Logic of Fairies

Abstract

fatti degli altri sono come racconti dell' Orco G.B.Basile, Lo Cunto de li cunti, egloga 2 v.298 At some point in the history of the European fairy tale, beautiful princesses escaped from their towers and fell asleep in enchanted palaces in the woods. Young princes galloped on horseback through nameless streets. Oaks muttered and herbs revived the dead. Ogres sat on the threshold of caves that lead underground. Laughing fairies passed by, satisfying wishes or cursing. In these tales, we encounter over-bearing kings, lovely maidens, mountain peaks, underground palaces, enchanted gardens, and dishes prepared by mysterious cooks and served by invisible servants. Their readers and hearers knew for certain that passed in an orderly sequence of 'before and after'. Yet fragments of these days and years passed in an unpredictable order. Time was introduced by a series of opening formulae that initiated a plot unconnected to reality. The once upon a time of fairy tales effaced every reference to a recognized period, while the years, seven months, seven days and seven minutes that concluded the action can be viewed as an absurd, even humorous ritual. If this prevented both reader and listener from identifying themselves with the story, it allowed them to adapt and enrich it through their experiences and desires. These tales describe the body and the blood, tears, shit, and precious stones that come out of it. Fleas grow like sheep. Sea Dragons' hearts are boiled and the fumes make queens, female cooks, furniture and swords pregnant. Dragons' heads grow back after decapitation. Magic stones emerge from the heads of cockerels. Horses chatter, beetles play guitars, mice dance, and singing crickets lull people to sleep. Yet these stories are also about love. Desirable virgins disguised as she-bears escape into woods or have their overly attractive hands dismembered. Children are killed and eaten or are lost and found again. Lovers' hearts break for a kiss. Maidens shape men using a silver razor and by mixing almond paste with rose water, rubies, pearls, and threads of gold on a kneading trough. Wizards make dancing dolls, hens and golden chicks. Kings and Queens spread out magical jackets and skirts embroidered with diamonds over meadows and stairs. Characters' bodies set themselves against and clash with one another. Their bodies shine and deteriorate on the threshold of a dark, dangerous, deep place: the ogre's house. In one step characters may go in and out of its rooms formed of caves, mountains, the isle of ogresses and fairyland. These are ail adjoining and accessible places from those embarked upon a journey far from family and their destiny; a journey that will change their body and status. As these types of tales show, princes and princesses, fairies and ogres, horses and plants all complete a journey through incredible yet not impenetrable places. Their stories became the subject matter of a new literary genre: the fairy tale. Drawn from ancient and coeval traditions, these texts and their models were diversions for urban and aristocratic elites as well as an aspect of Baroque aesthetics and courtly entertainment rituals. I 1. The Naine Fairy Tale. For nearly rive centuries, European literary milieus have defined the fairy as a tale of magic, a fable; as an irregular narrative of uncertain origin which contains elements taken from different cultures, transmitted by conflicting or alternative traditions. These stories were used in a variety of social contexts such as courtly games, encomiastic poetry, choreography, and theatre. They shared an established reception, some traditions, a function and narrative structure, which has generated different types of stories that have been used to teach moral values and as a form of entertainment and communication. In this article, I shall refer to fairy tales as a genre which (a) are of uncertain origin, (b) have established themselves as a literary genre from the early modern period, (c) were originally written for courtly entertainment, (d) represent the earliest period of a European literary genre that grew increasingly from the seventeenth century. …