Rumpelstiltskin and other Grimm Tales

The Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy brings much of the deft and economical use of language evident in collections like Mean Time to these lively and varied retellings of some of the Grimms' famous and lesser known tales. Each tale is addressed in a slightly different way, some highly conversational, others more formal and almost ritualistic. The story of 'Clever Hans', or Foolish Jack as he is better known in Britain, the half wit who keeps making mistakes about how to bring the shopping home, is told almost entirely in dialogue. The tale of 'Two Households' is a page and a half of semi-nonsensical word play. 'Cinderella', appearing here as 'Ashputtel', is told more traditionally, in a version in which the heroine is helped by the forces of nature rather than by any pantomimic fairy godmother. The uncompromising nature of the originals is clear when at the end the ugly sisters have their eyes pecked out, just as the wicked queen in 'Snow White' has to dance to death in red hot iron shoes. MarkŽtas Prachaticka's densely detailed pen and pencil drawings emphasise the macabre and the humorous equally well. This is a collection of good rich reads, and an excellent resource for showing children how folk tales evolve as they travel through time and across a variety of media.