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capri0mniSo, I'm working up my take on the Grimms' fairy tale Hans my Hedgehog (that version is translated by D. L. Ashliman). I promise I'm being good, and staying true to the original -- even including the "Happy" reconciliation with the emotionally abusive father.*
But the more I've got this going around in my head, the more I want to write my own, fleshed-out, novella-style, version like the stories in the Snow White, Blood Red anthology series. And in my version, Hans would keep his hedgehog skin, instead of shedding and burning it, since the original story is basically about how you can't join society until you are cured. And cures just aren't coming for most people. And also: continuing to claim your humanity and your rights and personal power while being a monster just has many more layers of interest, in terms of storytelling potential, then playing the role of king while being handsome and strong and pretty to look at (imnsho). And in my version, a major subplot would be his relationship with his riding rooster, and how the bird came into his life, and whether it was a normal sized rooster, and Hans was normal hedgehog-sized, or whether Hans grew to human-sized, and the rooster was giant.
Also, in order to get into the proper frame of mind, since Hans' bagpipe-playing is a major plot point, today, I've been wallowing in YouTube videos of German bagpipes. I can't decide whether Hans is playing the full-sized "Shepherd's Pipe" (since he's taken on the job of being a shepherd), or the smaller "Chamber Pipe" (since that's smaller, and closer to hedgehog/boy size. In any case, he'd need human fingers and elbows to play it, so he can't be 100% hedgehog from the waist up...
So, anyway. That's been my day, so far.
*there is not enough "Blech!" in the world to express my true feelings on this.
But the more I've got this going around in my head, the more I want to write my own, fleshed-out, novella-style, version like the stories in the Snow White, Blood Red anthology series. And in my version, Hans would keep his hedgehog skin, instead of shedding and burning it, since the original story is basically about how you can't join society until you are cured. And cures just aren't coming for most people. And also: continuing to claim your humanity and your rights and personal power while being a monster just has many more layers of interest, in terms of storytelling potential, then playing the role of king while being handsome and strong and pretty to look at (imnsho). And in my version, a major subplot would be his relationship with his riding rooster, and how the bird came into his life, and whether it was a normal sized rooster, and Hans was normal hedgehog-sized, or whether Hans grew to human-sized, and the rooster was giant.
Also, in order to get into the proper frame of mind, since Hans' bagpipe-playing is a major plot point, today, I've been wallowing in YouTube videos of German bagpipes. I can't decide whether Hans is playing the full-sized "Shepherd's Pipe" (since he's taken on the job of being a shepherd), or the smaller "Chamber Pipe" (since that's smaller, and closer to hedgehog/boy size. In any case, he'd need human fingers and elbows to play it, so he can't be 100% hedgehog from the waist up...
So, anyway. That's been my day, so far.
*there is not enough "Blech!" in the world to express my true feelings on this.
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Date: 2011-09-03 02:43 pm (UTC)Also, re: human bits, I suspect in the original he has the fairytale superpower of all animals to get on without such useful items as thumbs.
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Date: 2011-09-03 05:34 pm (UTC)Actually, I've been hunting down illustrations, to see how storytellers of the past envisioned him (using the German title, to weed out "Jim Henson's The Storyteller" version), and most, indeed, give him human... ish hands, at least. This illustration comes up at the top of nearly every Google search. This one (from 2006) makes them more hedgehog-like (and also makes him, it seems, human-sized.
Of course, in my retelling, I'd be truer to hedgehog biology and not have him "quill" until after he's weaned. Because, really, if he came through the birth canal with a full set of sharp quills, then nursing him would be the least of the mother's worries (and also, even hedgehog mothers don't want to be pricked when they're nursing their young).