V is for Vain

I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.

If you’d rather check out my book review for today, go here.

The idea of a faery godmother stuck with all little girls (and boys?) when they watched Disney’s Cinderella for the first time. But this creature has her roots in folklore.

Folklore

Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper by Charles Perrault [1697]

Her godmother, who saw her all in tears, asked her what was the matter.

“I wish I could. I wish I could.” She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing.

This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, “You wish that you could go to the ball; is it not so?”

“Yes,” cried Cinderella, with a great sigh.

“Well,” said her godmother, “be but a good girl, and I will contrive that you shall go.” Then she took her into her chamber, and said to her, “Run into the garden, and bring me a pumpkin.”

Cinderella went immediately to gather the finest she could get, and brought it to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this pumpkin could help her go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all the inside of it, leaving nothing but the rind. Having done this, she struck the pumpkin with her wand, and it was instantly turned into a fine coach, gilded all over with gold.

She then went to look into her mousetrap, where she found six mice, all alive, and ordered Cinderella to lift up a little the trapdoor. She gave each mouse, as it went out, a little tap with her wand, and the mouse was that moment turned into a fine horse, which altogether made a very fine set of six horses of a beautiful mouse colored dapple gray.

Being at a loss for a coachman, Cinderella said, “I will go and see if there is not a rat in the rat trap that we can turn into a coachman.”

“You are right,” replied her godmother, “Go and look.”

Cinderella brought the trap to her, and in it there were three huge rats. The fairy chose the one which had the largest beard, touched him with her wand, and turned him into a fat, jolly coachman, who had the smartest whiskers that eyes ever beheld.

After that, she said to her, “Go again into the garden, and you will find six lizards behind the watering pot. Bring them to me.”

She had no sooner done so but her godmother turned them into six footmen, who skipped up immediately behind the coach, with their liveries all bedaubed with gold and silver, and clung as close behind each other as if they had done nothing else their whole lives. The fairy then said to Cinderella, “Well, you see here an equipage fit to go to the ball with; are you not pleased with it?”

“Oh, yes,” she cried; “but must I go in these nasty rags?”

Her godmother then touched her with her wand, and, at the same instant, her clothes turned into cloth of gold and silver, all beset with jewels. This done, she gave her a pair of glass slippers, the prettiest in the whole world. Being thus decked out, she got up into her coach; but her godmother, above all things, commanded her not to stay past midnight, telling her, at the same time, that if she stayed one moment longer, the coach would be a pumpkin again, her horses mice, her coachman a rat, her footmen lizards, and that her clothes would become just as they were before.

She promised her godmother to leave the ball before midnight; and then drove away, scarcely able to contain herself for joy.

*Read the full tale here.

THE HISTORY OF TOM THUMB [circa 1621]

The fairy queen, wishing to see the little fellow thus born into the world, came in at the window while the mother was sitting up in bed admiring him. The queen kissed the child, and, giving it the name of Tom Thumb, sent for some of the fairies, who dressed her little favorite as she bade them.

“An oak-leaf hat he had for his crown; His shirt of web by spiders spun; With jacket wove of thistle’s down; His trowsers were of feathers done. His stockings, of apple-rind they tie With eyelash from his mother’s eye: His shoes were made of mouse’s skin Tann’d with the downy hair within.”

…The queen of fairies came soon after to pay Tom a visit, and carried him back to Fairy-land, where he lived several years. During his residence there, King Arthur, and all the persons who knew Tom, had died; and as he was desirous of being again at court, the fairy queen, after dressing him in a suit of clothes, sent him flying through the air to the palace, in the days of king Thunstone, the successor of Arthur. Every one flocked round to see him, and being carried to the king, he was asked who he was—whence he came—and where he lived? Tom answered:

“My name is Tom Thumb, From the fairies I’ve come. When King Arthur shone, His court was my home. In me he delighted, By him I was knighted; Did you never hear of Sir Thomas Thumb?”

*You can read the full story here.

Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology by Theresa Bane

Fairy Godmother

A fairy godmother was a good natured fairy first popularised in the French fairy tale, Cinderella, from the latter half of the seventeenth century. The story’s origin is ancient and unknown but the fairy godmother was a concept well familiar to the peasants who believed fairies could be invited into a person’s life and become an active participant in it.

The fairy godmother as a character in folklore and fairy tales acts as a personal mentor or surrogate mother delivering a loving and nurturing relationship, typically the person being helped is a young maiden whose mother is deceased. In the 18^th century she became a relentless moralist. The fairy godmother will help the maiden achieve her goal and fulfil her needs so she will be able to win her prize, typically the love and protection of a husband who will stand up for her against her enemies, and help her claim her birthright. In very old fairy-tales the fairy godmother is actually the returned spirit of the maiden’s mother.

Inconstancy

In the French fairy-tale The Princess Minion-Minette the fairy Inconstancy was the fairy godmother to the young king, Souci: she raised him to adulthood from his infancy.

