George MacDonald’s Complete Fairy Tales
May
'08
Once upon the time there was a princess who believed in fairies but found that fairies were not often mentioned in fairy tales. She was distraught at this fact, so she decided to spend her spring and summer months plowing through her fairy tale books in search of fairy interpretations. (It seemed a natural time to do so, as she’d always associated the end of spring with the coming of the fairies, so it was as though they were visiting her personally, egging her on through this journey.)
First she picked up George MacDonald’s Complete Fairy Tales, a collection which she had owned for quite some time but hadn’t yet read. She enjoyed his other books, Phantastes and Lilith, to the point that when someone came looking for George MacDonald books in her bookstore, she was so delighted as to regale them with her experiences in reading his books. Suffice to say, they were not always pleased to hear her talk, but she was still consistently excited whenever someone came looking for his books (though her bookstore didn’t have any copies, ever, possibly attributed to the fact that once someone read George MacDonald, that someone would not want to give up the book). (On another note, every time she mentioned her love of George MacDonald’s books, someone would say “Do you mean adventure writer George MacDonald Fraser?” to which she most certainly replied “No.”)
She found while reading that fairies were not always present in the fairy tales, but when they were, they were tricksters. This wasn’t a new interpretation for her, for although she grew up with Cinderella’s good fairy godmother and the like, she’d also studied wicked fairies and those who would play tricks just for the benefit of the trick being played. (In other words, no good would come to the fairy himself, nor would much good come to the one being tricked. Nevertheless, the trick was always played fully through.)
The stories in the collection read like weary dreams; the princess felt as though she was drifting in and out of consciousness while reading, even if she wasn’t. (This was also the effect of George MacDonald’s other books.)
“The Light Princess,” being discussed first as it was the first story, grabbed her and pulled her in until she stayed up way past her bedtime. She had no gravity so she always found herself floating away had she not something to tether her to the ground.
Two rather head-strong children starred in “The Giant’s Heart,” wherein they decided to take it upon themselves to save a lot of stupid, fat children by capturing a giant’s heart. The giant’s wife was very accommodating, which wasn’t surprising to the princess, as it seems that most giants’ wives are pretty unsupportive of their husbands’ habits of eating small children.
“The Shadows” brought fairies and shadows, and this princess will admit delightfully that shadows in stories are far more interesting than fairies. (While studying Phantastes, for example, she got so excited with the use of shadows that thereafter she looked for them everywhere.) In this story, a mortal was chosen to be the king of the fairies, and he spends a lot of time with shadow creatures. They brought him to their shadow church and explained that they weren’t scary, evil things, as humans tend to view them; rather, they brought out happiness in children and warned evil humans of their faults. The king spent two nights with them to listen to stories and learn what type of creatures they were. Our princess found it quite interesting that the shadows pitied humans for having a lasting memory, whereas the human king pitied the shadows for forgetting each other and their adventures once they were spoken.
And it was in “The Carasoyn” that the princess finally met her wicked fairies. A boy built a brook through his house and one night he found fairies fresh off the boat dancing, playing and being overall nasty to each other in his bedroom. This story illustrated for our princess everything she thought she would read about fairies – stories full of wickedness, kidnapping, bargains, trickery, and just punishment. It seemed that while she was growing up, fairies were magical beings with much good to contribute to the world, but now that she is grown, fairies seem to be greedy frightful little creatures.
“Little Daylight” gave her a hint of a wicked fairy but she saw once again the delightful fairies (reminiscent of those present at Sleeping Beauty’s birth) in this story of a princess cursed with the inability to view daylight until a prince unknowingly kissed her. This story above all the others made a very good point about fairy tales in general.
In all history we find that fairies give their remarkable gifts to prince or princess, or any child of sufficient importance in their eyes, always at the christening. Now this we can understand, because it is an ancient custom amongst human beings as well; and it is not hard to explain why wicked fairies should choose the same time to do unkind things; but it is difficult to understand how they should be able to do them, for you would fancy all wicked creatures would be powerless on such an occasion. But I never knew of any interference on the part of a wicked fairy that did not turn out a good thing in the end. What a good thing, for instance, it was that once princess should sleep for a hundred years! Was she not saved from all the plague of young men who were not worthy of her? And did she not come awake exactly at the right moment when the right prince kissed her? For my part, I cannot help wishing a good many girls would sleep till just the same fate overtook them. It would be happier for them, and more agreeable to their friends.
