Originally, this was going to be about my favorite fairy tale retellings (of course) but...well, this is a little embarrassing,
Without a doubt, my very favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast. Seriously, if you want me to read a retelling, just say that this is the story it retells and I am so there. To be completely honest, I don't know why I love this story so much. It wasn't the first fairy tale I was exposed to, but it's the one that resonated with me somehow and has stuck with me the most over the years. I think part of it is how they don't fall in love immediately and... I think even when I was a kid, I liked the idea behind interracial romances. (And, at the time, this was about the most interracial as it got. Especially for a kid that truly had no idea what 'interracial' even meant...)
There's actually many different takes on the story of Little Red Ridding Hood. While my favorite retellings are the ones where the wolf is the love interest, I adore one of the original stories. One of the versions, I don't remember which now, had Red, as the hero of her own story, defeat the wolf by killing him. No woodcutter need apply. While it is one of the more gory of the takes on the story, I love it because the girl, without any help, defeats the 'evil'.
The Honest Woodman is quite a short little story. I really don't even remember where I first heard of it, but it is one that stuck with me - unlike all those that I read as a child and cannot even remember. I really liked it then though, and I still really like it.
I'd actually half forgotten about this story. Not all of it, but the name. Diamonds and Toads. I like it, mostly because both the 'gift' and the 'curse' sound perfectly awful. There's also a retelling of this out there that I need to read. (I believe it is called Toads and Diamonds?)
While I do know a few of the stories in A Thousand and One Nights, this is really one the list because of Scheherazade and her story. Ever since I first heard it, I've loved the idea about a smart, intelligent woman holding her own against a man that had decided to kill her. Each night she ends the story on a cliffhanger and the Sultan has to keep her alive to know how the story ends. I love it!
There you go, my five favorite fairy tales. What are yours?
I own none of the pictures. Total credit and kudos go to the amazing artists.
