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Entry tags:
(not an) update, and: fairy antis
When it comes to the five things I identified yesterday that I need to deal with, I have done nothing in the last two days! Yesterday after I dusted, swept, and vacuumed, the benzo suddenly took effect, and I felt like all my limbs turned to cooked spaghetti. So I napped the rest of the day/evening and snuggled with Sipuli. Today I thought about taking my ADHD meds and... decided not to and snuggled with Sipuli again. And read.
I finished rereading the translated original The Story of the Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, a novel which is the oldest known variant of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. (Obviously it is derived from the Animal as Bridegroom folk tale type, though, to say nothing of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.) Yeah, another French lady - Beaumont - rewrote the novel in 1756 and removed the last two thirds (which are all concerned with absolutely bonkers fairy lore), making it much more boring, and the popular versions all derived from there.
I have reread it now for the sake of the bonkers fairy lore.
My favorite part of the bonkers lore that I had forgotten is that Villeneuve's fairy kingdom (which actually is in the air, not like, under mounds like Celtic folklore, or in an alternate dimension; her fairies seem to all be spirits of the air) are antis.
Junior fairies - either fairies under 1000 years old, or who have not Become a Serpent, a dangerous trial which unlocks their powers early but risks death - are only permitted to romantically or sexually ally themselves with beings of exactly equal powers to themselves. Absolutely no power imbalances allowed!!!
After the age of 1000 (or upon successful completion of The Ordeal of becoming a serpent) they can do more things, and are allowed to marry whomever, including puny mortals. (It's a plot point because Beauty is the child of an illegal junior-fairy/human marriage who had to be secretly exchanged for a merchant's child for her safety.)
I finished rereading the translated original The Story of the Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, a novel which is the oldest known variant of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. (Obviously it is derived from the Animal as Bridegroom folk tale type, though, to say nothing of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.) Yeah, another French lady - Beaumont - rewrote the novel in 1756 and removed the last two thirds (which are all concerned with absolutely bonkers fairy lore), making it much more boring, and the popular versions all derived from there.
I have reread it now for the sake of the bonkers fairy lore.
My favorite part of the bonkers lore that I had forgotten is that Villeneuve's fairy kingdom (which actually is in the air, not like, under mounds like Celtic folklore, or in an alternate dimension; her fairies seem to all be spirits of the air) are antis.
Junior fairies - either fairies under 1000 years old, or who have not Become a Serpent, a dangerous trial which unlocks their powers early but risks death - are only permitted to romantically or sexually ally themselves with beings of exactly equal powers to themselves. Absolutely no power imbalances allowed!!!
After the age of 1000 (or upon successful completion of The Ordeal of becoming a serpent) they can do more things, and are allowed to marry whomever, including puny mortals. (It's a plot point because Beauty is the child of an illegal junior-fairy/human marriage who had to be secretly exchanged for a merchant's child for her safety.)
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