#joseph jacobs

[thefugitivesaint]

John D. Batten (1860-1932), ''Europa's Fairy Book'' by Joseph Jacobs, 1919

[princesssarisa]

Twice now I've seen people discuss the origins of the Cinderella story yet ignore the existence of Ye Xian!

Joseph Jacobs (the author of the best-known versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Little Pigs) wrote in the footnotes to his version, The Cinder Maid, that while ancient proto-versions like Rhodopis do exist, the archetype of Cinderella most likely originated in Germany, because it's a German wedding tradition for the groom to place a shoe on the bride's foot. (More specifically, for the guests to jokingly "steal" and "auction off" one of the bride's shoes, only for the groom to make the "winning bid" and then return the shoe to her.)

More recently, the late Roberto De Simone (who wrote and directed the musical La Gatta Cenerentola and later directed a famous production of the opera La Cenerentola starring Cecilia Bartoli) said that he believed the archetype of Donkeyskin was the original Cinderella story: where the heroine's father tries to marry her, so she runs away and becomes a scullery maid in or near another kingdom's royal palace. He thought it was bowdlerization over time that replaced the incestuous father with a wicked stepmother as the villain.

But what about Ye Xian? It's much older than any known Cinderella from Germany! It's also much older any recorded Donkeyskin tale, yet it features a stepmother! And it obviously points to the Chinese standard of tiny feet as essential to female beauty, not to the German custom of "stealing" the bride's shoe, as the origin of the slipper-fitting search.

I'm not quite sure how those men could do their research yet overlook Ye Xian this way!

[saltwaterandstars]

JOMP BPC - 11th February - Fairy Tales

This is a single volume reprint (published in 1993) of two volumes first published in 1892 and 1894.

[thebeautifulbook]

EUROPEAN FOLK AND FAIRY TALES edited by Joseph Jacobs. (New York: Putnam, c.1916) Illustrated by John Dickson Batten.

source

[ariel-seagull-wings]

PREFACE

(Europa's Fairy Book)

Ever since—almost exactly a hundred years ago—the Grimms produced their Fairy Tale Book, folk-lorists have been engaged in making similar collections for all the other countries of Europe, outside Germany, till there is scarcely a nook or a corner in the whole continent that has not been ransacked for these products of the popular fancy.

The Grimms themselves and most of their followers have pointed out the similarity or, one might even say, the identity of plot and incident of many of these tales throughout the European Folk-Lore field.

Von Hahn, when collecting the Greek and Albanian Fairy Tales in 1864, brought together these common "formulæ" of the European Folk-Tale.

These were supplemented by Mr. S. Baring-Gould in 1868, and I myself in 1892 contributed an even fuller list to the Hand Book of Folk-Lore. Most, if not all of these formulæ, have been found in all the countries of Europe where folk-tales have been collected.

In 1893 Miss M. Roalfe Cox brought together, in a volume of the Folk-Lore Society, no less than 345 variants of "Cinderella" and kindred stories showing how wide-spread this particular formula was ​throughout Europe and how substantially identical the various incidents as reproduced in each particular country.

It has occurred to me that it would be of great interest and, for folk-lore purposes, of no little importance, to bring together these common Folk-Tales of Europe, retold in such a way as to bring out the original form from which all the variants were derived.

I am, of course, aware of the difficulty and hazardous nature of such a proceeding; yet it is fundamentally the same as that by which scholars are accustomed to restore the Ur-text from the variants of different families of MSS. and still more similar to the process by which Higher Critics attempt to restore the original narratives of Holy Writ. Every one who has had to tell fairy tales to children will appreciate the conservative tendencies of the child mind; every time you vary an incident the children will cry out, "That was not the way you told us before."

The Folk-Tale collections can therefore be assumed to retain the original readings with as much fidelity as most MSS. That there was such an original rendering eminating from a single folk artist no serious student of Miss Cox's volume can well doubt. When one finds practically the same "tags" of verse in such different dialects as Danish and Romaic, German and Italian, one cannot imagine that these sprang up independently in Denmark, Greece, Germany, and Florence.

The same ​phenomenon is shown in another field of Folk-Lore where, as the late Mr. Newell showed, the same rhymes are used to brighten up the same children's games in Barcelona and in Boston; one cannot imagine them springing up independently in both places.

So, too, when the same incidents of a fairy tale follow in the same artistic concatenation in Scotland, and in Sicily, in Brittany, and in Albania, one cannot but assume that the original form of the story was hit upon by one definite literary artist among the folk. What I have attempted to do in this book is to restore the original form, which by a sort of international selection has spread throughout all the European folks.

