where do they come from?

[marycatelli]

There's an old woman in the woods. She gives good advice to the heroine, and possibly something of gold that she can use to bribe the villainess.

Or an old man who can speak to all the beasts, and has two brothers who can speak to all the birds and all the fish respectively.

The evil sorceresses and witches and wizards can be stepmothers and stepsisters and brothers who fled once their plots were uncovered. But what, then, are the beneficent ones? Perhaps princes who never found the princess again, or the ogre's beautiful daughter who gets away on her own but has nowhere to go except a hut in the woods.

The thing is, if the heroine speculates that she might end up one of them, I have to explain where they come from. And if I can't explain, the heroine has to have a different speculation about a future fate that doesn't involve becoming queen.

Comments

[jbellinger]

Is there some kind of price to pay to be queen or king? Something that makes some people say "It's just not worth it" and give up on the office and its demands?

I assume that hermits (holy and un-) would complicate the story framework too much.

[jbellinger]

or maybe travelers from out of the area on their way to some magical site... If they're transients then there won't be a line of people around waiting to ask where their lost cow got to.

[marycatelli]

Well, that would serve for the ones you meet on the way -- they happen occasionally -- but they're as likely as the evil ones to have cottages.

[marycatelli]

If you get into a fairy tale, there can be a very steep one:

Seven long years I served for thee,
The glassy hill I clomb for thee,
Thy bloody clothes I wrang for thee;
And wilt thou not waken and turn to me?

or

on a certain night you must put a large bowl of milk and sugar in each of the four corners of this room. All the snakes in the river will come out to drink the milk, and the one that leads the way will be the queen of the snakes. You must stand in her way at the door, and say: "Oh, Queen of Snakes, Queen of Snakes, give me back my husband !" and perhaps she will do it. But if you are frightened, and do not stop her, you will never see me again.

[jbellinger]

Yes, and kinging it isn't always as easy as it's cracked up to be.

[marycatelli]

all those dragons demanding your daughter