The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales

by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, Erika Eichenseer, Maria Tatar

In the 1850s, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth traversed the forests, lowlands, and mountains of northern Bavaria to record fairy tales, gaining the admiration of even the Brothers Grimm. Most of Schönwerth's work was lost-until a few years ago, when thirty boxes of manu­scripts were uncovered in a German municipal archive. Now, for the first time, Schönwerth's lost fairy tales are available in English. Violent, dark, and full of action, and upending the relationship between damsels in distress and their dragon-slaying heroes, these more than seventy stories bring us closer than ever to the unadorned oral tradition in which fairy tales are rooted, revolutionizing our understanding of a hallowed genre.

Genres: Fantasy, Classics, Fairy Tales, Short Stories, Fiction, Folklore, Mythology

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having read online about the 2009 discovery by Erika Eichenseer of Franz Xaver von Schönwerth's massive (over five hundred stories strong) trove of meticulously collected (but unlike his 19th century contemporaries the Brothers Grimm never edited, never stylised and also of course therefore not sanitised) collection of Upper Bavarian (Upper Palatinate) folk and fairy tales (and because the German publication of the collection or rather of part of the collection and titled Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen was actually missing in action under my piles of unread and unorganised books for a while), I eagerly purchased Maria Tatar's The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales as soon as it became available (but while I read The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales almost immediately post purchase, in 2015, I am only now arriving at actually penning and posting my review, as there was for one much to ponder, to consider, to textually digest both academically, critically and also appreciatively, and that for two I also simply forgot that I had not yet penned a review for The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales).

Now truth be told, I had at first assumed that The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales would simply be a basic and straight forward translation of Erika Eichenseer's Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen (Erika Eichenseer being the individual who first discovered or we should probably say rediscovered von Schönwerth's extensive and massive compilation of collected Upper Palatinate folklore and customs and then chose one hundred and thirty six of those tales to showcase in Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen). And by the way, the word Roßzwifl is the Upper Palatinate rural dialect term for a dung beetle (which in standard German would be called a Mistkäfer), and thus the book title of Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen would basically mean Prince Dung Beetle and Other Fairy Tales in English (after one of the featured, after one of tales collected by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, and what a story it is, about a prince being turned into a dung beetle, into a bug that lives in manure and rolls manure into balls). And I was indeed at first a bit disappointed when I realised that Professor Tatar's translation, that her The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales is not simply the exact counterpart of Erika Eichenseer's compilation, that she obviously has used parts of Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen but actually seems to have also gone to the actual sources, to the original collection boxes/folders of stories for her primary texts, for the narratives she then translated into English (as it would have been both interesting and also enlightening to have compared and contrasted Maria Tatar's translations of the tales as they appear in The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales with and to von Schönwerth's original stories in Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen because translations always are different from the original, and I was definitely interested in reading the tales side by side and seeing what Maria Tatar might have added, where she has textually expanded and what she has taken away, removed and abridged).

But of course, I did very soon realise that I could still compare and contrast those tales, those offerings that do in fact appear in both The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales and in Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen (and many, but not all, do indeed show up in both books). However, this would have most definitely been rendered considerably easier and more user friendly if Maria Tatar would be including (in brackets) the original German titles for her translated English language headings of the tales she has used in The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales. And I really do NOT understand why she has not done this, why the original German titles of the tales have not also been put within the text proper of The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales, right alongside the English language renditions of the story titles. For while I have in fact been able to translate most of the English story titles into German and locate their counterparts (if they indeed have been included) in Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen for comparative/contrastive reading and study, this has proved at least for me to be an additional and rather frustrating, annoying bit of research that really should not need to be required (and honestly, as a celebrated and respected folklorist and Harvard University professor, I also think that Maria Tatar really should know better, should know and realise that including Franz Xaver von Schönwerth's original German titles in The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales really needs to be a given).

But my above quibbles notwithstanding, I do still very much and highly recommend The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales both for pleasure reading, entertainment and also for academic, folkloric considerations, as the presented tales in and of themselves very clearly and precisely, stridently demonstrate the main differences between how Franz Xaver von Schönwerth and his more well known and more famous contemporaries the Brothers Grimm approached collecting and compiling folklore. For yes, Von Schönwerth tended to mostly amass his folk and fairy tales from a wide variety of individuals (in different localities, from all walks of life, but the vast majority being small town or rural based), while Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm primarily asked their often and generally highly educated upper middle class Kassel friends and neighbours for contributions (and as many in their social circle were of French Huguenot background, much of the Grimms' folklore and folktale collections were actually and in fact often more of French or at least of increasingly cosmopolitan than of a specifically German background, kind of ironic and even hypocritical considering the nationalistic and anti-Napoleon, and therefore also vehemently anti-French philosophy of the two bothers).

And while the Grimms' stories and anecdotes have had to face, have gone through mutlitple publications and as such many stylistic and content based changes and editing, appearing now as rather polished, literary and thus meant for a reading, an educated public (and also specifically for children, for parents reading these stories to their children, even though the collection was at first not really intended for children, that the Grimms originally meant their collection and compilations of folk and fairy tales more for adults), Franz Xaver von Schönwerth simply collected his trove of tales and stories as is so to speak and did not in any way or at least did not much adjust and change or attempt to sanitise, edit or stylise what he had been told, what he had collected. And thus, von Schönwerth's collection of tales, they do tend to appear in a much earthier, unadorned and even visceral, sometimes off colour and grotesque manner and form, which has also and thankfully been retained in both Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen and equally so in The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (although Maria Tatar has engaged in a bit of minor adaptation here and there and has used additional words, phrases and supplemental explanations at times, understandable and perhaps even possibly sometimes required for ease of comprehension, and as such not really a huge issue, but still and nevertheless a trifle annoying to and for me).

And for me personally, one of the highlights of von Schönwerth's collections is that in these tales, there appear not only considerably more women and girls as main and primary characters, but that they are also as a rule or at least more often than not presented as being much stronger, less passive and often more inherently positive than how females are described, how they are approached and shown in the Brothers' Grimm collection (or for that matter, in many European folk and fairy tale collections, and by many authors and/or compilers). And no, I am in no way insinuating that in von Schönwerth's compiled and gathered Upper Palatinate folk and fairy tales there appear ONLY positively characterised, strong and resourceful female characters, but simply that there is a considerably larger number of positive and personally strong and independent females present in both The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales and Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen than is present in the tales of the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault et al.

