Fairy Tale Friday--a New Series

I love fairy tales, and thanks to an army of 19th C tale-collectors Google Books has lots of copyright-free ones.   In honor of Open Access Week, I'm going to search out ones that interest me and feature them here on Fridays.

 

The first one is from Old Norse Fairy Tales: Gathered from the Swedish Folk. 

The Princess Sigorra

This tale includes several common folklore motifs:  A father is fooled into giving his child to a supernatural being (pictured above) (Thompson S241)*;  the child (in this case a son) is trapped in the SB's realm and is set, by said SB, several impossible tasks (Thompson H900), which the son accomplishes with directions from a woman (Princess Sigorra) (Thompson K1848); The son is finally able to flee with the aid of PS;  The son returns home, and, because he does not follow her instructions, he forgets PS.(Thompson D2003); The son's family arranges for him to get marries, and SB has to resort to complicated tricks to get to him and refresh his memory.


* Thompson, Stith, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature

Easter Without Eggs

My neighbor and I went to the MFA to see the Quilts and Color exhibit.  Fortunately, Easter-related activities kept the crowds elsewhere, so we could see the quilts easily.  I bought the catalogue for this exhibit.

Next, after a lovely meal at Cafe Jaffa, Rosemary and I strolled to the Marathon finish line to check stuff out.

On Patriots' Day I am back at work, since Harvard is not patriotic enough to give us the day off.  Chris has used rubber bands to make love beads.

Finally We Get a Nice Day!

Tipping Point

JB's boxes of CDs are dangerously unstable.

All Books Contain Mistakes..

..but some mistakes are better than others.  We were talking about this last week, so I decided to scan the title page of the Library of America volume 24  that misspelled "Melville."

The publisher offered to replace the volume, but Jon Lanham decided to keep it.

Policy Change

"Photography by students, faculty, staff and guests (such as visitors to parents’ weekends) using hand-held, self-contained cameras is permitted so long as it respects the privacy of library patrons, does not disrupt or interfere with the scholarly environment, the work of library users or staff or the safety of the collections and abides by copyright law. Personal photographers should not record any library patron without prior consent, and photography cannot be used for commercial purposes."

Since I have to open the Widener desk on Wednesdays, I took a bunch of shots before opening.

Loker Reading Room with the barrel vault ceiling.

The reference room (Atkins) with my back to the windows.

The lounge outside Loker and Atkins.

Stairs leading up to level 2.

Entrance to Loker.

Ancient suggestion box.

Great Time-waster

The free  GIFmaker

Domestic Mystery

Scene of the crime!

And here are the usual Suspects:

"Romeo's New Plaything" or "Boredom Defeated!"

What will I do today?

I tire of the same old toys.

Hello!  What's this?

This smells just like Mommy's ears!

This is the most awesome toy ever!

I could watch it for hours....

...and then drop it into the water dish until the cotton bits come off.

Spooks at Work

Some of my co-workers put some effort into honoring Halloween.  I didn't dress up; shame on me.  Maybe next year.

No "Before" Photos for Comparison

Today Olga cleaned for me.  I took pictures of the kitchen and bathroom when she was done.  However, only a few will really know how filthy they were before.

Finally! Good Turkey Pictures

Everybody except me has been getting great pictures of the Harvard Square turkey.  I've kept my camera handy for days and checked out favorite turkey haunts on my breaks.  Today, the turkey reappeared at the tiny garden outside the Inn at Harvard.  Gaze upon its magnificence!  (The turkey's; not the Inn's.)