Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand ~ Louise Hawes

…A Once Upon a Time II Challenge Selection

“ . . . and they lived happily ever after.
Remember the fairy tales you put away after you found that no princess is as beautiful as common sense and happy endings are just the beginning? Well, the old tales are back, and they’ve grown up! Black Pearls brings you the stories of your childhood, told in a way you’ve never heard before. Instead of lulling you to sleep, they’ll wake you up—to the haunting sadness that waits just inside the windows of a gingerbread cottage, the passion that fuels a witch’s flight, and the heartache that comes, again and again, at the stroke of midnight. Make no mistake: these stories are as dark as human nature itself. But they shine, too, lit with the fire of our dreams and our hunger for magic.”

This one wasn’t on my original list, but I’ve been wanting to read it since discovering it some time ago, and since it fits rather perfectly…I couldn’t help myself.

“Dame Nigran’s Tower”

This collection leads off with Rapunzel’s story as told from her adoptive mother’s point-of-view. Immediately when I reached the part at which time Rapunzel’s father (or Rampion’s in this telling) bumbles into the “witch’s” garden to collect radishes for his wife, I recalled watching Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theater, and the version that she portrayed; I couldn’t help but remember how much this particular fairy tale affected me, then and now. The witch was so wretched, keeping her daughter hidden away, heartlessly chopping off her hair when the daughter is discovered {not to mention blinding the young prince.} This time around Tabby Nigran is simply a terrified mother who is blinded by the need to protect her daughter. As she is meant to be, Tabby is sympathetic; you realize how much she gave up to take in a child that wasn’t even her own by birth. And, in the end, you see the devastation wrought by the love she felt for that child.

From “Dame Nigran’s Tower”:
“Held fast in the wind’s strong arms, tumbling through the lacy mists of clouds, Tabby seldom gave a thought to landing, only let her heart swell like the moon, only set her face to the west, where she fancied the sun lay in its dark bed. Landing always came too soon on those magic nights.” {p. 2}

“Pipe Dreams”

“When the rats ate Herr Bergman’s footstool, Father decided to call on the mayor.” {p. 35} Even if the title wasn’t a giveaway, the first sentence would have done it; the Pied Piper it is. Does anyone not know the conceit of this story? Even so, I can’t say that I remember reading it in its entirety. Hawes’s telling of the tale unrolls like a film strip; I can so easily see this as a film, maybe black and white, silent but for the sound of the pipes. I don’t know – the sort of catch-you-off-guard, laugh-’cause-you’re-startled humor of the opening sequence got me thinking of Chaplin. I enjoyed the narrative of this one immensely; Emmett, a hard-working young man who, due to a twisted leg, needs to use a crutch to get around, has a fine voice. This story was particularly effective for his point-of-view and the way Hawes describes each child’s reaction to the Piper’s music was a wonderful touch.

Robert Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin

From “Pipe Dreams”:

“His flowing cape winked from red to green to blue as he moved…By the time he had worked his way to the market square, I could see that his shoulders were broad and his face smiling. I could also see that he was not alone. Behind him, trailing like a long black ribbon in the dirt, were the rats of Hameln. The piper moved briskly across the square but appeared not in the least alarmed, as if there were nothing strange about being followed by an endless parade of rats.” {p. 44}

“Mother Love”

Hansel and Gretel. This was one of the fairy tales that always annoyed me. At any moment during the gluttony scene an oompa loompa should’ve popped out of the bushes to sing a song of lessons and morals. And that’s not even starting on the father and step-mother. Hawes doesn’t spare the step-mother scorn, though their father battles a bit more for their cause; it doesn’t matter, this story is still hard to read. And the illustration that accompanies this one just sets it off that much more.

From “Mother Love”:

“So when her parents’ voices woke her that night, she came unwillingly from the lip of dream, a scene in which her angel threw sparkling stones along their path, leaving twisting trails of gems behind them.” {p. 73}

General Thoughts:

There are four stories after the ones above; I’d talk about them all, but this post would go on for days. Suffice to say, I enjoyed this collection thoroughly. It’s remarkable how, at their core, fairy tales are incredibly unsettling. And it seems they always provoke a response, emotion, they pull at life experiences that are painful and sweet.

The illustrations of Black Pearls:

Rebecca Guay’s art is a beautiful compliment to the tales; my only complaint being that there weren’t enough illustrations, each tale having one each. {If you’d like to see them, you can do so by going to her website and scrolling down to the bottom; the black and white illustrations are the ones included in the book.} Even from the cover, though, you can see how they help set the atmosphere; the arched eyebrow alone conjures up emotion and a reaction. Her site has other artwork, of course, and I keep finding myself drawn to the painting of Eve, clutching her red, red apple in the garden. Certain pieces even remind me – if only slightly so – of Charles Vess’s work.

It’s a lovely book all the way around; the black border that frames the cover image, the bitten apple on the back, and the way the book mirrors the colors of darkness and blood (the endpapers are a gorgeous red) goes to show that whomever came up with the concept design thought about what they were doing.

Of all the illustrations, I think my favorite may just be the one from “Pipe Dreams.” Guay portrays the Piper as a charismatic, powerful man, and you can see the joy on the childrens’ faces as they slip into the cave.