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Kissing The Witch
''Kissing the Witch'' (or ''Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins)'' is a collection of interconnected fictional short stories written by Irish-Canadian Emma Donoghue. Each of the thirteen stories in the collection is an adaptation of a well-known European fairy tale, with several tales featuring feminist and queer themes. The stories are linked together by a narrative structure where the narrator of the previous story becomes the listener of the story that follows. None of the narrators or characters are named, instead being referred to via epithets and aliases. The book, originally published in 1997 by Hamish Hamilton Ltd.'','' was Donoghue's third published fiction novel and first short story collection. Following its release, ''Kissing the Witch'' was translated into Dutch (1997), Catalan (2000), and Italian (2007). The US paperback collection released in 1999 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc. features a cover designed by Christine Kettner. The cover features a simple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes material culture, such as traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also encompasses customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, including folk religion, and the forms and rituals of celebrations such as Christmas, weddings, folk dances, and Rite of passage, initiation rites. Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a Cultural artifact, folklore artifact or Cultural expressions, traditional cultural expression. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not something one can typically gain from a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead, thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinderella
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a young girl living in forsaken circumstances who is suddenly blessed by remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between 7 BC and AD 23, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story. The first literary European version of the story was published in Italy by Giambattista Basile in his ''Pentamerone'' in 1634. The version that is now most widely known in the English-speaking world was published in French by Charles Perrault in ''Histoires ou contes du temps passé'' (translation: "Histories or tales of times passed") in 1697 as ''Cendrillon'' and was anglicize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of the world's supply of flax. Textiles made from flax are known in English as linen and are traditionally used for bed sheets, underclothes, and table linen. Its oil is known as linseed oil. In addition to referring to the plant, the word "flax" may refer to the unspun fibers of the flax plant. The plant species is known only as a cultivated plant and appears to have been domesticated just once from the wild species '' Linum bienne'', called pale flax. The plants called "flax" in New Zealand are, by contrast, members of the genus '' Phormium''. Description Several other species in the genus ''Linum'' are similar in appearance to ''L. usitatissimum'', cultivated flax, including some that have similar blue flowers, and others with wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinster
Spinster or old maid is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally denoted a woman whose occupation was to spin. The closest equivalent term for males is " bachelor" or "confirmed bachelor" (or, in cases of gay men, " he never married"), but this generally does not carry the same connotations in reference to age and perceived desirability in marriage. Etymology and history Long before the Industrial Age, "the art & calling of being a spinster" denoted girls and women who spun wool. According to the ''Online Etymological Dictionary'', spinning was "commonly done by unmarried women, hence the word came to denote" an unmarried woman in legal documents from the 1600s to the early 1900s, and "by 1719 was being used generically for 'woman still unmarried and beyond the usual age for it'". As a denotat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rumpelstiltskin
"Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of ''Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about an imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a woman's firstborn child. Plot In order to appear superior, a miller brags to the king and people of his kingdom by claiming his daughter can Spinning (textiles), spin straw into gold.Some versions make the miller's daughter blonde and describe the "straw-into-gold" claim as a careless boast the miller makes about the way his daughter's straw-like blond hair takes on a gold-like lustre when sunshine strikes it. The king calls for the girl, locks her up in a tower room filled with straw and a spinning wheel, and demands she spin the straw into gold by morning or he will have her killed.Other versions have the king threatening to lock her up in a dungeon forever, or to punish her father for lying. When she has given up all hope, a little imp-like man appears in the room and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sled
A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners similar in principle to skis. This reduces the amount of friction, which helps to carry heavy loads. Some designs are used to transport passengers or cargo across relatively level ground. Others are designed to go downhill for recreation, particularly by children, or competition (compare cross-country skiing with its downhill cousin). Shades of meaning differentiating the three terms often reflect regional variations depending on historical uses and prevailing climate. In British English, ''sledge'' is the general term, and more common than ''sled''. '' Toboggan'' is sometimes used synonymously with ''sledge'' but more often to refer to a particular type of sledge without runners. ''Sleigh'' refers to a moderate to large-sized, usuall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ice Skating
