Walls Were Everywhere
Walls were meant to keep out invaders, outsiders, sickness, death and chaos. Within the walls were royals, warriors, priests, traders, merchants, outsiders and the poor.
And there were stories. With time, most walls failed. The stories evolved and endured.
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"Anyone who returns to the original Grimms after their modern saccharinization sees the deep horror in the tales, the gruesomeness, the tragedy, the dark beliefs and practices."
Seth Lerer: Children's Literature, A Reader's History from Harry Potter to Aesop
The illustration from Snow White is by Angela Barrett.
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Tales Were Told and Retold
"In the Middle Ages, the majority of the population lived in the countryside, and some 85 percent of the population could be described as peasants. Peasants worked the land to yield food, fuel, wool and other resources. The countryside was divided into estates, run by a lord or an institution, such as a monastery or college. A social hierarchy divided the peasantry: at the bottom of the structure were the serfs, who were legally tied to the land they worked." Alixe Bovey, British Library
Before and after the printing Press in Europe (1452), people passed on spoken tales that told in a direct, imaginative, and often entertaining way about the outrages, cruelties, and inequities of everyday life. These stories (wonder tales), told in a tavern, a market place, or a farm house could satirize directly, or by analogy, those in power -- their greed, cruelty, and incompetence, without persecution of the story teller. For example;
Unlimited Royal greed is personified in Rumpelstiltskin. And the incredible metaphor of the Fisherman's Wife poses the question. . .Can anyone who inherits power, even it the power comes from a talking flounder, be as greedy (constantly wanting more) as the woman who ultimately wanted to be God?
Outrageous and often brutal royal behavior can take many forms, even within one family. What should we think of a royal family with a son who has sex with a beautiful young woman in an enchanted coma, and who goes off, after impregnating her. Later, he leaves his new family with his mother, a cruel queen, who will try to cannibalize the now awakened young princess and her royal grand children.
And what of the boundless lust of a widowed king who tries to force his beautiful daughter into marriage, only to have her escape and survive. She is extremeley resourceful and disguises herself by wearing a Donkeyskin. She also has courage, resiliance, and imagination.
The conversations that followed these tales carried them far beyond their immediate listeners. They were told throughout Europe. Here was a way to laugh at the nobility, and talk about their own lives. We have parallels today with our TV news, internet fictions, media, books and movies.
The illustration of the Gleaners is by Leon Augustin Lhermitte.
The illustration from Rumpelstiltskin is by Paul O. Zelinsky
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Fear and Chaos
For centuries the disputes of both minor nobles and powerful kings brought chaos to the lives of peasant families. Marauding knights, famine, and sickness were often compounded. The forests could be refuge or a nightmare.
And so you had tales of desperate children lost in the great and dangerous forests saved by their own resilience, courage and quick wits: Hansel and Gretel work together to overcome their abandonment, the witch, and being lost in the forest; Fearless and resourceful, Perrault's Little Thumb, saves his brothers, outwits a murderous ogre, and returns home with wealth and power; and, in Russia there were tales of Vasilisa, an abused young beauty, who must walk through a dark forest and enter the house of Baba Yaga, the evil witch of many Slavic tales. All fear Baba-Yaga, who is powerful and devours humans. Vasilisa survives with courage, by alone facing the dark side, and through an enchanted doll that her dying mother gave her.
The illustration from Snow White is by Tina Schart Hyman.
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Lost and Abandoned
"Their father and mother brought them into the thickest and most obscure part of the forest; when, stealing away into a by-path, they there left them. Little Thumb was not very uneasy at it; for he thought he could easily find the way again, by means of his bread which he had scattered all along as he came. But he was very much surprised when he could not find so much as one crumb; the birds had come and eaten it up every bit. They were now in great affliction, for the farther they went, the more they were out of their way, and were more and more bewildered in the forest.
Night now came on, and there arose a terrible high wind, which made them dreadfully afraid. They fancied they heard, on every side of them, the howling of wolves coming to eat them up. . ." Little Thumb by Charles Perrault.
The illustration from Little Thumb is by Gustave Dore.
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Warriors, Weapons and War
In movies, videogames, and in legends, knights are usually romantically portrayed as noble, men of honor. Yet, the reality of these ruthless warriors usually brought a nightmare of fear, brutality, and pain to the common people who lived outside the castle walls.
Knights, Violence, and Brutal Chivalry
"Chivalry in later ages may have had merits, but in the eleventh century it was a social disaster. It produced a superfluity of conceited illiterate young men who had no ideals except to rise and hunt and fight, whose only interest in life was violence and the glory they saw in it. . . They were no good at anything else, and despised any peaceful occupation". . . David Howarth, author, The Year of the Conquest
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The Great Unknown of the Forest
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"He went out for a last walk in the woods which he loved. And there, in a sunny glade, strewn with fillaries, purple spotted and delicate, he encountered a white snake, with bright gold eyes and a green forked tongue.
Conversing with snakes is dangerous, for they are in league with the Devil himself; but a man with clear eyes, a quiet mind and a gentle heart can do with impunity what others should not risk. . .the man approached the snake quietly and gently, and smiled at it. The snake stared back unblinking for a few moments and then, with a side slip wiggle, it smiled, then turned and vanished into the long grass." From the retelling of the Grimm's The White Snake, by Sara Maitland.
