WEBVTT

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I'm going to read you the title
story from How a Mother Weaned

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Her Girl from Fairy Tales.

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And this story is based on
an old Russian folktale--

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fairy tale, once it was
collected into books--

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that exists in variations
around the world.

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But the version I know is in
an Angela Carter collection,

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The Virago Book of Fairy Tales,
which is long out of print.

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Somebody should revive it,
yes, with a new introduction.

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No, I'm just--

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[LAUGHTER]

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But it's got all of these
really subversive fairy tales

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that really just weren't
canonized in popular culture,

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let alone even in
European literary circles,

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where fairy tales haven't had
such a hard time as they've

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had here in the United States.

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The Russian version is called
"How a Husband Weaned His Wife

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from Fairy Tales."

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and it's about a woman
who loves fairy tales

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and begs her husband
to get people

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to come to the home to tell them
to her throughout the nights.

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There's a little bit
that maybe other things

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are happening between her
and these visitors but not

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too much suggested.

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And the husband isn't such
a fan of her adoration

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of fairy tales.

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And so he just beats
her until she no longer

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asks for fairy tales.

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It's a story about
abuse of power,

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obviously, because why would
you beat somebody unless you

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were trying to control them?

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But I see it also as a
story about fairy tales

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and how they're so
often outsider stories,

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minoritarian stories that don't
ever quite gain acceptance,

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as much as they
might be popularized

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for commercial reasons.

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So "How a Mother Weaned
Her Girl from Fairy Tales."

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"There was once a mother whose
only child loved fairy tales

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above all else and
accepted as dolls only

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those that told stories.

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Of course, the child
suffered as a result,

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for there were not many dolls
that could perform such a task.

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Her mother suffered, as well.

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When she went to
the department store

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on birthdays or
Christmas, she often

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left empty-handed,
destined to disappoint

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her only child who asked
for more and more stories

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over the years.

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The child never said
she was disappointed.

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She only said she
wanted more fairy tales.

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That's all she ever
wanted, she said,

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the ones with the
goriest endings.

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Find the dolls that can tell
those, won't you, please?

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By her 15th birthday, the
girl had precisely two dolls,

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one that told wonderful
stories and one

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that told very bad stories.

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The girl was good-natured.

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She told her mother
one cold winter evening

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that even two dolls,
one that could

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tell wonderful
stories and one that

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could tell terrible stories,
were better than no dolls

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and that their
household had more fairy

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tales than many far more
impoverished homes where,

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perhaps, no storytelling
dolls ever had lived.

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And then she hugged her mother
and kissed her goodnight.

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That very same night, at a
late hour and after some vodka,

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the mother suddenly
wondered for the first time

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how she might wean her
daughter from fairy tales.

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Then there was a
knock on the door.

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There stood a shivering
doll, probably a witch,

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for she was life-sized.

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And she asked the
mother for shelter.

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The girl's mother said,
can you tell stories?

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My daughter does not allow any
dolls in the house that cannot

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tell stories.

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The doll saw that
she had no choice.

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She was a rag doll,
and she'd gotten wet.

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She had icicles dangling
off her yarn hair.

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Her large fingers nearly were
frozen like links of meat one

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might keep in the freezer.

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I can.

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And will you tell
them for a long time?

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All night.

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They agreed on some terms.

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The mother let the doll in
and set her in a rocking chair

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by the fire, where her cotton
stuffing nicely and evenly

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warmed but not too much.

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The mother gently woke
up her daughter and said,

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there's a doll here that
has promised to tell stories

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all night on the condition
that your other dolls do not

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argue or interrupt.

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The daughter woke up
her dolls, the one that

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could tell good stories
and the one that

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could tell bad stories, and
brought them to the living room

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and sat near the hearth.

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The mother had laid out
treats for them all--

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lollipops with chocolate
centers in the miniature globes,

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jelly beans, toast.

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The thawed doll spoke.

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Yes, I will tell stories, but
there must be no interruptions,

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or I will tell no
more stories to you.

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The mother, the daughter, and
the two dolls ate their snacks

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and went back to their beds.

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The doll began.

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'An owl flew by a garden,
sat on a tree trunk,

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and drank some water.

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An owl flew by a garden,
sat on a tree trunk,

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and drank some water.

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An owl flew by a garden,
sat on a tree trunk,

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and drank some water.'

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Over and over again, the
doll repeated this sentence.

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The good doll listened and
said from her little doll

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bed, that's a beautiful
story, but I'm

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afraid your audience
might become tired of it.

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I'm not tired of it.

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I think it's a
lovely story, but--

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and then the bad doll
shouted from her bed,

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that's not even a story!

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The big doll gazed
coldly into the fire.

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Doll one, you've interrupted me.

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There were to be
no interruptions.

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And doll two, you have
interrupted, and you've argued.

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That was only the
beginning of the story.

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I was going to change it later.

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I was only just starting out.

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She stared at the fire.

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Her expression hardened,
which was difficult,

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as her whole head was made
of a large walnut shell.

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And then the hardness
turned into sadness.

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The big doll stood,
and she sighed,

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and she picked up the two
littler dolls from their beds.

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I will take these with me
and teach them how to behave.

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Then she flew out of a window.

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The mother rushed
to the daughter,

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who had been
blissfully sleeping,

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dreaming the whole thing,
just like a character

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might in an old
storybook-- a frozen rag

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doll, walnut-headed and
big, played the lead role

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in the dream, as if she
were an old illustration

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drawn hovering above
the girl's very head

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while she was sleeping.

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The mother knelt down, clasped
the daughter's warm hands

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in her own and
said, the dolls were

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told not to interrupt
and never to argue.

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And look what's happened.

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They're gone.

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You won't get any
more fairy tales.

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They're trouble, I tell you.

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They're trouble.

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The girl vowed never to ask
for a talking doll ever again.

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Though smiling, she
seemed rather unhappy.

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The mother paced around the
house for hours each day.

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If only we'd followed
her rules, we

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could have seated the dolls in
their miniature high chairs,

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taped over their
little doll mouths,

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and listened to her fairy tales.

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Then we'd still have the dolls.

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We'd still have the fairy tales.

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We could have let
her finish her story.

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It wasn't a very good story,
but it was only beginning.

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The daughter tried to
comfort the mother.

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At least we still
have each other.

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Maybe she was lonely.

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Maybe she needed some friends.

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It was worse for her.

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She didn't know how
to tell a good story.

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The daughter looked out
the window at night,

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hoping to catch a
glimpse of the dolls.

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It was something to
hope for, anyway,

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that she might someday
see them floating around

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in the dark sky, the big
doll repeating her story over

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and over again while one
small doll gently admonished

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and the other berated the tale.

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An owl flew by a garden,
sat on a tree trunk,

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and drank some water.

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An owl flew by a garden,
sat on a tree trunk,

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and drank some water.

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An owl flew by a garden,
sat on a tree trunk,

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and drank some water."