Fairies in Disguise

I've been thinking a lot today about those Fairy Godmothers and wrinkled Old Grandmothers in fairy tales.  Especially how they ask questions and let people's answers sit with them.  And maybe cast a spell or curse if the answer is wanting.  Somehow when a fairy in disguise does it, it doesn't come off as such a mind game or manipulation. It's more a a searching or teaching moment.  They're trying to see who they're interacting with. Are you kind? Noble? Sly? Selfish? Naive? Wise?

It's all in your answer.  It's a test, a trick, you say.  But is it?  Or did you answer in a way that revealed something less than flattering about yourself.  Tread carefully in the presence of faery...

Exploring Basile's Tale of Tales

It's been a really interesting venture exploring Basile's Tale of Tales for my new podcast with Jess McDonald, Fairy Tale Menagerie.  I've been listening and reading the Penguin Classics edition Translated by Nancy L Canepa and it's been quite the ride so far!

The tales are amazing and beautifully written even if there's much more bathroom humour than my personal tastes would usually allow, I'm still enjoying them immensely!  I listened to most of the second day while I drove around Ventura county (my day job requires a lot of driving).  I found myself meditating and musing while listening to stories of cunning and foolishness, love and loss and miraculous regeneration.  As soon as I got home I had to put my pen to paper to write my musings down (along with a list of stories, whose prime literary form appear in this collection).  Here's what came out:

These tales are giving me so much hope.  It's like hearing all the stories that have become worn out records in my mind completely anew, in some cases they are the same story.
        It's a wonderful paradox, this labyrinth of tales.  It gives me hope and fills me with wonder at how wrong we can be about fairy tales.  They aren't for blinding or deluding children, children already accept and believe.  These are for jaded, cynical, broken adults.
     They touch on all of the hopes and frustrations that children haven't learned yet, or at least they don't experience in the same way.

I'm sure there's more to be expanded and refined, but there you have the unfiltered first thoughts as they were by the end of a taxing work day.  It's always been a pet-peeve of mine when someone scoffs at fairy tales as children stories or when they sneer "Life's not a fairy tale, you know", as if only good things happen in fairy tales.  To further hear how these stories were told amongst adults with all the knowing - wink, wink, nudge, nudge - and horrible descriptions of desperate situations really brings back the core of fairy tales that I love: perseverance and hope.  Sometimes the only way to persevere - to survive, is to keep telling yourself the most outlandish, wild and mad tale.

List of fairy tales whose prime story appear in Tale of Tales (as seen by this one so far):

Cinderella Cat - Cinderella
Petrosinella - Rapunzel
Cagliuoso - Puss in Boots
The She-Bear - Donkey Skin/ Princess Furball

Please check out Fairy Tale Menagerie on SoundCloud and on iTunes!
https://soundcloud.com/fairytalemenagerie

To the Banshee's Lonely Croon...

     "I want to show the world the most perfect thing it possesses.  Did you know you were the most perfect thing the world possessed?"
     ~Hans, Ondine

        Once Upon a Time, about two years ago I decided to create a short film based on a story I'd written in college titled Memoirs of a Banshee, in which a Bean Sidhe wrote what her daily routine was like as a harbinger of death.  It was the first time I'd actually tried to pitch a project to my talented friends, who all amazed and honored me with their enthusiastic responses, support, time and talent.  Above all was, Andy Jaworski, my sound engineer, my best friend and soulmate.  He composed melodies and reworked song lyrics, recorded dialogue and never, ever let me give up on myself.  Even when I fell into the mistakes of the amateur film maker and was at my wits end, having lost a whole days worth of footage and running out of time, Andy was a bulwark of patience and faith.  He suggested turning our work into a radio play to showcase what we'd been able to create and, while I still hope to put together a few film segments to showcase the talents and work of everyone who helped me bring Margaret O'Connor to life, I am showcasing our radio play here to honor him.

       Not long ago, our banshee called Andy home and I want to show the world the work of the most perfect thing it possessed.  Thank you for listening and may the road rise up to meet you...until we meet again.

Behind the Scenes

Hello All,

For those of you who may be wondering where your lovely Lady Jabberwock has gone, it's because your views and comments have inspired me to kick this thing up a notch.  So I've been working on a short film based on a flash fiction that I wrote awhile back entitled Memoirs of a Banshee in which we discover what it's like to be a bean-sidhe from the harbingers mouth. Here are some sneak peeks!

