Tales from Beyond the Rainbow: Ten Lgbtq+ Fairy Tales Proudly Reclaimed - Hardcover

 
9780593889725: Tales from Beyond the Rainbow: Ten Lgbtq+ Fairy Tales Proudly Reclaimed
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 059388972X ISBN 13: 9780593889725
Verlag: Penguin Workshop, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

Epic stories of love, adventure, and resilience featuring LGBTQ+ narratives and heroes, published as a collection of queer classics for the first time.

These are the fairy tales that history forgot—or concealed. Ten tales in which gender is fluid and where queer stories can have a happy ending. Some are rare examples of LGBTQ+ folklore, like “The Dog and the Sailor,” which features a male protagonist who meets his own handsome prince. These stories include folklore from Europe, Asia, and the African savanna. Vibrant illustrations from an international group of artists enhance the multicultural identities showcased here, including artists from India, Germany, Cape Verde, Russia, Canada, China, and more. They remind readers that folk tales are our tales, and invite them to be whoever they want to be. Researcher Pete Jordi Wood has combed through generations of history to collect and adapt these ten unforgettable stories celebrating LGBTQ+ themes and characters.

This title is already included on the Puffin Classics list, indicating its importance in preserving the ancient folklore of queer histories.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Pete Jordi Wood is a British author, illustrator, and screenwriter who describes himself as a “fairy tale detective.” He is based in Cornwall in the United Kingdom.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

A long time ago in the Dahomey Kingdom, many years before the country of Benin was founded, there stood a vast city in the western savannah. Its walls stretched one hundred miles, each brick cast in bronze.

The city was ruled by the young King Dadase, who took the throne when he was just eighteen, upon the death of his father. His days were now filled with public engagements and meetings with his advisors, amidst endless schooling from his strict teachers. His lessons were held in a tower that overlooked the city, and during them Dadase often found himself staring out of the windows into the streets, where boys and girls his own age smiled and joked together. Dadase wished he could join them, just for a day, to have some fun and forget the responsibility he had inherited with his title.

And so one morning Dadase decided to venture out beyond the palace gates in disguise. He had noticed that when the cook came to work he brought with him a beige robe into which he changed to pray. So Dadase removed his fine jewelry and went to the kitchens in search of it.
The cook was outside in the courtyard, busying himself plucking a chicken. Dadase found the robe neatly folded on a shelf, and hurriedly removed his elegant embroidered tunic. Pulling the robe over his head, he stared at his reflection in one of the silver dishes and smiled; he looked no longer like a king but an ordinary man. Bowing his head, and careful not to look the guards in the eye, Dadase quietly left the palace and stepped barefoot into the dusty streets of the world beyond.

He headed to the market, which he had long yearned to visit. Within a labyrinth of alleyways, its traders hawked their treasures. Dadase breathed in the sweet scents of this wondrous place. Laid out before him were pyramids of pineapples and baskets of cashews, yams, and corn. An old man roasted chicken on a spit as a queue of customers licked their lips in anticipation of their first bite.

Of course, Dadase was no stranger to the rich and varied flavors of his kingdom. Every evening he dined on the very finest cuts of meat and the freshest vegetables and spices that the cook had gathered for his meal. But he had never set foot in the market himself. As Dadase turned a corner and saw a girl in the market, he immediately fell in love with her.

Many great rulers had brought their daughters to the kingdom in the hope that Dadase would take one of them as his wife. He had met some of the most beautiful women in the world, dressed in the most splendid clothes, their hands and necks heavy with the weight of jewels. And yet the girl in the market, who had no rings on her fingers and not a single thread of silk in her headscarf, had qualities no other possessed: a sparkle in her eyes, a smile that illuminated the shady corner in which she sat, and a laugh that made him laugh ­too . . . for the first time in forever.

The girl, the same age as Dadase, sat upon a step, her legs crossed in front of her as she called to passersby to sample her grandmother’s delicious peanut sauce. After just a spoonful, her customers eagerly bought jars to take home with them.

