I was thinking about good sisters and bad sisters and it reminded me of a Swedish folktale by Helena Nyblom called The Changelings. The sweet, angelic baby princess Bianca Maria is swapped with a terrible little troll girl. The story (beautifully illustrated by one of my favourite golden age illustrators, John Bauer) mirrors the lives of the two girls as they grow up. While Bianca Maria is sweet and obedient to the point of irritating her brusque, no-nonsense troll mother, the troll princess is the terror of the castle, horrifying her human mother who dearly misses the child she expected her daughter to grow into (but doesn’t suspect that the troll child is in fact not her child).
An interesting juxtaposition is the fathers. The troll father loves Bianca Maria because she is so delicate - he treats her a bit like a dad with the kitten that he said he didn’t want (you know the one, he now spends all his time cooing over the kitten, letting it sleep curled up in his jacket and feeding it whatever it wants). The King loves the troll princess (even though he’s somewhat terrified of her) because she speaks back to him and is wild and self-assured.
Incidentally, I think I’ve found a new favourite author. Helena Nyblom wrote her first fairy tale at age 54, in 1897, eventually writing more than 80 fairy tales, many with strong feminist tones. The tone of this one is clear - although at first glimpse it feels like the troll princess’ terrible behaviour is contrasted unfavourably with Bianca Maria, who embodies traditional ideas of feminine virtue, the reader is encouraged to empathise with the troll princess, who is clearly caged by gendered expectations and constraints that go against her natural behaviour and inclination.
Although the girls don’t grow up together, I feel like the story still falls broadly into the ‘good sister, bad sister’ narrative and I want to explore how I can write a fairy tale where the characters are vastly different but both sympathetic.
When I first discovered John Bauer I really enjoyed a year of painting troll girls, so here is some of my seldom-seen art from 2013, of a troll daughter trying to decide on her favourite teacup.
Cafe review - the knox
Today I’m at The Knox in Watson, with a view of the courtyard.
Atmosphere: peaceful and warm. The heaters are on and it’s a surprisingly mild morning in Canberra today (especially given the snow forecast for Friday!).
Food: delish, I had the famous pumpkin bread and a very nice coffee.
Would I write here again? Probably - the tables are a bit small for an easy setup but I like the feel of the place, with little sparrows hopping through the courtyard, and the delicious food! 3.5/5