Fairy Tale Conventions
Dongjiao Li
Professor Sandra Orser
English 3331
Feb 3rd 2014
A Study of the conventions of Fairy Tales:
Lily and the God of the river
Fairy tales are not only popular in children but also appeal to adults because they always provide people with good wishes. For hundreds of years, fairy tales have become a very important part of children’s literature. As we learn more about fairy tales, we found out that there are several conventions of the fairy tales, such as a specific setting to remove the readers from the real world; a hero or heroine has a dangerous adventure; with a theme of maturation. I would like to present you my own fairy tale based on some conventions of fairy tale, called Lily and the God of the river.
Once upon a …show more content…
time in a small village far far a way, there was a little girl called Lily who lived near by the river with her parents who made their living by fishing. As she grew up, she saw the river become more and more polluted then when she at the age of 12, her parents found out there was not any fish for them to catch in the river at all. To support her family, Lily had to work in the bathhouse in town. Her boss was a huge bee who would use his sting to punish his workers.
One day, a huge dirty man who was covered by mud with disgusting smell hobbled into the bathhouse, however nobody want to greet this guest, even the boss of the bathhouse was too angry to serve him because he had almost scared all other customers away. After he dropped some gold on the floor, the boss said:
“Please come on in, we have the biggest pool to fit you in, my distinguished guest.”
But the boss Bee became very upset soon because no one wanted to serve this disgusting guest even he scared his workers with his acute sting. At this moment, Lily stood up and took this job.
She turned on the tap and let the hot water run from the dirty man’s head, and said:
“Is that hot enough for you, sir?”
There was no response, but the water turned yellow and overflowed the pool soon.
“Shall I brush your back, sir?”
There was no response, then Lily used a huge brush scrubbed the mud.
The mud was very thick, after a few minutes, she found something in the mud on his back.
“There is a knife on your back! Sir!”
There was still no response, but Lily was afraid that her guest was dying so she tried to pull out that knife to save this poor man however she was not strength enough. So she got a rope and tied it on the shank then asked her colleague who was a cow with strength arms for help.
As they pulled harder and harder, not only the knife but also more and more garbage came out from the mud. There were dump machines, bicycles, cans and any kinds of dumps lying on the floor with mud.
“Thank you, young lady. I feel much better now. It is too hard to move with that heavy load, even can not say a word.” He said.
Through the water flow, Lily saw a handsome man. He came out of the water and fluttered in the air.
“I am the God of the river, but I was stuck in the mud since more and more garbage had been poured into the river. Thank you for your help, young lady.”
“You are so welcomed, my dear god. I just did what I should do.” Lily said, “I lived nearby the river, for years I can still remember the clear water reflecting my face, some times I play with those fishes. I think I am responsible for protecting the river.”
“So would you like to help?”
“I would love to, my dear god.”
“Then I shall go back to my river and guard it with my power.”
The God of the river picked up Lily and flied out of the bathhouse. When they came to the river, every one found that the river had changed back to what it looked like in the past. The water was clear and fishes played with each other.
The folks of the village were very grateful to Lily.
They married the god of the river and Lily by the river; they lived happily ever after and gave birth of many children. Those children all lived by the river and swear to guard the river for generations.
In creating this story, I have used several conventions of fair tales, such as a setting to remove the readers from the real world, characters who is outcast, motifs of helpful animal and impossible task and magic.
Fairy tales always used “once upon a time in a kingdom far far away” as the beginning of the story, thought very simple but this sentence is actually very important to a fairy tale because it makes every thing about the story divorced from the reality and allow things impossible in real life, such as talking animal present in the story. Especially for fairy tales, animal personification is a very important part. In my story, the folks in the village are animal and human, they are equal, thrive together, sharing the land, however human is the master of the world in the reality, so I need to put that sentence to lead my readers to a different world. In addition, the main characters are not prince and princess so I used a “village” rather than a “kingdom”. I think this sentence had added some feelings of mystery into my …show more content…
story.
My story is talk about a little girl who saved the god of the river. At first, she was lived nearby the river with her parents but she had to work in town because the river could not support their lives. In a fairy tale, the heroine is usually an outcast, in my story, the heroine Lily had to go to work in town, which should be a strange place for her because she formerly lived by the river, so Lily was actually an “environmental outcast”. The reason I designed this role Lily as a outcast is because I think the separation between Lily and her parents and the environment that she was familiar with would highlight Lily of a strong quality, then pave the way that she helped the god of the river to wash the mud away from his body. She was very brave and kind. I think this convention had given my story some significance of kindness and strength. It may tell children to be brave and kind even when facing difficulties.
