Reimagining fairy tales
Illustration by Helen Nicholson, for Foxfire, Wolfskin
I’ve been working with fairy tales for decades now: in the context of narrative therapy, when I was a practicing psychologist; in academic life, when I was researching folklore from Celtic-speaking countries, and also Greek and Old English folklore, and of course in writing. My book of reimagined stories about shapeshifting women, Foxfire, Wolfskin and other stories of shapeshifting women, is my favourite of all my books, and the book I most enjoyed writing.
I’m often asked by readers what inspired that collection. And really, it was an attachment to the notion that folk tales, and especially fairy tales, are supposed to shift and change with the times. That is the whole point of the oral folk tradition – as opposed to bardic traditions, which tend to be a little more mythic in nature, and so much less susceptible to shapeshifting. Folk tales reflect the lives and the preoccupations of the folk. And the nature of our lives and our preoccupations of course shifts over time.
Reimagining fairy tales isn’t a new thing; it’s been going on for quite some time, for better (Angela Carter) or worse (Disney). But my way of reimagining is specifically in relation to voice. I’m not much interested in reimaginings that just shift the plot, or change the ending. What I wanted to do in Foxfire, Wolfskin was to give voice to the women whose stories had been so familiar to me for so long. What might they have to say to us today? What would the Snow Queen say, and what would be her relevance, in a world breaking through the effects of human-made climate change? Would the Cailleach want to renew herself and live for another hundred years, if she had the choice today? What would the fairy Mélusine say to the husband who called her a monster because she became a serpent from the waist down on Saturdays?
Well, I’d like to answer that final question in today’s offering. In the audio file below, you’ll hear me read the original fairy tale from France about Mélusine, and then my response to it.
And if you’re interested in working with fairy tales in this way yourself, my short online course, Finding Ourselves in Fairy Tales, is still available for signups. But it begins on June 11, so time is growing short!