Ethel Johnston Phelps (1914–1984)

In her introduction, Phelps notes that most heroines "are far from heroic...they are good, obedient, meek, submissive to authority....It is not my intention to delve into the psychological or social meanings behind the various images of heroines in folk tales, but simply to note that the vast majority are not particularly satisfying to readers today."

As an alternative (an antidote?), Phelps has collected twenty-one folk tales and fairy tales in which women are heroic. Mostly they are at the center of the tale, but sometimes they provide crucial assistance to a male hero; they are always active, not passive. Many of the tales are European or Scandinavian, but there is also one each from Japan, Pakistan, and two from Africa, as well as Canadian Indian and American Indian tales.

Some of these were familiar to me, or variations on familiar stories, but one was completely new: "The Husband Who Stayed At Home," from Norway, about a man who criticized his wife for never doing anything right in the house. "You think you could do the work of the house better than I?" she asks. He says yes, and she replies that tomorrow, they will switch tasks; he agrees. Naturally, she is successful at his job, and he makes an utter hash of hers. The upshot? They each work in the field and in the house three days a week. (With folk tales like that, is it a surprise Norway is one of the most gender-equal countries in the world?) The source of this tale is Popular Tales from the Norse (1859), Asbjornsen and Moe, trans. Dasent.

From "Gawain and the Lady Ragnell":
"If I can bring him the true answer to the question, 'What is it that women most desire, above all else?' my life will be spared." (Arthur to Gawain)

"Wait! I have one more answer. What a woman desires above all else is the power of sovereignty - the right to exercise her own will." (Arthur to Gromer)… (plus d'informations)