The Red Shoes

[asakiyume]

Today in church one of the altar servers was wearing red ballet-slipper-style shoes with sparkles.



They were beautiful, and I was thinking, wow, church has come a long way since Hans Christian Andersen's time (different denomination, too, but let's sail by that issue), when the poor protagonist of "The Red Shoes" eventually HAS TO HAVE HER FEET CHOPPED OFF for the sin of indulging in vanity by wearing her red shoes to church. And then, even after she's repented and had her feet cut off, her bloody feet, dancing in the shoes, keep her from entering the church!

I have vivid memories of the illustrations accompanying this story from the version of HCA's fairy tales that we had when I was a kid--particularly the one of Karen, the protagonist, her hair a wild golden tangle, pleading with the executioner to cut off her feet. With much searching (a zillion people have illustrated HCA, including famous people like Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham), I found that the edition we had was called Stories from Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by twin sisters, Anne and Janet Grahame Johnstone. They had an overly pretty, slim, stylized way of drawing people that I was fascinated by. I couldn't find the one illustration online, but I did find the one of her going into church all in white... but with the offending red shoes on. Unfortunately the person who took the photo cut off the feet (LOL), so you can't see the shoes, but you can see the glow from them:


(source)

If you click on the source link, you can get more of a sense of the illustrators' style. They had a great illustration for "The Wild Swans" of the prince who ends up still with one arm a wing, but I thought you might like this fairly hot (in an overly pretty way) picture from Tales of Greeks and Trojans:


(source)

Comments

[asakiyume]

Incidentally, puffins have eyes just like whoever the wounded hero is in that bottom picture.

[osprey_archer]

I bet that last picture caused some long, puzzled-yet-fascinated childhood staring from people who owned that book as a kid...

[asakiyume]

Hahaha, I am SURE it did.

[sovay]

I found that the edition we had was called Stories from Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by twin sisters, Anne and Janet Grahame Johnstone.

I don't think that was the book of Andersen I grew up with, but their style loked very familiar to me—they did the illustrations for Dodie Smith's The Hundred and One Dalmations (1956).

but I thought you might like this fairly hot (in an overly pretty way) picture from Tales of Greeks and Trojans

That is the slashiest Achilles and Tenes I have ever seen. Classical tradition would approve.

[asakiyume]

Hahaha, I just noticed that Tenes is labeled.

That is the slashiest... --I didn't have this book--only just saw this illustration during my search--but this EXACTLY matches up with my childhood incipient sense of high drama/emotion/sexuality.

[amaebi]

YES!!!!

[queenoftheskies]

The shoes sound very pretty.

And I think I'm thankful I never read the story.

[asakiyume]

In spite of its goriness and scary morality, I somehow didn't mind it. I think I felt like it was sort of equivalent to those random rules that fairies lay down for you with dire consequences (don't look in this, don't eat this, etc.).

[zyzyly]

They cut off her feet? What?

[asakiyume]

I know, right? Over-the-top punitive, or what?!

[amaebi]

I bet that server loves her shoes So Much. And I think it's sad when there can't be dancing in church.

Evidently the early Johannine community incorporated a circle dance as part of their worship practice-- whether they explicitly intended this as an egalitarian/non-hierarchical piece of liturgy or it was only interpreted that way later I do not know.

[asakiyume]

I'm reading (but not retaining much, alas--my poor brain) essays on Puerto Rican history, and one was describing how Three Kings Day was celebrated in the 1640s--and it included dancing in church:

The beautiful music begins. Guitar, laúd, timpano, harp and pandereta play a song that echoes those of the moriscos of Andalucía. The Magi reverentlly approach the Nativity with their gifts for the Infant. Dancing to the rhythm, they leap high in the air, twirling with agility and grace. Only the best dancers are chosen to dance before the altar, and these three obviously have earned the honor. Though kinds and bishops may pass edicts against it, sacred dancing continues. After all, in the Old Testament King David danced before the Ark, and God was pleased. --Loretta Phelps de Córdova, Five Centuries in Puerto Rico (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Publishing Resources, 1998), 21.

That said, I've never seen dancing in church!

[amaebi]

Ah! Not surprisingly, it is Highly Variable. And lots of people just hate it, period, and usually seem to feel very proud of hating it.

I've seen liturgical dance, helped to choreograph liturgical dance, and been part of liturgical dance. And in AME churches I have joined in swaying and clapping from amid the pews.

[asakiyume]

And in AME churches I have joined in swaying and clapping from amid the pews. --I can imagine being transported by this!

[amaebi]

Think on, we can think of any posture and osture change as dance of a sort....

[asakiyume]

True! I like osture as a word--I don't know what it means, but I'm guessing it has to do with bones. Will look it up next.

[amaebi]

Sadly, just a typo for posture....

[asakiyume]

No biggie--let's invent osture. Doesn't it seem bone-ish? Like osteopath or whatever? Osture is how you set your skeleton, and posture is what it is when you add in muscles and viscera.

Or maybe osture has to do with the strength of your bones--like if you've got osteoporosis, you have poorer osture.

[amaebi]

:)