This one is more of a rant on something I find interesting.
So I was watching Jon Solo's latest vid talking about Swan Lake, since I like to come up with ideas and look at both most well known and older versions of fairytales and put my own spin on them (I have a whole series of my version of fairytales in the works, but I'm doing them offline.)
Well, one of the stories is actually connected to Norse myth, is from the Poetic Edda. Called Völsunga, or The Saga of Volsung.
From what Solo talked about, it reminded me of another tale.
Now, I'll give what happens in Swan Lake so you can tell. Well, at least in some of the versions. But here's what happens that can be similar.
The prince goes out to blow off some steam after his mother keeps trying to force him into marriage. And while out, he stops himself from shooting a swan when he realizes it's a beautiful girl.
The girl is under a curse, along with her sisters. In day, they're swans. At night, they're humans. And only a public declaration of true love can break the curse.
When the prince vows himself to Odette, he accidentally vows to Odelle, who was disguised as Odette by her father. The real Odette sees this and faints and nearly (or, in some versions, does) dies from a broken heart.
The prince realizes what happened after the sorcerer who cursed the princess and disguised his daughter removes the disguise. When he goes to Odette, he finds her almost dead.
I forget the rest of it because poo brain. But some versions, true love saves her and they live, other versions they both die. But yada yada, that's not the main point of this chap.
In Volsung, it has parts where a lady is put to rest (sleep) in the center of a wall of fire, and whoever can get through will be her true love.
One man gets through, falls in love with her. Then later when he comes back, he accidentally vows to her identical sister.
(I only JUST watched the Jon Solo vid so my brain needs time to fully remember what I watched. But also from what I hear, there's a family tree in it that's like a Christmas reef-)
Well, it reminded me of another tale which can also connect to Swan Lake.
The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground.
In it, a king puts his daughter in the middle of a large obstacle course, and only a man who gets all the way through and finds her will be worthy of her hand.
A prince disguises himself as a sheep, goes through this whole thing where the king buys him, comes along when the king is talking about the obstacles, and learns.
The next day, he secretly comes out of his disguise and presents himself as a suitor. Or he went through the whole obstacle secretly. I can't recall.
Either way, he gets all the way through. He and the princess fall in love and it's implied they "get down".
But the princess tells him that there will be a test. Her father is a sorcerer and he will turn her and some servants into swans and the prince will have to guess which one is her. To help, she'll itch under her wing so that he can guess right.
See what I mean with the similarities?
Both in Volsung and Princess Underground, they're both trapped in a special area and will fall in love with whoever makes it through.
Both in Volsung and Swan Lake, they get replaced by someone and their true love accidentally declares their love to the wrong person.
In both Swan Lake and Princess Underground, they both deal with the princess and some other girls being turned into swans by a sorcerer, and some act of true love saves them.
It's interesting to see how fairytales can take inspiration from other tales. Some are based on fiction, some on religions, some on real history. It's honestly quite fascinating to look at. Doing historical dives on fairytales and looking at other fairytales for comparison is actually kind of fun to do. Like finding out that Snow White was based on a real girl, Little Red was supposed to warn about how not to always trust strangers and that there isn't always a happy ending with a hero, and some old stories may inspire newer loved ones (there's one that may have served as some inspiration to Coraline's Other Mother)