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Do you have any idea about the tale - The Shoemaker and the Elves?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 12:30 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

The Elves and the Shoemaker, or conversely The Shoemaker and the Elves is an often copied and re-made story about a poor shoemaker who receives much-needed help from elves.

The original story is the first of three fairy tales, contained as entry 39 in the German Grimm's Fairy Tales under the common title "Die Wichtelmänner". In her translation of 1884 Margaret Hunt chose The Elves as title for these three stories.[1]

The theme is a well-known one throughout European folklore. There are many warning stories about what should happen if the recipient of faerie help should offer clothes to his or her benefactor. According to the tales, pixies and faeries alike consider clothing to be a form of bondage, and see any kind offers or new clothes as a way to enslave the faerie.

In 1956, a Looney Tunes cartoon short, Yankee Dood It, is based on this fairy tale where Elmer Fudd is the King of industrial Elves. 150 years after this fairy tale took place, he visits the shoemaker to retrieve the elves he has employed, while also imparting the virtues of mass production capitalism to him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik i/The_Elves_and_the_Shoemaker

Answered at 12:32 AM on February 06, 2009

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Looking for a detailed review of - CORNELIA AND THE AUDACIOUS ESCAPADES OF THE SOMERSET SISTERS by Lesley M. M. Blume?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 12:28 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

CORNELIA AND THE AUDACIOUS ESCAPADES OF THE SOMERSET SISTERS
by Lesley M. M. Blume

Knopf
ISBN-10: 0375835237
ISBN-13: 9780375835230
Ages 8-12
272 pages

Eleven-year-old Cornelia rarely gets to see her mother, a famous pianist who travels almost constantly and gives concerts all around the world. Cornelia would love to be able to accompany her mom on some of these exciting trips, but instead she must stay at their apartment in New York with their well-meaning but nosey housekeeper.

Cornelia's father is a famous pianist as well, but she has never met him. People always ask when she's going to start playing the piano, considering she has two talented musicians fueling her genes, but Cornelia has absolutely no interest in that. She's already plagued with the overshadowing of her mother's fame, as people only seem interested in Cornelia in order to get introduced to her mom. More than once she's been invited over to a schoolmate's home to play just so the parent can ask for favors, like having her mother perform at a charity event. And Cornelia doesn't get invited over by friends at all, because she doesn't have any. A bit shy and very lonely, she spends her time delving into books, her favorite of which are thesauruses. Cornelia absolutely loves words, especially big ones of which no one knows the meaning. She uses these big words as a defense. Whenever someone corners her into an uncomfortable or annoying situation, like having to face the housekeeper's unending questions, she spouts off a few sentences filled with multi-syllable words and people tend to back away to an exit really quickly. Cornelia accepts her lonely way of life and thinks things will never change. But then a new neighbor moves in next door. Virginia is a 75-year-old writer with an Indian assistant named Patel and a French bulldog named Mister Kinyatta. Immediately, Cornelia is captivated by them and inadvertently gets acquainted when she helps catch the mischievous runaway dog. She visits often because Virginia shares incredible tales of the adventures Virginia and her sisters had while traveling around the world to places like France, England and India. Cornelia also likes to visit because she finally has found some dear friends. Lesley M. M. Blume has woven a touching and humorous story within a story. Her unique approach, combined with her diverse and colorful characters, the variety of informative settings and the witty adventures within different cultures around the world, make this book a memorable and joyful experience.

Answered at 12:30 AM on February 06, 2009

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Share a synopsis of the children’s tale - The Elf Maiden?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 12:26 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

The Elf Maiden is a Lapp fairy tale, collected by J. C. Poestion in Lapplandische Märchen. Andrew Lang included it in The Brown Fairy Book.

Synopsis

Two men fell in love with the same maiden. One day, on a fishing expedition, one of them noticed she favored the other. He tricked him into staying behind on the island.

The stranded man survived there until Christmas, when he saw a company coming. It included two young women who were better dressed than the others. They saw him sitting by a bundle of sticks, and one of them, to find out what he was made of, pinched him. Her fingers caught a pin, and it drew blood. The rest of the company fled, leaving behind the maiden and a ring of keys. She told him that he had drawn her blood and must marry her. He objected that they could not survive on this island, and she promised to provide. He married her, and she did provide, though he never saw how.

