The Twins

Look at these mangrove trees. They're definitely not children.

Hello, reader. This week, we're looking at a tale from somewhere in Africa because the place I found it didn't give a country of origin. The Twins is a tale of several people being rude. Often for no reason. Enjoy!

When the mother was trying to kill her twins, I felt sorry for them at first. They knew they weren't supposed to kill a one-eyed antelope, but nothing actually happened to them afterward except for their mother's actions, so it doesn't seem like it was that bad. I do have to wonder what their reaction would have been if they found out that instead of a one-eyed antelope, they were born from several limes. In any case, it seems like a self-fulfilling prophesy to tell them not to do something, since the twins were so ornery. However, after the twins escaped from their mother, I stopped feeling sorry for them. I'm really glad they weren't able to do anything to the little girl who was having a wound cleaned. These kids literally had no limits.

Their awfulness makes me wonder about the structure of the story. Were they awful so we wouldn't feel bad when they were turned into mangrove trees? If the twins had a better moral code and were still being chased for some reason, we would probably be quite upset when they were turned into trees for the rest of their lives. This idea makes sense with the lack of depth to their character. They are nasty, disobedient children who only care about each other. I suppose at least they care for someone, but that is also a necessity for the story. They can't both be turned into mangrove trees if they're trying to kill each other, or if they split up.

For this week, I suppose the moral is that if your kids kill a one-eyed antelope, wait and see what happens before you try to kill them.

The Sealskin

Sounds like they're having fun. I'd better steal something.

It's snowing today, so I thought we'd look at a tale from Iceland. The Sealskin is a tale of love, loss, and of course, seals.

I cannot help but feel badly for the woman in this story. She comes on land to party and, when she can't go back home, is abandoned by her friends and ends up following a stranger home. The story has no details about how the man courted her, but either he did something right or she was desperate because they got married and had seven kids. This clearly wasn't her plan. Once she is able to get her sealskin back, the woman turns back into a seal and never becomes human again.

Stories like this show a lot about how women were treated in the time and place this tale comes from. She ended up loving her children on land, as she says, and at least liking her husband enough to get him fish every day. However, the fact that when she has a choice, she does not come back on land shows that she wasn't happy there. She had children in the sea before she had some on land. She had a life, but some guy's curiosity pulled her away from that and kept her away for several years. And it's not depicted as anything terrible, or even bad. It's just shown as something that happened. I enjoy the look into culture that these stories give us, but I don't always like what I find.

The moral for this story would have to be: Even when you're partying, keep an eye on your sealskin so some jerk doesn't steal it.

The Dervish and the Three Coins

For the low, low price of three coins, you can get four pieces of wisdom!

Hello, reader. Since it's still winter, I thought we'd look at a tale from Turkey where it's warmer. Today's tale is The Dervish and the Three Coins. We learn several life lessons in this tale.

As this story opens, we have a merchant who is not good at managing his money. When he's down to just three coins, he takes all of his money and leaves his family. So far, I'm not seeing a great guy. Because of his shame, he abandons his family and leaves them with nothing. He needs to get his priorities checked. Then, when he finds a dervish, the merchant gives over all of his money to learn some wisdom. This worked out well for him in this story, but I was pretty worried for the merchant's family for a moment. I'm guessing the dervish was trying to get the merchant to see that wisdom is more useful than money, but it could have ended pretty badly for our main character.

As it turned out, it worked out really well for our merchant. Remembering the four pieces of advice the dervish gave him, the merchant was able to make much more money and return home a rich man. By this point, he had been gone for several days with no word to his family, so when the merchant meets a neighbor on the way home and he learns that his wife is looking at other men, I wasn't too surprised.

Let's look at this from her perspective. She probably had to assume he was dead and in order to keep her family alive, she needed to be married to someone, or go live with someone in her family. There was a real sleezeball who apparently started courting her just about the day her husband left. So, this woman's sister took her in. It was the closest thing to a restraining order they could get. Thank goodness for kind-hearted sisters, otherwise this story would have gotten very complicated.

While we can learn the four morals, or pieces of wisdom, the merchant learned, I prefer to think the moral is: Manage your business well and life will be a lot easier.

The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds

I imagine this is what Frosty Winter Witch rides.

Hello, reader. Since the winter solstice just happened, I thought we'd look at a tale about winter today. The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds is a sweet story about a village of cowards. It comes from another fairy tale blog, so it's good to support them.