So yes, for readers approaching Franz Xaver von Schönwerth's collection as novice folklorists, it will (and should) likely and rather quickly become obvious to them that very many of the presented, featured folktales (both in The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales and in Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen) are (as is of course and in fact quite natural and also to be expected) folklore types and that will feel both familiar and different at the same time (just like if one reads Charles Perrault's version of Little Red Riding Hood, it is both similar to the Grimms' version of the tale, but also quite different, with a hugely less positive and optimistic ending that also insinuates a certain amount of possible sexuality and possible sexual abuse, possible rape).

Now the introductions, commentaries and suggestions for further reading are of course appreciated, but considering the academic bent and scope of The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales also necessary and to be expected additions and bonuses (and with this in mind, I actually do wish that the included bibliography for The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales were in fact a bit more extensive than simply one and a half pages, which really is a bit majorly annoying for study and research oriented ME). Also and furthermore, while I did and do indeed much enjoy Maria Tatar's detailed commentaries on the tales (and on each of them, for that matter), I would actually strongly recommend that readers only peruse said commentaries AFTER they have read the main texts of The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales, after they have read the collected and presented folktales, so as to avoid possible spoilers and also to avoid having Professor Tatar's interpretations and analyses affect and colour one's reading, one's own assessment of the collected, featured stories.

However, for me, aside from the presented tales, aside from the narratives themselves (which yes, I do absolutely adore), the most academically and for research purposes useful and interesting inclusion that appears in The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales are the meticulously detailed notes on pages 245-264 (originally done by Nicola Schaefler for Prinz Roßzifl und andere Märchen and translated word for word by Maria Tatar). And to call these a folkloric treasure is actually a bit of an understatement, as these notes are truly amazing in every way, not only demonstrating the specific sources and geographic localities of where the stories were collected by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth but also showing and presenting the type of folktale each individual tale represents (in other words, their ATU number and designation). Most highly recommended, and even with my minor academic quibbles, The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales is a great, a superb collection of German, of Upper Palatinate Bavarian folktales, and I am so glad that Maria Tatar has translated them, that Franz Xaver von Schönwerth's collection (or should I say that part of his vast collection) is now available in English and in such an academically organised and well interpreted, interestingly analysed tome at that. And yes indeed, if you do read German, I also most strongly recommend Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen although unfortunately, Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen is not nearly as easily obtained (and was also much more expensive the last time I checked) than Maria Tatar's translation, than The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales.

[Cinzia DuBois · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, I know, I get it. Fairytales are simplistic. Very few authors write prosaic fairytales, particularly in medieval times. Franz was more of a historian collecting fairytales in their most primitive form (almost bullet-pointing the details rather than writing a story in full.)

However, these were so basic that, initially, it was funny. I was laughing out loud at how ridiculously the stories progressed, and my FAVOURITE scene of all was when a character called Hans mills off the buttocks of a man who was cheating at cards, yet then whips out said buttocks when confronting the devil to scare the devil away.

How were these milled buttocks intact? Was it buttocks powder? Why was Hans carrying the buttocks/buttocks powder around with him? How did he know it would be an effective way to push the devil back? I have so many questions and yet, so few answers.

Because Franz tells the fairytales in this almost docketed way, the tales are dry and tedious to read. I honestly felt the urge to rewrite the stories and fill in the blanks for myself. While there were some laugh-out-loud moments (because of how shockingly bad their abruptions were), the tales were too dry to sustain my interest for very long.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley. (However, I pre-ordered a kindle edition of the book prior to ARC approval).

I had heard of Von Schonwerth before the discovery of his trove by Erika Eichenseer, so I was looking forward to this book. The blurb likens von Schonwerth to Perrault, the Grimms, and Andersen – making the “trio” a quartet (we can discuss the leaving out of the women salon writers ourselves). This isn’t quite the case.

This isn’t because the stories aren’t grand; they are. But considering today’s squeamish about children’s stories, I can’t see many parents reading these stories to their children.

This is a shame really.

In many ways, von Schonwerth is better than the Grimms simply because he didn’t adjust (clean, scour, sanitize – chose the preferred term) the stories the same way the Grimms did. Hence the tales collected her tend to be on the earthy side. In fact, unlike the Grimm stories, several of the tales in this collection lend themselves quite readily to being recited at the local bar, properly over a nice dark beer.

Another aspect of the stories that set them apart not only from the Grimms, but also from Perrault and Andersen are the women in the stories. The girls and women are far stronger, more determined, and resourceful than the pretty princesses of the Grimms, the silly girls of Perrault, or the suffering or damned women of Andersen. There is Ashfeathers who is not a normal Cinderella, there is a variation of Rumpelstilken with far better women, and there is a mother who stops at nothing to protect her son. Even though she has been turned into a horse. The father in this strange family? Well, it’s his fault.

Several of the stories are types (in otherwise, they have basic plots) that most readers of fairy tales will be familiar with, the surprise and charm lies in the twists (or the earthiness) of the stories. Honestly, Thumbnickel is both the grossest and the best version of Tom Thumb I have ever read. It involves a cow and poop. There is absolutely no moral, and it is fabulous!

Another favorite is a story about a girl who saves a weasel. In many ways, this short and sweet play upon Beauty and the Beast is far more beautiful in terms of religion than the Grimms’ fables with the religious elements are heavily stressed. The mermaid stories are also far more beautiful and stunning than any Andersen short story.

This collection also includes two introductions, one by Eichenseer who discusses the finding of the tales; the other by Maria Tatar that places the stories in content. Of more interest are the notes at the end of the book, detailing not only the tale type but making comparisons and other general remarks.

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turnip princesses, louse-headed heroes, and dung-beetle princes...not quite your traditional fairy-tale fare.

Once upon a time, a collection of five hundred fairy tales were quietly locked away in an obscure archive. And there they languished, forlorn and forgotten, for over a century and a half, until one day, a brave historian ventured deep into the dusty depths of the Regensburg archives and brought them into the light of day.

