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Author
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Comment
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(12/23/02 2:57:40 pm)
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Land-Sea; Male-Female
Has anyone noticed that in fairy tales and folklore male shapeshifters, or those bespelled, are "most often" land creatures like bears, hedgehogs, snakes, etc (except for the frog prince) and female shapeshifters are watery creatures like mermaids, sirens, seals, etc.
Of course there are mermen and such, but I though this was interesting.
Elizabeth
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Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(12/24/02 4:40:40 am)
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Another opinion
Having just had a book on mermen published (THE FISH PRINCE & OTHER MERMEN STORIES, Interlink Books), I beg to differ. There are hundreds of mermen stories: spirits of wells, rivers, seas, oceans, etc.
Jane
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(12/24/02 7:50:22 am)
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well...
I know that there are a lot of mermen stories out there , but when was the last time a woman was depicted as a polar bear exactly? Oh, but just recently I was looking at some fairy tale art and there was the most amazing picture of animal people. One of them was of a sphinx and it was all sunsetty and golden.
Liz
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(12/24/02 7:52:03 am)
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well...
I know that there are a lot of mermen stories out there , but when was the last time a woman was depicted as a polar bear exactly? Oh, but just recently I was looking at some fairy tale art and there was the most amazing picture of animal people. One of them was of a sphinx and it was all sunsetty and golden.
Liz:
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Midori
Unregistered User
(12/24/02 8:09:41 am)
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context
Liz,
I'm with Jane on this one. Think about Kitsune--the Japanese female fox, and there is a Chinese female snake shapeshifter, Native American Deer Woman, a gazillion bird transformations (Peggy Vaughn shifting into the "ruse of a swan") and there are a few beloved sisters transformed into killer dragons.
It seems like a cool idea..but I think it really depends on the culture and the context...there are very few watery female images among Southern African tales or Tibetan tales--but lots of shapeshifting into animal and insect forms.
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(12/24/02 8:10:30 am)
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Innuit
Lots of Innuit tales involve shapeshifting, men and women into animals of all sorts native to the Arctic.
Jane
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cpe
Unregistered User
(12/28/02 1:56:57 am)
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well
I was just thinking about the Kraken, the sea monster (male) who threatens to munch ANDROMEDA'S BONES, AND was thinking about Kaliban the swamp creature man who is punished for his mother has claimed she is more beautiful than a Goddess. There a re quite a few sea water lake creATURES, INCLUDING THE FAMOUS dan millman story collected from Inuit called Penis In The Lake aboht the man under the water.
Okay, I am going to my room now
(chortling all the way)
cpe
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(12/28/02 5:23:11 pm)
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I give up
Okay, I admit it. You got me. I geuss I'm just not quite as well read as all of you, but what can I say my parents raised me on Hans Christian Anderson books not World Folktales(sniff). Its been so kind of you to correct me(bully). Here I thought I was being clever. Well I should have known you would all have it in for me. What does a aeventeen year old college freshman know anyway? No I'm just kidding. I actually love hearing about all this stuff. It can be hard to find on the net and a few key words can put you on the right track.
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cpe
Unregistered User
(12/28/02 6:16:52 pm)
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fairytale bully kicked sand in face
Dear Elizabeth; if you are the one moving to Yelllowknife, good luck and God Bless. Stay warm. Your delightful sense of humor will go a long way toward that...
all best.
cpe
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