Kindness to Animals in Stories

I've always been a fan of fairy tales where the main character's kindness to animals helps him or her become the hero of the story.
The Queen Bee, by the Brothers Grimm is a good example. Baba Yaga and the Girl With the Kind Heart is another. Sometimes the main character is even mighty, and displays the wisdom of having humility even when one is rich and powerful, such as the legend of King Solomon and the Bee. You'll notice that the Solomon story has a similar motif as that of "The Queen Bee."

Those are some of my favorite stories in which compassion toward animals (and in the case of Baba Yaga, toward things too!) is rewarded. What are yours?

Tidbits for Friday the 13th

Here's the latest on the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act:

CPSIA: It's February 10th, So Now What?

Even though small businesses don't have to undergo testing of their items for children another year (but are liable if their products end up having a certain amount of lead or Phthalates), I'm still creating my nature table figures for people who are over twelve years of age. If you don't think that grownups still play with dolls, just take a look at the Star Wars action figures and LEGO industries.

I don't have much else to report. I have a number of projects in the works, including a promotional storytelling video that VersantMedia is going to be filming on February 28. Take a look at VersantMedia's current projects. I'm there. I've got my regular bookstore gigs, plus a school visit coming up, but no birthday parties scheduled for the near future. The winter months are usually slow in terms of birthday parties, but I suspect our current economy is a factor too. Therefore, I'm glad that most of my gigs will be free to the public over the next few months.

I've also decided to open an Etsy storefront. Currently, it's just a placeholder, but by late spring, I hope to have nature table figures to offer in the shop. I plan to offer both the larger nature table figures with the elaborate embroidery and smaller root children/bulb babies. Like Bookshelves of Doom finds ways to support her habit, perhaps I'll find a way to justify my textiles expenses.

I will leave you with one of my favorite fairy tales. The link has full text, hypertext annotations, and a graphic list of the variants that star the most fascinating, complex character in Russian folklore, the great and terrible Baba Yaga. The story is Vassilisa the Beautiful, by Post Wheeler, and it comes to you courtesy of Sur La Lune Fairytales.com

Vasilisa the Brave and the doll of intuition

The story of Vasilisa the Brave (or "Beautiful," depending upon who's telling the story) has two endings: the first ending is when she returns home from her visit to Baba Yaga, and the second ending (a denoument, really) deals with her fine weaving skills that facilitate her meeting with the Tsar. What I love most about this story is the doll that Vasilisa carries in her pocket. In Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes about the doll as a symbol of Vasilisa's intuition. There are times when Vasilisa speaks, and times when she keeps her thoughts to herself.

Sometimes, there are people who just don't get it when in fairy tales the main character receives help from others. They complain, "What's so great about Vasilisa when it's the dolly who does all of the work?" It is one thing in a novel when human beings do all the work for the main character. However, a fairy tale is not a novel. A fairy tale is deliberately two-dimensional, methodically archetypal. Can you imagine how tedious it would be if the main character simply discovered his or her inner courage without any impetus to do so? Besides, in many of the stories, the characters who are too prideful to offer or accept any help from beings that seem weaker than they are often the ones who end up turned to stone or with their heads chopped off.

For a time, I carried a little wood-and-cloth dolly in my pocket to remind myself to trust strong inklings. I even made "intuition dollies" for friends. I almost flipped out when I thought I had lost the doll right before my Comprehensive Exams, and then had to give myself a stern pep talk about superstitious thoughts. I think that may be the biggest reason as to why I don't wear a brown scapular. I get attached to things. I worry. Like Dumbo (yes, I have actually watched Disney cartoons), I need to learn to let go of the feather.

Still, if I ever have to go to the woods to borrow some fire from Baba Yaga, you had better believe I'm going to hold onto my dolly.