When his people were going to return to fish, they went to the other side of the island. His wife told him not to stir during the night, whatever he heard. A great clatter, like carpentry, arose, and he nearly jumped up before he remembered. But in the morning, a fine house had been built for them. She then told him to pick a place for a cow-shed, and it was built in the same manner, though they had no cows. She then took him to visit her parents. They were made welcome, but when time came to leave, his wife warned him to jump quickly over the threshold. He did, and her father threw a hammer at him that would have broken his legs if he had not moved quickly. Then his wife told him not to turn around until he was inside their home, whatever he heard. He heard cattle following. When he had his hand on the door, he thought he was safe, and looked, but half the cows vanished. Still, there were enough for them to be rich.

His wife vanished from time to time. He asked her why. She told him she went against her will, and if he drove a nail into the threshold, she would remain all the time, so he did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik i/The_Elf_Maiden

Answered at 12:27 AM on February 06, 2009

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Review of CORALINE by Neil Gaiman?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 12:23 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

CORALINE by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean

HarperCollins
ISBN: 0380977788
Ages 9-12
176 pages

This summer, Harry Potter has finally left the #1 spot on kids' reading lists, and new heroes are emerging to whom young readers can really relate. One such exciting character is Coraline, the adventurous heroine of Neil Gaiman's book of the same name. This beautifully written, dark fairy tale finally acknowledges the underestimated and forgotten maturity of most young people; Gaiman isn't afraid to write a scary fantasy for children looking for more than just Disney-esque dragons and grounds-keeping giants.

Coraline (NOT "Caroline," as she will tell you adamantly) has just moved into a flat in an old house. Her upstairs and downstairs neighbors are kind and eccentric older people who can't get her name right, but encourage her curiosity and explorer's instincts. One rainy afternoon, wandering around bored out of her mind (as young explorers are wont to do on rainy afternoons), Coraline opens a locked door in her living room and finds her way into the mysterious "vacant" fourth flat in the house. Surprisingly, the apartment is far from empty, and Coraline comes face to face with two creatures who claim to be her "other" parents. In fact, there appears to be an entire magical "other" world through the door; there are amazing toys to play with and neighbors who never mess up her name. Soon, however, Coraline realizes that this world is as deadly as it is enchanting. The "other mother" wants to keep Coraline there forever, and her intentions are hardly loving or parental. Coraline meets the ghosts of several other children who had been kidnapped hundreds of years ago, and she realizes that her both her body and spirit are in danger. She has to use all her intelligence and exploratory prowess in order to defeat the horrible "other mother."

Coraline's story is truly frightening, and Gaiman goes to great lengths to forge an "other" world where every aspect of our lives is perverted and twisted into the macabre. Originally a comic-book writer, he uses lyrical comparisons that challenge the simple images of traditional children's books'. Kids will enjoy the chills that run down their spines as they read this story and will be grateful that there is finally an author that refuses to patronize a young audience hungry for an absorbing horror tale.

Answered at 12:26 AM on February 06, 2009

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What is the fairy tale - Eglė the Queen of Grass Snakes - about?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 12:21 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

Eglė the Queen of Serpents, alternatively Eglė the Queen of Grass Snakes (Lithuanian: Eglė žalčių karalienė), is a Lithuanian folk tale. Eglė the Queen of Serpents is considered one of the most archaic and best-known Lithuanian fairy tales and the richest in references of Baltic mythology. Over a hundred slightly diverging versions of the plot have been collected. Its multi-layered mythological background has been an interest of Lithuanian and foreign researchers of Indo-European mythology; Gintaras Beresnevičius considered it being a Lithuanian theogonic myth. Interestingly, the tale features not only human–reptile shapeshifting, but an irreversible human–tree shapeshifting as well. Eglė is both a popular female name in Lithuania and also a noun meaning spruce (Picea). The serpents (žaltys) of the tale are grass snakes in Lithuanian, but because they inhabit the sea, the word may mean a mythical water snake.

