European fairy tales about love becoming obsession.
March 30, 2024 5:59 AM Subscribe
What European (and maybe Middle-Eastern) fairy tales / folk stories are there about someone who feels an obsessive love. particularly if it drives them to a bad end. The Little Mermaid is already on the list.
I'm specifically interested in fairy tales rather than mythology. I recognise that line can get blurry, but I'd like to lean towards the Brothers Grimm end of the spectrum. Not Narcissus or Pygmalion.
Geographically I'm mostly looking at Europe - especially Germany - but I've an open mind for good ones from the Middle-East.
I'm specifically interested in fairy tales rather than mythology. I recognise that line can get blurry, but I'd like to lean towards the Brothers Grimm end of the spectrum. Not Narcissus or Pygmalion.
Geographically I'm mostly looking at Europe - especially Germany - but I've an open mind for good ones from the Middle-East.
I'm not able to lay hands on my copy at the moment, but I'm pretty sure Maria Tatar's Hard Facts of the Brothers Grimm has a chapter on this.
posted by gauche at 6:39 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]
posted by gauche at 6:39 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]
“The Story of Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Bakkar and the Slave-Girl Shams al-Nahar,” from the Arabian Nights
The Fisherman and His Soul, by Oscar Wilde might also fit your description - the fisherman repudiates his soul in order the live under the sea with the mermaid he has fallen in love with, and his soul wanders the earth, coming back once a year to try to convince the fisherman to take it back. The story is nice and grim if you want a bad end.
The Selkie myth is another one that might work for you, although it is definitely debatable whether the man who steals the Selkie's skin in in love with her. He steals her skin to trap her on land, marries her and ultimately she manages to escape abandoning him and his children. Different variations would mention how long he watched her before he was able to steal the skin from her.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:19 AM on March 30 [2 favorites]
The Fisherman and His Soul, by Oscar Wilde might also fit your description - the fisherman repudiates his soul in order the live under the sea with the mermaid he has fallen in love with, and his soul wanders the earth, coming back once a year to try to convince the fisherman to take it back. The story is nice and grim if you want a bad end.
The Selkie myth is another one that might work for you, although it is definitely debatable whether the man who steals the Selkie's skin in in love with her. He steals her skin to trap her on land, marries her and ultimately she manages to escape abandoning him and his children. Different variations would mention how long he watched her before he was able to steal the skin from her.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:19 AM on March 30 [2 favorites]
The prince in Rapunzel scratches out his eyes and wanders around lost for years. I'm pretty sure his love for Rapunzel, which drives him to do it, qualifies as obsession in that story.
posted by BibiRose at 8:34 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]
posted by BibiRose at 8:34 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]
Helen Oyeyemi's book of short stories "What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours" is an interlinked series of contemporary fairy tales about obsessive love set in and around Prague (or a version thereof). She's also a spectacular, sui generis writer.
posted by minervous at 8:39 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]
posted by minervous at 8:39 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
King Midas - a king's obsessive love of gold causes him to make a hasty wish that everything he touches turns to gold; he soon regrets this wish dearly when he realizes this also includes things like food he wants to eat, and his daughter. In some versions he gets the wish reversed; in others he starves to death.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 6:13 AM on March 30