Comments on: Open Sesame! http://blog.mythicwriters.org/2008/05/28/open-sesame/ Writing myth into reality Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:43:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Laura http://blog.mythicwriters.org/2008/05/28/open-sesame/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Laura Fri, 30 May 2008 18:20:54 +0000 http://blog.mythicwriters.org/?p=21#comment-27 I just read a Norwegian tale that was Cupid and Psyche! It reminded me of many similar elements that are also in Beauty and the Beast. The story you read is VERY like Ali Baba. It just doesn't have the second half with the clever servant girl and the thieves hiding in oil jars. A curious idea just came to me. Back in the Middle Ages, there were trade routes connecting Northern Europe with Byzantium...and the emperor's Varangian Guard was Nordic--one of them left runic graffiti in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Perhaps stories traveled with the trade. After all, there would be a lot of time. I just read a Norwegian tale that was Cupid and Psyche! It reminded me of many similar elements that are also in Beauty and the Beast.

The story you read is VERY like Ali Baba. It just doesn’t have the second half with the clever servant girl and the thieves hiding in oil jars.

A curious idea just came to me. Back in the Middle Ages, there were trade routes connecting Northern Europe with Byzantium…and the emperor’s Varangian Guard was Nordic–one of them left runic graffiti in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Perhaps stories traveled with the trade. After all, there would be a lot of time.

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