Synopsis

The story can be subdivided into a number of sections each having parallels with motifs of other folk tales, yet a combination of them is unique. At the beginning a young girl Eglė after bathing with her two sisters discovers a serpent in her clothes. Speaking in a human voice, the serpent agrees to go away only after Eglė pledges herself to him in exchange for his leaving the clothes, not realising the possible consequences. Three days passed, thousands of serpents come for the bride, but are tricked by her relatives three times in a row. A goose, a sheep and a cow are given instead but the cuckoo warns about the deceit every time. Enraged serpents return the final time and take Eglė with them to the bottom of the sea to their master. Instead of seeing a serpent, Eglė meets her bridegroom Žilvinas, a handsome human, the Serpent Prince. They live together happily and bear four children, until Eglė decides to visit home and her husband denies it. In order to be allowed to visit home, Eglė is required to fulfil three impossible tasks: to spin a never-ending tuft of silk, wear down a pair of iron shoes and to bake a pie with no utensils. After she gets advice from the sorceress and succeeds, Eglė and the children are reluctantly let go by Žilvinas. After meeting the long lost family members, Eglė's relatives do not wish to let them back to the sea and decide to kill Žilvinas. His sons are forced by Eglė's brothers to tell the secret calling of their father. The boys are threatened and beaten by their uncles, however they remain silent and do not betray their father. Finally, a frightened daughter discloses it:
"Žilvinas, dear Žilvinas,
If alive – may the sea foam milk
If dead – may the sea foam blood…"
The twelve brothers call Žilvinas the Serpent from the sea and kill him using scythes. Worried Eglė calls her husband, but unfortunately only foams of blood return from the sea. When Eglė discovers that her beloved is dead, as a punishment for betrayal she turns her children and herself into trees. The sons were turned into strong trees, an oak, ash and birch, whereas the daughter was turned into a common aspen. Finally, Eglė transformed herself into a spruce.

http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Egl%C4%97_the_Queen_of_Serpent s

Answered at 12:23 AM on February 06, 2009

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Pls share a review of THE CONVICTS by Iain Lawrence?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 12:19 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

THE CONVICTS
by Iain Lawrence

Delacorte Press
ISBN: 038573087X
Ages 10-up
208 pages

"You must find money, Tom." Tom Tin sees his father, a sea captain without a ship to command, dragged off to debtor's prison. Taking his father's parting words to heart, 14-year-old Tom sets out to roam London's streets in search of some way to aid his family. He encounters a variety of unsavory characters, and the events of this one night drastically alter the course of his life.

On the banks of the Thames, Tom struggles with a blind vagabond over a priceless jewel --- one he knows could change his family's fortunes and bring his father home. Running from the river with the gem hidden in his coat pocket, Tom hitches a ride with Worms, a man who makes his living digging up graves and selling the corpses to a doctor. He ensnares Tom into helping him, and the body they uncover is that of a boy who looks remarkably like Tom. Next, Tom is taken in by a gang of street children who at first mistake him for a friend of theirs who recently died. After he gets caught up in a robbery attempt that goes awry, Tom finds himself in front of the magistrate. He's cleared of the robbery charge, but something worse is in store for Tom. He's falsely accused of killing the old blind man, who has been found dead. Convicted of murder, Tom is sentenced to seven years and is held on the Lachesis, an old ship that acts as a floating prison for delinquent boys. Iain Lawrence makes the hardscrabble life aboard the ship come alive and places the reader right alongside Tom as he eats gruel, wears pounds of heavy chains on his wrists and ankles, scrubs floors, and endures beatings from the guards. Tom must also use his wits --- and sometimes his fists --- to protect himself and his new friend, Midgely, from the cruelty of Weedle and his gang. Tom knows he won't last long on the ship, and he begins to plot his escape. Will he succeed? Will he take his new friend, Midgely, with him or leave the other boy behind to endure life on the horrid ship? Will Tom be reunited with his family? Will he recover the gem from its unlikely hiding place? And who was the boy who looked so much like Tom? These questions drive the story and make THE CONVICTS a true page-turner. Throughout the story Tom displays both flashes of sincerity and selfishness, and he undergoes a personal transformation along with his physical journey. The boy who leaves home on a foggy London night is definitely not the same one readers bid farewell to at the end of the book. In THE CONVICTS, Lawrence combines vivid descriptions, authentic detail, a likable hero, and a few dastardly villains. It's mystery, history, and intrigue galore in this story of newfound courage and unexpected friendship. Tom Tin is a fictional character, but as you match him step for step on this wild adventure, you just might believe otherwise...

