Fabled Fables

I installed the Kindle for PC program, available at no charge from Amazon. I wanted to see that the books look like before I send my in to be processed. There are free books available to “purchase,” from classic to modern styles. I downloaded a few from the bestseller section from authors: HG Wells, Jules Vern, Lewis Carroll, Aesop, Jacob Grimm and "Unknown."

I read “Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know.” The book is full of familiar stories in their orignal form. The stories for this book were complied in 1905 from the Grimm's Fairy Tales, Arabian Nights as well as tales from other story tellers whose stories (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast) people know better than the author's names.

Here are some interesting tidbits I learned from reading the original story proving myths and fables change when retold by new story tellers with a new audience to captivate and entertain.

• Aladdin, with the lamp, lived in the capitol of China – though it's obious the story teller had never visited that place.
• Sleeping Beauty was seven years old when she ran from her stepmother. The prince did not kiss her to waken her. Instead, his clumsy servants knocked over her glass coffin and spilled out her dead body which caused the piece of poison apple to fall out of her mouth. (Yeah, I always wondered about that: A prince who falls in love with a (seven-year-old) corpse and wants to kiss it?)
• Tom Thumb was created by faires due to Merlin's request and later knighted by King Arthur.
• Sleeping Beauty married her great-grand nephew – the prince that kissed her (hand) to awaken her. At least, he noticed that she looked very much like her great grandmother. I have to assume he was refering a sister and not her actual mother. Only 100 years had passed, after all.
• The giant killed Jack's father when he was three months old. It was his guardian fairy who created the magic beans for the beanstalk so that Jack could steal back his inheritance and avenge his father's death.
• “Fe Fi Fo Fum. I smell the blood of an Englishman.” came from the story Jack the Giant Killer. No beanstalk or beans in that story. Jack traveled England and killed giants then sent the heads to King Arthur along with the story behind the kill.
• Little Red Riding hood took off her clothes and slipped into bed with the wolf. Then she asked about his large body parts. The wolf ate her up completely. There was no rescue.
• Goldilocks real name was Silver-hair. There was a Middle-Bear and not a mama bear.

I have more historical science fantasy to read – myths and fables, with the Brother's Grimm and Aesop books to go.

I'll keep you posted.