jenny reads books

Magic Objects

“In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist…” (p. 1)

Seven-league boots are found in many European folktales, including Charles Perrault’s “Hop O’ My Thumb,” (Aarne-Thompson type 327B The small boy defeats the ogre) and the literary fairy tale “The Bee and the Orange Tree” by Madame d’Aulnoy. In both stories, the boots are stolen from or used by ogres.

Stith Thompson motif index D1520. Magic object affords miraculous transportation.

D1065.1. †D1065.1. Magic boots. *Type 328; Saintyves Perrault 283, 286; Fb “stövle” III 642a.–Irish myth: Cross; Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. “bottes”; French Canadian: Barbeau JAFL XXIX 10; Russian: Andrejev No. 515**; Hindu: Penzer I 25ff.; N. A. Indian: cf. Thompson Tales 315 n. 145.

Cloaks of invisibility are found in folktales such as the English folk tale “Jack the Giant Killer” and “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” (Aarne-Thompson type 306 Twelve dancing princesses).

Stith Thompson motif index D1361.12 magic cloak of invisibility.

D1053. †D1053. Magic mantle (cloak). *Types 328, 400, 566; *Chauvin V 230; Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 323; *Cross MPh XVI 649; Köhler-Bolte II 409.–Irish: *Cross, Beal XXI 328, O’Suilleabhain 85; Icelandic: *Boberg; French Canadian: Barbeau JAFL XXIX 10; Hindu: Penzer I 25ff.; Japanese: Mitford 185ff.; Easter Island: Métraux Ethnology 367; N.A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 339 n. 221a.

Eldest of three

“…it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes.” (p. 1)

The motif of three brothers attempting tasks that can only be completed by the youngest brother appears in “The Griffin” (Aarne-Thompson type 610, Fruit to cure the princess; type 461, Three hairs from the devil; 554: The grateful animals) and “The Queen Bee” (Aarne-Thompson type 554 The grateful animals). In “The Four Skillful Brothers,” (Aarne-Thompson type 653 The skillful brothers), four brothers leave home to seek their fortune and each brother learns a different trade.

Stith Thompson motif index P252.2. †P252.2. Three sisters. Types 311–12, 510, 511.

Poor Woodcutter

“She was not even the child of a poor woodcutter, which might have given her some chance of success.” (p.1)

Woodcutters feature in stories such as “Hansel and Gretel,” (Aarne-Thompson type 327A: The Children With the Witch), where the children of a poor woodcutter leave their home to seek their fortunes in the woods.

Stith Thompson motif index P458. †P458. Woodsman. Types 327, 700; Köhler Aufsätze 49; Sébillot Métiers No. 16; Missouri French: Carrière.

(Not quite) Wicked Stepmother

“…their father married his youngest shop assistant…Fanny treated all three girls with the same kindness and did not favor Martha in the least.” (p.1)

Wicked stepmothers feature in many well-known folktales, including “Snow White” (Aarne-Thompson type 709, Snow White) and “Cinderella” (Aarne-Thompson type 510A, Persecuted Heroine). In some folktales, a woman marries a man with a daughter from a previous marriage and favors her own daughter while mistreating her stepdaughter, or favors two of her daughters and mistreats another. This features in folktales such as “One-eyes, Two-eyes, and Three-eyes” (Aarne-Thompson type 511, One-eyes, Two-eyes, and Three-eyes).

Stith Thompson motif index type S31. †S31. Cruel stepmother. *Types 403, 425, 432, 450, 451, 480, 502, 510, 511, 516, 590, 592, 706, 708, 709, 720; BP I 42ff., 70ff., 79ff., 165ff., 207ff., 227ff., 412ff., *421, 427ff., 450ff., II 45ff., 229ff., 490ff., III 60ff., 137, 338f.