Answered at 12:21 AM on February 06, 2009

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Can you share background info about the fairy tale - East of the Sun and West of the Moon?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 12:16 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

East of the Sun and West of the Moon is the Norwegian version of an old Scandinavian fairy tale. The Swedish version is called Prince Hat under the Ground. The Norwegian version East of the Sun and West of the Moon was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, and it is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband. The themes of marriage to the monstrous or mysterious husband, of curiosity inspired by the mother, and even the drops of spilled tallow are very similar to the Hellenistic romance of Eros and Psyche. Others of this type include The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway, The Daughter of the Skies, The King of Love, The Enchanted Pig, The Tale of the Hoodie, Master Semolina, The Sprig of Rosemary, The Enchanted Snake, and White-Bear-King-Valemon. It was included by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book.
Synopsis
The White Bear approaches a poor peasant and asks if he will give him his youngest daughter; in return, he will make the man rich. The girl is reluctant, so the peasant asks the bear to return, and persuades her in the meantime. The White Bear takes her off to a rich and enchanted castle. At night, he takes off his bear form in order to come to her bed as a man, although the lack of light means that she never sees him. When she grows homesick, the bear agrees that she might go home as long as she agrees that she will never speak with her mother alone, but only when other people are about. At home, they welcome her, and her mother makes persistent attempts to speak with her alone, finally succeeding and persuading her to tell the whole tale. Hearing it, her mother insists that the White Bear must really be a troll, gives her some candles, and tells her to light them at night, to see what is sharing her bed. She obeys, and finds he is a highly attractive prince, but she spills three drops of the melted tallow on him, waking him. He tells her that if she held out a year, he would have been free, but now he must go to his wicked stepmother, who enchanted him into this shape and lives in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon, and marry her hideous daughter. In the morning, she finds that the palace has vanished. She sets out in search of him. Coming to a great mountain, she finds an old woman playing with a golden apple. She asks if she knows the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. The old woman can not, but lends her a horse to reach a neighbor who might know, and gives her the apple. The neighbor is sitting outside another mountain, with a golden carding-comb. She, also, does not know the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon, but lends her a horse to reach a neighbor who might know, and gives her the carding-comb. The third neighbor has a golden spinning wheel. She, also, does not know the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon, but lends her a horse to reach — not a neighbor but the East Wind. She also gives her the spinning wheel. The East Wind has never been to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon, but his brother the West Wind might have, being stronger. He takes her to the West Wind. The West Wind does the same, bringing her to the South Wind; the South Wind does the same, bringing her to the North Wind. The North Wind reports that he once blew an aspen leaf there, and was exhausted after, but he will take her if she really wants to go. She does, and so he does. The next morning, she takes out the golden apple. The daughter who was to marry the prince sees it and wants to buy it. The girl agrees, if she can spend the night with the prince. The daughter agrees but gives the prince a sleeping drink, so that the girl can not wake him, and does the same the next night, when it was the price of the carding comb. But trying to wake the prince, she had wept and called on him, and some captive Christian-folk in the castle told the prince of it, and the third night, in return for the golden sp

Answered at 12:19 AM on February 06, 2009

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What is the origin of the fairy tale - The Dragon of the North? What is it about ?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 12:09 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

The Dragon of the North is an Estonian fairy tale, collected by Dr. Friedrich Kreutzwald in Eestirahwa Ennemuistesed jutud. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book; he listed his source as "Der Norlands Drache" from Ehstnische Märchen, which was the German translation of Kreutzwald's work, by F. Löwe.

Synopsis

A dragon came from the north and devastated land. It was said that a man with King Solomon's ring could stop it. A brave young man set out to find some way. A famous Eastern magician told him that the birds might aid him, and made him a brew that would enable him to understand them; then he said if the man brought him the ring, he would explain the inscription on it.

He heard birds say that only the witch-maiden could help him, and that he could find her at a certain spring when the moon was full. He followed them there. The maiden was offended, but forgave him and took him to her home. The youth heard a voice warn him to give her no blood. She asked him to marry her, and he asked to consider. She offered him King Solomon's ring in return for three drops of blood. She told him its powers. He said, after some days, that he did not quite believe it, and she showed him it, and then let him try it. He escaped with the power of invisibility and flew off.

He went to the magician, who read him the ring, and gave him directions on how to kill the dragon. He went to the kingdom where a king offered his daughter and half his kingdom to anyone who could kill the dragon, and the king got him the iron horse and spear the magician directed. With them, the youth carried the magician's orders, changing the ring from finger to finger as needed, and killed the dragon. He married the princess.