Although the Grimms themselves praised his skills, Von Schonwerth’s collections never gained his contemporary collectors’ fame. Many of his stories eventually vanished from the public sphere. Which is why the discovery of five hundred previously forgotten tales is such a boon for historians.

I recently had the pleasure of reading Jack Zipes’ translation of the original versions of Grimms’ folk stories, so I was excited by the opportunity of comparing the collections. While many stories share motifs with their more famous contemporaries, Schonwerth’s tales have a very different flavour than the Grimms’.

The collection includes new versions of such old familiars as “Tom Thumb,” “Simple Hans,” “The Glass Mountain,” and one of my personal favourites, “Seven with One Blow.” The motifs--the search for a lost husband, the poor achieving victory over the nobility, the jealous mother-in-law trying to oust her son’s wife-- are all familiar, but many of the stories have new twists. “Ashfeathers” is a Cinderella tale in which the protagonist finds her love at a church service rather than a ball. One labor contract story features a priest as the villain rather than the standard fare of a devil, an ogre, or a giant. “Lousehead” (yes, that type of louse) is an interesting variation on the more standard beast disguise tale.

Maria Tatar includes a short commentary on each story, and she repeatedly points out the nontraditional gender roles of the protagonists. While Schonwerth’s tales may include more variety than the Grimms' 1857 collection or the later Disney versions, I don’t think the distribution of damsels of action and women in distress is much different than the Grimms’ original 1812 collection. Many of Schonwerth's stories still involve wicked mothers and the punishing of troublesome wives. Heroes and heroines are almost always beautiful--and in the one case where the protagonist is hard-working and plain, her reward is to be magically blessed with beauty. All the same, at least one of the stories was thought-provoking. The “Pearl Tears” involves a protagonist who has pearls and roses dropping out of her mouth, but rather than using her questionable mouth issues to find her prince, she is “blessed” with a disinterest in men and gets her happily-ever-after by running her castle solo.

Schonwerth’s stories contain many more sexual elements than the more prudish Grimms. Several of the heroines have out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and even more involve sex before marriage as the “heroic” action the protagonist must undertake. An odd Bluebeard-like tale involves seven princesses married to the same man and a bevy of mermaids whose sexual wiles enchant the hapless prince. One particularly crass story has a village woman moon the protagonist, only to have him respond with a hot poker in an uncomfortable area. Even more intriguingly, one happy ending involves the heroine giving her unwanted fatherless baby to the wood sprites-- an outcome many women of the day might have desperately desired. Another story ends with the impoverished mother cheerfully selling her daughter to the ice giants for seven golden apples, an outcome the daughter seems to accept with aplomb.

In Schonwerth’s collection, not all curses get broken, and not all stories have a happy ending. In one story, the mermaids steal and graphically devour a baby. In another, they abduct and murder a young child. In “The Snake’s Treasure,” the protagonist is told to follow a series of Tam Lin-like instructions, but is distracted by greed, leaving the princess enchanted and un-rescued.

Fairy tales aren’t the easiest reads. The characters tend to be caricatures, the stories repetitive and abrupt. The morality see-saws between pious moralizing and burlesque gallows humour. For each tale with a happy-ever-after achieved by simple-minded kindness, there is another that celebrates the protagonist’s savage trickery. Fairy tales are the bones of stories, sharp and sometimes ugly, stripped clean of subtlety and logic, but these archetypes support and shape even the fiction of today.

I received this ebook through Netgalley from the publishers, Penguin Classics, in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

The rating, any status updates, and those bookshelves, indicate my feelings for this book.

[eden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many, perhaps most, of these tales will be familiar to anyone who has read the Grimm brothers' original tales, in all their dark and often gory glory. You will find no sanitized Disney versions here. Instead, these tales are often strange and incoherent, full of dubious morality and ambiguous causality. Many of them sound like the kinds of stories told by young children, with characters and events materializing out of nowhere for no good reason but that they spontaneously occurred to the storyteller. Overall, the substance of the tales was enjoyable and humorous enough, and those which were completely new to me were interesting.

Unfortunately, the prose was awful. Really awful. Part of this is apparently due to Schönwerth. From the Guardian's 2012 article, reporting on the discovery of these tales:

Von Schönwerth was a historian and recorded what he heard faithfully, making no attempt to put a literary gloss on it, which is where he differs from the Grimm brothers. However, says Eichenseer, this factual recording adds to the charm and authenticity of the material. What delights her most about the tales is that they are unpolished. "There is no romanticising or attempt by Schönwerth to interpret or develop his own style," she says.

I take this to mean that the original German is not beautiful, which means the translators were completely successful in preserving the ugliness of the prose. Because this English translation is ugly and abrupt. But worse than this: the translators have filled the tales with modern English idioms. Why, why would they do this?

I appreciated the notes at the end classifying each story according to type and providing the original German titles. But the explanatory notes were not very illuminating or insightful.

So I found myself thinking, Maybe there's a reason these tales were lost in a drawer for 150 years. Maybe they're more for the academic or fairy tale completist than the casual aficionado, especially if this is the only English translation we get. It's nice these tales were found but perhaps not necessary. I think the Grimm brothers have it covered -- and much more enchantingly at that.

*The publisher provided a free copy for review via Netgalley.*

[Fi]

Waiting patiently for an English translation!

[Susana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edit:

People: Guys/ Women, this is my personal opinion.
It's a really weak review _ yes, I am aware of that _ but I honestly don't feel as if it deserves more from me.
It's not like people pay me to be bored out of my senses...

Yes, I am aware that the dispassionate writing style was intended as such: Like you guys, I also read the book's presentation..

Despite that, this is my review space. My review. My words.
This means that self righteous comments will be deleted and the people who make them will be blocked.
You want to talk about this book?
First read it, and then write your own review. And then people will also be able to comment on your reviews.



Arc provided by Penguin Classics through Netgalley



DNF at 20%

"The newly discovered Fairy Tales" part in the title, was what made me request this...since I am a fairy tale addict.
Unfortunately, what I discovered was a confusing mishmash of other well known fairy-tales_ at least the first twenty that I read...
My mistake: I thought I would be reading original fairy tales and not adaptations of Perrault's and The Grimm Brothers' tales. Only these have male characters in the leading roles.

