Cinderella Trembling

Tonight I read to the kids from the book Celtic Fairy Tales, which has the most beautiful illustrations EVER! They are gilded illustrations bordered with Celtic themes.

It is my hope to give the kids a very broad-based smattering of lore from various Western cultures, particularly, so that they have a strong platform for identifying and understanding literature and modern stories with references to the past. We are establishing some 'hooks' to benefit both them and, actually, me. I continually seem to read things that suddenly trigger my memory of references made by modern literature, and I'm sure this new knowledge would enrich my enjoyment and appreciation of modern literature and films.

I'm sure this is particularly true of Greek mythology. How confused I have always been with those references. I'm delighted to finally have an elemental grasp on who they are and such. It feels like such a BASIC thing to know. In my reading of fantasy literature, these references are made CONTINUALLY, and I've always felt a bit slow...

Norse mythology is the same way, and the parallels and references are even more striking, as most of us never received any history lessons in Norse lore. I am quite looking forward to covering Norse mythology with the chillun's at some point, but, unfortunately, the violence is a concern. I have mentioned Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer before, I believe, and I plan to use it, and possibly Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings later, as my accompanying fictional book as we go through D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Mythology. Too bad about the violence, though...but I was amazed and drawn in by Farmer's explanations of the Tree of Yggdrassil and Valhalla and all such. I was especially struck by many of the correlations between Norse mythology and Christianity. Such an eye-opener...a bit like my amazement during a World Religions class in college. I am sometimes dismayed at what I DON'T know.

Anyhow, Waldorf curriculum places Celtic fairy tales before Greek or Norse mythology. I may find out that I'm completely off base, but I sort of don't expect to find the surprising connections and literature roots within the Celtic lore, but, then again, I may be simply unaware, as I was with Norse Mythology. Anyhow, given the recommended order and the fact that I'm uncomfortable with exposing Fiona, in particular, to the violence of the Norse myths and story, we are going to go ahead and give the Celtic mythology a go.

The first story that we read a couple of days ago about the Battle of the Birds was a meandering tale that had strong links to Narcissus, Hercules' labors, the golden apple, and the Biblical story of Jacob's wooing of Rachel and Leah. Since the Celts migrated from the Mediterranean area, it's not surprising that elements of Greek mythology enter their stories.

I was more surprised tonight, when we read "Fair, Brown, and Trembling". Alex brought up that it was the story of Cinderella even before I did. SO many elements were the same, and yet it was SO different that I was totally transfixed. Fair and Brown are Trembling's not-so-nice siblings, by the way. I am assuming that the tale of Cinderella was altered by the Celts, but perhaps that's simply my bias based on the order in which I learned the tales. Honestly, it seems to make almost more sense the other way around. There are additional factors in the Irish version that sort of explain a couple of mysterious elements in the Cinderella story and other factors that make you laugh at the Irish stereotype. For example, the prince has to brawl with several other princes before he gets to marry Trembling! Then they have 14 kids--yikes!

One bit that I'm fascinated by is that in place of the fairy godmother, we have a 'henwife' who dons a dark cloak to make her 'requests' for beautiful clothing. Freaky! Then Trembling is sent to the church entry (and she must dash away the moment the church bells ring). The whole 'dark cloak'-ed henwife juxtaposed with the church is such a curiousity! We think the henwife is good, too, in the story, and there's no suggestion that she's 'wicked'. Curiouser and curiouser...

Anyhow, the kids are totally with me so far on all of the correlations except...Biblical. I am a little embarrassed actually! I really do plan on finding a really good kids' book of Bible stories soon. I thought I had one, and I actually read perhaps half of it to them, but it ended up being more an elaborate story about Adam and Eve, so not really adequate for my purposes!

We spent several months on Greek mythology, and we finished the whole Percy Jackson saga by Rick Riordan for our fictional supportive accompaniment. I don't have any Celtic-linked fictional books that are quite so helpful with purposely trying to 'teach' the mythology via the books, but my favorite childhood author, Lloyd Alexander, wrote his Chronicles of Prydain with strong Celtic roots. I suppose I'll bring that on board, but I sort of feel like I need to read a bit more lore first, as Lloyd Alexander does not explain the links for us, unlike Riordan or Farmer. It should be fun, though, and I suspect I'll learn of a lot more Celtic connections within the Prydain world than I realized, even, once we cover the basic Celtic mythology.