When winter stays too long, the people in the village at the bottom of the mountain have a decision to make: someone has to go up the mountain and find out what's going on with Father Christmas. An old man starts to volunteer and then realized that he's too old. His granddaughter offers to go instead. The other villagers kick up a fuss, but no one else offers to go. That is why I say it's a village of cowards. They let a little girl climb a mountain by herself. At least the other children give her a coat and such so she doesn't have to rely solely on her warm heart.

The little girl is protected by her warm heart, until Frosty Winter Witch plays on that and sings a lullaby that the orphan girl's mother used to sing and lulls the girl to sleep. The girl's warm heart protected her from whirlwinds and blizzards, but not hypothermia. Fortunately, after the mountain animals find her and revive her the rest of the journey is easy. Father Christmas is only too happy to bring spring back and the girl returns to her village. I kind of wanted her to stay with Father Christmas since she proved herself to be so tough yet kind. I suppose her village would be in a lot of trouble without her, though.

The moral this week I suppose is that if winter goes on too long, climb a mountain and it will be done by the time you come home. But only if you have a warm heart.

Thumbelina

Come live in the marsh with a toad you just met. It'll be great!

This week's tale is long story about a tiny girl. Thumbelina is a piece by Hans Christian Anderson, which makes the country of the week Denmark. There is so much to dig into in this story, but I'll try to keep it light.

Thumbelina, or Tiny as she's also called, is pulled from one part of the story to another. She's kidnapped twice and is almost married off three times. Her life is not easy. She goes from living a sheltered life with her mom, to fending for herself in the forest. The only time Tiny takes control of her life is when she agrees to leave with the swallow whose life she saved.

Throughout the story, Tiny's beauty is a curse to her. It's why she gets kidnapped so often and is why so many animals want to marry her. The only time it is a good thing for her is at the end of the story when she meets the fairy king. Only then, when she wants to marry someone, does it help her that she's attractive. Marrying someone based only on their looks is problematic, but we don't have space to dive into that here. I'm sure it worked out fine for them.

I suppose a moral for this story could be, "Try not to be pretty when times are tough," but I don't like that moral. Instead, let's say, "When all sorts of animals are trying to marry you, hold out for the Fairy King who lives where it's always warm."

How the Phoenix Got Her Fine Plumage

Even now, the other birds are asking for food when they have none.

This week, I thought we'd pick a particular country in Asia to visit. Unfortunately, the website I found didn't break the stories down into countries, so we're somewhere in Asia for How the Phoenix Got Her Fine Plumage.

This story not only explains the way things are, it also comes with a moral. It's a two for one with a Phoenix. How can you lose?

This story brings out the importance of trusting your gut, even when people mock you for it. It is impressive that Phoenix stuck to her guns about their plentiful food someday running out. It also speaks to her character that Phoenix shared her food with everyone, even though they had made fun of her for storing it.

One of the features of this story that is missing from other tales like this is that the other birds actually gave something in exchange for Phoenix's generosity. Their feathers were really the only thing the birds had, and they all chose the most beautiful to give to Phoenix. I try to keep this in mind to get past how superficial their gift is. Nevertheless, Phoenix is the prettiest bird in the forest now.

If we're looking for an alternative moral to this story, I would say it's: trust your instincts and don't be a jerk if you're proven right.

Crow Brings the Daylight

He looks dependable.

This week's tale comes to us from Canada. Crow Brings the Daylight is a folktale about, you guessed it, Crow. It is also one of those folk tales that explains the natural world.

It is interesting to think about Crow bringing brightness. Never mind the logistics of flying a ball of daylight all the way up north. Crow was the one who brought light where there was darkness and drove away the shadows. He illuminated everything, bringing in the ability to see as well as changing the way the sky looked. I know the journey south tired him excessively, but Crow seemed able to fly right back home. I wonder why he didn't go get a second ball of daylight so that they could have sunlight all year long. I know that wouldn't explain the way it works in the Arctic Circle, but it is puzzling.

Also puzzling is that dropping the ball of daylight made it go everywhere and didn't make it lose its shine. The ball broke, and I was worried Crow had just wasted a trip. I had thought that Crow would have to fly high into the sky and put the daylight there like the sun. Shattering the ball of daylight is more feasible though, allowing the logic of balls made of daylight attached to a string.

I suppose the moral of this story is that if you need something done, don't let it deter you when someone says they're too old.