I could keep on reading this, but life is too short, and I am already familiar with most of them...

Bottom Line: Nothing wrong with it _ I wasn't crazy about the dispassionate writing style _ it's German, so most tales are bloody and gory, so better read it yourself and grab some other book for the kids.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bawdy, expectation-overturning collection of German fairy tales.

The brothers Grimm, it turns out, took out a *lot* of things from their fairy tales. The Schonwerth-collected tales feature:

--Extramarital sex.
--Defectation.
--Gender-reversing tales.
--Tales about adult situation, that is, themes that kids and teen wouldn't care about, like quality of life in old age and how to die happy.

I liked it a lot and recommend it for general readers.

[Jalilah · Rating 5 out of 5]

As it says in the cover description, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth was a contemporary of the Grimm brothers, however his manuscripts disappeared until they were recently discovered in the Regensburg municipal archive. Although they contain all the typical fairytale motifs: getting lost in woods, evil stepmothers, the youngest third son, the enchanted prince ( or princess or king or queen), the little man in the woods, the old crone who asks for alms, 3 quests, 3 wishes, a forbidden room and and and...........these tales are refreshingly different! They evoke the mountains and forests of 19th Century Southern Germany where Von Schönwerth is from. These tales deserve an equal place along side the Grimm brothers, the French court writers and Hans Christian Anderson, for they truly are enchanting!

[Cheryl]

Gosh, they're like crazy recipes. I mean, most of the bits that we see here are familiar from other stories, but in these very brief stories it's like the old grannies and nannies just plucked assorted ingredients from Grimm and tradition, and tossed the bits in new combinations, often not bothering with coherence or sequence. Sometimes 1 evil stepfather + a youngest daughter + a loathly bride + 3 wishes works, sometimes it doesn't....

Mostly I was pretty bored. The stories are only a titch longer than a fable from Aesop, giving one no chance to get in and enjoy. If it weren't for the annotations in the notes at the end of the book I wouldn't have finished, but Tatar had something interesting or illuminating to say about every story so I persevered.

I would not have liked this when I was a young girl hooked on fairy tales, either. Some children nowadays might like this collection, and honestly Tatar makes even the adult themes ok for most readers age 8 or 9 and up. But probably it's best for (besides scholars/ historians/ anthropologists) writers and artists. If a talented picture-book creator wants to tackle one of these stories, pulling the ingredients together, adding coherency and illustrations, and *crediting this source,* I say more power to them.

Note: I am not a scholar at all. I know of the "types" that tales are sorted into but I don't study them. I am aware that Jack Zipes and Maria Tatar are big names in the field. But really all I can say is that I have read a lot of fairy tales, folk tales, wonder tales, and adaptations. So... do I rate? Gosh, at this point, I do not think that I feel qualified. Note that my personal enjoyment is 2*, but the book is of value and I do recommend that if you're interested you should check it out.

[Maxine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like so many other readers, fairy tales were a huge part of my childhood. They were my cautionary tales, my morality plays, and my protection against the evil that lurked under the bed. As much as I enjoyed the sanitized versions in the Disney movies, it was the older tales in which there was no huntsman to save Little Red and Bluebeard had ways to deal with curious wives that I most loved. Even as I grew out of childhood, I never completely outgrew the magic of fairytales. So when a few years ago, a treasure trove of fairy tales were discovered in a vault that had been locked for 150 years, I, like so many others, was thrilled at the prospect of reading them. The tales were originally collected by Franz Xaver Schonwerth in Bavaria in the 1850s. According to the Introduction, he wanted to preserve them in their original form so what we get here are the tales as they were first told to him and as he wrote them down. They were beautifully translated by Harvard Professor and folklorist, Maria Tatar.

The Turnip Princess offers 72 of these rediscovered stories. Many are familiar and are clearly regional variations on familiar tales like Cinderella and Snow White but many like the title story are completely unique. The stories are collected into six parts, each representing the type of tale: animals, magic, nature, legends etc. and they are all quite short, some as little as a paragraph. There is also an introduction that explains the history and significance of the discovery and, at the end, a synopsis of the tales.

As is pointed out in the introduction, fairy tales were not originally for children but were ‘cleaned up’ in later years to be more child-friendly. Thankfully, these tales have not been sanitized for a younger audience so that we not only get to see fairy tales as they were originally told but, with this, we are given a better understanding of the original audience - there are, for example some interesting scatological references in some of the tales that suggest that a 19th c. audience appreciated a good ‘fart’ joke as much as we do. There is also an interesting amount of gender-bending in many of these tales so that Cinderella becomes ‘Cinderfella’ as well as several overt Christian references often linked with more pagan imagery. As Professor Tatar says, these stories are ‘almost on steroids’ full of sex and violence and they will completely change your perspective on ‘happily ever after’

[Alicia Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful exploration of rough, unrefined oral tradition. anyone interested in symbol, archetype or myth (or just fairy tales!) would enjoy them.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

And Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales

In 2012, a bunch of long lost fairy tales were discovered. Now, we can read them for the first time in an English translation. What I really liked about the fairy tales is that they were written down as the local stories of the region. And while some of them do seem very similar to more well known fairy tales, it just goes to show how stories start to diverge in different regions.

I'm not at all that familiar with reading real fairy tales, the ones that do not have a happy ending and a Disney wedding at the end. The stories are very short, sometimes just a few pages long, but it was easily and readable. It also read way faster than I anticipated. Sometimes the stories did feel a little bit more of the same, but not to the point it got annoying.

If you love fairy tales, you should check out these new ones. But you might want to choose something else to read to your little children.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Vale76 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, mamma mia....
Questa è stata la lettura di fiabe più noiosa e insoddisfacente della mia vita. Tanto belle e avvincenti sono le fiabe russe di Afanasjev, o le nostre nazionali selezionate da Calvino, tanto barbose e deludenti queste "fiabe" bavaresi che, detto fra noi, se per due secoli sono rimaste chiuse in un cassetto, forse, un motivo ci sarà..
Una qual certa ripetitività dei temi fiabeschi è abbastanza inevitabile, trattandosi di fiabe popolari, ma quando il lettore sbadiglia e si trascina per settimane nella lettura, è segno che qualcosa non funziona..in questa raccolta, soltanto le storie dei primi due gruppi (fiabe di magia e fiabe di animali), a mio parere, sono fiabe propriamente dette; il resto è materiale di vario genere, composto, più che altro, da storielle, facezie (quasi delle barzellette), o miti.
In tutti i casi, anche nei testi più riusciti, si tratta dei soliti temi, ritornelli già ampiamente presenti in altre raccolte più famose. Anche la prosa, in alcuni casi troppo asciutta, mi lascia ovunque un senso d'incompletezza: troppo spesso sembra di leggere dei riassunti.