The witch-maiden pounced on him as an eagle and took back the ring. She chained him in a cave, intending him to die there, but many years later, the magician came to the king and told him he could find him. He followed birds and freed the prince, who was very thin, but the magician nursed him back to health. He went back to his wife and lived in prosperity, but never saw the ring again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/The_Dragon_of_the_North

Answered at 12:10 AM on February 06, 2009

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Looking for a review of - CONFESSIONS OF A CLOSET CATHOLIC by Sarah Darer Littman?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 12:14 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

CONFESSIONS OF A CLOSET CATHOLIC
by Sarah Darer Littman

Dutton Children's Books
ISBN: 0525473653
Ages 8-14
195 pages

When Justine Silver's best friend Mary Catherine McAllister (who likes to be called Mac) gives up chocolate for Lent, Justine (aka Jussy) decides that such a temptation isn't worth sacrificing. So instead she resolves to give up being Jewish!

Eleven-year-old Jussy wishes she had a family like Mac's that was warm and more involved in one another's lives. Unfortunately Jussy's somewhat strict mom only seems to care about having expensive things in the house and no messes. Jussy is the middle child, and she feels that whenever she brings up questions about her heritage, her family doesn't take her seriously. Her maternal grandparents, Grandma Lila and Grandpa Leo, think that the kosher traditions are outdated, while mom and dad take Jussy and her older sister Helena and little brother Jake to the synagogue just a few times a year. The only person who Jussy believes truly understands her is her parental grandmother, Bubbe, who she doesn't get to see too often since her family moved from New Rochelle, New York to Greenwich, Connecticut the previous summer.

So Jussy's bedroom closet becomes her confessional, where she asks for repentance for her sins from "Father Ted," a favorite teddy bear. She reveals all to Father Ted --- from her feelings of isolation for being the middle child in her family to dealing with her newly discovered feelings towards a cute boy. But then Jussy is given some devastating news that affects her deeply --- Bubbe has suffered a stroke. Jussy is fearful that her religious exploration is to blame for her grandmother's stroke. Her mother, after accidentally discovering the confessional, thinks that Jussy is being selfish with her exploration especially since Bubbe is a concentration camp survivor (along with her late husband). However, when Bubbe comes to live with Jussy's family, Jussy discovers that she isn't responsible for what happened, and that she must continue to find her own spiritual identity. Jussy's confessions are thought-provoking and at times quite humorous. Sarah Darer Littman's first novel is a great book for people of all faiths to read, enjoy, and learn from.

Answered at 12:15 AM on February 06, 2009

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What is the subject matter of the children’s story book - THE COMIC BOOK KID by Adam Osterweil?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 12:11 AM on February 06, 2009

myjunction's Answer

THE COMIC BOOK KID by Adam Osterweil and illustrated by Craig Smith

Front Street
ISBN: 1886910626
Ages 8-10
152 pages

Brian and his best friend Paul are deeply into comic books. Not just fans, they are serious comic book collectors, who look up things in a guide that tells the value of every book in existence. Brian knows that his dad's 1939 Superman #1 comic book was worth more than a new house --- $130,000 to be exact. But Brian destroyed that Superman #1 when he was seven years old, five years before this novel starts, and now he's convinced that his dad hates him because of it. How can he get his father's love back?

The answer comes when the old man at the general store, Mr. Somerset, gives Brian a blank comic book. The situation gets weirder and weirder; Brian and Paul discover that it's a TIMEQUEST comic book, with magical powers. The boys can push a button and travel to any time period they want. There are certain restrictions, of course, very important rules, as the boys find out when they try to use the TIMEQUEST to go back to 1939 in hopes of buying another copy of Superman #1.

The adventures that Brian and Paul experience could fill a book, as the saying goes. As a matter of fact, they fill the blank comic book. Magically. Whenever the boys do something, they read about it later in the comic, with pictures and words bubbled over their heads. But it's safe to say that this comic book is one they'd rather read than actually live through. Now, if they could just go back to 1939 and grab a copy of Superman #1. How could anything go wrong with that? You'll want to read all about it in THE COMIC BOOK KID.

Answered at 12:13 AM on February 06, 2009

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