#malay bear

[ilikevintagebooks]

The Malay Bear

-The Wild Beasts, Birds, Reptiles of the World 1892

[princesstutumeta]

At the very beginning of the episode La Sylphide, Ms. Edel gets the jewel of love from a woman who looks like a bear lady. We only briefly see her hand/paw, but it has fur, and she is wearing a large overcoat that obscures much of her. This bear lady could be a representation of Allerleirauh, or a gender reversal of the tale Bearskin or Hans My Hedgehog. All of them are fairytales in which a person wears a skin that turns them (appearance only or their whole being) into a ‘monster’ seemingly unfit for love.

This is very interesting, not only because it gets even more involved with fairytales, but because of who ends up with this gem: Rue. Rue has been told her entire life that she was unfit for love, that no one could ever love someone as hideous and ugly as her, except for the Prince. In order to ensure this love, Rue puts on the ‘coat’ of Kraehe (or vise versa near the beginning of everything, because lil’ Rue just can’t bear to be called Kraehe by her Prince). Kraehe is eventually something/one Rue becomes that she knows is horrible and ugly, but both has to put up with because she sees no alternatives, and even embraces it to secure her Prince.

Another interesting part of these stories is that the ‘creature’/enchanted person must marry someone who only sees their horrible side, who has to endure all their ‘ugliness’, usually with great fear, and do so willingly. Only after this has occurred does the spell break and a beautiful/handsome person emerges from under the coat. Mytho does this for Rue; he endures all of her aggressive love when she is Kraehe, and albeit it’s questionable whether he does it willingly, I think it is. Certainly by the end, we see him accept Rue for everything she is and has been, including Kraehe. Then, at the end, Rue is revealed for her truly beautiful self as she kisses Siegfried/Mytho, donning a gown of white.

(Of course, I think a similar case could probably also be made for Mytho, but I’ve not got time to delve into that unfortunately~)