Cover Photo: Illustration by H. J. Ford from ‘The Lilac Fairy Book,’ 1910
Illustration by H. J. Ford from ‘The Lilac Fairy Book,’ 1910

How Fairy Tales Teach Us to Love the Unknowable

Love is born in the quiet ways we reveal ourselves; how we notice and love our partners when they take on new, surprising forms.

Illustration by Walter Crane, 1911 / image via NYPL

The second sister responds the same, but the third accepts his offer: “Indeed, I will wed thee; a pretty creature is the hoodie.”

Illustration by H. J. Ford from ‘The Lilac Fairy Book,’ edited by Andrew Lang. Published in 1910 by Longmans, Green, and Co.

“The Hoodie-Crow” belongs to the type of tales categorized as “the search for the lost husband.” A more famous example of this tale type is the Norwegian fairy tale “East O’ the Sun, West O’ the Moon,” a beautiful story in which a youngest daughter weds a terrifying bear only to discover that he is a handsome, enchanted young man who casts off his bear pelt in the dark hours of night. A cousin to “Beauty and the Beast,” this tale type has firm roots in Greek mythology, with the story of Cupid and Psyche.

Illustration from a scene in ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’ by Kay Rasmus Nielsen, 1914 / image via NYPL 

Illustration by H. Weim, 1864 / image via NYPL

le petit mort

Cate's fiction, plays, and book reviews have been published by The Masters Review, Fairy Tale Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Sycamore Review, Bookslut, Slate, Stage Partners, and more. She lives in State College, Pennsylvania.