Project Fairy Tale: Mr. Fox ~ Bookish Whimsy

Be bold, be bold

I signed up for a wonderful project hosted by The Cheap Reader (sign up here) to start sometime early next year. It's a month long celebration of fairy tales, and each blogger will focus on one particular fairy tale. I chose the English fairy tale "Mr. Fox", a story very similar to Grimm's "The Robber Bridegroom". I chose it firstly because it was available (so many fairy tales are taken!) and secondly because the story features a spirited damsel who does come under some distress, but manages to save herself while also catching a wicked man. I'm also quite obsessed with the repeated phrases in the tale, so that is the particular reason I prefer this variant to "The Robber Bridegroom."

Be bold, be bold
But not too bold

With Project Fairy Tale, I must read the original tale, and also find three books that are retellings or spin offs to blog about. After a few days of searching, I have found that not many people have written about this fairy tale. These are the three I've sussed, and hopefully I can find some more.

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeymi
This looks to be a fanciful revision of the tale, with Mr. Fox of the novel torn between his muse Mary and his wife Daphne. Oh, and Mr. Fox is a killer of women. In the stories he writes. Brilliant.

The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty
This is based on the Grimm story, but since they are so similar I would like to include it in my reading. The setting is changed to the South in the U.S. It's called a "frontier" fairy tale. Interesting.

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
The short story "The White Road" in this novel is based on "Mr. Fox" and general Bluebeard-ness. I'm looking forward to reading Neil's take, although I did read something spoilery about the ending of the story. Dang it.

Be bold, be bold
But not too bold
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold

My plan for the month will be to focus on fairy tales as much as possible. I'll try to read more fairy tale related books and incorporating fairy tales in my memes during the month of this project and hopefully put up an appreciation post about what I like about the genre. I've found some interesting history behind the story of "Mr. Fox" that I hope to highlight in my review when I come to post about the story. I will also compare and contrast "The Robber Bridegroom" with "Mr. Fox." I think it's a marvelously chilling tale, with a surprisingly strong heroine. I'm really looking forward to Project Fairy Tale!