Angela Carter's Book Of Fairy Tales

by Angela Carter

  At last the She-Ghoul climbed on to the hill of rubbish to gain a better view. As she shifted her weight to the place where the woodcutter was hiding, out of his mouth popped a loud belch. ‘Was that you sighing, O my headcloth?’ shouted the demon. And she pulled it off. She stood on her toes to look as far as she could, and the woodcutter’s stomach rumbled again. ‘Was that you complaining, O my robe?’ she said. And she threw it off. And now she stood in her own hairy skin, a monstrous She-Ghoul for all to see and run from. She heard the woodcutter beneath her once again, and she said, ‘It is the rubbish making a noise! Let me see why.’ And she flung one half of the heap to the right and the other to the left and pulled the poor woodcutter out.

  ‘Now,’ she said, ‘tell me, O my brother, where shall I sink my teeth in first?’

  Start with my two ears

  So deaf to my wife’s fears!

  he wept. ‘And then?’ said the demon.

  Then go on to both my arms

  Which dragged her into such harm.

  ‘And then?’

  Then go on to my two legs

  Which did not go where she begged.

  And so on, until she had eaten him all and nothing of him was left to question or to give an answer. But so it is with lazy men: using their own hands they dig the hole into which they fall.

  My story I have told it the best I can.

  Now it is for you to tell one in return.

  ESCAPING SLOWLY

  (JAMAICAN)

  goat was walking along with her two kids looking for some nice sweet grass when it began to rain. It was really coming down, so she ran under a big rock ledge to get some shelter, not knowing that it was Lion’s house. When Lion saw the three goats coming, he purred to himself in a voice like thunder.

  This frightened the mother and her kids and she said, ‘Good evening, Minister.’ And the lion said, ‘Good evening.’ She said that she was looking for a minister to baptize these two kids, because she wanted to give them names. Lion said he’d be happy to do that: ‘This one’s name is Dinner and this one’s name is Breakfast Tomorrow and your name is Dinner Tomorrow.’

  So now after hearing this roared out by the Lion, the goats were really frightened, and the kids’ hearts began to leap, bup bup bup. Lion asked the mother goat what was the matter with her two kids and she said, ‘Well, they always get feeling this way when the room they are in gets so hot.’ So she asked Lion that since they were feeling that way, could they go out and get a little cool air. Lion agreed that they could go out until dinner-time, but then they must come back in. So the mother whispered to the two kids to run as hard as they could until dark came.

  So when the lion saw that evening was falling, and he didn’t see the kids coming back, he started to roar again. She said that she was wondering why they were staying out so long, so she asked Lion if she shouldn’t go out and get them before it got too dark. The lion agreed. And as soon as the mother got out, she really took off running.

  Women know more about life than men, especially when it comes to the children.

  NATURE’S WAYS

  (ARMENIAN)

  here was once a king who had only one daughter. He wanted her never to marry so that he could take care of her and have her under his watchful eye. He wanted her to know nothing of the world, nothing of life, and never to love anyone but himself.

  After much thought he called in his adviser and discussed this problem. Together they planned a beautiful palace on a lonely island in the middle of a lake. The girl, only seven at this time, was to live there with women servants only and a female teacher.

  The king carried out his plan. He had a beautiful palace built for his daughter, and several female servants and a woman teacher were hired. There were no windows in the palace so that the girl could not see out. She had no visitors except her father who saw her for three or four hours on Sunday. All the doors of the building were locked, and only the king had a key to the outside door.

  Years went by until this daughter became eighteen years old. She learned a great many things, but it seemed to her that the books she read were dull and said nothing. She began to think for herself. ‘What kind of a life is this? All my servants are women; my teacher is a woman. If all the world is peopled only by girls, what is my father?’ If she had had more courage, she would have asked her father about this, but as it was she only asked her teacher.

  ‘I am going to ask you a question, but you must tell me the truth. I have no mother, no sister, no friend. You are everything to me. Answer me as a mother. Why am I on this island alone? All the people around me are women, but my father is different. How is this?’

  The teacher had been told not even to whisper of such matters to her pupil. So she said, ‘I am not to speak or think of such things, and neither are you. Never let your father hear you saying such things or our lives won’t be worth even one para [Turkish coin].’

  But the girl persisted in asking questions and wanted books which would explain life and the world. The teacher finally brought her such a book but asked the girl not to tell anyone about her reading.

  The girl began thinking of her future. ‘Am I going to spend all my days in this prison?’ she asked herself over and over again. Now this girl had learned a good deal about magic. One day she asked her teacher to get her flour, eggs, butter and milk with which she was going to make some dough. After she had kneaded the dough, she modeled the form of a man with it. She drew the features and made the figure of human size.

  She used all her magic in making the image and then began praying to God to give this image the soul of a human being. ‘I made him with my hands, I drew him with my mind, and with my tears I pray that this image may become a human being,’ she said. She repeated this prayer over and over again, always asking God to give this image a soul.

  Finally, God heard her voice and granted her wish: the image was given a soul. The teacher managed to bring clothes for the man. The two young people fell in love, and the girl was careful to hide the boy so that no one saw him except the teacher who, of course, had helped them.

