Myth & Magic, Fairy Tale & Folklore: Influences on “The House at the End of the Sea”

Helen: In my recent Q&A with Victoria M Adams, I was fascinated by the discussion of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the archetype of the testing fairy. So I’m thrilled to be here with the author again today, to delve further into the traditions of fairy tale and folklore, myth and legend that have helped shape The House At The End of the Sea.

Victoria M Adams: I’m delighted you and your readers enjoyed the first three Q&As enough to want more.

I would love to expand, with one caveat: like so many writers, I work with stories I encountered as a child, tattered hand-me-downs and tales re-told, second- or third-hand echoes of the original myth. Sometimes, I have forgotten where I first read them. Most found their way to me in translation — I am not a scholar of ancient languages! But they did shape my approach to Saffi True and her adventures in The House at the End of the Sea. So without further ado, here they are, starting with Tam Lin.

The Ballad of Tam Lin

Credit: Pyle, Katharine. From “Tamlane: A Story from an Old Scotch Ballad in Wonder Tales from Many Lands”, 1920

This tale of a woman who rescues her true love from the Fairy Queen originates from the Scottish Borders area. It is number 39 in the famous Child Ballad collection, and many versions exist. In all of them, the story involves a woman who falls in love with the son of a local lord who is under the power of the Fairy Queen. She must confront challenges and prove herself worthy before the Queen will give him up (which our intrepid heroine duly does, while pregnant in some versions). It’s a wonderful tale of love and stubborn perseverance.

I obviously didn’t do a straight re-telling, in that Saffi’s relationships to those she loves and wants to win back aren’t romantic. First of all, she is determined to rescue her family from the power of the Fairy Queen. The Tam Lin element comes in with her relationship to Birdy. While this isn’t a grownup romance — they are both twelve years old, so any romantic feelings are at the level of a crush — their relationship has by that point passed through various stages, from initial suspicion through to attempts at friendship, anxieties about loyaltyand other challenges. I will not spoil but there is a scene towards the end of the book that aligns with Tam Lin, and involves magic of the most fundamental sort. Like the magical challenges set by the Green Knight, it is a test of character.

The Mabinogion

Another small detail or ‘Easter egg’ for folklore-lovers in the book comes from two references to the Mabinogion — a collection of traditional Welsh myths and folklore — during Saffi’s trip to the fairy world. The first is a passing mention of Prince Pwyll by one of the fairy creatures she meets. Pwyll was the prince of Dyfed who visited Annwn, Lord Arawn’s magical kingdom, ruling in his stead for a year. Annwn is an otherworldly place which may be interpreted as the world of death but is also a faerie realm. Arawn’s red-eared white hounds also feature on a stained glass window in Forfeit House, the Fairy Queen’s palace in The House At The End Of The Sea. The hounds’ barking portends death to any who hear them; they are part of the Wild Hunt (so vividly brought to life in your own Thornspell, Helen).

Why all this reference to Welshness and death? Well, I wanted to underline, for any who understand the echoes, that Saffi is open to these magical experiences because of her close encounter with death through the loss of her mother. Death is a great opener, a cracker-of-hearts, letting in other forms of light, knowledge and experience. There are some traditions that hold that you can’t really understand magic until you lose something dear to you. There is an element of personal sacrifice involved. Those Welsh tales certainly took that point about the darkness at the heart of life and ran with it!

Fairy Tale Influences

In a broader way, any number of fairy tales inform The House At The End Of The Sea. First of all, there is the traditional ‘brother and sister’ story, found in many Irish tales as well Germanic folklore and European tales in general. In this story, the boy is stolen away by magical forces, and the girl must traverse various challenges, both physical and spiritual to save him. The classic example is The Snow Queen but there are others. In some of these stories, the children are young and the relationship is familial or platonic. In others, the man and woman are sweethearts and the relationship is romantic. In almost all, it is the woman or girl who shows courage, perseverance and strength of character to win her loved one(s) back from the magic.

Credit: “The Snow Queen” by Elena Ringo, 1998; Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

I find this interesting, especially as the tales originate in traditional, patriarchal cultures. Why are there so many excellent fairy tale heroines? Is it because these tales were told by women to their children or grandchildren? Was it because the women were the guardians of oral wisdom, whereas the men were guardians of written, religious or official knowledge? You can almost hear the women’s voices across time. ‘It’s just for children’, they say. ‘It’s not really important’. ‘Don’t mind me while I entertain the babies’.

Oh, but it is important!

So we have girl heroes. Sometimes, they win the day through more ‘feminine’ virtues: hard work, loyalty, silence (The Wild Swans springs to mind). Other times, they set out on perilous quests like their male counterparts, or win the day with wits and repartee. In all cases, they must demonstrate strength of character: courage, generosity, loyalty, perseverance, and an odd admixture of wiliness and respect for fundamental truths, depending on the circumstance. The magical realm in turn rewards such virtue by conceding defeat – half-mocking, half-admiring. What happens to the Snow Queen after Gerda wins back Kai? Nobody knows.

Credit: Elsa and the Wild Swans by E. Stuart Hardy

This fairy hunger for what it means to be human — to feel love, practice faith, make art, have children — turns up again and again in myth and folklore. Fairies can make everything seem beautiful. They gift people ostensible power and riches. But they can’t give you what really matters: true love, family bonds, faith, hope, courage.

Helen: Thank you so much for returning today and delving deeper into the mythic and fairy-tale influences on The House at the End of the Sea. It’s always fascinating to explore the interweaving of the great traditions of fantasy—many stretching back millennia, not just centuries—with new and original storytelling. And as you know, fairytale and folklore, myth and legend are definitely my jam. 😀

Victoria M Adams: Thank you, Helen. It’s wonderful to be among friends and discuss the stories we all love.

~*~

Victoria M Adams

About The Author

Victoria M. Adams spent her childhood bouncing between Cyprus, Canada and the US with her Iranian mother, trying to achieve first place in the ‘Most Visas Acquired Before Age Eighteen’ sweepstakes. As an adult, she carried on the nomadic family tradition by adding France and New Zealand to the mix, where she worked as an animator, copywriter, tutor and story coach, in no particular order. She currently shares her London home with two humans and a feckless cat.
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Comments

Becs:

So good! Thank you for taking the deep dive!! Love the insight into girl heroes in fairy tales & can’t wait to meet your Saffi True between the pages!!!

Reply July 10, 2024 at 09:46
- Victoria:
  
  Thanks Becs! I hope you enjoy!
  
  It’s been a pleasure to take that deep dive, thanks to Helen. 😉
  
  Reply July 10, 2024 at 23:20
Megan:

“Oh but it is important!” – The Wild Swans is one of my best-beloved stories and I really enjoy discussions of this sort, with contemporary authors slanting the old themes and traditions anew.

Reply July 10, 2024 at 19:51
- Victoria:
  
  Thanks Megan.
  
  It’s something of an obsession for me… I suspect the old stories contain truths about life in symbolic form. Sometimes they tell us about moral development, etc. etc. but other times the story just says, ‘you know what, life’s not fair. Bad things happen to good people. What are you going to do about it?’
  
  I find it fascinating that our ancestors left us this amazing bag of tools for understanding ourselves and the world. It doesn’t matter that it’s called a ‘fairy story’, or involves magic: it’s still ‘true’.
  
  Reply July 10, 2024 at 23:27

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