Wicked Witches

“…everyone began talking about the Witch of the Waste again.” (pp.2-3)

The Witch of the Waste sounds like a play on the Wicked Witch of the West, from The Wizard of Oz. Wicked witches feature in folktales such as “Hansel and Gretel” (Aarne-Thompson type 327A: The Children With the Witch). In Howl’s Moving Castle, the resident Wicked Witch does not have a house made of candy nor does she want to eat children; her goal is to create a perfect human out of several men, including the vastly imperfect Howl. The Stith Thompson motif index contains many different shades of wicked witch in the G200s; however, we will confine our description of the Witch of the Waste to being the type of witch who is beautiful and murderous.

Stith Thompson motif index G229.5. †G229.5. Beautiful witch. (Cf. †G264.) North Carolina: Brown Collection I 660; Icelandic: *Boberg.

G262. †G262. Murderous witch. Irish myth: *Cross; England, Scotland, U.S.: Baughman.

Moving castle

“suddenly a tall black castle appeared on the hills above Market Chipping…” (p. 3)

There are a few magic castles in folktales. In “The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was” (Aarne-Thompson 326), a young man passes the night in a haunted castle, and Jack enters the ogre’s castle in “Jack the Giant Killer.” We can also specify that Howl’s moving castle would fall in the D1110 category of Magic conveyances.

Stith Thompson motif index D1110. †D1110. Magic conveyances.

D1131. †D1131. Magic castle. Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. “château”; English: Wells 17 (Reinbrun, Gy sone of Warwike); Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 56 No. 408A*.

D1131.1. †D1131.1. Castle produced by magic. *Type 554, 560, 561, 675, 512*; *Aarne MSFO XXV 44; *BP II 455ff., 547ff.; India: Thompson-Balys.

Hearteater

“…he was known to amuse himself by collecting young girls and sucking the souls from them. Or some people said he ate their hearts.” (p.4)

“Bluebeard!” said the whispers. (p.9)

The various crimes ascribed to Howl here are reminiscent of some Bluebeard variants (Aarne-Thompson type 312, Bluebeard), as well as some crimes ascribed to witches.

Stith Thompson motif index G262.5. †G262.5. Witch takes out man’s liver. India: Thompson-Balys.

G262.2. †G262.2. Witch eats person‘s entrails (heart). *Kittredge Witchcraft 225, 532 n. 113; India: Thompson-Balys.

G312.6. †G312.6. Ogre eats only men’s hearts. India: Thompson-Balys.

I read fairy tales as a child. I had a copy of Grimm’s fairy tales, and I read them over and over. I was fascinated by the spindle, needle, and thread that wove tapestries and pillows and tablecloths for the poorest (and richest) woman in the kingdom, and I cried for the youngest brother with one swan wing, and I was terrified by the mother in The Juniper Tree.

I read fairy tales, not once, but many dozens and hundreds of times. And I remember the first time I checked Howl’s Moving Castle out of the library for the first time in seventh grade and finding with utter delight that all the reading of fairy tales and folktales I had indulged in since childhood were finally being put to use: I knew exactly what Sophie was mourning when she despairs of being the oldest of three sisters.

From invisible cloaks to seven-league boots, Diana Wynne Jones used fairy tale motifs to create a story that had all the elements of a fairy tale, down to the (not quite) wicked stepmother and wicked witch. There is quite a lot of magic in Howl’s Moving Castle, but to me, one of the most incredible things Diana Wynne Jones did in writing this book was how she used so many motifs found in fairy tales and twisted them into what might almost be called a fractured fairy tale – but there’s nothing fractured about the end result, because Howl’s Moving Castle isn’t a joke or parody of fairy tales. It is a modern fairy tale itself, with all the transformation inherent to its genre, written by someone who clearly understood the power that a fairy tale possesses.

For #dwjmarch, I will be using the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Classification of Folk Tales and the Stith Thompson fairytale motif index to catalog all the fairytale motifs referenced in Howl’s Moving Castle.

Please note: This is a fun personal project that I’m working on! I’m not a folklorist or Ph.D candidate – if you are, and you find errors on this site, please let me know!

Author: jenny reads books

Chapter 1 – In which Sophie talks to hats.

The annotated Howl’s Moving Castle.