Fairy Tales: P is for Piles of Pyle as well as Perception and Parodies

Howard Pyle should have come up earlier when I reviewed King Arthur. Howard Pyle wrote a number of what would classically be called "boy's adventure legends"--The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, A Modern Aladdin, and--his first popular book--The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.

As mentioned in early posts, it is questionable whether these tales fall into the 398.2 fairy tale category. I decided to focus on Pepper and Salt, written and illustrated by Howard Pyle.

 

Pepper and Salt is best described as original tales that pretend not to be original--not quite the same as tales that use tropes and go off in their own directions or even retold tales that add in details. 

In truth, I'm not entirely sure what Pyle the Writer was doing with Pepper and Salt though it is clear how and why Pyle the Artist influenced a generation of artists, including N.C. Wyeth. In any case, the tales are an easy, fun read if less than demanding even for small children--which brings up the next point.

 

The frame story or preface addresses children directly ("my little man"). Pepper and Salt was published in 1885. By this point, fairy tales are entered the realm of childhood when a hundred years earlier they were published for and read by adults. In fact, earlier nineteenth-century collectors, such as a Lang, were still searching for a national or cultural "identity" that would supposedly reveal itself through folktales. Yet by 1889, Lang's Fairy Books of Many Colors were aimed specifically at children. 

 

It took nearly another 50 years for fairy tales to creep back into the adult world, helped, of course, by C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, McKinley, and Sondheim. These days, fairy tale riffs (which depend on fairy tale knowledge) are fairly standard, so Drew Carey's Whose Line is It Anyway can set up a talk show stocked with "let's have a fist fight!" fairytale characters. 

What does the witch think about Hansel & Gretel? 

"You don't eat an abode!"