Béfind

The béfind were a species of fairy from Celtic lore. In Irish lore Béfind was a singular entity, one of the sídhe, and one of three guardian fay who attend the birth of each child in order to give it the gift of an ability or character as well as to make predictions of its life. Béfind was likely the progenitor of the fairy godmother.

*More can be read in the book.

The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft by Judika Illes

What makes her a fairy rather than a witch? Well, she calls herself a fairy godmother. Maybe more importantly, she’s good rather than wicked. In truth, there’s often very little difference between supernatural witches and supernatural fairies, however Cinderella’s fairy godmother demonstrates the inability of Disney animated features (and many others as well) to allow for any witch other than an evil one.

That Cinderella herself, who is portrayed as conversing with animals, communing with fairies, and covered in soot like some pagan devotee, might also be construed as a witch—or at least a witch in training—is another story…

*More can be read in the book.

Further Reading:

• Fairy godmother
• Fairy Godmothers- the folklore evidence
• Thursday Myths & Legends 101: Fairy Godmothers
• Fairy Godmothers

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

[piece]

Faery Godmother in Modern Culture

Disney:

Cinderella

The Fairy Godmother is a supporting character in Disney‘s 1950 animated feature film Cinderella. The physical embodiment of hope, she is a kindly fairy that is devoted to making dreams come true for the pure-hearted and noble—an act made possible by proclaiming the magic words, “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo“.

Learn more here.

The Fairy Godmother is a supporting character of Disney‘s 2015 film Cinderella. The character has a slightly larger role in this film than in the animated movie, where she is disguised as an old beggar who watches over Cinderella before revealing herself as the magical being she truly is. 

Learn more here.

Sleeping Beauty

“Each of us the child may bless, with a single gift no more, no less.”―Flora at Aurora‘s Christening

Learn more here.

Pinocchio

The Blue Fairy is a major character in the 1940 Disney animated feature film Pinocchio. She’s a magical being who, fulfilling Geppetto‘s wish, transforms Pinocchio into a living being. With the power to take multiple forms (including a wishing star and a white dove), the Blue Fairy aids Pinocchio and his conscience, Jiminy Cricket, throughout their adventures to fulfill the puppet’s goal of becoming a real boy.

Learn more here.

Shrek

Fairy Godmother was a fairy that helped grant wishes for various fairy tale characters as part of her business. She was once a crucial figure in the city of Far Far Away, and dictated who can have a Happily Ever After.

Learn more here.

Legends of Tomorrow TV series

Fairy Godmothers are witches who have taken the duty to grant the wishes of humans. Once a Fairy Godmother has a host they are bound to that human until they are released. However, they have to grant every wish of the human in order to be released.

Learn more here.

City of Wishes by Rachel Morgan

She traced a symbol in the dust of her window. A symbol she shouldn’t know. Good, law-abiding citizens were supposed to avert their eyes from things like this. But Elle had seen it around the city, spray-painted onto walls in alleys, or scratched into tree trunks. A curve, almost like an S, with three lines and a loop. The symbol of the Godmother.

Elle took a step back and stared at the shape. Her voice shook as she whispered, ‘I need your help, Godmother.’

Then she waited, her heart pounding, unsure of how long this was supposed to take. When a voice spoke behind her, she almost fell to her knees in fright. She spun around, and there, perched on the edge of her bed, was a woman. Her short, elegantly styled hair was completely white, while her eyes were a deep, rich brown. Her skin – like that of most fae – was flawless, exquisite.

‘Y-you’re the Godmother?’ Elle asked, though the question was entirely unnecessary.

city of wishes

Faery Godmother in My Writing

Origin of the Fae: Faery Godmother

Faery Godmother translated to Afrikaans: Towertante

It’s all about looks with her… (I love the dress Madonna wears in this video!)

See this immortal in action in my writing:

Queen of Nightmares (Irascible Immortals #3)

‘Neither my guide nor I will return here to be drained of our life-force to sustain your Glamour, Béfind.’

‘How did you know?’

‘We’re kin.’ She dropped her glamour for a moment.

‘Lady Mab!’ The woman fell to her knees, her beads making hollow sounds on the stone floor.

‘Get up! I’m on holiday, so keep this to yourself.’

‘Of course, my lady!’

Mab smiled and walked to exit. ‘Oh, and Béfind?’ she said as she paused at the door. ‘You should probably do something about your shop’s reputation – even the mortals can feel the glamour here and avoid it at all costs.’

‘Yes, my lady. Thank you, my lady.’

Darkness had come in the time she had taken to get her outfit. She met her guide outside the Fairy Godmother’s shop. The staff was perfect. It glinted in the artificial light cast by the streetlamps.

Queen of Nightmares, Irascible Immortals #3, Ronel Janse van Vuuren

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Do you love a good Cinderella story? Can you think of any folktales involving the myth-element of Cinderella that should be added to this article? Do you have a favourite villain in a Cinderella story? Any thoughts on this subject you’d like to share? Check out my Pinterest board dedicated to the subject.

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