But while I have attempted thus to restore the original substance of the European Folk-Tales, I have ever had in mind that the particular form in which they are to appear is to attract English-speaking children.

I have, therefore, utilized the experience I had some years ago in collecting and retelling the Fairy Tales of the English Folk-Lore field (English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales), in order to tell these new tales in the way which English-speaking children have abundantly shown they enjoy.

In other words, while the plot and incidents are "common form" throughout Europe, the manner in which I have told the stories is, so far as I have been able to imitate it, that of the English story-teller.

I have indeed been conscious throughout of my ​audience of little ones and of the reverence due to them.

Whenever an original incident, so far as I could penetrate to it, seemed to me too crudely primitive for the children of the present day, I have had no scruples in modifying or mollifying it, drawing attention to such Bowdlerization in the somewhat elaborate notes at the end of the volume, which I trust will be found of interest and of use to the serious student of the Folk-Tale.

It must, of course, be understood that the tales I now give are only those found practically identical in all European countries.

Besides these there are others which are peculiar to each of the countries or only found in areas covered by cognate languages like the Celtic or the Scandinavian.

Of these I have already covered the English and the Celtic fields, and may, one of these days, extend my collections to the French and Scandinavian or the Slavonic fields.

Meanwhile it may be assumed that the stories that have pleased all European children for so long a time are, by a sort of international selection, best fitted to survive, and that the Fairy Tales that follow are the choicest gems in the Fairy Tale field.

I can only express the hope that I have succeeded in placing them in an appropriate setting.

It remains only to thank those of my colleagues and friends who have aided in various ways in the preparation of this volume, though of course their co-operation does not, in the slightest, imply responsibility for or approval of the method of ​treatment I have applied to the old, old stories.

Miss Roalfe Cox was good enough to look over my reconstruction of "Cinderella" and suggest alterations in it.

Prof. Crane gave me permission to utilize the version of the "Dancing Water," in his Italian Popular Tales. Sir James G. Frazer looked through my restoration of the "Language of Animals," which was suggested by him many years ago; and Mr. E. S. Hartland criticized the Swan-Maiden story.

I have also to thank by old friend and publisher, Dr. G. H. Putnam, for the personal interest he has taken in the progress of the book.

J. J.

Yonkers, N. Y. July, 1915.

[uwmspeccoll]

Publishers’ Binding Thursday

This week for Publishers’ Binding Thursday I am sharing Indian Fairy Tales, selected and edited by New South Wales-born folklorist and writer Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) with illustrations by English painter, illustrator, and printmaker John D. Batten (1860-1932). Jacobs is best known for popularizing well-known versions of classic children’s tales like “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” Batten illustrated a series of books by Jacobs, all focusing on folk and fairy tales. 

The binding features an illustration of who I think may be the Hindu goddess of snakes, Manasa, resting in a lotus flower on the 7-headed snake demigod Shesha printed in red on tan book cloth. According to good old Wikipedia, Manasa is often pictured under the hoods of 7 cobras, not necessarily the multi-headed Shesha. On the reverse is the god Ganesha also printed in red with a little mouse at his feet. I believe the cover illustration to have been done by Batten, as there is a B near the bottom left of the cover image and the image of Ganesha is featured on the Wikipedia page for Batten. Of course, please take this information with a grain of salt, as most of this was researched on Wikipedia and we all know things on the internet can be wrong.

This book is from our Historical Curriculum Collection, which features books for children. I’ve included illustrations and details from the book that I personally love, like the little historiated letter O with a mouse in it, the serpent in the shape of the letter N, the kitty cat, and of course, the old hag. 

View more Publishers’ Binding Thursday posts.

View more posts from our Historical Curriculum Collection.

-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

[birdsofrhiannon]

The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener

[foodandfolklore]

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

This is another Celtic Folk Tale that I found, but I have a feeling this one was touched more by Westernization in it's translation. It was apparently collected and translated by Joseph Jacobs. The same author who wrote Jack and the Beanstalk and the Three Little Pigs. So I suppose it's not too surprising his writing takes on a more fairytale like esthetic.

When I was reading the story, I thought it was another version of Snow White, as the driving force of the story was the Queen's vanity and Jealousy. I even noticed some small elements of Sleeping Beauty. Both are Brothers Grimm stories. Is Celtic folklore where the German brothers got their inspiration? Did Jacobs just really admire their writing style and harnessed it in his translations? Or is it all just a really weird coincidence?

