I am very proud of myself for what may seem a middling accomplishment: I wrote two stories between yesterday and today. For yesterday I wrote out a story “The Magic of Elena the Beautiful” longhand. I typed it up this morning and got 10 pages. Then this evening, I wrote out another story “The Woman Who Loved David” and typed it up and got 7 pages. “The Magic of Elena the Beautiful” is a retelling of a Russian folktale, “Ondrei the Shooter,” about a hunter who accidently comes across a bird that turns out to be a beautiful and resourceful wife. I retold the story from Elena’s perspective, beginning in the magical world where she is from.
I placed “The Magic of Elena the Beautiful” in my book Fraud on the Fairies. Charles Dickens wrote the article titled “Fraud on the Fairies” defending Fairy Tales from the abuse of overly didactic tales for children. My fairy tales will be of two varieties: retellings from a “different perspective” (“Mirror of Jealousy” or “Vasilisa’s Doll”) or ones totally made up by myself (like “The Nixie” or “Imogene’s Dilemma”) or ones inspired by traditional tales but whose retelling is far enough from the original that perhaps they deserve their own category (“The Modern Bluebird” or “The Sixth Swan”). I hope by the time I am finished with Fraud on the Fairies, it will be quite large, and I will have a good idea for an Introduction, perhaps mentioning Dickens’ views on fairy tales and social criticism.
“The Woman Who Loved David” started with the odd insight that there may have been other ancient Israelite women who were physically attracted to King David. After all, he was said to be physically attractive, and in his youth he cut such a dashing figure. My fictive admirer never tells David she is in love with him. She simply collects stories about David and tells them to the author of The Annals of David–a book mentioned in the Bible but which no longer exists today. We only know it once was because it is referred to in 1st Chronicles (I think in 1st Chronicles).