Insomma, tanto entusiasmo iniziale, spentosi quasi subito.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Newly discovered fairy tales? Yes please. These did not disappoint. Many have elements of more familiar tales, but they are definitely something new. I'm so glad these tales are finally seeing the light! I enjoyed reading them a handful at a time before bed each night.

[Margaryta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Penguin Group for providing me with an egallery copy of the book to review.

I loved the Grimm fairytales since I was a kid. Safe to say I even grew up on them. Fairytales have always held a special spot in my life when it comes to reading and even now that I’m a teenager I still can safely say I’ll never get too old for fairytales. The Germans are, safe to say, well known for their dark tales. Coming across “The Turnip Princess” created an instant spark of interest – new fairy tales that have been found after being hidden for so long? Yes please!

However the initial fascination quickly turned into a long of head scratching and sighing, and here’s where it becomes problematic to critique. From an editorial point of view I think that book was put together wonderfully – the introduction was informative and the notes at the end of the book were very detailed about each story, giving interesting context and background information that, to a curious reader, is invaluable. From this angle the book is wonderful. What was disappointing was the content, the stories themselves.

Perhaps if I go and reread The Brothers Grimm now I will have the same reaction so I cannot say with too much certainty, yet I found the stories boring. Several of them were ones I already knew, like the one about the brave tailor who thought he killed seven flies in one swing, or the one about the girl who got magic acorns from which she received a dress and shoes. These are stories I know of from other European, both Germanic and Slavic, cultures, so to find them in the book gave a reaction in the form of a disappointing “Oh”. The stories are simple and not very gory from what I’d say. You do have some of your standard things like chopping off a finger but to those who are familiar with other fairy tales this shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Perhaps it’s the fact that I have read so many fairy tales that it has begun to feel repetitive for me – I’ll accept that. For readers who have a much fresher start in the fairy tale department this might be more enjoyable, but after finishing the book I couldn’t quite understand what the big deal was when these were found. They don’t offer too much to the already broad world of stories, most not only regurgitating the same themes but also using the same details and approaches to do so. This book, then, is for the more patient reader, one who doesn’t mind reading over many of the same details and messages over again, although these ones are much more abrupt and rather rough in their storytelling method, with rough transitions and lacking even that “fairy tale” quality to them. Someone will appreciate these stories, and I understand them. This is a big part of history that, to those who understand the value and love it, will find this an invaluable addition to their literary traverse. For me this was a quick, leisurely read that will quickly prove itself forgetful.

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long, long time ago, there lived a princess, and a prince, and a talking frog, and a daring dung beetle, and a couple homely honey bees - spring time assassins of the Oak King. Okay, I may have lost the plot there. I'm just going to go ahead and yank back on that thread I threw out there (read: spoil everything) and confirm that there are no assassin honey bees in this book.

My point is this: a long, long time ago cultures were built upon the tips of tongues. A rich oral tradition was just as vital to the progress of time as any other building block and stories spun by bedside or from the corner of a town's inn on a dreary night each had their own ripples. Some of those ripples have given us modern fairytales which are a blend of many different influences and era-centric attitudes. Some of those ripples faded to the background in certain times and places for any number of reasons. The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales turns an eye to the efforts of one man, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, and his desire to seek out the origins and petering sparks of lost fairytales. The ancestral timbre of these lost stories isn't blunted by any generational sieve and, as such, they capture quite a bit more of the intensity of their eras.

I enjoyed this collection as a whole. There were some stories that I felt were better than others and some I can definitely see myself rereading in the future. There were also stories whose connection to what have become Disneyfied fairytales was obvious in parts and some that felt like a fresh script entirely. I think that blend makes this a pretty important book for fairytale and folklore fans and writers right off the bat. The story of their discovery and collection even has a bit of lore like feel to it in itself. An adventuring collector of lost stories, dusty boxes slumbering away until a discovery is made.

I'd love to see the trajectory of this collection; what ripples it gives off and in what avenues. Honestly, I think right now is a pretty perfect time for this book to make its greatest impact. We've been in the trenches of retelling for such a long time and as comfortable (or disastrous depending on your capability for retelling angst, character angst, or simply angst in general) as our beloved stories can be as first imagined and reimagined (and reimagined and reimagined) - a fresh breath is welcome and wonderful to experience.

[beesp · Rating 4 out of 5]

La storia di questo libro è un'avventura, quella di una studiosa che per anni ha cercato i fogli che le avrebbero restituito le storie raccolte da von Schönwerth, e che quando sono entrate in suo possesso, le hanno restituito molto più di quanto si potesse immaginare. Perché è vero che queste fiabe introducono qualcosa di diverso da quelle dei fratelli Grimm.
Quand'ho saputo di queste "nuove fiabe", mi sono emozionata. Perché trovo meravigliosa l'idea di un patrimonio culturale custodito, nascosto come un tesoro. Eccolo che rispunta e che ci lascia apprendere ed osservare una testimonianza dal passato, cristallizzata nella sua forma.
Vorrei che tutti potessero avere la possibilità di conoscere queste nuove fiabe -- le possibilità sono infinite. Il materiale narrativo è lo stesso, ma certo, cambia il modo di organizzarlo.
Da piccola potevo solo sognare qualcosa del genere. Sono tornata un po' bambina, o meglio: ho immaginato come sarebbe bello scoprire alcune di queste storie assieme ad un bambino, vedere le sue reazioni. Certo, non tutte le storie sono adatte ai bambini, ma altre sono piene di magia e sono perfette. Senza fronzoli, senza troppo spiegare, molto è lasciato all'immaginazione e alla capacità di fantasticare.
Sono fiabe bellissime. Non c'è altro da dire.

