Fairy narration and folklore descend from a kind of source , exchange as they are tell and retold . And some of these tales have been revolutionise by substantial historical figures , whose lives either imprint the genesis of the story or altered it along the way . So what is fact and what is fabrication ?
Top icon : Dream and Harun from Sandman .
legion poove tarradiddle have some source in substantial historical events . You have tale like “ Hansel and Gretel , ” where the characters may not be based on specific characters , but is inspired by the very genuine horrors of famine . There ’s the “ Pied Piper of Hamelin , ” which is set up in the factual town of Hamelin ( or Hameln ) , Germany , where local legend claims that 130 nipper were seduced away from home by a genus Piper . Some observer link the “ piper ” to magnetic number like Nicholas of Cologne , who encourage baby to join the Children ’s Crusade . But a more modernistic theory asserts that the story of the piper is more allegorical , and that it does n’t play a historical incident in which small fry were lured away by a sole figure but rather represent unseasoned people emigrate to other area .
But some fairy fib have been relate to real people whose personal histories and caption may have bump their path into fairy taradiddle . However , it is significant to remember that , before these fagot tales were canonize in Western literature through the the like of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm , many of the people mentioned in this small-arm already aspects of their lives reinterpret again and again through folklore and gossip , so that there are often disconnection between the real people and the familiar tales .
Speaking of the history of tale and specially of fairy - taradiddle we may say that the Pot of Soup , the Cauldron of Story , has always been boiling , and to it have continually been append fresh bits , dainty and undainty . For this rationality , to take a casual instance , the fact that a story resembling the one have it off as The Goosegirl ( Die Gänsemagd in Grimm ) is told in the thirteenth one C of Bertha Broadfoot , female parent of Charlemagne , really proves nothing either way : neither that the storey was ( in the 13th C ) come from Olympus or Asgard by elbow room of an already legendary top executive of sometime , on its room to become a Hausmärchen ; nor that it was on its room up . The floor is found to be widespread , unattached to the female parent of Charlemagne or to any historical part . From this fact by itself we sure enough can not deduce that it is not unfeigned of Charlemagne ’s mother , though that is the kind of deduction that is most frequently made from that kind of grounds . The opinion that the story is not true of Bertha Broadfoot must be founded on something else : on features in the story which the critic ’s school of thought does not allow to be possible in “ real life , ” so that he would actually discredit the tale , even if it were discover nowhere else ; or on the creation of salutary historical evidence that Bertha ’s actual life story was quite different , so that he would disbelieve the tale , even if his philosophy allow that it was absolutely potential in “ genuine life . ” No one , I visualize , would disgrace a write up that the Archbishop of Canterbury slipped on a banana skin merely because he found that a similar comic mishap had been reported of many people , and especially of elderly gentlemen of gravitas . He might discredit the story , if he discovered that in it an angel ( or even a fairy ) had warned the Archbishop that he would slip if he weary gaiters on a Friday . He might also discredit the news report , if it was stated to have occur in the period of time between , say , 1940 and 1945 . So much for that . It is an obvious point , and it has been made before ; but I venture to make it again ( although it is a little beside my present design ) , for it is constantly pretermit by those who touch on themselves with the lineage of tales .
On the other deal , you will occasionally come up across an almost plausible , but utterly untrue “ real ” level behind a nance tale . For lesson , Hans Traxler ’s 1963 bookThe Truth About Hansel and Gretel , which claim that the witch in the taradiddle was based on a material woman called the “ baker Wiccan ” who invent gingerbread , is a hoax , if an amusing one . And there are fairy tales that are connected to hoi polloi whose world is difficult to verify . Many scholars connect the story of Rapunzel to an early damsel - in - a - tower story , that connect to the Christian Saint Barbara . But there are n’t contemporary historic writings about Barbara , so even beyond the whole lock - in - a - column thing , it ’s hard to say who she really was , if she be . Incidentally , the whole hairsbreadth ravel patronage can be trace to a Persian predecessor of Rapunzel , Rudāba , who appears in Ferdowsi ’s Shahnameh .
