Most of our population has grown up with Fairy Tales. Many children and adults have viewed the Disney version of Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast. In all cultures there are stories, tales which have been passed down the generations.
The Australian Indigenous people had tales that showed landmarks if you were lost and the location of water. Their Dreaming also shows ways to live and punishments if rules are broken.
Anne Duggan has produced a reference book for scholars in which she has left no stone unturned in locating the source of many of our most famous Fairy Tales. Imagine the surprise when she discovered that it wasn’t the likes of Hans Christian Andersen, or the brothers Grimm, or Perault who initiated these tales. Their history goes back to much earlier times.
Women writers in France used to congregate in various Salons where they shared stories and ideas, they had collected from women story tellers. This was happening from the 1400’s onwards. Values and morals were vastly different in those days.
“Excavating History,” to create The Lost Princess: women Writers and the History of Classic Fairytales has led Anne to some remarkable origins and aspects of some Fairy Tales. We accept a Cinderella who patiently puts up with drudgery and abuse and is rewarded in the end with the prince’s hand and heart. But in earlier versions of this tale, Cinderella was merciless to her stepmother and not very forgiving of her stepsisters. There is plenty of blood shed and revenge in these tales with this not so meek character.
Anne Duggan has looked at tales from many countries and has spared no detail to bring us the truth. Women from the beginning have been the story tellers and these early women remain unacknowledged until now.