The image of the white snake is courtesy of KidsWorld.
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Music Within the Walls
Medieval music, often tied in with religious ritual, celebrations, and festivals, also transported people beyond their everyday lives. Usually heard in cathedrals, an otherworldly environment where the mysteries of life, evocative rituals, and incense filled the air. Several years ago, when I first heard medieval music in the church of Saint Lawrence (1450) in Vantaa, Finland, it was a musical surprise. Emotions and imagination were evoked. The photo was taken in that church.
Here is a link to delightful performances by different sources: MedievalMusic. Here is a link to Gregorian chants
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Common Bonds
"On the whole, though, the historical reality that can be excavated from fairy tales does not carry the memory of extreme horrors, specific tragedies, or individuals, but rather dramatizes ordinary circumstances, daily sufferings, needs, desires -- and dangers, especially of dying young."
Marina Warner, Once upon a Time
The photo of Russian peasants is by an unknown photographer.
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Fallen Walls
Hitler was destroying Europe- His troops were in North Africa. It was then that an excellent children's book, Yussuf, the Ostrich, appeared. Emery Kelen, a talented Hungarian illustrator, who had escaped to the USA from Nazi Germany in 1938, used the North African war as a background for a delightful anti-Nazi children's book. The book tells and shows with abundant illustrations, the story of a brave ostrich who outwitted the German general, and braved gunfire, to run at great speed and deliver the secret Nazi plans to an American general.
Yussuf the Ostrich was rediscovered and edited by Jack Zipes, and is published by his Little Mole and Honey Bear Publishing Company.
The illustrations are by Emery Kelen.
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"At their best, the storytelling of fairy tales constitute the most profound articulation of the human struggle to form and maintain a civilizing process. . . The more we learn to relate to other groups of people and realize that their survival and the fulfillment of their interests is related to ours, the more we might construct social codes that guarantee humane relationships. --Jack Zipes on The Art Of Storytelling Show
The illustration, by an unknown Russian postcard illustrator, is from Fearless Ivan and His Faithful Horse Double-Hump, by Pyotr Yershov. as retold by Jack Zipes.
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"A film as beautiful to contemplate as it is to behold, Soul proves Pixar's power to deliver outstanding all-ages entertainment remains undimmed."
Batfish Soup
Refugee Children
Excerpts from a painful, sad, disturbing article by Abdu Latif Dahur in the NYTimes
Almost 51,000 Ethiopian refugees — nearly a third of them children — have crossed into Sudan from Ethiopia since the Tigray conflict began.
Almost a third of the Ethiopian refugees are children, with at least 361 of them arriving unaccompanied, according to the United Nations refugee agency — a stark sign of the sudden nature of the violence that sent them running.
With the violence still continuing, some 2.3 million children in the Tigray region do not have access to humanitarian assistance, according to UNICEF, the U.N. agency for children.
Many of the unaccompanied children said they were separated from their families as they bolted from their homes in the middle of the night, trekking hours and days with nothing but the clothes on their backs to reach safety.
4Paws For Ability is a remarkable organization where they train service dogs and then give them to children and veterans with special needs -- children with epileptic seizures, Downs Syndrome, Autism, physical disabilities, and combinations of these and other challenging conditions.
"Based in Xenia, Ohio, and Anchorage Alaska, 4 Paws For Ability is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to place quality service dogs with children with disabilities and veterans who have lost use of limbs or hearing; help with animal rescue, and educate the public regarding use of service dogs in public places."
Visit their site, watch the videos, read the heartfelt, positive testimonials. Here is the link: service
Photo from Memories by Beverly.
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Who Chains You Publishing
Author Tamira Ci Thayne is the founder of Who Chains You Publishing. The company was founded to publish books for and about animal lovers, activists and rescuers—in all genres from children's to fiction to autobiographies. The mission of Who Chains You is to amplify the voices of the animals through the empowerment of animal lovers, activists, and rescuers who write books elevating the status of animals in society . . .At the deepest level, WCY books explore which chains humans must break within themselves in order to free the animals.
Previously, Tamira was the founder and CEO of Dogs Deserve Better, a rescue devoted to ending dog chaining.
Ariel Wulff is a dog enthusiast, dog owner and advocate, artist, and author of several dog books. She has also been illustrating a variety of delightful children's books for Tamira Ci Thayne. The covers of two of those books are posted here.
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Planet of the Dogs
"Our story begins long, long ago, before there were dogs on Planet Earth. . .
And then there came a time when the abundance and happiness found on Planet Earth were threatened by people like the warrior tribes of Stone City. They had forgotten how to love. . .Their numbers began to grow and soon they were taking the homes, land, and farms where peaceful people lived. . . Something had to be done -- but what could anybody do? No one knew it at that time, but help would come from far, far away, from the Planet of the Dogs."
We have free reader copies of all the books in the Planet Of The Dogs series for therapy dog organizations, individual therapy dog owners, librarians, teachers and independent bookstores. Email us with a postal address to [email protected] and we will send you the books.
To read sample chapters of any book in the series, visit PlanetOfTheDogs
The Planet Of The Dogs series, including Castle In The Mist and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale, is available from many Internet sources and through independent bookstores of all sizes.
The illustration of the Black Hawk Castle is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty.
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“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.”
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