[Vickii · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2012, a fortunate researcher discovered hidden manuscripts which had been locked away for over 150 years, including 500 unread fairytales by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, a historian from Germany, which are believed to be written around a similar time to the Grimm’s Brothers stories.

Penguin have put together a collection of these untold myths and legends, beautifully translated and edited by Maria Tatar and Erika Einchenseer into English, which are full of majestic beasts, scornful witches, stubborn royalty and many other whimsical characters and storylines.

I’m a sucker for Penguin Classics and fairytales, so this was a complete joy for me to read. My favourite tales include: Three Flowers. The Wolves, Thumbernickel, In The Jaws of the Merman, The Devil and the Fisherman, The Signing Tree, and countless others. I can’t wait to purchase my own copy. I would highly recommend to those who enjoy reading the likes of the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault. I can’t wait to purchase my own copy!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so I found this to be a great anthology of short stories. Each one just as good as the last. Sometimes I found some stories not as likable or half of the book this way. SO then I feel cheated or let down. Which I did not feel while reading this book. I was familiar with a lot of the stories but a bunch I was not familiar with so I was intrigued by those ones. Yet at the same time it was nice to rediscover and reconnect with the old ones as well.

Not every story is warm and fuzzy either. Some where really dark which I really digged. I can't pick just one or two or even five stories. Because as I said before, I enjoyed them all. So if you like fairy tales, then treat yourself to this book.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love fairytales ❤

[Fran]

Se queste favole erano andate perse, un motivo doveva pur esserci.

Lette con mia figlia diciottenne, a metà fra le grasse risate e lo sgomento.

[Joy Pixley · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read nothing else of this review, here's the most important part: at the end of the book is a set of brief commentaries about each story. I found the comments very interesting, so much so that I wish they'd been even longer. I didn't realize this until I'd read all the stories, and I ended up going back and rereading every story so that I could read the commentary in conjunction with it. So if you're interested in the commentary, flip to the back first.

This set of fairy tales and folk tales were collected by von Schonwerth from villagers and written down, supposedly, verbatim, without being cleaned up or edited or "fixed". They have a refreshingly raw quality to them. The classic fairy tale tropes are all there -- the talking animals, the gifts of highly specific magical items, the odd ritual or quest the main character is told to do that breaks the curse and frees the prince or princess (or makes them beautiful again; these stories are downright obsessed with beautiful people). And everyone who can get married off at the end of the story usually does.

But these stories are rough-cut. They made me realize how accustomed I am to neat and tidy narratives, edited in modern fashion, where if something is brought up it's always for a reason. But here, you start in one place with one set of characters and sometimes those people are never mentioned again. For instance, one story starts with a dying man asking his three sons to sit vigil over his grave. They take turns: first the eldest son thwarts a graverobber, then the middle son does the same, then the youngest thwarts three. The youngest son sees that the fire has gone out, and wanders off to grab a burning log from a giants' fire. He thus goes off on an entirely unrelated adventure. Much later he is living with his poor mother (who appears from nowhere) but his brothers and their father's grave are never mentioned again.

The stories often offer no explanations for why any of the characters do the strange things they do. Ordinary people happen to have powerful and coincidentally appropriate magic items for no apparent reason, or fairies or dwarves show up and provide the main characters with magic items for even less reason. For instance, an old woman begs three soldiers to share the warmth of their fire, and gives them priceless magical gifts in return, including a purse that refills with gold whenever you empty it. Why didn't she just give the soldiers some gold and keep the purse for herself? One of these soldiers later has his magic items stolen by a princess who's frustrated that he won't return her love; after he tricks her to get them back, he murders her and her father and everyone else in the city -- wait, he's the good guy? Many of the stories employ twists or actions like this that would never fly in a modern retelling or Disney movie, where classic tales are revised to add detail about the characters and their motives.

I was struck by two thoughts throughout this book. First, it made me wonder if people who originally told these stories were telling the whole thing, or if they understood additional background material that's not included in the texts. That is, perhaps these stories and their characters all made perfect sense in their original context. What assumptions would the contemporary listener have been expected to make? What gaps would they know how to fill in? Or did the tellers of these stories have a different standard for "making sense" or for what constitutes a "story"? Second, although many themes were familiar, they were put together in unique ways, and there was much that was novel and thus exciting. This made me wonder -- not for the first time -- why, given the wealth of tales and myths and legends out there, does modern literature restrict itself to retelling such a small subset of them? The book was worth reading (twice) just for inspiring my musings on these issues.

The commentary mentions several folk tale themes using the term "ATU" (which are also identified for each story in the last section). I learned that this is the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index, an international catalog of folktale types. This sent me down a rabbit hole of fairytale and folktale scholarship; I had no idea! I would love to study more on this topic.

Reading these stories along with the commentary in the back made me think about fairy tales in a new way, and that was an extra bonus on top of just enjoying the stories themselves. Recommended for fans of fairytales and folktales.

[Alina Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well it took me a while to get through THIS collection of stories. Carefully crafted and subtly modernized fairy tales these are not. They are instead, as Harvard folklore scholar Maria Tatar delicately puts it in the introduction, of a “rough-hewn quality”.

The stories in this collection are short. How short, you ask? Considering that the volume is only 216 pages, I expected, oh I don’t know, between 10 or 12 stories total. No. There are EIGHTY stories in this collection. Which means that the longest stories are about 4 pages, and the shortest, less than a page. Um. Is it possible to tell a good story with that little space? Maybe, but unfortunately no such examples exist in this collection put together by Schonwerth.

Schonwerth (born 1810) was not, as you see, interested in the quality of the tales themselves. He collected these stories in the form of oral histories from townspeople, peasants, laborers, farmhands, rustics, countrymen, swains, etc., ultimately recording hundreds of them. Basically, the dude was fascinated by the “common people” of his native Bavaria and had too much time on his hands. 500 of these stories were lost in an archive until 2009 (were they really lost or did someone just want to bury these shitty stories? one might legitimately wonder) when a scholar rediscovered them. Hence the “newly discovered fairy tales” subtitle that intrigued me and perhaps other unfortunate readers who didn’t know what they were getting into.

