Short update on the Tell me a Story Project

Here's a short update on the project as I want to keep you informed why I am not posting new stories and illustrations as often as I used to.
Due to the large amount of custom-orders and a lot of regular sales I have a lot on my mind and as I don't want to rush my drawings I think it is best if I just take it easy on the project for a while. This does not mean I won't be posting new stories at all, just not as much as I used to.

I will however launch a dedicated website within two weeks, just need to do some finishing and then it is able to go live. The focus will thus be on PR during November. But once the Christmas-rush has passed and we are all sitting at home near the tree, watching the chimney for Santa, I will pick up where I left and illustrate a new story every week.

Thus, if you have submitted a story which I haven't illustrated yet, I will come to it and appreciate it a lot. Of course if you haven't you can still send in new stories! They are always welcome and very much appreciated.

For those who are not familiar with the project, and would also like to see their story get illustrated, please check out my previous blog post here: LINK

The Little Prince Shadow Puppet; A tribute to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

(Please, click picture for bigger and better view)

The hand-cut, shadow puppet shown above is my tribute to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the writer of 'The Little Prince'. I carry this book with me, every day, in my handbag. Even more, I treasure it like some kind of crucifix, holding on to it whenever I am in need of consolation. This book has been part of my life for such a long time that it has become a true friend to me. And thus I wished to do something back for the little prince and his creator.

To show my appreciation and admiration, I thought there could not be a better scene to depict then the scene in which the little prince meets the fox. It is a story about true friendship as the following piece will show us....

It all starts when the fox, who is at first a stranger to the little prince, asks the boy to tame him. The little prince puzzled by these words asks the fox what 'tame' means, on which the fox answers:

"It is something which is too often forgotten, it means to establish ties....

To me, you are still just a little boy like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. To you, I am just a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we shall need one another. To me, you will be unique. And I shall be unique to you.....

If you tame me, my life will be full of sunshine. I shall recognize the sound of a step different from all others. The other steps send my hurrying underground. Yours will call me out of my burrow like the sound of music. And look yonder!Do you see the cornfields? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. Those cornfields don't remind me of anything. And I find that rather sad! But you have hair the color of gold. So it will be marvellous when you have tamed me! Wheat, which is also golden, will remind me of you.And I shall love the sound of the wind in the wheat....

The fox became silent and gazed for a long time at the little prince. I beg of you..... tame me! he said."

The little prince, not aware of the important lesson he is about to learn, tells the fox he hasn't got time to tame him. As he has many things to discover and a lot of things to understand. But then the fox replied:

"One can only understand the things one tames"

Thus the little prince is tempted and finally agrees to tame the fox. From then they meet one another every day at the same spot and at the same time and through time they become close friends until eventually the day came for the little prince's departure.

But if you would like to know how the story continues, you should read the book for yourself. Trust me you won't regret it and it is most likely you will read the book over and over again.
I know I do, I must have read it about thirty times by now.

There is just one other thing I would like to say:

Thank you Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, thank you....

(Soon, this puppet will be for sale at my Etsy shop)

Tell me a story; The Old men of Painswick

According to Tabitha her own town did not have any tales. Though it once had a black dog, she said, it is no longer anything special. Luckily a relative of her told her about the "Old men of Painswick" and thus she was able to make a submission and I am very glad she did! I know, and I say this every time, but really, this legend is unlike any tale I have shared with you before.

NOTE: would you also like to see your story get illustrated? please check out my previous blog post here and read the guidelines.

(Please, click picture for bigger and better view)

Story Title: The Old men of Painswick
Submitted by: Tabitha
Country: Gloucestershire, England

A pilgrim was travelling across the Cotswold Hills when he reached the village of Painswick, which is well known for its pure air and the tall yew trees in its churchyard. As he was climbing along the hill towards the village, he chanced upon an old, old man sitting upon a stone and crying his eyes out.

“What’s the matter, father?” asked the courteous young pilgrim.
“Why, my old father’s given me such a lathering!” came the reply. “He’s beaten me so hard I can’t hardly stand upright.”

The pilgrim, naturally, thought the old man a little mixed in the head. But understanding the old fellow to be getting a little too elderly for his good, he said “You oughtn’t to be out be yourself on your lonesome. I’ll help you get back to your home.” And the pilgrim hoisted the old man up onto his back and carried him off over the hill to Painswick.

Presently they reached a neat little farmhouse. The little old man squirmed uncomfortably upon the pilgrim’s back. “This would be my home,” he said uncertainly. “But I’m most afeared of father.”
“I’m sure your father won’t hurt you,” replied the pilgrim, certain that fathers surely dead can’t hurt their old children, and he knocked upon the door.

Almost instantaneously the door was opened, and who should open it but an even older old man, with bright black suspicious eyes and a beard longer than his arm. He held the doorknob in his hand, and a big ash stick in his other, and the little old man upon the pilgrim’s back flinched in horror. The pilgrim felt his passenger stirring, and said, to smooth the situation and bring the world to order: “Why, grandfather, surely you mean this little fellow no harm? He’s been running away from home, and crying something pitiful upon the hills, saying his father’s lamming him.”

