The Beautiful Prince

There once was a prince, the most handsome prince ever to have lived.  He could sing better than the sirens of the sea and was a fairer dancer than the leaves in the wind.  He hunted so gracefully and expertly that even the foxhounds were jealous.  He was marvelous at everything he tried, whether it be cooking or fencing.  He was also kind.  His parents loved him dearly, but on his 17^th birthday a terrible curse came upon the land.  The prince had refused to marry the cruel and horrible witch.  The witch promptly proclaimed, “If I shall not have you, none shall!”  And with a flick of her magic wand, the beautiful prince was transformed into a beast too terrible to behold.  His parents, fearing for his life, shut him away in castle where no one would ever find him.

Although he understood his parents’ intents, the prince felt neglected and abandoned.  He brooded at the loss of his friends, his family, and his life.  He went into flying rages, though quite unlike him, destroying half the castle in the process.  He tried to find his way home, but as he walked through the forest he was shot with arrows by passing hunters.  He now knew how clever his parents had been.  As depressing and lonely his new home was, he returned; ready to live out his life alone.

Several years passed and the prince was content.  He had found a purpose for his life.  He took in the injured and cared for them until they were well again.  In this way he found companions.  There was the wolf with broken ribs, the baby squirrel that fell out his nest, the raccoon who was shot by hunters, and many, many more.  Woodland creatures of all kinds ran free in the castle, keeping the prince’s company.

When the prince was not caring for the unfortunate, he gardened, growing all kinds of food, or carpentered, building beds for his animals and carriages should he ever need to leave in a hurry.  It was his ability to do anything set before him that made him so great.  His many hobbies made living alone bearable.

One night as he was scouring the forest for the perfect piece of oak to make the perfect bed for himself, he found an old man groaning in pain.  The old man had been the unfortunate victim of a fallen oak.  Filled with compassion, the prince lifted both the tree and the man onto his massive shoulders and carried them to his castle.  He cared for the man and nursed him back to health, but he never showed his face.  Each morning when the man awoke, the animals the prince had saved waited him on. And each night as the man slept the prince gave him medicine made from the herbs of his garden.

When the man was healthy once more, he awoke to find a note beside his bed.  It read, “I am glad you are better.  You may use the most impressive and beautiful carriage to return home.  Please know that you are always welcome here.”  It was as elegant as it was simple.  The old man then returned home to his mill and his beloved daughter.  The old miller’s daughter was elated to see her father again, as he went out to hunt weeks before and never returned.

As the daughter listened to her father tell of his experience, she vowed to meet the incredible man who saved her father from death.  She then packed up the carriage her father arrived in and made her way to the castle in the woods.  She knocked on the massive door for several hours, but no one ever came to open it.  Since she was not a quitter, she decided to spend the night in her carriage and try again the next day.  And so she tried for 3 days in a row to gain entrance to the castle, but to no avail.

She refused to give up and decided she would sneak into the castle in the night.  Fortunately, the prince heard her talking out her plan to herself and decided to leave a note for her on the door instead.  The note read, “I am amazed at your persistence.  Please come in and sleep in the 3^rd bedroom on the right.  I will meet with you in the morning.”  When she found this note she was hesitant, but her desire to meet the man within took over and she followed the instructions she was given.  She slept soundly in her 3^rd bedroom on the right.  She awoke to a small chipmunk tittering upon her chest.  The chipmunk gave her a small rolled up note reading “Please help yourself to any food you can find in the garden out back.  I cannot meet with you today; I must go retrieve a deer with a broken leg.  Perhaps tomorrow will be better.”  And so it went on like this for 10 days.  While the prince was out avoiding being seen, the daughter of the old man went exploring the castle.  She found the beautiful, expansive garden in the back, growing everything from strawberries to wheat.  She found several rooms containing beautifully crafted beds with injured animals lying upon them.  And most importantly she found the room where the prince slept.  Since she was tired of the prince’s games, she decided to wait in his room for him to return for the night.

When the prince returned, he glanced into the 3^rd bedroom and upon seeing the bed empty, breathed a sigh of relief that once again he was safe from peering eyes.  He trudged down the hall and checked on all of his patients, when he was done he retreated to his room for a well-deserved sleep.

He turned the corner of the room and came face to face with the beautiful girl.  Afraid for his life, he tried to act as big, tough, mean, and scary as he could.

“You really expect me to believe you are a horrible, scary beast, when I’ve seen how much you care for others, like my father and all of these animals within the castle.  Not to mention you’re impeccable handwriting and graceful avoidance?”  She was screaming to be heard above his roars.

Upon hearing this he calmed down and asked her, “Why aren’t you afraid?  I am terrible to behold, am I not?  Truly a beast of epic proportions?”

“No, you are not.  You may look a bit frightening, but I have gotten to know you by reading you’re notes, exploring your amazing garden, seeing the works of your hands.  I know you. You care every creature great and small.  I know you. You saved my father from certain death.  You are the most kind and beautiful person I have ever met.  I know you.”

With every word the miller’s beautiful daughter grew closer and closer to the prince.  With her last sentence she placed the daintiest of kisses upon his lips.

The prince’s heart grew and glowed.  Soon the rest of his body glowed as well.  He was being transformed, back to his original form.  He looked at his hands in wonder, and then the most brilliant and beautiful smile graced his lips as he took the love of his life into his arms.

The prince had found his princess despite the efforts of the witch.  The prince was reunited with his parents.  After his marriage to beautiful miller’s daughter, they went back to live in the castle in the woods.  He and his bride continue to care for the unfortunate and injured.  And they lived happily ever after.

