5 - Little Thumb and the Trail of Breadcrumbs
In this episode, we're exploring the class system of Louis XIV's France through the story of Charles Perrault's Le Petit Poucet, or Little Thumb. We'll explore how it ties to the Grimms' Hansel and Gretel and how the ogre creature evolved from the Arabic ghoul.
Stories in this episode:
- Charles Perrault's Little Thumb (Le Petit Poucet) (2:00)
- The Grimms' Hansel and Gretel (36:26)
- A brief exploration of The Halfling (52:27)
Resources mentioned:
- Al-Rawi, Ahmed K. “The Arabic Ghoul and Its Western Transformation.” Folklore, vol. 120, no. 3, 2009, pp. 291–306. JSTOR, JSTOR.
- Goldberg, Christine. “‘The Dwarf and the Giant’ (AT 327B) in Africa and the Middle East.” The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 116, no. 461, 2003, pp. 339–350. JSTOR, JSTOR.
- Al-Rawi, Ahmed K."Charles Perrault's "Le Petit Poucet" and its possible Arabic Influences." Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature, vol. 48 no. 1, 2010, pp. 31-41. Project MUSE.
More from Christine A. Jones:
- Mother Goose Refigured: A Critical Translation of Charles Perrault's Fairy Tales
- Marvelous Transformations: An Anthology of Fairy Tales and Contemporary Critical Perspectives
- Feathers, Paws, Fins, and Claws
- "Mother Goose’s French Birth (1697) and British Afterlife (1729)"
- "Thoughts on 'Heroinism' in French Fairy Tales"