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Like Rumplestilskin and Sleeping Beauty. These both had spinning in them. But what we've taken to be magic was actually based far more on reality than we realized.
Learned this at my daughters class when they had a visitor. I volunteered to help out, and got treated with a wonderful but all too brief history of spinning. I love learning new things.
Spinning straw into gold:
Flax, when dried, has fibers inside the stalk that can be spun. It looks like straw or hay when bundled up, ready to spin. The fibers are a shimmery yellow, and the cloth, linen, woven from the threads spun from flax fibers is slightly gold. It used to be that only royalty could wear it.
She will prick her finger on a spindle and DIE:
A rather wierd curse, we in these modern ages might think. A curse only an accomplished sorceress would make. Why would Sleeping Beauty poke her finger on the spindle, on purpose, unless hypnotized by the villaneous fairy? Ahhh, Disney has been warping things for many decades. The spindle didn't actually point up. There were no bobbins, and the thread would wind around the spindle. Once it wound to the front edge, the woman spinning would have to flip it to the back so that she could wind more thread on. During the motion of flipping the thread back, it was not unusual for someone to prick their finger.
So why would they make the spindle sharp? They didnt, but it would become sharpened by the threads as they slipped around the top while it was spinning.
And why would she die? Its only a little prick. The spindle was metal. The fibers, usually wool, being spun were not cleaned. Think of this: even the royalty wore this. All the oils, sweat, dirt and sometimes even urine were still on the fibers, a rather nice harbor for bacteria. So, while not common, it would not be unheard of for someone to prick their finger on a spindle and get tetanus or any other number of diseases and die. Now it does not become a curse that requires some kind of magical intervention, but instead a curse of a very real possibility and therefore became very frightening when it was probably given to the king's daughter by the local hag.
Also, spinning wheels were invented in Asia and came to europe by way of diplomatic gifts to royalty. Before that, they used a drop spinner. Spinning wheels, obviously, being an advanced technology, were only allowed for a time in the royal households. Only queens and princesses could use them. The modern version of Rumplestilskin moves away from the maiden being a princess, because in its development princesses didn't do any common work, and just says the king was very impressed and moved her into a castle. But in earlier versions, she was almost certainly a princess. In Sleeping Beauty, as modern folk, we aren't sure why she would even be around a spinning wheel. But in earlier times, the folk hearing the story would expect her to actually be using it.
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That was really interesting, Amka. Have you guys ever read "Spindle's End" by Robin McKinley? In this one the whole country started using blunt ends on the spindles after the curse. I love books that re-tell fairy tales. Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
coolness. I read about drop-spinning in the earliest of the "little house" derivatives. It's like a top that hangs by the yarn to spin it. Pretty cool.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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That is really interesting! Makes me wonder about other fairy tales and how they've been twisted...
Posts: 3420 | Registered: Jun 2002
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I was really interested in spinning wheels in high school -- I learned to spin with a drop spindle, and then my dad took me to meet a guy who made wooden spinning wheels. Then Mom and Dad got one for my 16th birthday.
A couple years ago my brother arrived for Christmas before the rest of the family so I assigned him to decorate while I frantically cleaned. He decorated my spinning wheel. I thought it looked magical.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:spinning wheels were invented in Asia and came to europe
A great many fair tales / folk tales of europe came through india, at one point or another. You can find a different versions of many of the tales that represented the culture of the area they were from, many of them also did not start out as stories nearly exclusivly for children and featured things like canibalism, murder, incest, etc.
Posts: 1458 | Registered: Feb 2001
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An original copy of Grimm's fairy tales is indeed rather.... grim.
I really like the spinning information, though. It's so funny that due to these stories, we all know what a spinning wheel is, though it's been obsolete for centuries. Too bad there aren't more stories about butter churns.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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dkw, do you use your spinning wheel? Or is it decoration? I learned to spin from a friend years ago, and have always thought it a really theraputic hobby. I haven't done it in years though...and since I don't knit there really isn't any real reason to pick it up again. Maybe someday....
Amka, that was a cool history. Thanks for sharing it!
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:Makes me wonder about other fairy tales and how they've been twisted...
Me too! I love reading about the evolution of stories, be they fairy tales or tall tales or any tales in general. I'm not sure why I find it fascinating, but I surely do. Maybe it's my love of myth... hmm...
Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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quote: (3) "This is a shaggy dog story!" [You say that as though it were a bad thing.]
reminds me of the Asimov short story 'Shah Guido G'. One of the funniest shaggy dog stories I've ever read. Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Thanks, Amka -- that was fascinating.
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