Dadase approached the girl and placed some gold coins at her feet, offering to buy every single jar she had brought to market. The girl beamed, delighted by such a display of generosity. As she carefully placed the jars in a cotton sack and handed them to him, Dadase became overwhelmed with emotion and could not help but declare his love.

“I am your king, but today I stand before you as an ordinary man,” said Dadase, taking the girl’s hands in his. “And, upon finding you, I do not wish to let you go. Do me the honor of becoming my bride, and return with me to the palace so I might look upon your face every day.”

The crowd gasped. No one could have imagined that their king would walk amongst them. And no one could have foreseen that of all the girls in the market, he might fall in love with this one in particular. The other traders, who had seen the girl come to market with her grandmother for many years, knew her history. They could remember the day she was born, and how her father had excitedly told everyone that his family had welcomed a son. They knew the name she was first given, though few were so disrespectful as to call her by it now.

Dausi was shocked by the young king’s proposal too. Dadase was extremely handsome, even dressed in a simple robe, and his honest declaration of love had moved her deeply. Staring into his longing eyes, she had not the heart to reject his offer, nor the wish ­to—?­for she knew that she loved him too.

However, Dausi wanted to be sure that the king would love her despite her past, and so she asked him to sit with her, and told him her story. As her tale drew to a close, she looked away, scared to meet his gaze in case he should reject her.

But Dadase simply repeated his question.

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” said Dausi, beaming.

And, with that, Dadase and the poor girl from the market walked back to the palace. Dausi looked down at her hand, which the king held so tightly, and felt a great wave of happiness flood her body, from her fingertips to the depths of her heart.

During her first few weeks in the palace, every day seemed like a dream. So smitten was Dadase that he showered Dausi with gifts and affection. The king insisted his tailors be at Dausi’s disposal whenever she wished, and each day she rose excited to discover a beautiful new dress folded neatly on her bed to wear. There were women who braided her hair, and in their company, as they shared their stories, Dausi felt a sense of sisterhood unlike any she’d known before.

However, when Dausi had agreed to marry the king, she had not fully considered how the act would change her life. For not only would she become his bride but she’d become the kingdom’s queen. Although the thought of such a thing filled her with pride, she also worried that there might be some who would not accept her taking this title.

Dausi’s concerns were sadly founded in truth. Some in the palace had noticed that Dausi was distracting Dadase from his duties as king. One of them was Aluba, an ambitious woman who had long yearned to be Dadase’s bride herself. Her mother had served as an advisor to Dadase’s father, and her grandmother to his grandfather. She had noticed that Dadase had paid less attention to her advice since Dausi had arrived at the palace, and she was very jealous.

One of the things Aluba loved most was gossip, and she liked nothing more than to help a rumor take flight. So when she learned that some in the palace were whispering secrets about Dausi and her past, Aluba saw an opportunity to regain her influence over the king.

“Get out of my way!” she yelled at a young maid, pushing past her in her haste to reach the king’s chambers. Aluba couldn’t wait to tell the king and his courtiers about Dausi’s secret past. She believed that Dadase’s favor would fall once more upon her, and she would be rewarded handsomely for helping to expel a traitor from his inner circle.

Aluba found the king sat upon his throne reading, and hurried to his side.

“Dausi is a man!” she exclaimed.

But Dadase looked upon her with disdain, annoyed that Aluba had interrupted his peace.

“Aluba, you have been in my life for longer than I can remember,” said the king, “but you cannot remain by my side if you say such venomous things.”

“But I speak the truth!” said Aluba, desperate to have the king believe her.

“The only truth is that Dausi is a woman,” said the king. “We have no secrets between us, and she has told me...

„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Verlag
Penguin Workshop
Erscheinungsdatum
2025
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
059388972X
ISBN 13 
9780593889725
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
250
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

Weitere beliebte Ausgaben desselben Titels

9780241545423: Tales From Beyond the Rainbow: Ten LGBTQ+ fairy tales proudly reclaimed

Vorgestellte Ausgabe

ISBN 10:  0241545420 ISBN 13:  9780241545423
Verlag: Puffin Classics, 2023
Hardcover