“Why should I not lam him, dreadful creature that he is?” cried the old man. “Look into our garden and espy his poor old granfer up there in the tree, risking his old tender neck to get us cherries, while this rascal here tosses stones at him! And all in some manner of fun…this ash stick has some words to say to this delinquent!”

With that the old fellow leaped from the pilgrim’s back and took off fast as a galloping hare, with his old sire in hot pursuit. The pilgrim stood, left alone, not daring to peer into the garden to find the cherry tree, or its ancient harvester, before setting quickly back on his way. “Surely,” he said to himself as he tried to ignore the bellowing father and his son speeding away into the distance “they must live forever at Painswick.”

Tell me a story; Mula-Sem-Cabeça

So far we have had stories from Portugal, Hungary, Germany, Chile, Brittany, the Netherlands, California and France. Thus the stories are really from all over the world. Once more we cross the ocean (from my perspective) and go to Southern-America, as the next story is from Brazil. This story is a rather peculiar one as it feutures a headless-fire spitting-mule, yes it really does;the 'Mula-sem-cabeça'.

Though most stories are submitted sometimes I come across a very interesting story myself which I just love. In these cases I ask the writer/teller if it is ok for me to use the story. This story is one of these. And though the writer of the story wishes to remain anonymous I want to thank her again for enabling me to use her story.

NOTE: would you also like to see your story get illustrated? please check out my previous blog post here and read the guidelines.

(Please, click picture for bigger and better view)

Story Title: Mula-Sem-Cabeça
Submitted by: Anonymous
Country: Brazil

The mula-sem-cabeça, translated to English as: mule without head, is a legend in Brazilian folklore. Its origin is European, but very evident throughout Brazil.
It is similar to a mule in size and shape, but for one peculiarity, it is without a head and it spits fire by its neck. It's hooves are shod with horseshoes which are silver or steel and the mule is most commonly a brown or black color.
According to the legend, any woman who is dating a priest would be transformed into this monster. Thus women should see the priests as a kind of "holy" instead of as a man. If committed any sin with the thought of a priest in their mind or with the priest himself they would become a 'Mula-sem-cabeça'.
This curse can only be broken if someone removes the bridle, and the woman will reappear, sorry for her "sins."

Folk Magic

Having made so many drawings for the tell me a story project, I thought it was time for something else. Not that the project is boring me, infact, quite the opposite, I am pleasantly surprised by all those wonderful submissions, but I do miss it sometimes to pick a subject myself. One of those subjects which are close to my heart is folk magic. Being it an old way of fortelling the future or invoking a catholic saint to find something back which is lost, I love it all just as much.

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Divination with lead

The drawing shown above depicts a scene in which two girls are trying to predict their future. They do this by pouring hot, liquid lead into a bucket filled with cold water. The shapes thus formed are "read", all of them having their own meaning. Lead in the shape of a star meant luck, crosses meant suffering, man or sack like figures meant wealth, an aureole meant marriage but the shape of an animal meant death. This method of divination was known throughout all of Europe and was often used on New Years eve to see what the next year would bring. This ceremony was practiced even in recent days. Of course young girls used it for a much less complicated goal, they told each other that the letters which appeared in the water would predict the name of their future husband.
Now this all seems to be not much more then a game for the youngsters, but in fact this divination method is of ancient origin. The Latins instead of lead used wax, once the wax was coagulated they took these small pieces to bed and the dream they would dream that night would tell them their fortune.

There are so many more divination methods closely related to the former, but it would take an entire book to describe them all. However if you are just as much interested in these rituals as I am you can always drop a line. I'm always in for hearing new stories and I love to share all I learned about these matters :)

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"Love Potion"

The second drawing depicts a scene in which a mother makes her daughter a "love potion". It was believed that to obtain ones love you should boil his or her socks in water and then drink the extract. This was believed, like it was believed with all "love potions" containing human fluids of some kind, to be most effective. For people who are wondering why it is that this was believed to be so effective it might be interesting to learn a bit more about sympathetic magic. You can find more information about it here

I am intending to make more drawings featuring folk magic, so if this is what you are interested in ,keep an eye on my blog as more will follow soon.
(the information given above has been partly adopted from; 'Lexikon des Aberglaubens', written by Helmut Hiller)

PS; for those who are interested, prints accompanied with story are now available at my Etsy shop!

Tell me a story; Inês de Castro

It took a little bit longer then planned but here it is; the next drawing and story for the Tell me a story project!
This is one of the most tragic love stories I have ever heard, absolutely heartbreaking but very beautiful at the same time.

I am a true romantic at heart so this story was a real treat to work on. Michele, who made the submission, told me she visited the graves of the two lovers, the main characters in this story.
She also told me that part of this story is actually true and that the lives of these two lovers are depicted on the marble coffins where they lay to rest. The truth in part of this story makes it even more tragic.

I can only hope the lovers are reunited after death and that their souls may never be parted again.
If the Dutch proverb is true they might be together now, as the saying goes: "liefde overwint alles" (love overcomes all), maybe even death.....

