The First Bulrush Maiden Flies Away by H.J. Ford, 1903.
For this extra reading I decided to read the second section of Lang's European Fairy Tales.
+ Lovely Ilonka
This reading reminds of lots of different parts of tales. There is the prince on a quest to find something and gaining help from wise old people and animals that is very Eastern European, then the tricking him into marrying the wrong woman is Swan Lake like. The magical spinning reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin. The ending is unique, I think, since many 'olden' fairy tales like to end in tragedy (the story before this one, 'I Know What I Have Learned', ended in the man's death!) but this one ends in happiness.
+ The Giants and Herd Boy
Super surprised that there were no repercussions for taking the loaf of bread or using it for personal gain. Normally things like that are punished or warned against in fairy tales. Perhaps giants aren't the same as fairies, at least wherever this tale originated from. I assume he got to marry the Lord's daughter and they lived their lives happily paid for with bread gold. What an odd tale.
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