She was so filled with the light of it, and with joy and with peace, that her heart broke.

and the executioner struck off her feet with the red shoes on them. T

And when she danced toward the open doors of the church, she saw it guarded by an angel with long white robes and wings that reached from his shoulders down to the ground.

. Dance she did, and dance she must, straight into the dark woods

She told Karen it was naughty to wear red shoes to church.

[Everyday Magic]

Along the fairy way of contemporary fiction, Dahl was a bigger fan of exaggeration than Carver – altering the scale in his reality so tiny flaws became quite grotesque

For example, in "Shame" Tolstoy "defamiliarizes" the idea of flogging in this way: "to strip people who have broken the law, to hurl them to the floor, and "to rap on their bottoms with switches," and, after a few lines, "to lash about on the naked buttocks." Then he remarks:Just why precisely this stupid, savage means of causing pain and not any other -why not prick the shoulders or any part of the body with needles, squeeze the hands or the feet in a vise, or anything like that? I apologize for this harsh example, but it is typical of Tolstoy's way of pricking the conscience. The familiar act of flogging is made unfamiliar both by the description and by the proposal to change its form without changing its nature

Let’s say there are (at least) two kinds of flatness: One is a flatness of never was, where a character is never given psychological depth, not even off the page, in my own understanding of the character; and the other is a flatness of erasure, where there often was a psychological underpinning to the character at some point of the writing process, but then it was either completely or partially erased during revision

Bluebeard had no heirs, and so his wife became mistress of all his estate. She made use of one part of it to marry her sister Anne to a young gentleman who had loved her a long while; another part to buy captains' commissions for her brothers, and the rest to marry herself to a very worthy gentleman, who made her forget the ill time she had passed with Bluebeard.

"You do not know!" replied Bluebeard. "I very well know. You went into the closet, did you not? Very well, madam; you shall go back, and take your place among the ladies you saw there."

The blood still remained, for the key was magical and she could never make it quite clean; when the blood was gone off from one side, it came again on the other.

(These were all the wives whom Bluebeard had married and murdered, one after another.)

After some moments she began to perceive that the floor was all covered over with clotted blood, on which lay the bodies of several dead women, ranged against the walls.

go into each and every one of them, except that little closet, which I forbid you, and forbid it in such a manner that, if you happen to open it, you may expect my just anger and resentment."

everything succeeded so well that the youngest daughter began to think that the man's beard was not so very blue after all, and that he was a mighty civil gentleman.

t he already had been married to several wives, and nobody knew what had become of them.

which made him so frightfully ugly that all the women and girls ran away from him.

The king could not but be very sorry, for she was his mother; but he soon comforted himself with his beautiful wife and his pretty children.

Upon which he began to weep, the great knife fell out of his hand, and he went into the back yard, and killed a little lamb, and dressed it with such good sauce that his mistress assured him that she had never eaten anything so good in her life. He had at the same time taken up little Morning, and carried her to his wife, to conceal her in the lodging he had at the bottom of the courtyard.

the lord almoner married them

he prince helped the princess to rise; she was entirely dressed, and very magnificently, but his royal highness took care not to tell her that she was dressed like his great-grandmother, and had a point band peeping over a high collar; she looked not a bit less charming and beautiful for all that.

The prince, charmed with these words, and much more with the manner in which they were spoken, knew not how to show his joy and gratitude; he assured her that he loved her better than he did himself; their discourse was not well connected, they did weep more than talk -- little eloquence, a great deal of love.

the finest sight was ever beheld -- a princess, who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years of age, and whose bright and, in a manner, resplendent beauty, had somewhat in it divine.

he young prince was all on fire at these words, believing, without weighing the matter, that he could put an end to this rare adventure; and, pushed on by love and honor, resolved that moment to look into it.

When a hundred years were gone and passed the son of the king then reigning,

e was so very beautiful;

Ha!" said the princess, "this is very pretty; how do you do it? Give it to me, that I may see if I can do so."

, at the expiration of which a king's son shall come and awake her."

beautiful

Find good luck even in their sleep.

He married Talia to wife; and she enjoyed a long life with her husband and her children, thus experiencing the truth of the proverb:

saying that it was not her fault, because the king her husband had taken possession of her territory when she was drowned in sleep;

So you are the lump of filth, the cruel bitch, that has caused my head to spin? Change your ways, for you are welcome in purgatory, where I will compensate you for all the damage you have done to me."

felt pity and compassion for them, and he carried them home to his wife, and had her hide them. In their place he prepared two lambs into a hundred different dishes.

d, "I know perfectly well that I am eating of my own, because you have brought nothing into this house

Then the queen, with a heart of Medea, told the cook to kill them, and to make them into several tasteful dishes for her wretched husband. But the cook was tender hearted and, seeing these two beautiful golden apples, felt pity and compassion for them, and he carried them home to his wife, and had her hide them

Now the king's wife began to suspect that something was wrong from the delay of her husband while hunting

When she heard this, their friendship was knitted with tighter bonds

where he gathered the first fruits of love.

began to suck on Talia's fingers, and they sucked so much that the splinter of flax came out. Talia awoke as if from a long sleep, and seeing beside her two priceless gems, she held them to her breast, and gave them the nipple to suck, and the babies were dearer to her than her own life.

Now after nine months Talia delivered two beautiful children, one a boy and the other a girl.

Talia, never having seen a distaff or a spindle, was pleased to see the twirling spindle, and she was so curious as to what thing it was,

There once lived a great lord, who was blessed with the birth of a daughter, whom he named Talia.

And thus Snow White became the prince's bride.

dumb bunny

Until that moment Snow Whitehad been no more importantthan a dust mouse under the bed.

But iron slippers had already been put upon the fire, and they were brought in with tongs, and set before her. Then she was forced to put on the red-hot shoes, and dance until she dropped down dead.

, "I love you more than everything in the world, come with me to my father's palace, you shall be my wife."

Then he said, "Let me have it as a gift, for I cannot live without seeing Snow White. I will honor and prize her as my dearest possession."

"Oh, queen, in this land thou art fairest of all." Then her envious heart had rest, so far as an envious heart can have rest.

"Snow White shall die," she cried, "even if it costs me my life."

oor little Snow White had no suspicion, and let the old woman do as she pleased, but hardly had she put the comb in her hair than the poison in it took effect, and the girl fell down senseless.