A History of Vampyres

I've recently found some great videos thanks to TED-Ed. This one about vampires is a brilliant summary of the history of the dead that feed on the life forces of the living! It even mentions some vampires that I've never heard of! Enjoy!

The Giant's Causeway: Bridge of Giants

Hello Friends!

I've recently returned from Ireland, where I've stood in the footsteps of Giants!  One of Ireland's biggest legends is Finn McCool or Fionn mac Cumhaill, a bigger than life hero!  Fionn has left his mark all over the Causeway! There's a camel that was given to him to ride home from a visit in the middle east, you can see his dear old Granny who is said to look out for Fionn (or scold him or drink a bit too much whiskey) and the chimney stacks of Fionn's house!  Fionn also plays the pipe organ, they say if you stand alone at 6 AM on Christmas Day you might be able to hear Fionn play!

But the greatest mark Fionn left was the Giant's Causeway itself, a bridge of basalt columns that stretched all the way to Scotland.  Finn built it to challange the Scottish giant Benandonner (in some versions of the tale in America say it's Cucullin and some say he's Scottish while some say he's Irish but to the people and literature in Ireland it's Benandonner and he's definitely Scottish).  Benandonner had a magic finger and kept a lightning-bolt that he'd flattened like a pancake in his back pocket!  Legend has it, Fionn challenged and challenged

Fionn's Shoe!

Benandonner but as Fionn got closer to Scotland and realized how big Benandonner was he high-tailed it back to Ireland and his home on Knockmany Hill.  He went so fast that he left his shoe behind!

Fionn took his troubles to his wife, Oona (Oonagh, Leona).  Oona consulted her fairy connections and came up with a plan.  She made Fionn get into the baby's bed and began making cakes, slipping some skillets into half of the cakes.  In the meantime, Benandonner had made his way to Knockmanny to challenge Fionn!  When he banged on the door Oona answered and told Benandonner that Fionn was out and wouldn't he have tea with her and the baby until he got back?  Benandonner agrees and Oona gives him some of the cakes she made.  As soon as Benandonner bit down, he screamed in pain (for he'd bitten into the skillets!).  What kind of cakes were these? Benandonner demanded to know.  Oona gave a the rest of the cakes (without skillets) to Fionn in the baby's bed, who swallowed them happily.  Now Benandonner got a good look at the baby, wondering nervously how big the father must be if the baby could be that big!  And what mighty teeth a baby must have to eat those tough cakes!  Benandonner wanted to get a look at those teeth so he peeked into the baby's mouth with his magic finger and Fionn bit down, pulling off the finger and robbing Benandonner of his magic!  Benandonner was so scared that he high-tailed it back to Scotland ripping up the causeway behind him.

The Giant's Causeway is still considered magic to this day! In the Giant's Gate you'll see many an old, worn and corroded coin embedded in the crags of the rocks.  People make wishes on the coins and then embed them in the rocks!  It's truly amazing, you can feel the magic in the air and the power of the wishes all lodged in the stones of the Giant's Gate.  I left two there, here's to seeing them come true!



Resources:

Jacobs, Joseph. "A Legend of Knockmany". Celtic Fairy Tales. Collector's Library: London, 2011. Print.

Pritchard, David. Haunted Ireland. Real Ireland Design: Kilcoole, Ireland, 2014. Print.

Riddle Me This...

Humans, demigods, faeries, who doesn't love a good riddle?  Myths and Fairy Tales are full of them.  I was looking up some good ones this week when I found the answer to the worlds greatest most puzzling riddles! No, not the riddle of the sphynx.  Any precocious seven year old knows that one.  I mean the riddle of the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland.

Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?

Even the Mad Hatter himself says there is no answer.  An answer which no one has ever accepted!  Because every riddle must have an answer, right?

My sisters and I decided it was because they both had legs and got inky black.  I also like answers, “The notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes" and "Because Poe wrote on both".  Aldous Huxley put forth that it is "Because there is a B in Both and an N in Neither".

HOWEVER, it turns out that so many fans wrote and asked Lewis Carrol for the answer that HE WROTE an answer in a preface to the 1865 edition of Alice in Wonderland!  And Drum Roll Please!

"Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!" 

Note that spelling is important! ;-)

Any how I was so excited I just had to share it with you all!

Resources:

Duisen, Michael van.  Top 10 Intriguing Riddles From History. Listverse.com. 2013 Oct. 27.  Web. 2015 Jul. 31

Inglis-Arkell, Esther. The answer to the most famous unanswerable fantasy riddle. io9.com. 2012 Jan. 5 Web. 2015 Jul 31