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Author
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Comment
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coffeeshakti
Registered User
(6/16/06 9:36 am)
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fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
Hi all
I was wondering if anyone knows of any fairy tales in which spinning,
knitting, weaving ect. feature. Of course there is Rumplstilzkin
and the Grimm Fairy Tale the Three Spinners, but other then that
I am having trouble coming up with anything. any suggestions would
be very helpful.
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Heidi Anne Heiner
ezOP
(6/16/06 10:11 am)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
Try these:
SPIN ME A YARN
SPINNING IN MYTHS AND FOLKTALES
And you can search for this book online or at your library:
Spin Span Spun: Facts and Folklore for Spinners and Weavers
And don't forget the cursed spindle in Sleeping Beauty.
Heidi
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searsmith
Registered User
(6/16/06 11:39 am)
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the golden thread
George MacDonald's long literary fairy tale The _Princess and Curdie_ makes much of a golden thread her angelic grandmother has made for the young princess to follow in dark places. The golden thread is used as a metaphor for the divine love that guides the faithful through their worldly troubles.
Kelly Searsmith
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searsmith
Registered User
(6/16/06 1:21 pm)
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tissues of silver and gold
I've also just remembered that wonderous fabrics often figure in
the literary fairy tales of Oscar Wilde. In one of the most memorable
for the fiber arts (The
Young King from A House of Pomegrantes), a young king has a
marvellous robe, crown, and septre fabricated for his coronation.
However, he has a series of terrible dreams in which he comes to
realize how much others have suffered to make his rainment. So,
on the day of the celebration, he dons his childhood shepherd's
rainment and walks to the chapel. He is mocked and threatened. As
he reaches the altar, the Bishop seeks to dissuade him and the nobles
enter to slay him, as unfit to lead them. However, he turns and
is suddenly arrayed in shining clothes, with crown and septre --
his goodness transforms him into an angelic figure.
A similar motif appears in the better known "The
Happy Prince," in which the statue of the Prince sees a
seamstress destroying her health in sewing and decorating a ballgown.
This seems a behind the scenes glimpse of real-life Cinderellas,
who care little for where their gowns come from. The Cinderella
story figures an important dress, of course, woven by magic. The
point being in so many tales that the clothes make the class --
a main theme of Carlyle's satirical _Sartor Resartus_.
In Jean Ingelow's literary long fairy tale "Mospa the Fairy," two women who serve horses abused in England during life are not kept in low rags as they might have been in the real world. In fairy land, they dress very finely indeed as the go about their chores.
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AliceCEB
Registered User
(6/16/06 2:26 pm)
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Re: tissues of silver and gold
In DONKEY SKIN, three
fantastic dresses are created for the princess.
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Chris Peltier
Registered User
(6/16/06 4:49 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
In the tale Habetrot, the character by the same name has elongated lips because of wetting the thread that she spins.
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Heather KT
Registered User
(6/16/06 5:21 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
In EAST OF THE SUN...
the girl barters a golden carding- comb and spinning wheel to the
troll princess for a night with the enchanted prince.
In THE WHITE
CAT, one of the "tests" for the father's crown is
bringing back a length of muslin so fine it can pass through the
eye of a needle.
VASILISSA THE BEAUTIFUL
wins the Tsar's notice with her exquisite spinning and weaving.
In THE MAGICIAN'S CAPE (Great Swedish Fairy Tales), the virtuous girl sews up the evil magician's cape with one of her golden hairs. The seam shines so brightly he can't sleep, and has to undo his wicked deeds so it will stop glowing.
Heather
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Monika
Registered User
(6/16/06 11:14 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
I'm new to this site, I hope no one minds me jumping in.
What about The Six Swans
(or Twelve Ravens)? The girl has to spin fine linen out of brambles
and then make shirts for her brothers in order to free them from
a curse.
Not fairy tales exactly, but Penelope and Arachne come to mind in
connection with weaving, and also the Lady
of Shalott.
And I hazily to remember a story in which events are set off by the heroine having to leave home in search of a light to work by. Three sisters were sitting home and working when the last candle went out. The two oldest sisters were knitting/sewing, and claimed to be able to see well enough to carry on by the glint of their needles, but the heroine was - spinning maybe? - and could not see in the dark, so was sent out to find some light. I think it may have been a version of Diamonds and Toads.
