Of Slippers and Spindles - Fairy Tale Retellings and Adaptations in Books, Film, and Theatre

Drew RothhaarFebruary 16, 1990 - February 21, 2023"To die will be an awfully big adventure."Thank you all so much for being part of our lives the past two years.

Sadly, we are here to wrap up our final thoughts on Of Slippers and Spindles. Drew and Cassie return for one last episode to explain the sudden hiatus that began in December and has now led to the decision to end the show. In true Of Slippers and Spindles style, we each give three final book recommendations: three retelling novels we wanted to cover on the podcast and are disappointed we didn't get to. But before we go, we celebrate one major goal that we were able to accomplish! Thank you al...

Drew and Cassie begin our journey into The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen with a look at the 1977 anime film from Toei Animation. The anime is a pretty straightforward retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's tale, although it takes several cues from Six Swans by the Brothers Grimm as well. We discuss our experiences with anime, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the incredible sound effects, Eliza's tear friends, swans bartering for goods, and more! Join our community! View all of the benefits...

It's time to tie up one fairy tale and fly into the next one! Drew and Cassie begin by giving their final thoughts on the tale of Rumpelstiltskin, including our ideas on how we would interpret the story ourselves. Then we begin our discussion of The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen, which starts with the story of Six Swans by the Brothers Grimm. We talk through each of these stories and note their differences, and then we finish by revealing the four retellings we will be looking at thro...

For our final week of Rumpelstiltskin Month, Drew and Cassie are delighted to be joined by Bethanie from Prince Kai Fan Pod to discuss Gilded and Cursed, the recently-completed YA duology by Marissa Meyer. This duology centers around Serilda, the daughter of a miller who was blessed by the god of fate and fortune and who is known for the fantastical stories she tells. When she comes face-to-face with the dangerous Erlking, her ability to tell stories gets her in trouble when she claims to spi...

Drew and Cassie are thrilled to be joined by Kimmy and Ryan from the Aloreing podcast for our third week of Rumpelstiltskin Month! We return once again to Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre to discuss the second episode of the series, Rumpelstiltskin, starring Shelley Duvall herself as the Miller's Daughter. This episode of the show is a relatively straight forward adaptation of the Brothers Grimm story, and though it gets goofy, it doesn't go off the rails nearly as much as some of the oth...

It's week 2 of Rumpelstiltskin Month, and Drew and Cassie are back to dive into Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen. This is the story of two spinners. The first, a man who renames nameless throughout the book, hones his craft at a stolen wheel, crippling his leg, turning a room full of straw into a golden dress for his beloved - and losing her in the process. The second is Saskia, the daughter of a miller, a young girl who teaches herself to craft beautiful, unique yarns. And then ...

For our first week of Rumpelstiltskin Month, Drew and Cassie are discussing A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce. This 2008 YA novel follows Charlotte Miller, a young woman who inherits her father's mill upon his death. Although there are rumors that the mill is cursed, Charlotte has never believed them - but it's hard to deny the bad luck that piles up as workers depart, impossible debts are revealed, and an domineering uncle enters the scene. But then a strange man named Jack Spinner ...

It's our 100th episode! Drew and Cassie celebrate by answering questions sent in by our amazing listeners, patrons, and supporters. We tell the origin story of the podcast and then we dive into the amazingly thoughtful questions you all sent in. We discuss our favorite episodes of the podcast, fairy tales we'll cover in the future, favorite tales from outside Europe, favorite books and TV shows, writing advice, Shakespeare, theatre, and so much more! Thank you all for your questions and thank...

It's time to climb down from the pile of mattresses and start spinning a new tale! Drew and Cassie begin this episode with our final thoughts on The Princess and the Pea, including our disappointment in the presence of the concept of the divine right to rule. As always, we discuss our ideas for how we would like to retold the story ourselves. Then we begin our journey into a new story for November, which is Rumpelstiltskin by the Brothers Grimm. We talk through the plot of the story and the m...