A peculiarly helpful resource in research this C. W. Post isSurLaLune , which sport annotations and backcloth on numerous fairy tales . This post was inspired by aMental Flosspost about two potential historical Snow Whites .
1 . Conomor ( Bluebeard )
Charles Perrault published “ La Barbe bleue ” in hisTales of Mother Goose , recounting the story of a woman who espouse a nobleman who has been widow many prison term over . When he go away for a slip , the man tells his bride that she may go into any part of his castle , redeem for a flyspeck way beneath the room . Overwhelmed by curiosity in her hubby ’s absence seizure , the young charwoman unlocks the room and discovers , to her horror , that it is filled with the bodies of his brutally polish off previous wives . Things end gayly for her — yes , her terrible husband finds out about her trespass , but he ’s killed by the cleaning woman ’s brother before she can unite the remainder of his wives .
Statue of Saint Tréphine viaWikipedia .
Bluebeard likely hail from earlier Breton legends ( and many of the motive are ancient ; just look at “ Cupid and Psyche ” for wifely curiosity ) , and there are a few contenders for the homicidal Lord ’s intake . Among them in Conomor , an other chivalric ruler of Brittany , who appears in Gregory of Tours’Historia Francorum . According to historic accounts , Conomor was matrimonial to a woman named Tréphine , the daughter of Waroch , enumeration of Vannes , and polish off both her and their son .
A democratic myth rose up around Conomor and Tréphine , who is sometimes regarded as a saint . allot to the myth , Conomor was many times widowed when he married Tréphine . After Tréphine get across a way containing relics of Conomor ’s married woman , their ghost look to warn her that Conomor will pop her if she becomes pregnant . Sure enough , after Tréphine becomes pregnant , Conomor trace her down and beheads her . fortuitously for Tréphine , St. Gildas is able to replace her head upon her articulatio humeri , mystically bringing her back to liveliness . She gives birth to a Word , Trémeur , who ultimately falls to Conomor ’s leaf blade .
2 . Gilles de Rais ( Bluebeard , Part Deux )
While Conomor has the whole married woman - putting to death and mythical trophy room going for him , another historic Breton often termed “ Bluebeard ” is Gilles de Rais . The 15th - 100 Baron de Rais was famous for fighting alongside Joan of Arc in the Hundred Years ’ War , but that glory is often overshadowed by his alleged crimes . Gilles was charge of , and at long last confessed to , sodomizing and murdering dozens , perhaps C , of baby . Forty bodies were reveal and Gilles was execute by hanging and burning in 1440 .
Portrait of Gilles de Rais by Éloi Firmin Féron viaWikipedia .
So what ’s the connexion between the bloody baron and Bluebeard ? Well , some think it come from the idea of a grievous noblemen , one whose reputation causes parents to warn their small fry away from his land — much as the maidens in Perrault ’s story know to steer exculpated of Bluebeard . Gilles de Rais was in reality “ retry ” in 1992 by an arbitration court of writers , historian and Dr. , who found the long - dead nobleman not hangdog .
3 . Margaretha von Waldeck ( Snow White )
This claim is late and comes from just one germ , so take it with the appropriate grain of saltiness . In 1994 , German historiographer Eckhard Sander publishedSchneewittchen : Marchen oder Wahrheit ? ( Snow White : Is It a Fairy Tale ? ) , claiming he had uncovered a story that may have inspire this finicky slumbering princess . According to Sander , 16th - centurry Count Philip IV of Waldeck had a girl name Margaretha who was not particularly wish by Count Philip ’s 2d wife , Catherine of Hatzfeld . He arrogate that , at one point , Margaretha became the mistress of Phillip II of Spain , but her happy story was cut short when her health failed and , at age 21 , she died . allot to Sander , Margaretha ’s wobbly handwriting toward the end of her life indicate that she may have been poisoned . But Margaretha ’s stepmother was already eight yr dead by the time the untested lady took her last breath in 1554 .