Monika
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aka Greensleeves
Registered User
(6/17/06 2:25 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
"Tom
Tit Tot" and "Whoopity
Stoorie" are also analogous to "Rumpelstiltskin."
Snow White's mother
is often sewing at the outset of that tale; and there's the spindle
in "Sleeping Beauty,"
but that's more a metaphor for adulthood than a literal reference
to fiber arts. "The
Elves and the Shoemaker?"
The Greeks were fascinated by the fiber arts as a motif--not just Penelope and Arachne; but Ariadne, the Three Fates, a poisoned shirt woven to kill Heracles, etc.
I think there's a Chinese tale that involves a dragon (demon?) swallowing a thread, but that's as much as I have for that one.
***
This is such a great topic, and on my mind at the moment: my upcoming novel, Charlotte Miller, (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic) is a retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin" set in an 18th Century woollen mill.
--Elizabeth C. Bunce
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AliceCEB
Registered User
(6/17/06 7:21 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
Monika, you are probably thinking about Vasilisa the Fair. You can read a version of it here: www.surlalunefairytales.com/babayaga/index.html
Best,
Alice
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meganhicks
Registered User
(6/18/06 8:43 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
Crane Wife -- from Japan.
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Monika
Registered User
(6/19/06 10:34 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
Alice, of course I was thinking of Vasilissa! Thanks, it was driving me batty that I couldn't remember.
I'm rather intrigued by the Greek poison shirt thing, as used by both Medea and Deyanera (sp?). Haven't really thought it through yet, but there seems to be a nice symmetry about poison, the traditional "woman's way" of murder, being delivered through the medium of textile arts.
Monika
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aka Greensleeves
Registered User
(6/20/06 2:43 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
Who did Medea poison with a shirt? I'm drawing a blank on that incident....
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Monika
Registered User
(6/20/06 9:00 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
Medea poisoned the chick Jason left her for. I believe it was actually a gown, not a shirt, but same general concept.
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coffeeshakti
Registered User
(7/2/06 9:13 am)
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thanks!
Thanks for all the suggestions they have been very helpful
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intrikate88
Registered User
(7/2/06 6:42 pm)
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Re: fiber/ domestic arts in fairy tales
Out of fairy tales and into more general mythology, didn't one of the Greek goddesses turn... erm, Minerva? into a spider because she said she was the best weaver, better than all the gods. I wish I could remember the names better.
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coffeeshakti
Registered User
(7/2/06 7:09 pm)
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Knitting?
How about knitting though? I haven't been able to find any folklore fairytales or mythology that includes knitting. Are there any that anyone can think of?
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aka Greensleeves
Registered User
(7/3/06 9:27 am)
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Re: Knitting?
Intrikate, you're thinking of Athena (called Minerva by the Romans) and Arachne (hence, arachnid, spider).
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L Cully
Registered User
(7/4/06 7:55 pm)
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Re: Knitting?
There's also, unfortunately, Philomela weaving the account of her rape in the Metamorphoses.
Also, Cap
o' Rushes has Cappy herself waving her outfit out of rushes.
Spinning: Sleeping
Beauty/Briar-Rose and Mother
Holle both have spindles in magical roles.
If you're also looking for general mythology, the chain used to bind Fenrir was woven out of six magical elements. (It looks like a ribbon.)
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korin
Unregistered User
(7/7/06 11:27 pm)
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spinning
If you're getting into Greek mythology, there's the Moirae, the
Fates, who spin the threads of human life. Jane Yolen wrote a poem
about them, and there's an analagous trio of characters in Lloyd
Alexander's Prydain chronicles, which are loosely based on Welsh
mythology. There's also the Lady
of Shalott, the famous poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson that's connected
to the King Arthur legends, where said Lady lives secluded on an
island and can only see the rest of the world through a mirror.
She weaves a tapestry of all the things she sees, until one day
on spying the handsome Sir Lancelot in her mirror she goes to the
window to look out at him, whereupon a curse falls upon her, the
mirror breaks, he tapestry is blown in a great wind and she is condemned
to die.
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mmcphie
Unregistered User
(7/7/06 11:42 pm)
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Chinese story
There's the Chinese story of the cowherd and the weaving maid, who are doomed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month.(Alas, that's lunar months, so not today, the seventh of July.)
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