“In Russian, Baba Yaga’s name is not capitalized. Indeed, it is not a name
at all, but a description—“old lady yaga” or perhaps “scary old woman.” ere
is often more than one Baba Yaga in a story, and thus we should really say
“a Baba Yaga,” “the Baba Yaga.” We do so in these tales when a story would
otherwise be confusing. We have continued the western tradition of capitalizing Baba Yaga, since the words cannot be translated and have no other
meaning in English (aside perhaps from the pleasant associations of a rum
baba). ere is no graceful way to put the name in the plural in English, and
in Russian tales multiple iterations of Baba Yaga never appear at the same
time, only in sequence: Baba Yaga sisters or cousins talk about one another,
or send travelers along to one another, but they do not live together. e
first-person pronoun “I” in Russian, ‘ia,’ is also uncapitalized. In some tales
our witch is called only “Yaga.” A few tales refer to her as “Yagishna,” a patronymic form suggesting that she is Yaga’s daughter rather than Yaga herself. (That in turn suggests that Baba Yaga reproduces parthenogenetically, and
some scholars agree that she does.) The lack of capitalization in every published Russian folktale also hints at Baba Yaga’s status as a type rather than
an individual, a paradigmatic mean or frightening old woman. This description in place of a name, too, could suggest that it was once a euphemism for
another name or term, too holy or frightening to be spoken, and therefore
now long forgotten.”
— Sibelan Forrester, from her introduction to Baba Yaga: The Wild Witch of the East in Russian Fairy Tales
I’ve been really looking forward to this edition of First Friday Fairy Tales (since I started the series, if I’m being honest), because “Rumpelstiltskin” is one of my favorite fairy tales, at least as far as its imagery, themes, and history go! Earlier this year you got to read snippets of my first Master’s Thesis, and I’ll share another little section of it with you here, because this story really forms the nucleus of that project and there’s a lot of fascinating information in the tale’s history. Click “Read More” to check it out!
Three retellings of the fairy tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”: East by Edith Pattou, Ice by Sarah Beth Durst, and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George
Johann Karl August Musäus (29 March 1735 – 28 October 1787)
A popular German author and one of the first collectors of German folk stories, most celebrated for his Volksmärchen der Deutschen (1782–86), a collection of German fairy tales retold as satires.
…he was offered a vacancy as pastor in the nearby countryside, the locals objected on the grounds that “he had once been seen dancing.” This finished his hopes of a career in the church, and at the age of twenty-five he became an author of satire.
An asteroid discovered on 6 April 1989 was named 10749 Musäus after him. (Wikipedia)
From our stacks: Illustrations from Legends of Number Nip. (Johann Karl August Musäus) By [i.e. adapted by] Mark Lemon. Illustrated by Charles Keene. London: Macmillan and Co., 1864.
Hi ms Megan, love your comic! I was wondering, do you know of any other fairytale based webcomics or artists floating about the net that you would recommend? Thanks for your time!
Namesake: A young woman journies through fictional worlds, most notably Oz, and encounters two mysterious organizations who both want to harness her strange abilities (Super bonus - the authors also masterminded the Valor Anthology, of which I am a part!)
Elise Oterlei’s Beauty and the Beast: an unfinished adaptation of the story, focusing on a young magician and the curse laid on her disfigured mentor and his servants
100 Days of Night: A snarky adaptation of the myth of Hades and Persephone
Sailor Twain: A riverboat captain becomes enchanted by a wounded mermaid who is sought by various passengers for a multitude of reasons. Now available in print from First Second (Super bonus - I appear as a background character on several pages, and even snag some dialogue!)
Blindspings: So pretty you’ll cry. More fairytale-flavoured than true fairy tale.
Emily Carroll: Author of a number of short, horror-tinged stories, many in the fairy tale vein. some recently collected in Through The Woods.
Adding to the pile of Fairy tale comics :
Alice and the Nightmare (hiatus) : a dreamland adventure set in Wonderland (to which I am a sort of consultant writer for now).
Black Brick of Oz : Want MORE Oz story, but creepy and colorful? Give this one a read!
The Evil Queen : A compelling tale exploring the life and motivation of the evil Queen from Snow White.
Hearts of Roeses : Another adventure set in Wonderland, this type around a steampunk dystopia with clockwork hearts.
Hemlock : A super cool spin on northern tales following the troublesome marriage of a disgruntled witch and the son of Baba Yaga.
Wilde Life : More folklore stories, more Baba Yaga, more werewolves! A young man with a punny name rents out a house and ends up with various supernatural entities on his hands.
Stand Still, Stay Silent : A group of teens travel in a post-apocalyptic frozen wasteland riddled with magical mystery.
Wither : A changeling is trying to find her way home.
I’ll throw in a couple:
A Redtail’s Dream (by the same lady who does SSSS): An anti-social boy and his very social dog have to save their village from the mistakes of a foolish fox spirit. It’s based pretty firmly on the Kalevala, which is neat. Finished.
Mixed Myth: A half elf, half goblin girl has to escape, control, or fight the powers that be, which include her father the elf lord, her mother’s pet maybe-dragon, and the narrative itself. Full of super bad puns and weird takes on fairytale monsters. Finished.
Golden: A dubious experiment in storytelling. Short and to the point and based off the Firebird, but hysterically funny all the same. Finished.
And me again!
Crystal Saga: A recently launched tale merging Twelve Dancing Princesses with Sleeping Beauty
Troll Tooth: A young Sami girl goes on a quest to rescue her brother from a troll marriage, loosely based on East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
And so after slaying the giant, the fierce warrior woman took in all of the children that the giant had orphaned by it’s vicious attacks upon the lands.
Anonymous asked
A review-based blog dedicated to examining fairy tale retellings, reinterpretations, and adaptations.