Sander also has a theory for that poison Malus pumila line of work . He says there is a historical account of a man being arrested for give kid poisoned apples , and that those real apples made their way into fairy tales .
4 . Maria Sophia Margaretha Catharina Freifräulein Von Erthal ( Snow White Again )
Not convert by Sander ’s claim about Margaretha ? Well , there is another potential historical Snow White , Maria Sophia Von Erthal . A fabulist study group in Lohr , Bavaria , claims that theirs is the true Snow White . This supposed Snow White was the girl of Philipp Christoph von Erthal , a 18th - hundred property owner and older administrator of the Prince Elector of Mainz , and Maria Eva , Baroness von Bettendorff . After the baroness ’ death , Erthal remarried , this time to Claudia Elisabeth Maria von Venningen , Countess of Reichenstein . The countess was said to be quite domineering when it came to her stepchild .
The big piece of evidence from the fabulist ’ position is that the rook where Maria Sophia was suffer is home to a “ magic mirror . ” The Mirror Manufacture of the Electorate of Mainz in Lohr constructed “ sing mirrors , ” acoustic toys that seemed to speak . This particular mirror was constructed in 1720 , and the belief is that it was in the home at the clock time that the Countess of Reichenstein live there . The fabulists take that the story of Snow White was inspired by Claudia Elisabeth Maria ’s abrasive intervention of her stepdaughter , who was otherwise universally beloved .
The stories of both of these women are countersink in mining towns . Sander claims that the so - called dwarves were inspire by nestling who worked the mines and the fabulist of Lohr claim that the pocket-size tunnels could be access only by very unforesightful miners .
5 . Rhodopis ( Cinderella )
The Cinderella story greatly pre - dates the fairy tale “ Cinderella , ” and the first known instance of a Cinderalla tale is that of Rhodopis , whose story is told by the Greek historiographer Strabo in the first one C BC . But the likely historical Rhodopis lived a few century earlier and appears in the writing of 6th - century BC historian Herodotus . This Rhodopis was a striver — and patently had an affair with her fellow slave , the storyteller Aesop — and serve as a hetaira , a sort of courtesan . Charaxus , the brother of Sappho , obviously fell in love with Rhodopis and purchased her freedom , something that apparently take in him a scolding poem from his sis . ( It is not solely exculpated whether Rhodopis is the same person as Doricha , the courtesan tie to Charaxus in this story ; but Rhodopis / Doricha appear to be either one or two existent fair sex . ) Herodotus articulate that Rhodopis continued her work as a hetaira after that and became so wealthy that she had a monument built to herself in Delphi .
Strabo ’s narrative of Rhodopis is a chip more fanciful , and more well recognizable as a Cinderella story . In this report , Rhodopis ( whom Strabo claims is called “ Doricha ” by Sappho ) is populate in Naucratis , Egypt , the place where Charaxus bought her exemption . One day , a bird steal Rhodopis ’ sandal and carries it off , eventually dropping it in the overlap of the male monarch of Egypt . The king seeks out the owner of the sandal and eventually discovers Rhodopis in Naucratis and marries her — without any vexatious stepsisters getting in the fashion .
6 . Jenny Lind ( The Nightingale )
Hans Christian Andersen ’s fairy tales come in from a variety of sources . Some were retellings of stories he had heard in his youth ; others were inspired by events from his childhood . And some of the tales appear to have been based on citizenry who fascinated Andersen . One such person was opera singer Johanna Marie “ Jenny ” Lind . Lind was a 19th - century star , traveling across Europe and America ( the latter was on PT Barnum ’s dime ) to show off her talents as a treble .
Daguerreotype of Jenny Lind by Poly Von Schneidau viaWikipedia .
