The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World

About this book

The Maid of the North weaves together tales about a womans right to freedom of will and choice. In this collection of mostly nineteenth-century folk and fairy tales Ethel Johnston Phelpss heroines successfully portray women as being spirited courageous and smart. This type of heroine is not easily found in most collections; in most traditional folk and fairy tales we encounter women are portrayed as being good obedient submissive and of course beautiful. These womenand girlsare resourceful; they take action to solve a problem and use cleverness or shrewd common sense to solve the dilemmas they face. The tales themselves are part of an oral tradition that document a generation according to the values of the time. Phelps has given these older tales a fresh contemporary retelling for a new generation of readers young and old. She shapes each storyadding or omitting detailsto reflect her sense of a feminist folk or fairy tale. The twenty-one tales collected represent a wide variety of countries; approximately seventeen ethnic cultures from North America to Europe to Asia tell a story in which women play a leading or crucial role in the story.