To be fair, it's not the exact same story. There are no Dwarfs along for the ride, and it seems polyamory is what saves the day.

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

Once upon a time there was a king who had a wife, whose name was Silver-tree, and a daughter, whose name was Gold-tree. On a certain day of the days, Gold-tree and Silver-tree went to a glen, where there was a well, and in it there was a trout.

Said Silver-tree, "Troutie, bonny little fellow, am not I the most beautiful queen in the world?"

"Oh! indeed you are not."

"Who then?"

"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."

Silver-tree went home, blind with rage. She lay down on the bed, and vowed she would never be well until she could get the heart and the liver of Gold-tree, her daughter, to eat.

At nightfall the king came home, and it was told him that Silver-tree, his wife, was very ill. He went where she was, and asked her what was wrong with her.

"Oh! only a thing—which you may heal if you like."

"Oh! indeed there is nothing at all which I could do for you that I would not do."

"If I get the heart and the liver of Gold-tree, my daughter, to eat, I shall be well."

Now it happened about this time that the son of a great king had come from abroad to ask Gold-tree for marrying. The king now agreed to this, and they went abroad.

The king then went and sent his lads to the hunting-hill for a he-goat, and he gave its heart and its liver to his wife to eat; and she rose well and healthy.

A year after this Silver-tree went to the glen, where there was the well in which there was the trout.

"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am not I the most beautiful queen in the world?"

"Oh! indeed you are not."

"Who then?"

"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."

"Oh! well, it is long since she was living. It is a year since I ate her heart and liver."

"Oh! indeed she is not dead. She is married to a great prince abroad."

Silver-tree went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, and said, "I am going to see my dear Gold-tree, for it is so long since I saw her." The long-ship was put in order, and they went away.

It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she steered the ship so well that they were not long at all before they arrived.

The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew the long-ship of her father coming.

"Oh!" said she to the servants, "my mother is coming, and she will kill me."

"She shall not kill you at all; we will lock you in a room where she cannot get near you."

This is how it was done; and when Silver-tree came ashore, she began to cry out:

"Come to meet your own mother, when she comes to see you," Gold-tree said that she could not, that she was locked in the room, and that she could not get out of it.

"Will you not put out," said Silver-tree, "your little finger through the key-hole, so that your own mother may give a kiss to it?"

She put out her little finger, and Silver-tree went and put a poisoned stab in it, and Gold-tree fell dead.

When the prince came home, and found Gold-tree dead, he was in great sorrow, and when he saw how beautiful she was, he did not bury her at all, but he locked her in a room where nobody would get near her.

In the course of time he married again, and the whole house was under the hand of this wife but one room, and he himself always kept the key of that room. On a certain day of the days he forgot to take the key with him, and the second wife got into the room. What did she see there but the most beautiful woman that she ever saw.

She began to turn and try to wake her, and she noticed the poisoned stab in her finger. She took the stab out, and Gold-tree rose alive, as beautiful as she was ever.

At the fall of night the prince came home from the hunting-hill, looking very downcast.

"What gift," said his wife, "would you give me that I could make you laugh?"

"Oh! indeed, nothing could make me laugh, except Gold-tree were to come alive again."

"Well, you'll find her alive down there in the room."

When the prince saw Gold-tree alive he made great rejoicings, and he began to kiss her, and kiss her, and kiss her. Said the second wife, "Since she is the first one you had it is better for you to stick to her, and I will go away."

"Oh! indeed you shall not go away, but I shall have both of you."

At the end of the year, Silver-tree went to the glen, where there was the well, in which there was the trout.

"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am not I the most beautiful queen in the world?"

"Oh! indeed you are not."

"Who then?"

"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."

"Oh! well, she is not alive. It is a year since I put the poisoned stab into her finger."

"Oh! indeed she is not dead at all, at all."

Silver-tree, went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, for that she was going to see her dear Gold-tree, as it was so long since she saw her. The long-ship was put in order, and they went away. It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she steered the ship so well that they were not long at all before they arrived.

The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew her father's ship coming.

"Oh!" said she, "my mother is coming, and she will kill me."

"Not at all," said the second wife; "we will go down to meet her."

Silver-tree came ashore. "Come down, Gold-tree, love," said she, "for your own mother has come to you with a precious drink."

"It is a custom in this country," said the second wife, "that the person who offers a drink takes a draught out of it first."

Silver-tree put her mouth to it, and the second wife went and struck it so that some of it went down her throat, and she fell dead. They had only to carry her home a dead corpse and bury her.

The prince and his two wives were long alive after this, pleased and peaceful.

I left them there.