“The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It is based on the older, more radical version of “La Ratita Presumida” [sometimes known in English as The Vain Little Mouse] –a folktale still told to this day that became popular in Spain and Latin America only after it had been transformed into a moralizing fable about knowing your proper societal place as a woman. … Folklorist Ana Cristina Herreros uncovered a different, older version of the tale in the collection of 19th-century Mallorcan folktales of Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. In this telling, the mouse-protagonist isn’t conceited or foolish at all: she works hard to make herself a home, and she is eaten by the cat because such is the nature of these two animals, not out of punishment for her vanity or pride. … For Herreros, there is no need to look any further than the archduke’s collection for a feminist take on the folktale: “This has been my job, to look for old and true versions, which speak a symbolic–and therefore, universal–language, and to create my own versions, which is how I contribute as an author.” The story Herreros found in the archduke’s collection, and the retelling she presents in this picture book belong to a long line of stories told to teach girls how to identify and protect themselves from predators.”–
Worlds of Words
International Collection of Children’s and Adolescent Literature
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