You might have noticed by now that I enjoy slightly non-standard fairy-tales, or at least versions of them that are enriched by new environments and cultures. Another classic Southern version of a fairy tale that I would dearly love to tell is a version of Red Riding Hood called Flossie and the Fox, put into beautiful picture book form by Patricia McKissack and illustrated by Rachel Isadora. If you've never read it, I encourage you do check it out; it's a perfect blend of cheeky humor and serious storytelling chops.
According to the book itself, this version was told to Ms McKissack when she was a child, by her own storytelling grandfather. More in-depth research is going to be needed to discover whether that story was his alone, or (as I suspect) a "local" version that reflected the lives and circumstances of the people living in that time and place. I'm really hoping that it turns out to be the latter, so that I can help spread the story along myself in the future.
Much like Red Riding Hood in the classic story, Flossie is a young girl who is tasked with traveling though the woods alone with a basket. The circumstances and the heroine of this story are quite different, and that's why I like it so much. In Red Riding Hood, Red is an innocent, and she's totally taken in by the wolf, and too stupid (or innocent) to notice the dramatic and pointed differences in dear old granny. This of course culminates in the ending where both Red and granny have to be saved by a third party introduced for that sole purpose. None of that passive innocence here - Flossie is a force to be reckoned with.
Like Red, she is carrying a basket, but in Flossie's case, taking eggs to a neighbor whose hens have been scared off of laying by a roaming fox. Now, Flossie holds that she's never seen a fox before, but she's perfectly willing to do the neighborly thing and make sure those eggs get to the neighbor.
Once in the woods, our fox approaches, but unlike dear sweet innocent Red Riding Hood, Flossie has this encounter (and the several which follow) totally under control. Her sweet innocent game completely sideswipes the poncy fox, who is distraught that this slip of a girl won't believe he is even a fox, let alone that she should be afraid of him! He brings in various other animals to help plead his case, but the girl stubbornly refuses to see reason - that is, until the neighbor's house (and the resident hunting dogs) comes into sight, and the dogs recognize the fox perfectly well. Isadora's final illustration of Flossie's bright grin is a perfect ending to the picture book, making sure readers are in on the joke.
I hope that I can find some alternate versions of this story, because between the plucky clever heroine and the gorgeous Southern idioms, I really want to tell this story over and over and over again.
Flossie and the Fox
Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Rachel Isadora
ISBN: 0803702507
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