I could only read a handful of stories at a time before I felt like I was going absolutely crazy. If I had to describe these stories in one word, it would be random. Bizarre. Full of non-sequiturs. There cannot be 1) that many kingdoms 2) that many kings 3) that many princes and princesses 4) that many people who have exactly three children 5) that many people who have three children of the same gender 6) that many people who have three children of the same gender and of whom the youngest is unequivocally the most beautiful/intelligent/skilled. I get that things coming in a set of three is a classic narrative tool. I do. But for that to be the structure of every story! For princes and princesses to always be cursed into animal forms including, most popularly, a toad, but sometimes also beetles, and as in the titular story, a turnip. And for the hero to have to carry out the weirdest assortment of tasks in order to get the prince/princess as a reward. A lot of enchantments could only be broken if the hero slept overnight in a cursed castle (for three nights, of course) and was beaten (for three nights in a row in increasingly violent ways) or did a favor for a dwarf or fought three giants or, ideally, did some combination of all of those things in one cattywampus story. Bavarians in the 1850s sure did have a weird sense of what constituted entertainment. And their value system was contradictory to say the least.

As you may have gleaned from my review, the backstory of this Schonwerth collection is far more interesting than the tales themselves. This collection was really not intended for the casual reader as there is no literary or entertainment value whatsoever. They are doubtless of interest to folklore and fairy tale scholars because they do, after all, constitute original source material. Someone sufficiently scholarly (a Harvard mythology professor, perhaps) could probably link these stories to other materials from that era and make some solid observations about life in Bavaria in the mid-19th century. But unfortunately all I concluded from this volume is that transcribing stories literally, and shoving as many trite fantasy elements into four pages as you possibly can, does not make a story worth reading.

[Gail Baugniet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The back cover of the book, The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales, states that in the 1850s the author "traversed the forests, lowlands, and mountains of northern Bavaria to record fairy tales" so I had high hopes of reading detailed information about Bavaria in the 1850s. No such luck.

Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth offers saucy tales a bit to the left of PG-13 but the details are familiarly-laced with orphans, knights, prince and princess matings, talking animals, and pots of gold. No colorful description or imaginative details of lowlands, forests, or mountains receive mention, however.

What is most jarring about the tales, aside from the lilly-white daughters being used as pawns without question by their father or themselves, is how the defining or supporting clues to a satisfactory solution are often added at the end almost as an afterthought. "But how could he marry his sister?" "Oh, she was a foster child."

The commentary by Maria Tatar, at the end of the book, offers a synopsis and an interpretation of each fairy tale. These are quite interesting and informative.

[Karen Laird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review
I grew up cutting my teeth on all the best that the Grimm Brothers had to offer. The tales from the Black Forest of Germany and Europe were based on folk legend and tales dating back into the middle ages and older. I loved the stories of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and oh so many others. Disney took these tales and brightened them even more into “Happily Ever After” stories. What more could any child ever ask for growing up? It wasn’t until my adult years when I acquired the complete works of the Brothers Grimm that I discovered just how dark their version of the old world folk tales truly were.
But taking these most ancient of oral folk legends and setting them down on paper so that they would not disappear with time was not limited to the Brothers Grimm. Back in the mid-1800s, Franz Xavier Von Schonwerth determined that he didn’t want the folk legends of his native Bavaria to disappear with time and spent a great deal of time collecting stories from local sourceand binding them into a collection. Some of those stories have come down through time, but others just disappeared and no one knew what became of his work until a few years ago when they were discovered in the attic of a municipal building in the Bavarian Alps.
With the translation and release of this new collection, we have been given a glimpse into fairytales of the region and time that have not been adulterated by Hollywood or Disney. They are refreshing and straight forward, with no preambling "Once Upon A Time" to give us hope of "Everafter". He starts right in as an old grandmother or grandfather would in the oral tradition of "There was a boy", or a fox or whatever. In many ways they remind me of the folk tales that Joe Hayes collected and told of Northern New Mexico, and that dated back to the 1600’s in their origins. The basis of those same folk tales most likely having come over with the Conquistadors in the 1600’s from Spain.
Like the nursery rhymes of old, where the farmer's wife cuts off mice's tales with butcher knives, Franz doesn't soften and frill things up and make things pretty and innocent. Life is as life is; hard and harsh, but there are lessons to be learned. We are not talking blood and guts and gore, but life wasn't polished and programed for evening TV viewing until within the last sixty years or so. The New Yorker wrote an interesting article on Franz and his work.
The Turnip Princess is a read that is a delight for story time with older kids, but more important, it is a fabulous find for folk literature. It is not just Franz’s ability to retain the story for posterity’s sake alone, but also his obvious joy in bringing these tales to life. With the turn of a phrase and careful attention to his storytelling skills, he makes them dance with humor and sometimes with a touch of terror.
Hidden within each of the short stories is a basic moral lesson to be learned. For most folk tales were in fact moral sermons. The collection is divided into five different catagories that include:

· Tales of Magic
· Tales of Enchanted Animals
· Other Worldly Creatures
· Legends
· Tall Tales
· Tales About Nature

The selection of stories includes titles that capture the imagination.

· The Flying Trunk
· Twelve Tortoises
· Seven With One Blow
· The Toad Bride
· The Prince Dung Beetle

I have added The Turnip Princess to my children’s library, as well as consider it a wonderful literary addition to my world literature collection. The collection is going on the shelf with Aesop’s Fables, the Brother’s Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and Joe Hayes.

The Turnip Princess is scheduled for release February 24, 2015.


I give this book a definite FIVE STAR rating for children’s literature, world folk literature, and just a great fun read. Net Galley provided a copy of The Turnip Princess to Shade Tree Book Reviews for the purpose of reading and reviewing.


About the Author (from Wikepedia)
Schönwerth was born in Amberg in the Upper Palatinate, the first of five children of the royal characters professor Joseph Schönwerth.From 1821 he attended the local grammar school . From 1832 he studied Cameralism in Munich, 1834 jurisprudence at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich . After first working years as a legal intern in 1840 he received a permanent position as Ratsakzessist in the Government of Upper Bavaria . From 1845 on, he was private secretary in the service of the Crown Prince Maximilian and was after his accession to the throne in 1848 his cabinet chief. In 1851 he was Executive Council. In 1852 he moved to the Bavarian Ministry of Finance as Ministerial and was raised in 1859 in the personal nobility.
Schönwerth explored 1852-1886 the life of the Upper Palatinate population and recorded his observations. Between 1857 and 1859 he published his three-volume work entitled: From the Upper Palatinate - customs and legends. But published it is only a small part of his extensive research.