In a fairy tale, some motifs are commonly used, for example, helpful animals and impossible tasks. The character became mature in taking the actions. In the Lily and the God of the river, serving the dirty man is an impossible task for Lily because the dirty man was huge but Lily was just a little girl. I chose this convention because I want to convey the information to the readers that although saving the polluted environmental seems like an impossible task, making effort is what human should do. This convention also highlights the strength and brave of Lily’s quality again, increase the interest of reading the story. On the other hand, I have got Lily a helper when she needed more strength to pull out the knife from the dirty man, which was Lily’s colleague who was a cow with strength arms. I think this plot can give the readers a sense of equality between human and animal that they can work together. Also, it makes the story more interesting for children to read.
As you have read the story, you may came up a question that why the god of the river did not use his magic power from the start to prevent people from polluting the river?
According to the convention of fairy tales, magic power should be treated as a normal part of the daily life. I would like to compare a fact, that is a matter of strength and weakness. There were a lot of folks in that village and pouring garbage into the river however there was only one god in this river who also became a victim of the pollution. At the end of the story, after Lily cleaned the garbage and mud from the god of the river, the river had changed back to what it was. This is actually where magic works. I chose this convention because magic is a dream of children, they always expecting something magical happens so I think magic is very necessary when writing a fairy tale. The existence of magic can explain a lot of things that are ineffable in the story, such as changed the river into what it looked like in the
past.
Finally, I found there was always a theme of rescue in the fairy tales. For example, in the sleeping beauty and the Snow White, the princesses need to be rescued by handsome princes then they can come back to life and get married then live happily ever after. This theme exist in my tale also, but I reversed the role of “rescue” and “be rescue”, I let the girl act as savior role and men act as a role to be saved. I think this process can be considered as a process that generating love between men and women. So I think this is also an important part to study the convention of fairy tale.
Work Cited
Orser, Sandra. “English 3331”. Saint Mary’s University, Halifax. Lecture Notes.
Professor Sandra Orser
English 3331
Feb 3rd 2014
A Study of the conventions of Fairy Tales:
Lily and the God of the river
Fairy tales are not only popular in children but also appeal to adults because they always provide people with good wishes. For hundreds of years, fairy tales have become a very important part of children’s literature. As we learn more about fairy tales, we found out that there are several conventions of the fairy tales, such as a specific setting to remove the readers from the real world; a hero or heroine has a dangerous adventure; with a theme of maturation. I would like to present you my own fairy tale based on some conventions of fairy tale, called Lily and the God of the river.
Once upon a …show more content…
time in a small village far far a way, there was a little girl called Lily who lived near by the river with her parents who made their living by fishing. As she grew up, she saw the river become more and more polluted then when she at the age of 12, her parents found out there was not any fish for them to catch in the river at all. To support her family, Lily had to work in the bathhouse in town. Her boss was a huge bee who would use his sting to punish his workers.
One day, a huge dirty man who was covered by mud with disgusting smell hobbled into the bathhouse, however nobody want to greet this guest, even the boss of the bathhouse was too angry to serve him because he had almost scared all other customers away. After he dropped some gold on the floor, the boss said:
“Please come on in, we have the biggest pool to fit you in, my distinguished guest.”
But the boss Bee became very upset soon because no one wanted to serve this disgusting guest even he scared his workers with his acute sting. At this moment, Lily stood up and took this job.
She turned on the tap and let the hot water run from the dirty man’s head, and said:
“Is that hot enough for you, sir?”
There was no response, but the water turned yellow and overflowed the pool soon.
“Shall I brush your back, sir?”
There was no response, then Lily used a huge brush scrubbed the mud.
The mud was very thick, after a few minutes, she found something in the mud on his back.
“There is a knife on your back! Sir!”
There was still no response, but Lily was afraid that her guest was dying so she tried to pull out that knife to save this poor man however she was not strength enough. So she got a rope and tied it on the shank then asked her colleague who was a cow with strength arms for help.
As they pulled harder and harder, not only the knife but also more and more garbage came out from the mud. There were dump machines, bicycles, cans and any kinds of dumps lying on the floor with mud.
