Swan Sister
Authors: Ellen Datlow,Terri Windling
New Twists on Old Classics
Just as fairy-tale magic can transform a loved one into a swan, the contributors to this book have transformed traditional fairy tales and legends into stories that are completely original, yet still tantalizingly familiar.
The stories include a Rapunzel whose most confining prison is her loneliness; a contemporary rendering of the Green Man myth; two different versions of Red Riding Hood; a tale that grew out of a Celtic folk song; Sleeping Beauty’s experience of her enchantment; two works inspired by the Arabian Nights; and more.
FAIRY TALES RETOLD BY
Bruce Coville • Gregory Frost • Neil Gaiman • Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Kathe Koja • Tanith Lee • Lois Metzger • Christopher Rowe • Will Shetterly
Midori Snyder • Katherine Vaz • Jane Yolen • Pat York
“There’s something for everyone in this anthology. . . .”—
School Library Journal
“Great stuff, as always when Datlow and Windling are at the helm.”—Faren Miller,
Locus
Read the companion collection.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
Simon & Schuster, New York
Cover illustration © 2003
by Kamil Vojnar
Cover designed by Russell Gorden
Ages 8–12
kids.SimonandSchuster.com.com
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2003 by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling Introduction copyright © 2003 by Terri Windling “Greenkid” copyright © 2003 by Jane Yolen “Golden Fur” copyright © 2003 by Midori Snyder “Chambers of the Heart” copyright © 2003 by Nina Kiriki Hoffman “Little Red and the Big Bad” copyright © 2003 by Will Shetterly “The Fish’s Story” copyright © 2003 by Pat York “The Children of Tilford Fortune” copyright © 2003 by Christopher Rowe “The Girl in the Attic” copyright © 2003 by Lois Metzger “The Harp That Sang” copyright © 2003 by Gregory Frost “ A Life in Miniature” copyright © 2003 by Bruce Coville “Lupe” copyright © 2003 by Kathe Koja “Awake” copyright © 2003 by Tanith Lee “Inventing Aladdin” © 2003 by Neil Gaiman “My Swan Sister” © 2003 by Katherine Vaz
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
S
IMON
& S
CHUSTER
B
OOKS FOR
Y
OUNG
R
EADERS
is a trademark of Simon & Schuster.
Book design by Ann Sullivan The text for this book is set in Hoefler Text. eISBN: 978-1-4424-6040-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Swan sister : fairy tales retold / edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.—1st ed. P. cm. Contents: Greenkid / Jane Yolen Golden fur / Midori Snyder—Chambers of the heart / Nina Kiriki Hoffman—Little Red and the Big Bad / Will Shetterly—The Fish’s story / Pat York— The Children of Tilford Fortune / Christopher Rowe—The Girl in the attic / Lois Metzger—The Harp that sang / Gregory Frost A life in miniature / Bruce Coville—Lupe / Kathe Koja—Awake / Tanith Lee—Inventing Aladdin / Neil Gaiman—My swan sister / Katherine Vaz. ISBN 0-689-84613-4 1. Fairy tales. [1. Fairy tales.] I. Datlow, Ellen. II. Windling, Terri. PZ8.M9867 2003 [Fic]—dc21 2002030409
This book is dedicated to Heidi Anne Heiner—
librarian, fairy tale lover, and creator
of the SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages Web site.
And to all the librarians
who keep young readers supplied with magic.
Introduction
by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow
Chapter 1:
Greenkid
by Jane Yolen
Chapter 2:
Golden Fur
by Midori Snyder
Chapter 3:
Chambers of the Heart
by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Chapter 4:
Little Red and the Big Bad
by Will Shetterly
Chapter 5:
The Fish’s Story by Pat York
Chapter 6:
The Children of Tilford Fortune
by Christopher Rowe
Chapter 7:
The Girl in the Attic
by Lois Metzger
Chapter 8:
The Harp That Sang
by Gregory Frost
Chapter 9:
A Life in Miniature
by Bruce Coville
Chapter 12:
Inventing Aladdin
by Neil Gaiman
Chapter 13:
My Swan Sister
by Katherine Vaz
NTRODUCTION
BY
T
ERRI
W
INDLING AND
E
LLEN
D
ATLOW
When we were kids, we were told that fairy tales were only for little children—which implies, of course, that we’d lose our interest as we grew up. But we kept on reading fairy tales year after year, and they were just as wonderful as ever. Was there something wrong with us, we wondered, that we were so enchanted by nursery stories? And why, we wondered, were fairy tales considered suitable for little children anyway? Some of the stories we read in the Brothers Grimm volumes seemed grim indeed! There were queens who danced to death in red-hot shoes, wicked witches burned up in ovens, ghostly children weeping blood red tears, and wolves lurking in Granny’s nightclothes.
Eventually we learned that in previous centuries fairy tales weren’t considered
children’s
stories—back then,
they were told to everyone, young and old alike. But in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, certain book editors, as well as the Walt Disney Studios, took hold of fairy tales and
changed
them. They turned harrowing, suspenseful stories into sweet and simple tales full of frolicking bluebirds, giggling mice, square-jawed heroes, and dumb-blonde princesses. In these new versions of fairy tales the Good were always unambiguously Good, and they always triumphed over Evil. Real life, however, is more complex than that. The old fairy tales were more complex than that too. Underneath their fanciful trappings, the old tales had a lot to say about human nature: about cruelty, vanity, greed, despair—and about the “magic” that overcomes them: kindness, compassion, generosity, faith, persistence, and courage.