Because although we all viewed Sleeping Beauty’s curse as, well, a curse, this princess agrees that it was probably better off that way. Ex-boyfriends can be such a bother.
“Cross Purposes” brought her into a world in which a fairy queen longed to have two mortals in her court to bring her general amusement. Initially, the girl (who was rich) did not like the boy (who was poor) but soon got over that when she realized that he was her only way out of Fairyland and the confines of the queen’s court. It struck our reader that in fairy stories people seem to fall in love very quickly and get out of ties very resourcefully. She wondered then if there were any fairy stories where humans didn’t survive and where, contrary to the passage from “Little Daylight,” wicked fairies got what they asked for without any good coming from any of it.
“The Golden Key” introduced her to Tangle, a messy little girl who offended the fairies (fairies generally prefer things to be nice and tidy), and Mossy, a boy who read so much upon a rock covered in moss that his friends teased the moss had grown over him. Mossy’s mother told him of the treasure at the end of a rainbow – in this case, a golden key – and he sought it out to find out what it was, where it led, and why it was important. While reading this story, our princess wondered how difficult it would be to write a believable fairy story. Fantasy tales, on one hand, can be very well written but very unbelievable; fairy tales, on the other, can be very well written and give the reader a glimmer of hope for truth.
The princess suspected the last story would be the best, thus she was excited to read it; but she was also afraid to read it, as it meant there would be no others. She read it one warm, sunny morning, and felt content that “The Day Boy and The Night Girl” was the best story in the collection, and instead of making her feel dreary as all the other stories did, it made her feel alive and well and ready to take on the day. It was the perfect conclusion to a fairy tale book, indebted to the strength and good nature of the girl. While the hero was brave and strong, he took to fear much easier and quicker than she did, and his courage couldn’t last him the night without her help. It was a very good story for anyone who believes in the inherent power of women.
So then the book was over, and she was sad for it having to end (it wasn’t The Neverending Story after all), but summarily happy having read it. The fairies were scarce, but the shadows were insistent, and the princess realized that after she was finished writing her review she would be searching for other reviews and analysis on George MacDonald’s fairy tales.
And she lived happily ever after, at least until the next leap year. (It is unconfirmed after that, though there’s no reason to think that the next leap year won’t bring more reviews for grand adventures.)
* A collection of George MacDonald’s fairy tales is available in one volume, as I have read it, in several single books, or online at george-macdonald.com.
10 people found this entry interesting.
Leave A Reply
This sounds so good! I read “The Day Boy and the Night Girl” (a very good story indeed!) in an anthology of Victorian fairy tales last year, and I’ve been meaning to read more ever since. Thanks for the link to the e-texts
May
'08
I have read some of the stories you mention. The Light Princess (illustrated by Maurice Sendak) was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. I also remember “The Carasoyn” (and of course The Princess and the Goblin). I agree MacDonald can be dreary, but it’s a charming kind of dreariness, don’t you think? My daughter (age 9) just read The Light Princess and she loved it too. If the princess does find some interesting analysis I hope she’ll report on it.
May
'08
I feel like I’ve read him before but i can’t remember what or when… it could be he’s just been on my “read at some point” list for so long it’s all blurred now.
but your review of him was almost a beautiful short story in itself so i really want to now ^^
ps. i joined the book club! i’m buying Twilight today and if what everyone says about it is true, i’ll be done before the weekend is over XD
May
'08
Sounds like a good book. I haven’t read much George MacDonald…but I’ve always heard he influenced some of my later favorites.
Jun
'08
Ooh! Ooh! Thanks so much for the eText link. I’m always on the lookout for free eBooks!
Jun
'08
This is such a lovely, lovely post! Lovely, lovely review! And yes, there are few fairies in fairy tales, I totally agree! And now I’ll hop on over to the eText link
Jun
'08
Wow!
What an amazing post on an amazing looking site - I’ve come here via the carnival and will be staying to explore!
Such a good point you make too - about there rarely being fairies in fairy tales - I never thought about that before!
Jun
'08
Hahaha…I guess there aren’t too many “typical” fairies in fairy tales now that you mention it. And what are “typical” fairies? Somehow I always imagine a Tinkerbell-ish fairy, or Labyrinth fairy (although one that doesn’t bite). Great post!
Jun
'08
I am going to your link now to read more:) Thanks for the review!
Jun
'08
I love how you wrote your review like a fairy tale!
I’ve never heard of George McDonald, but I’ve bookmarked the site so I can take a look.
Jun
'08