is for Beanstalk
"All literature is displaced myth" ~N. Frye
"There are no authors or speakers, just participants in the story" ~Dr. Sexson
Storytellers:
"Speak to me, Muse, of the adventurous man who wandered long after he sacked the sacred city of Troy." ~The opening lines of The Odyssey by Homer
polytropos: one of many shifts
- because children have heard something before, they want to hear it again (they love the simplicity of repetition)
- they are different than adults because if someone repeats themselves we annoyingly say "I've heard that before"
- which is why games like 'peek-a-boo' are so much fun to children and so obnoxious to us
- all children's games are repetitive
few people have names in FT's, it's just not important to the story, it is more important that they remain ambiguous
Runge: the man that the Grimm's took most of their stories from
"Of Mere Being' by Wallace Stevens
The palm at the end of the mind,
Beyond the last thought, rises
In the bronze distance.
A gold-feathered bird
Sings in the palm, without human meaning,
Without human feeling, a foreign song.
You know then that it is not the reason
That makes us happy or unhappy.
The bird sings. Its feathers shine.
The palm stands on the edge of space.
The wind moves slowly in the branches.
The bird's fire-fangled feathers dangle down.
red shoes: Dorothy, ballet
FT's take on all sorts of versions from all genres, and they have stood the test of time
is the magic number, everything happens 3 times
fawkes the Phoenix from Harry Potter 
"You must believe the incredible because the story demands it"
bodice ripper: one who rips bodices
"The covers of these novels [romance novels] tended to feature scantily clad women being grabbed by the hero, and caused the novels to be referred to as "bodice-rippers." A Wall St. Journal article in 1980 referred to these bodice rippers as "publishing's answer to the Big Mac: They are juicy, cheap, predictable, and devoured in stupefying quantities by legions of loyal fans." The term bodice-ripper is now considered offensive to many in the romance industry." wiki article
Generic cast of characters:
mom- dead
stepmother- evil
father- stupid
sister- jealous and mean
brother- unknown or stupid too
"They are just sisty uglers" ~ Dr. Sexson
these are crude to the umpteenth degree: language, subject matter, and written word
The moral of 'The Juniper Tree': Don't kill your stepson
these books were written for children, but changed to make the children into good citizens
Isaac Watts: 'The Victorian Web' 
"How doth the little busy Bee
Improve each shining Hour,
And gather Honey all the day
From every opening Flower!
How skilfully she builds her Cell!
How neat she spreads the Wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet Food she makes.
In Works of Labour or of Skill
I would be busy too:
For Satan finds some Mischief still
For idle Hands to do.
In Books, or Work, or healthful Play
Let my first Years be past,
That I may give for every Day
Some good Account at last."
My favorite fairy tale would have to be Donkeyskin by Charles Perrault. Although the beginning is horrifying because of an almost case of incest, it redeems itself in the end. I have always loved to imagine her dresses at the end, 
one the color of the sky, one the color of the moon, and one more splendid than the star of night. They are of unimaginable beauty especially to a young me. To imagine the color is 
not the hard part, but to imagine making fabric that color is intense. I do so enjoy the stark irony too that the dresses that the godmother suggests to spare herself from her father are the same that in the end help her get her man. I also loved that she was a great baker, because although I cannot cook at all, I love to eat. 
