Unfolding The Tales Within...Once upon a time, I used to dream that one day, a handsome prince would come searching for me on a white horse and take me to a faraway castle and henceforth, live happily ever after. The funny thing was, my infantile image of my prince came with the quintessential blonde hair and blue eyes! Did not bother nor occur to me however, there never were any depictions of Asian princesses in fairy tales and I resembled nothing like the classic fairy tale princesses. Well I guess, every little girl, to each their own fairy tale kingdom.
Like any other little girls, I would give up anything to play a princess or a fairy role. And if you did get to be chosen, it was almost a direct admission that you were either the most beautiful or popular little girl in class / school and therefore bestowed with the most important character in the story plot. Acting skills' not a consideration. Those girls whom aspired to act the role of witches or gnomes, if any, are probably well-known thespians by now.
Fairy tales lent an extension of fantasy to my adolescence, a time when I am quite incapable of rich imagination independently. At my time (circa early 1980s), fairy tales mainly came to me in the form of the Ladybird series way before I was swamped with the Disney's versions. What I appreciate later in life, like now, from reading the Ladybird series was the way how the fairytales were retold in a simplified yet staying true to the original / classic version. Most of the fairy tales churned out these days run along the main theme but in a somewhat contorted manner, like a different ending from the classic or with added on characters. Not all adaptations are bad I must concede but not as classic. Disney's an exemplary.
Some Ladybird's Well-Loved TalesBeing of the fairer sex, no doubt some of my favourite reads in the Ladybird series were classics like Pinocchio, Cinderella, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Beauty And The Beast, Goldilocks and The Three Bears, Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina, Rapunzel........... These well loved tales in the Ladybird series filled one snug niche in my childhood. It's easy to perceive why the series were a hit with me with all the ultimate fantasy coterie of princesses, kings and queens, intelligent talking animals, evil witches with their spells and slayed dragons. They were definitely one of the initial influential factors with my obsession on all things medieval, pompous royalty and aristocracy.
Most of the fairy tales run along the good versus evil theme, more often than not, a hero / saviour to smother the chaos and save the princess or a cast-out main character making it good eventually. More importantly, to me, what stands out in most of the Ladybird series were the very well-detailed illustrations. Colorful and definitely an eye candy to a six year old. I personally relished the colorful pages as much as the story. I also like the way how the story plot developed and followed through in a page to page manner and with each page turned, I am rewarded with both the story's progression and a different detailed, colorful illustration.
The Little Mermaid (Ladybird's Series Cover)
Amongst all tales in the Ladybird series, The Little Mermaid and The Snow Queen remain my favorite reads. Relating to earlier memory recesses of mine, both tales struck me poignantly albeit in different ways. I found out later in life these two tales in the Ladybird series remained true to Hans Christian Andersen's storyboard, and occurred to me as two very un-classic versions of fairytales.
Unlike the Disney's version of The Little Mermaid, there was no happily ever after for the mermaid in the Ladybird classic - true to Andersen's version. Of course, it did not matter to me when I was six whether or not I was reading the classic version but what stayed in my mind were two major revelations. In the Ladybird's, mermaids were illustrated stark naked with rounded firm breasts a galore *Disney's mermaids have sea-shells covering their breasts*. Believe me, funnily, it was the naked mermaids that first captivated my curious attention totally. It was a another major surprise when I realised the mermaid did not get her prince in the story ending. Instead, she chose to love unselfishly and sacrificed all she had done for her pair of legs. Now, that is not a classic fairy tale plot. The princess should always get her prince, no?
The Little Mermaid Illustration - Ladybird's Series
The Snow Queen was also un-classic in that a girl was portrayed as the heroine in search for her "prince" held in captive by a lonely queen. For once, the female was the stronger sex who braved all the dangers to rescue her loved one. The girl eventually saved her boy with a teardrop which warmed his heart the Snow Queen had put a spell on. There were no dragons to slay. But I was attracted to the alternative, more emotive storyboard and it kinda gave me a rush of girl's pride there.
Frankly, it was only when I was much older that I was aware the fairy tales I was exposed to from, mainly, the Ladybird's series were a condense collections from the acknowledged masters of tales, namely Hans Christian Andersen and the brothers Grimm. Personally, I had always favored Andersen's eccentric stories and tales more than those by the brothers Grimm. Probably, his story had a deeper sense of melancholic and an out-of-nowhere, somewhat, irascible style of writing - not all the main characters came out perfect. Like Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes, many tales etched more deeply with tragic flaw.
Stories & Tales - Hans Christian Andersen (Routledge Classics)
*I love the cover*
Readers of the Andersen's versions may find more mayhem and crudity than in the watered-down retellings that are more familiar to most children. In fact, you'd be surprised to realise his tales are not at all fairy-tale like and are often quite disturbing, almost tethering on the edge to a dark side. His writings are extensively lengthened and richly flourished with adjectives in contrast with an underlying story intrigue, you just wish he will get on with his plots faster sometimes, please. Or lessen your distress level with his cruel, almost nonchalant disposement of the characters in the stories. While I enjoyed revisiting some of my childhood reads, frankly, some of his lesser known tales bored the hell outta me.
An example of one sketchy fine illustrations from the book
I finished his book of Stories And Tales with an astonishment akin to uncovering a rich and enchanting but strangely disturbing huge piece of tapestry. Some parts of which your eyes lingered and followed the threads earnestly and some parts you hope you can overlooked if not that you know you have to devour it all to get the whole picture.
There are close to sixty of Andersen's collections in this book (translated from Dutch to English) and each story ranges only from half a page to about fifteen pages. Still, I needed more than two months to plough through the whole book and there are a few times, I don't feel like picking it up and finished from where I stopped. It's really an acquired read. In the end, it was a surprise that I felt good immersing in the kingdom of Hans Christian Andersen. No pun intended but it's truly outta this world. His rich imagination, I mean. In the sense, you can hardly find such writer as Andersen who writes evergreen tales without any sense of inhibition, and his tales survived to being enjoyed by both the young and old throughout generations.
An added value, I love the original vintage ink-sketching illustrations in this book. If like me, you'd like to know how the original fairytales were weaved, I strongly recommend you to pick the book up.
**The End**
- Completed 28 December 2005 -
