) retellings. Forgive me for #5, I cheated a little on that one but I think its justified.
#1 – The White Mare
A few years ago, I was attending an Usborne Book Party and came across this beauty (I’ve fallen in love with these Usborne Illustrated Stories editions since). I mean, what isn’t better than a book of fairy tales prominently featuring horses in all of them?
One of my favorites in this collection is “The White Mare” in which a magical horse saves a princess from an evil sorcerer. According to my Usborne edition, this is an Italian fairy tale in the collection The Pentamerone. I loved the adventure and genuine love story that is more than love-at-first-sight. What attracted my attention to this fairy tale was the princess and how her story played out. It has me wishing for a retelling of this fairy tale (and more retellings in general with lots of horse protagonists. *wink, wink to anyone wanting to play a multi-author retelling collection*).
#2 – The Steadfast Tin Soldier
This fairy tale was written by Danish author Hans Christian Anderson who has so many wonderful fairy tales. Some of his more notable ones are “The Little Mermaid”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “Thumbelina”, and, one of my favorites, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”.
I was first introduced to this fairy tale in a cartoon that we use to watch when we visited my grandma’s house when I was a kid. They were half-hour cartoons that retold the stories fairly accurately in something of a storybook style. In this one, a toy soldier with one leg falls in love with a paper ballerina and ends up on a quest to return to her. Like many of Anderson’s stories, this one has a sad ending which I won’t spoil.
While there are some retellings out there (I think there is one that mixes this one with The Nutcracker) I don’t know many. It is not one that is hugely popularized but the title is still one people are familiar with. I would like to see a retelling that is fairly accurate to the original, maybe placed in modern or recent history, about a soldier returned from war, missing a leg, deals with mental health while journeying to return to his love, a dancer. And a happier ending than the original would be a must.
#3 – Yofune Nushi
So, I don’t know the actual name of this Japanese legend but I got to a chance to read it in this four-issue mini-series of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller Dragons. These are some of my favorite comic book series. The comics are out of print but you should be able to find the graphic novels of some of the series Boom! Studios did for this line. Sadly, Dragons is hard to find and goes for an arm and a leg online.
But back to the story. In this legend, a young woman learns that a village is forced to sacrifice a girl every year to the dragon Yofune Nushi or else the beast will cause devastation to the village. After meeting the next sacrifice, the young woman volunteers to go in her place. I love the bravery and willing sacrifice of the protagonist and would love to see this retold in a fantasy style in its native setting of Japan (I actually wrote a flash fiction retelling of this very fairy tale).
Which, hopefully readers will remember from a couple of weeks ago right here on the blog!)
#4 – Thumbelina
Another Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale that many people know, even has a full-length movie of (sadly, I haven’t seen it) and was part of the half-hour cartoon series I mentioned with “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, but I haven’t seen many book adaptations. I once had a gorgeous popup book of this fairy tale, which I wish I still had, that has made me fairly familiar with the story.
“Thumbelina” tells the story of a girl no bigger than a thumb, hence the name, and ends up going on several adventures before falling in love. This fairy tales has one of the few happy endings from Anderson that I know of and filled with fun creatures and events.
I would love to see a straight up fantasy retelling of this that expounds upon the story, going deeper into some of the side characters and of how Thumbelina came from a flower. This fairy tale can lend itself well to themes of size and respect for women as at one point she is almost forced to be married to someone she doesn’t love.
#5 – Arabian Nights
Okay, so here I cheat. Obviously, Arabian Nights, also known as 1,000 and One Nights, is not only a collection of fairy tales but a fairy tale itself. Most people know the story of the Queen Shahrazad who saves herself and her kingdom by telling stories every night to the king who vows to kill her in the morning. By telling stories, she is able to get him to stay the sentence for another night. This story begins and closes the collection, making everything in between what she tells him to save her life.
So how is this a cheat? Yes, I would love to just see retellings of this story teller in general (Cameron Dokey’s retelling is fantastic), but there are so many other wonderful ones in between. I’ll be skipping over “Aladin” as there are lots of retellings for that (did you know it is even thought that story wasn’t even part of the original collection and is even a Chinese story? I would actually love to see a retelling of “Aladin” set in China.) and will mention two other titles that are familiar but without as many adaptations; “Alibaba and the Forty Thieves” and “Sinbad”. “Sinbad” does have a move based on it but wouldn’t a high sea retelling be fun? And, of course, “Alibaba” featuring the poor man who finds the cave full of gold and has to outsmart notorious thieves? Can you say heists and trickery? Would love to see more of these two.
Sadly, there is one other story I am fascinated with from Arabian Nights that I can’t remember the name of. It has a fascinating system where the story eventually comes to a point where the character has to tell a story which changes over to a new story where those characters come to telling a story which brake off into that story and etc. I swear, I think we got seven or more stories deep before one of the stories came to the end and returned back to the story teller which finished that story and returned to the next story teller and so forth. It created an interesting pyramid effect. You really had to track it and I’d never seen anything like that before. It would be a hard story to retell but is still something I would like to play with.
Either way, Arabian Nights displays the power of storytelling which would be an excellent theme to wrap a collection or novel around.
About the Author
Rachel Ann Michael Harris is the writer of fantasy stories for middle grade and teens. Raised in Minnesota, she loves reading, rivers, and binge-watching TV, even though she should be writing. She’s been published in various anthologies, with Havok Publishing, Untold Podcast, and is the author of The Beauty of Magic. To keep up with her writing and fascination with dragons, dogs, and books, you can visit her Facebook, Instagram, or website at rachelannmichaelharris.wordpress.com.
Website - https://rachelannmichaelharris.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RachelAMHarris
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rachelannmichaelharris/
Tell me, what are some of your favorite fairy tales that you’d like to see retold more? Any favorites on this list or ones you weren’t familiar with but would like to know more about? Let me know in the comments and let’s share these fairy tales with the world. Who knows, maybe it’ll spark some inspiration and we’ll see a fairy tale retelling getting the love and representation it deserves.
Hope you enjoyed February is Fantasy month and are looking forward to its final days of posts! And be sure to check out the Instagram challenges.