This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.
THE TROPE
Come on, you know this one.
THE FOLKLORE
The other option for V was Virginity, and I am not touching that because folklore does not handle it well. And honestly, sexy and hot vampire lovers are not all that common in folklore either, contrary to popular belief. What I do have, however, are some stories that are amusing in the context of vampire romances.
THE STORIES
The snowman husband (Algonquin folktale)
A haughty maiden rejects a suitor and mocks him, so he decides to take revenge. He makes a handsome warrior out of snow and sends him to her village. She falls desperately in love with the pale and cool warrior and marries him. When they set out on a journey, she notices he is behaving strangely: he hides from the sun, keeps away from fire, and doesn't eat human food. Eventually, he melts.
This story always reminded me of this meme.
The tortoise husband (Italian folktale)
The original title is "The man who came only at night", which makes it more amusing. It's about sisters being courted by a mysterious man who only ever appears at night. Two of them refuse, but the youngest agrees to marry him - only to find out that she turns into a tortoise during the daytime.
I always imagined it would make a fun story for a modern-day girl to expect a brooding hot vampire husband, and then boom, tortoise.
Do you have favorite romance stories that feature this trope?
Do you like the folktale versions?
Don't forget to leave a link in the comments so I can visit you back!
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Jamie (jannghi.blogspot.com):
ReplyDeleteI've read several of these series. There's one, Crave by Tracy Wolff, I've been waiting to start.
I'm surprised there isn't more about vampire romance in folklore. Maybe it's a relatively modern way of dealing with the scariness of vampires. Both of the folk stories you told are funny and I totally get the connection to vampires.
ReplyDeletehttps://dacairns.com.au/blog/f/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-v
Might be better to have a snowman for a husband as opposed to a tortoise who also makes you a tortoise.
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