Christmas is a period in which we find comfort in the familiar; many of our expectations for the day are cemented in our childhood memories. It is a time of nostalgia, rituals and predictability. With this in mind, I thought I would revisit the familiar world of the fairy tale over the holidays. As much as I love the dark narrative of Grimms’ Fairy Tales, my collection of Russian Tales takes precedence. I was fascinated with these as a child and I think it makes a refreshing break from the Western literature that dominates my degree course. Whilst I was engrossed with the figure of Baba Yaga (a witch who lives in a hut on chicken legs), I felt the short tale Father Frost was the most season-appropriate.
Opening with the traditional “Once upon a time”, the narrative is aware of its own tropes: “Everyone knows what stepmothers are like. If you do wrong, you get a beating, and if you do right, you get a beating all the same”. There are definite parallels that can be drawn between the tale and Snow White; a stepmother orders for her stepchild to be left in a forest to die. In this tale, however, the child is visited by the figure of Father Frost. He asks the child whether she is cold. She replies that she is warm and Father Frost ultimately rewards the child with lavish furs and costly gifts. Seeing the result, the stepmother tries the same with her own daughter; leaving her in the forest for Father Frost. But the stepmother’s daughter tells Father Frost that she is cold and curses him. In response, Father Frost freezes her to death. The moral of the story is blurry but stress is placed on manners and to never show weakness. Ultimately I find these tales bewitching; they are as good (if not better) than the Grimms’ Fairy Tales. They may make a good gift for the fairy tale-enthusiast.
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