  The girl knew the time of her father’s weekly visits and was careful that he should not discover her secret. But one Sunday she overslept, and so did the man and so did the teacher. The father entered the palace, and what did he see but a man by his daughter’s side! He was enraged! He had gone through much trouble and expense to stop this very thing! The king took all of them – daughter, man, teacher and servants – to prison and ordered that the boy and the girl be killed immediately.

  ‘Give us an opportunity to defend ourselves,’ the girl pleaded with her father. Finally, because he loved his daughter dearly, the king consented to listen. A court was assembled and the guilty ones brought before the judge. The princess, as the chief wrong-doer, spoke first, telling the truth about the matter, from the very beginning to the very end.

  ‘My father did not want me ever to get married, and so he built a prison and put me in it. All my servants and my teacher were women. Yet I could see that my father, who visited me each Sunday, was different. I wanted to live and to know what love was! With my knowledge of magic, I made the image of a man with flour, butter, eggs and milk. I made this image with my hands, drew it with my mind and, with my tears, prayed God to give it a human soul. God, through His kindness, heard my voice and granted my wish. This man standing beside me, I have made myself. He has no family, no ties. If you kill us, you will commit the greatest crime imaginable. I have had my wish: I have lived, I have loved and been loved. If you kill me, I have no regrets.’

  ‘Is such a thing possible?’ all were saying to one another.

  ‘I will have an investigation made of this,’ the king said. However, the investigation revealed that the princess was telling the truth, that the man had no family and there was no evidence that he had ever been born.

  ‘My children, I have committed a great crime. I shall try to undo the harm and suffering that I have caused you. I am having a beauti
ful palace built and furnished for you. May you live in peace forever,’ the king told his daughter and her mate.

  The king fulfilled his promise. A beautiful palace was built for the young people, and they lived in happiness forever after.

  From the sky fell three apples: one to me, one to the story-teller and one to her who has entertained you.

  And so you see: Nature helps man understand God’s laws, the way of life. No one can or should change these natural laws.

  THE TWO WOMEN WHO FOUND FREEDOM

  (INNUIT)

  nce there lived a man who had two wives. His name was Eqqorsuaq. And he was so jealous of these wives that he would keep them locked up in his hut. He would thrash them if they did not behave themselves. Or he would thrash anyone who happened to lay eyes on them. He killed a man named Angaguaq because rumour had it that Angaguaq had slept with one of the wives. Which he hadn’t done. Eqqorsuaq was a somewhat mean-spirited person.

  Finally the two women got a bit tired of their husband. They left him and fled along the coast until they were all worn out and hungry. When they could go no further, they saw the huge carcass of a whale washed up on a beach. They crawled in through the mouth and hid inside this carcass. The smell was foul, but better a foul smell than another thrashing.

  Now Eqqorsuaq was in a furor. He searched high and low for his wives. He questioned everyone in the village and threatened not a few. But no one seemed to know about the missing women. At last the man paid a visit to the local witch doctor, who told him:

  ‘You must look for the body of a big whale which is on the Skerry of the Heart-Shaped Mountain.’

  And so Eqqorsuaq set out for the Skerry of the Heart-Shaped Mountain. He sang old drum-songs all along the way, for he looked forward to the pleasure of thrashing his wives. At last he arrived at his destination and saw the dead whale. But the stench was so awful that he could get nowhere near it. He called out again and again for the women, yet there came no answer. Perhaps they were no longer here. Eqqorsuaq camped on the beach for three days and then went home, determined to thrash the witch doctor.

  Meanwhile the two wives lived on inside the whale. They had grown so accustomed to the stench that it did not bother them. They had plenty of food to eat, however rotten, and a warm place to sleep. It is said that they were very happy in their new home.

  HOW A HUSBAND WEANED HIS WIFE FROM FAIRY TALES

  (RUSSIAN)

  here was once an innkeeper whose wife loved fairy tales above all else and accepted as lodgers only those who could tell stories. Of course the husband suffered loss because of this, and he wondered how he could wean his wife away from fairy tales. One night in winter, at a late hour, an old man shivering with cold asked him for shelter. The husband ran out and said: ‘Can you tell stories? My wife does not allow me to let in anyone who cannot tell stories.’ The old man saw that he had no choice; he was almost frozen to death. He said: ‘I can tell stories.’ ‘And will you tell them for a long time?’ ‘All night.’

  So far, so good. They let the old man in. The husband said: ‘Wife, this peasant has promised to tell stories all night long but only on condition that you do not argue with him or interrupt him.’ The old man said: ‘Yes, there must be no interruptions, or I will not tell any stories.’ They ate supper and went to bed. Then the old man began: ‘An owl flew by a garden, sat on a tree trunk, and drank some water. An owl flew into a garden, sat on a tree trunk, and drank some water.’ He kept on saying again and again: ‘An owl flew into a garden, sat on a tree trunk, and drank some water.’ The wife listened and listened and then said: ‘What kind of story is this? He keeps repeating the same thing over and over!’ ‘Why do you interrupt me? I told you not to argue with me! That was only the beginning; it was going to change later.’ The husband, upon hearing this – and it was exactly what he wanted to hear – jumped down from his bed and began to belabor his wife: ‘You were told not to argue, and now you have not let him finish his story!’ And he thrashed her and thrashed her, so that she began to hate stories and from that time on forswore listening to them.