Ice skating is the Human-powered transport, self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be performed on naturally frozen bodies of water, such as ponds, lakes, canals, and rivers, and on human-made ice surfaces both indoors and outdoors. Natural ice surfaces used by skaters can accommodate a variety of winter sports which generally require an enclosed area, but are also used by skaters who need Ice rink#Tracks and trails, ice tracks and trails for Tour skating, distance skating and speed skating. Man-made ice surfaces include ice rinks, ice hockey rinks, bandy fields, ice tracks required for the sport of ice cross downhill, and arenas. Various formal sports involving ice skating have emerged since the 19th century. Ice hockey, bandy, rinkball, and ringette are team sports played with, respectively, a flat sl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Snow Queen
"The Snow Queen" () is an 1844 original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in ''New Fairy Tales. First Volume#New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection, New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection'' (''Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samling''). The story centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kai. Unlike Andersen's other stories, ''The Snow Queen'' is written in a novel-styled narrative, being divided into seven chapters. The story is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed stories. It is regularly included in selected tales and collections of his work and is frequently reprinted in illustrated storybook editions for children. Story A mirror and its fragments The devil, in the form of a troll, has made a magic mirror that distorts the appearance of everything that it reflects. The mirror does not reflect the good and beautiful aspects of people a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hunter
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, etc.), for recreation/taxidermy (see trophy hunting), although it may also be done for resourceful reasons such as removing predators dangerous to humans or domestic animals (e.g. wolf hunting), to eliminate pests and nuisance animals that damage crops/livestock/poultry or spread diseases (see varminting), for trade/tourism (see safari), or for ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species (commonly called a cull). Recreationally hunted species are generally referred to as the ''game'', and are usually mammals and birds. A person participating in a hunt is a hunter or (less commonly) huntsman; a natural area used for hunting is called a game reserve; and an experienced hunter who helps organise a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rapunzel
"Rapunzel" ( ; ; or ) is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and it was published in 1812 as part of '' Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Grimms' story was developed from the French literary fairy tale of '' Persinette'' by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1698), which itself is an alternative version of the Italian fairy tale '' Petrosinella'' by Giambattista Basile (1634). The tale is classified as Aarne–Thompson type 310 ("The Maiden in The Tower"). Its plot has been used and parodied in various media. Its best known line is, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." Plot After years of wishing for an offspring, a couple is expecting their first baby. The husband and wife live next to a large, extensive, high-walled flower and herb garden belonging to a sorceress. The wife craves for the rapunzel (which is either cornsalad or rampion) that she sees growing in the garden. She refuses to eat anything else and begins to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Goose Girl
"The Goose Girl" () is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' in 1815 (KHM 89). It is of Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, Aarne-Thompson type 533. The story was first translated into English by Edgar Taylor (author), Edgar Taylor in 1826, then by many others, e.g. by an anonymous community of translators in 1865, by Lucy Crane in 1881, by LucMargaret Hunt in 1884, etc. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Blue Fairy Book'' in 1889. Origin The tale was first published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales, Kinder- und Hausmärchen'', vol. 2, in 1815, as number 3. It appears as no. 89 since the second edition (1819). Grimm's source for the story is the German storyteller Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1815). Summary A widowed queen sends her daughter to a faraway land to marry. Accompanying the princess are her magical horse Falada, who can speak, and a waiting maid. The queen gives the princess a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. There are many different forms of stanzas. Some stanzaic forms are simple, such as four-line quatrains. Other forms are more complex, such as the Spenserian stanza. Fixed verse poems, such as sestinas, can be defined by the number and form of their stanzas. The stanza has also been known by terms such as ''batch'', ''fit'', and ''stave''. The term ''stanza'' has a similar meaning to ''strophe'', though ''strophe'' sometimes refers to an irregular set of lines, as opposed to regular, rhymed stanzas. Even though the term "stanza" is taken from Italian, in the Italian language the word "strofa" is more commonly used. In music, groups of lines are typically referred to as '' verses''. The stanza in poetry is analogous with the paragrap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