NOTE: would you also like to see your story get illustrated? please check out my previous blog post here and read the guidelines.

(click picture for bigger view)

Story Title: Inês de Castro
Submitted by: Michele Mendonça
Country: Portugal

Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Portugal, a true love story marvelled and shocked the hearts of all.

It all started when the prince, heir to the crown, married a Portuguese princess, fell in love with a beautiful Spanish maiden named Inês de Castro, who had just arrived in court to be the queen's maid.

So strong was the love he felt for her and so in love she found herself since the day she first saw him that they started to meet in the secret places of the castle and on the beautiful gardens and fields and hills of the kingdom. Not only tree and river, moon and light witnessed the fire and passion between these two, so in love, but soon peasants and warriors alike took a notice of such joy as well. And before long the news of this forbidden love reached the ears of the king himself. Now the king was not happy, oh he wasn’t! He ordered his son to stop seeing this woman. But the prince didn’t. He had found true love and promised her they would always be together, forever.

One day the sad news of the princes's death spread throughout the kingdom and all took pity on her. The prince was disturbed with her death but inside of him a joy and a hope was born with the thought of him marrying Inês, so big was his love. He asked his father the king, he begged. And three times he was refused. Three times his dream was shattered. The King forbade him to ever see Inês again as she was not a suitable wife for the future King to be.

The prince's sadness grew but he never stopped meeting beautiful Inês. How could she not be the one for him, just because she was not Portuguese, he asked himself. He believed they were meant to be together. They were secretly happy and soon fathering children. When the rumour of these children reached the King's ears he became afraid that the future of the Portuguese crown would be in risk. So the King ordered the murder of Inês de Castro.

And so the legend tell us that when the prince heard of Inês death, his heart sunk into such pain and despair that he declared war against his own father. He stated that he had secretly married Inês so it was his wife who was murdered while she should have been the lawful queen. He then had her body exhumed and in a macabre ceremony of love, death and loyalty he forced his entire court to swear allegiance to her as a queen and kiss her lifeless hand.

And so they all did. And it is told that the Prince made a promise that they would be together till the end of the world so they were both buried, together in exquisitely sculpted marble coffins depicting scenes of their lives. And this is true for I have seen the graves myself. According to the legend, at the Last Judgment, Peter and Inês will look at each other as they rise from their graves.

Food and Folklore: Ainar (a Libanese herbal tea)

This week I suddenly realized how I have neglected my blog. Yes I am posting regularly, but I only write about my "Tell me a story" project, while there are so many other interesting subjects related to folklore I could and should write about. Such as food.

I started the 'Food and Folklore' section a little while ago with the intention to share recipes which in some way relate to folklore. Be it a traditional dish served during Christmas or a cookie connected to a urban-myth. However, the downloadable recipes accompanied by my illustrations costs me a lot of work to create, too much actually.
As I do love to search for recipes and write about them, as well as trying out them myself, I decided to continue with the food and folklore section. But, this time without the illustrations, as it just was too much work. However, every recipe will still be accompanied by a photograph so you all can see the result before you start experimenting yourself!

This post will be all about the food and drinks connected with childbirth. While searching for these recipes I noticed a most curious thing, they all had one thing in common, one ingredient; anise. Though it surprised me that this herb appears all over the world, it did not surprise me that it is so popular. Anise has a long history in folk belief. In folk magic it was believed to ward off evil and even to exorcise demons. In folk medicine it was prescribed for women who just gave birth as anise was said to stimulate the production of mother's milk. Now, the second explanation seems to be more logical then the first,one.
But one must keep in mind how frightened people were in the past, and sometimes still are, for witches, demons and other evil. It has been believed for a very long time that diseases were caused by demons. So to keep your child healthy it was important to keep the devils away. There are many traditions connected to the exorcism of demons such as laying a silver scissors beneath the cradle or binding a piece of red ribbon to the child. Even a child's rattle was meant for this purpose as the sound was supposed to scare the demons.
Anise, for this same reason, was processed in drinks and food.

The following recipe comes from Libanon. This tea was traditionally served to all guests when a child was born. I have heard this is a more modern version as in the past there were two different recipes; one for boys and one for girls. This tea was served just after a girl was born. But when a boy was born rice pudding was served. The birth of a boy, as in many cultures, was "more important" then the birth of a girl and thus when a son was born they served the more exclusive rice pudding.
This custom has changed through time however, at many places and this tea is now drunk wether a girl or boy is born.

Oh, yes and if you leave away the walnuts it is also said to be a great remedy against pain in the stomach!

Ainar (Libanese herbal tea)

Ingredients:

• one and a quarter liters of water
• two quills of cinnamon
• a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• a quarter teaspoon of ground anise
• a quarter teaspoon of ground allspice

• As garnish: chopped walnut

Boil the herbs for 20 minutes. Sift through a piece of cloth and garnish each cup of tea with some copped walnut. Sweeten as you prefer with honey or sugar.


(the recipe was adopted from: The Arabic Cookbook, written by Janny Moor)