  PART EIGHT

  STRONG MINDS AND LOW CUNNING

  THE TWELVE WILD DUCKS

  (NORWEGIAN)

  nce on a time there was a queen who was out driving, when there had been a new fall of snow in the winter; but when she had gone a little way, she began to bleed at the nose, and had to get out of her sledge. And so, as she stood there, leaning against the fence, and saw the red blood on the white snow, she fell a-thinking how she had twelve sons and no daughter, and she said to herself –

  ‘If I only had a daughter as white as snow and as red as blood, I shouldn’t care what became of all my sons.’

  But the words were scarce out of her mouth before an old witch of the Trolls came up to her.

  ‘A daughter you shall have,’ she said, ‘and she shall be as white as snow, and as red as blood; and your sons shall be mine, but you may keep them till the babe is christened.’

  So when the time came the queen had a daughter, and she was as white as snow, and as red as blood, just as the Troll had promised, and so they called her ‘Snow-white and Rosy-red’. Well, there was great joy at the king’s court, and the queen was as glad as glad could be; but when what she had promised to the old witch came into her mind, she sent for a silversmith, and bade him make twelve silver spoons, one for each prince, and after that she bade him make one more, and that she gave to Snow-white and Rosy-red. But as soon as ever the princess was christened, the princes were turned into twelve wild ducks, and flew away. They never saw them again – away they went, and away they stayed.

  So the princess grew up, and she was both tall and fair, but she was often so strange and sorrowful, and no one could understand what it was that ailed her. But one evening the queen was also sorrowful, for she had many strange thoughts when she thought of her sons. She said to Snow-white and Rosy-red, ‘Why are you so sorrowful, my daughter? Is there anything you want? If so, only say the word, and you shall have it.’

  ‘Oh, it seems so dull and lonely here,’ said Snow-white and Rosy-red; ‘everyone else has brothers and sisters, but I am all alone; I have none; and that’s why I’m so sorrowful.’

  ‘But you had brothers, my daughter,’ said the queen; ‘I had twelve sons who were your brothers, but I gave them all away to get you’; and so she told her the whole story.

  So when the princess heard that, she had no rest; for, in spite of all the queen could say or do, and all she wept and prayed, the lassie would set off to seek her brothers, for she thought it was all her fault; and at last she got leave to go away from the palace. On and on she walked into the wide world, so far, you would never have thought a young lady could have strength to walk so far.

  So, once, when she was walking through a great, great wood, one day she felt tired, and sat down on a mossy tuft and fell asleep. Then she dreamt that she went deeper and deeper into the wood, till she came to a little wooden hut, and there she found her brothers. Just then she woke, and straight before her she saw a worn path in the green moss, and this path went deeper into the wood; so she followed it, and after a long time she came to just such a little wooden house as that she had seen in her dream.

  Now, when she went into the room there was no one at home, but there stood twelve beds, and twelve chairs, and twelve spoons – a dozen of everything, in short. So when she saw that she was so glad, she hadn’t been so glad for many a long year, for she could guess at once that her brothers lived here, and that they owned the beds, and chairs and spoons. So she began to make up the fire, and sweep the room, and make the beds, and cook the dinner, and to make the house as tidy as she could; and when she had done all the cooking and work, she ate her own dinner, and crept under her youngest brother’s bed, and lay down there, but she forgot her spoon upon the table.

  So she had scarcely laid herself down before she heard something flapping and whirring in the air, and so all the twelve wild ducks came sweeping in; but as soo
n as ever they crossed the threshold they became princes.

  ‘Oh, how nice and warm it is in here,’ they said. ‘Heaven bless him who made up the fire, and cooked such a good dinner for us.’

  And so each took up his silver spoon and was going to eat. But when each had taken his own, there was one still left lying on the table, and it was so like the rest that they couldn’t tell it from them.

  ‘This is our sister’s spoon,’ they said; ‘and if her spoon be here she can’t be very far off herself.’

  ‘If this be our sister’s spoon, and she be here,’ said the eldest, ‘she shall be killed, for she is to blame for all the ill we suffer.’

  And this she lay under the bed and listened to.

  ‘No,’ said the youngest, ‘ ’twere a shame to kill her for that. She has nothing to do with our suffering ill; for if anyone’s to blame, it’s our own mother.’

  So they set to work hunting for her both high and low, and at last they looked under all the beds, and so when they came to the youngest prince’s bed, they found her, and dragged her out. Then the eldest prince wished again to have her killed, but she begged and prayed so prettily for herself.

  ‘Oh! Gracious goodness! don’t kill me, for I’ve gone about seeking you these three years, and if I could only set you free, I’d willingly lose my life.’