Andersen was obsess with Lind , and although his more passionate philia for her were never requited , the two did become champion . He wrote in his autobiography , “ Through Jenny Lind I first became sensible of the holiness of Art . Through her I learned that one must forget one ’s self in the service of the Supreme . No book , no man , have had a more ennobling influence upon me as a poet than Jenny Lind . ”
Many Andersen scholars see Lind ’s influence in multiple Andersen story , notably in “ The Nightingale , ” his tale of a Chinese Emperor who falls in sexual love with a Lady with the Lamp ’s song only to drop off interestingness after receiving a beautiful mechanically skillful bird . Andersen watched one of Lind ’s Copenhagen performances before penning the story , and also paid a visit to the newly open up Tivoli Gardens , which feature a strong Asian motive . The story actually influenced Lind ’s life as well ; after its publishing , Lind became popularly love as “ the Swedish Nightingale . ”
In the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Carol Rosen wrote of Lind , “ She inspired at least partly two of his well - know children ’s account , The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor ’s Nightingale , but when she reject him as a suitor she became the Snow Queen , whose heart was made of methamphetamine . ” But Rosen may have been accept poetic license on that last period .
7 . Al - Khayzuran bint Atta ( Scheherazade )
The name for the canny storyteller fromThe Thousand and One Nights may come from the legendary queen Homai of Kianian , who was cognise by the epithet Chehrazad . But the diachronic chassis who isoften cited as the prototypical Scheherazadeis Al - Khayzuran , mother of the Abbasid caliph Harun al - Rashid . Al - Khayzuran was abduct by slavers as a child , but she ended up marrying the caliph Al - Mahdi . Al - Khayzuran convinced Al - Mahdi to make her son his heirs over the children of his other married woman , and was said to have exert cracking influence over her son during his reign .
Scheherazade illustration by Virginia Frances Sterrett .
8 . Harun al - Rashid ( Harun al - Rashid , The Thousand and One Nights )
Thanks to his featured purpose inThe Thousand and One Nights , Harun oftentimes turns up in advanced fabrication that plays off of folklore , admit Neil Gaiman ’s amusing Sandman , and Italo Calvino ’s metafictional If on a winter ’s dark a traveler , and likely give his name to the titled character in Salman Rushdie ’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories .
Incidentally , in both real - biography and fiction , Harun al - Rashid had a vizier named Ja’far .
9 . Richard Whittington ( Dick Whittington and His Cat )
This is a more unknown floor to modern readers , but it ’s a keen example of how folklore can take form up around a actual person , completely writhe the details of their life . The real Richard Whittington was the grandson of a knight - at - arms and Word of a wealthy property owner . He himself became a successful textile trader — in fact , he was so wealthy that , by 1397 , he was lending money to the King of England . He became a Councilman and , later , became city manager of London , a position he serve in four multiplication . Whittington was also a great philanthropist , financing a unmarried mother ’s Barbara Ward , public drain systems , a public toilet , and Greyfriars library during his lifetime and allow the grand sum of £ 7,000 to charity upon his death .
grave of Sir Richard W(h)ittington and his cat viaWikipedia .
The folkloric Dick Whittington was also the city manager of London and also a enceinte philanthropist , but that is where the similarity cease . By the other 17th 100 , Dick Whittington ’s biography went something like this : the untested Dick was raised in poverty and conk out to London to seek his fortune . He becomes a scullion for a merchant diagnose Fitzwarren and purchases a quat to control the rodent population in Fitzwarren ’s home . It ’s that quat that finally make the folkloric Dick Whittington a loaded man . The cat is sent on one of Fitzwarren ’s trade ship to be sell , and the ship chance itself on the Barbary Coast , where a tycoon — overbold from a feast that was overrun by varmint — purchases the cat for a massive sum total of money , piss Dick Whittington richer than even Fitzwarren . And so Dick tie Fitzwarren ’s girl , Alice , and finally goes on to become city manager of London .
The story of Dick Whittington and his hombre became quite popular , inspiring ballads , creature plays , and operas and appearing in books of English fairy story . However , there ’s no grounds that the diachronic Richard Whittington even owned a cat .
CinderellafolkloreHistorySnow whitened
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