The Guardian: 'Quests'

Today's fairy tale booklet (Day 4) at The Guardian is themed Quests. You can read more about the seven part series at my previous post.

Quests in fairytales: Adam Phillips looks at the concept of quests in fairytales. Here's an excerpt:

If genius, as Sartre said, is the word we use for people who get themselves out of impossible situations, what is the word for people who find themselves in impossible situations, or even seek them out? And why are fairytales so compelling that we don't think of them as stories from a particular place and time? The answer to the first question is "everybody", but the answer to the second question is that these stories are sufficiently hospitable – suggestive enough, puzzling enough – so that virtually everybody who can read can make something of them. We can identify with the quests and riddles they present because the stories are about getting the most basic needs met; that is, learning how to protect yourself (keeping your wits about you) and getting married (literally or metaphorically getting together with someone or something that makes you feel better).

Today's theme also gives us four, instead of the usual three, fairy tales to read:

The fairytale of the Lion and the Hare retold from Sanskrit by Ramsay Wood

The fairytale of the Sleeping Prince retold by Alison Lurie

The fairytale of Rumpelstiltskin by the Brothers Grimm

The fairytale of the boy who set out to learn fear by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Joyce Crick



The illustrations for this set are by Rui Tenreio.