Schonwerth Gravesite

Grave of Franz Xaver Schönwerth on his 125th death anniversary
During his visits in the Upper Palatinate recorded Schönwerth say , fairy tales , anecdotes , kids games , nursery rhymes and - songs and proverbs on. He watched the life in the house and yard, described the rural life, thecustoms and costumes. He left us on the basis of his notes a living image of the life of the Upper Palatinate population of the 19th century. Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) wrote of him: ". Nowhere in the whole of Germany is prudent, fuller and has been obtained so quiet sense" [ 1]
In 1886 Schönwerth died in Munich. His final resting place he found in the Old North Cemetery .

[Courtney Kleefeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

These newly discovered fairy tales remind me a little bit of the Grimms fairy tales, with a few differences. The characters here feel a little more interesting, with one or two minor details of the manner in which they are doing something, or a more precise detail. There is less description of place and objects here than in the Grimms fairy tales, which the Grimm brothers lengthened for literary purposes. And there is some crassness in some of the tales here, which while not pleasant, lends a sense of character to the specific culture these tales came from.
Many of the stories I enjoyed a lot - there are even some artists in it. I enjoyed the story of Ashfeathers, which is very much a Cinderella story but with a nobleman instead of a prince and a church instead of a ball. King Goldenlocks is a good one too, though that one is available for anyone to read online.
Some of the stories made me laugh, too.
And then a few of them I detested, one in which a clever thief does much harm to everyone he meets and gets away.
I kind of want to buy this book for myself, or another collection of Schonwerth's stories somewhere. It's fascinating.
I'd recommend it more to older readers who love traditional folk tales - these stories are definitely not for children.

[Silver Petticoat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this review and others at The Silver Petticoat Review: The Turnip Princess

Review by Elizabeth Hopkinson

In 2009, a fairy tale expert called Erika Eichenseer made an exciting discovery. After years of searching, she found about five hundred tales from the collection of 19th-century German folklorist Franz Xaver von Schonwerth (O in surname needs umlaut) in the municipal archive of the city of Regensburg. No one had read them for years and years. The story hit headlines around the world. Now about seventy of the tales have been translated into English by academic Maria Tatar and published as The Turnip Princess.

The fairy tales all come from the Upper Palatinate, the eastern part of Bavaria. They were collected by Schonwerth from oral storytellers around the region, many of whom told tales in their local dialect, which Schonwerth carefully preserved. He didn’t attempt to edit or adapt the tales, just record them. Had he lived 50 or 100 years later, he would probably have made audio recordings which – ironically – would now be harder to access.

The fairy tales in the book are organised into six categories: Tales of Magic and Romance, Enchanted Animals, Otherworldly Creatures, Legends, Tall Tales and Anecdotes, and Tales About Nature. There are brief notes on each tale in the back of the book and – for the really keen – sources and Aarne-Thompson types for all the tales.(See http://www.frankelassociates.com/cali...).

Some of the stories are versions of well-known tales (Cinderella, The Musicians of Bremen, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin, for example). Others are gender-reversed versions of those tales. We meet a king called Goldenlocks, several frog and toad brides, and a Cinderfella who is identified by the king as being the true owner of a red boot – and consequently thrown in jail! Yet other tales are quite unique, unlike any I have read before. Many have happy endings, but some don’t. And in some of the tales, good does not triumph over evil, and characters (literally) get away with murder.

When I first heard about the Schonwerth collection, I was very excited and couldn’t wait for the English translation to come out. Hearing that the tales were still “in the rough,” I half-expected them to be confusing jumbles, difficult to read or understand. That is not the case. They are extremely easy to read and make perfect sense.

But the oral tradition does show through in a number of ways. For one thing, the earthier elements of fireside storytelling have not been removed. In “Hans the Strong Man,” the hero grinds his adversary’s buttocks down with a millstone. (Reminds me of a scene in Spongebob Squarepants!) For another thing, the plots often take weird twists and turns with no real explanation for why something happened, or how a person or object suddenly came to be in that place.

Why does a weasel crawl out from a crevice and lick the eyes of the Titans in “The Sun’s Shadow”? We don’t know. Some of the tales appear to end abruptly, or have one episode more than they really need. We get the impression of nightly storytelling sessions, in which tales can continue from one night to another in serial form, turning in whichever way takes the teller’s fancy. The same tale might be told several times, but not necessarily have the same ending each time. A different occasion might call for a different outcome.

Everyone will have their own favourites in this collection, but here are some of mine:

Nine Bags of Gold

Only child Marie complains of having no brothers or sisters, so little elves come up through the floorboards to be her brothers and sisters, and teach her to read, write, and knit. In the end, the fortunes of the entire family depend on the little elves, and Marie never forgets to reward them.

Pearl Tears

There is a tale similar to this in East of the Sun and West of the Moon, but I like this one better. A mistreated girl gains the Virgin Mary for a godmother. Her curiosity leads to her being expelled from the Virgin’s palace, but when she gets home, she finds that she can weep pearls and laugh roses. When she wishes to escape marriage, she is brought back to the palace, where she takes the Virgin’s place as protector of the poor.

The Enchanted Quill

A man promises his sister in marriage to a crow, in return for the creature’s waking him from a sleep so long his beard had grown several feet while he slept. The curiosity of her other two sisters prevents the spell on the crow being broken immediately, but the crow gives his faithful beloved an enchanted feather from his wing which, when used as a quill, will cause any wish written with it to come true. The girl uses the quill’s magic to repel the advances of other men, and the crow is finally able to transform into a prince.

Adaptation Recommendation

Where to start? Since these tales haven’t been heard since the nineteenth century, there is scope for adaptations galore – novels, films, artwork, music…etc. And with such great variety, there is room for a whole variety of styles and tones. “Nine Bags of Gold” would make a beautiful children’s book. I can almost see the illustrations! “The Singing Tree,” however, is closer in tone to Pan’s Labyrinth. And I certainly wouldn’t want to turn “Oferla” into a children’s book!