“Thank you, young lady. I feel much better now. It is too hard to move with that heavy load, even can not say a word.” He said.
Through the water flow, Lily saw a handsome man. He came out of the water and fluttered in the air.
“I am the God of the river, but I was stuck in the mud since more and more garbage had been poured into the river. Thank you for your help, young lady.”
“You are so welcomed, my dear god. I just did what I should do.” Lily said, “I lived nearby the river, for years I can still remember the clear water reflecting my face, some times I play with those fishes. I think I am responsible for protecting the river.”
“So would you like to help?”
“I would love to, my dear god.”
“Then I shall go back to my river and guard it with my power.”
The God of the river picked up Lily and flied out of the bathhouse. When they came to the river, every one found that the river had changed back to what it looked like in the past. The water was clear and fishes played with each other.
The folks of the village were very grateful to Lily.
They married the god of the river and Lily by the river; they lived happily ever after and gave birth of many children. Those children all lived by the river and swear to guard the river for generations.
In creating this story, I have used several conventions of fair tales, such as a setting to remove the readers from the real world, characters who is outcast, motifs of helpful animal and impossible task and magic.
Fairy tales always used “once upon a time in a kingdom far far away” as the beginning of the story, thought very simple but this sentence is actually very important to a fairy tale because it makes every thing about the story divorced from the reality and allow things impossible in real life, such as talking animal present in the story. Especially for fairy tales, animal personification is a very important part. In my story, the folks in the village are animal and human, they are equal, thrive together, sharing the land, however human is the master of the world in the reality, so I need to put that sentence to lead my readers to a different world. In addition, the main characters are not prince and princess so I used a “village” rather than a “kingdom”. I think this sentence had added some feelings of mystery into my …show more content…
story.
My story is talk about a little girl who saved the god of the river. At first, she was lived nearby the river with her parents but she had to work in town because the river could not support their lives. In a fairy tale, the heroine is usually an outcast, in my story, the heroine Lily had to go to work in town, which should be a strange place for her because she formerly lived by the river, so Lily was actually an “environmental outcast”. The reason I designed this role Lily as a outcast is because I think the separation between Lily and her parents and the environment that she was familiar with would highlight Lily of a strong quality, then pave the way that she helped the god of the river to wash the mud away from his body. She was very brave and kind. I think this convention had given my story some significance of kindness and strength. It may tell children to be brave and kind even when facing difficulties.
In a fairy tale, some motifs are commonly used, for example, helpful animals and impossible tasks. The character became mature in taking the actions. In the Lily and the God of the river, serving the dirty man is an impossible task for Lily because the dirty man was huge but Lily was just a little girl. I chose this convention because I want to convey the information to the readers that although saving the polluted environmental seems like an impossible task, making effort is what human should do. This convention also highlights the strength and brave of Lily’s quality again, increase the interest of reading the story. On the other hand, I have got Lily a helper when she needed more strength to pull out the knife from the dirty man, which was Lily’s colleague who was a cow with strength arms. I think this plot can give the readers a sense of equality between human and animal that they can work together. Also, it makes the story more interesting for children to read.
As you have read the story, you may came up a question that why the god of the river did not use his magic power from the start to prevent people from polluting the river?
According to the convention of fairy tales, magic power should be treated as a normal part of the daily life. I would like to compare a fact, that is a matter of strength and weakness. There were a lot of folks in that village and pouring garbage into the river however there was only one god in this river who also became a victim of the pollution. At the end of the story, after Lily cleaned the garbage and mud from the god of the river, the river had changed back to what it was. This is actually where magic works. I chose this convention because magic is a dream of children, they always expecting something magical happens so I think magic is very necessary when writing a fairy tale. The existence of magic can explain a lot of things that are ineffable in the story, such as changed the river into what it looked like in the
past.
Finally, I found there was always a theme of rescue in the fairy tales. For example, in the sleeping beauty and the Snow White, the princesses need to be rescued by handsome princes then they can come back to life and get married then live happily ever after. This theme exist in my tale also, but I reversed the role of “rescue” and “be rescue”, I let the girl act as savior role and men act as a role to be saved. I think this process can be considered as a process that generating love between men and women. So I think this is also an important part to study the convention of fairy tale.
Work Cited
Orser, Sandra. “English 3331”. Saint Mary’s University, Halifax. Lecture Notes.