Moral

It is not the guise that makes the beast, but the soul beneath.

The kindest of men are sometimes the most unappealing, while the most appealing are the most beastly of all.

I don't know if anyone is still checking these blogs but i wanted to share something i found.


I was looking back through the research I did for my paper and found an interesting quote by Caterina Scorsone

Caterina Scorsone: Well and one of the things that I found remarkable about him when I met him was he talked a lot about wanting to reclaim fairytales for adults because in this kind of, you know, unconscious world that we express through fairytales, the original fairy story there was a lot of darkness.

And there were a lot of those messy emotions that we’re talking about in this movie. You know, there was anger and there was sadness. And there was, you know, people did bad things and have guilt and, you know, regrets.

And so many of those fairytales have been kind of dignified and, you know, sanitized for children. And so a lot of the grit and a lot of the point of some of them have been lost.

And so one of the things that he seems very passionate about is reclaiming these stories and bringing out the parts of them that we really need to look at to understand ourselves.

And so I think that’s one of the things that we’re doing here with Alice.

Caterina is talking about how dark fairy tales used to be, until they were tailored and dignified, so as to be suitable for children. 

She is right fairy tales have changed and by making them dark and more suitable for adult audiences, we are simply returning them to their original state.  But since we are in a different time the "original state" is different and more modern than it was in centuries past.

Fairies and their English Legends

I was having fun on stumbleupon when i found a site about the history and traditions of England.  The page I was directed to was talking all about fairies.  I've always been interested in fairies, but never knew that they were known to steal unbaptized babies.  Furthermore children with birth defects were thought be "Changlings."  Changlings are fairy babies left in place of the stolen human babies.  These children were often killed because they were thought to be inhuman and soul-less.

Puck, from A Midsummer's Night Dream by Shakespeare, is a prime example of the traditional fairy conventions.  English fairies often played pranks, but were also known for paralyzing humans and animals, and causing serious harm or death.  Many fairies were very sensitive to mess and disorder and would punish untidy and dirty people.

Alice in TV Land

     I have watched a lot of TV in my life time, and I've realized something, Alice in Wonderland is a go-to topic for writers.  For instance i just finished watch the series "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." Near the end of the season, Sabrina is so desperate to learn about a love interest that she wonders down a rabbit hole.  There she finds her own heart carried in messages and riddles posed by her friends as the characters of Alice in Wonderland.  This version of "Alice in Wonderland" resembles most closely the 1951 Disney version.
     Another show that has used "Alice in Wonderland" is "Charmed."  In Charmed young demons lure teens into a world where they torment them to no end.  The mortals are the found on the street mumbling about smoking caterpillars and disembodied smiles.  A young witch discovers their plot by noticing all the teens had "alice-like" names such as Alistair.  In this version  "Alice in Wonderland" has become a place to fear, a place where madness lurks.
      Movies are another common user of "Alice in Wonderland" themes and stories.  Last March Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was released in theaters.  Months earlier SyFy released a 2-part mini series called Alice.
     It is apparent that "Alice in Wonderland" has become a Hollywood favorite and if anyone comes across anymore interesting versions of "Alice in Wonderland" in the cinema or on TV, let me know it may come in handy for my research project on the evolution of Alice in Wonderland

Steamboat Willie

Show this video to anyone younger than yourself and ask them who is featured. You will get the technically correct answer "Mickey Mouse" or "Steamboat Willie," but what if i was asked about the actor who voiced Mickey.

Knowing who is playing a character is sometimes less likely than knowing another character they have played. I, for example, can not remember celebrity names to save my life, but if you show me a picture or play a soundclip of them talking i will most likely be able to identify something else that they were in.

Mickey and friends are an early example of how characters become more identifiable than their human counterparts.

(I also just like this video and think more people should know about steamboat willie, 'cause he is awesome)

Princess Culture....hide from 4 year olds

Princess culture is out there...and its expensive.

This bed alone costs $47,000.  Now just imagine how much making the rest of the room match would cost.


Give your children a choice...College or a bed you'll outgrow in 2 years?

Fairytales in JELL-O

Remember when we used to sit around campfires telling each other scary stories, or maybe some not so scary stories. Well Jell-o does and they demonstrate it here.

What i would like to point out is the children's reaction to the story...they are scared out of their mind, but they give their treats back. Jell-o is currently airing another commercial similar to this. The mother is telling her children a fairytale about a princess who gets locked away in a dark cave with snakes for the rest of eternity. She then adds the moral "and that's why you don't steal mommies jell-o temptations." The children immediately give the jell-o back. (video not available)

Now i know what your thinking...why is this person going on about jell-o. Well in an essay I read recently Bruno Bettleheim comments on how parents think stories are should only show the good in life and never the bad. As much as children don't need to be overexposed to the violent world we live in, they do need to know some of the bad. Life is not all milk and cookies. In many original fairy tales, the main protagonist must overcome many hardships, or in the case of some will not survive at all. In other stories, someone else swoops in and saves the day. But this isn't how life works. By reading children these type of fairy tales, we are teaching them that the someone else will always be there to clean up their messes.

Fairy tales are a fun, simple way to teach your children certain messages. Not all messages may be happy, but they are necessary. "Little Red Riding Hood" teaches kids not to talk to strangers, particularly in the version by Charles Perrault where Little Red Riding Hood does not survive at all. Sometimes we must scare our children to make the message go through. Fear is a necessary emotion and we can't shelter the world's children from it.