laurasimonsdaughter:

Genderqueer Folktales

About two years ago a kind anon asked me for folklore around transness and I only had one fairy tale to share. Since then I’ve done a lot of reading, and now I’ve gathered some proper gender nonconforming fairy tales to share with you all.

I specifically chose stories with happy endings and positive characters, but please keep in mind these are all translated products of their time. Usually I don’t shy away from retelling stories a bit, but in this case I think it’s worth leaving them untouched for history’s sake.

I’ll try putting some modern-day labels on these stories to make them easier to choose from:

The Unicorn, Spanish, collected in 1947. AFAB, bisexual protagonist who physically transitions to male through magic while he is already married to a fully supportive wife. [Cw: murder, attempt at being outed.]

The Counterfeit Marquise, French, literary fairy tale written in 1697 by Charles Perrault. AMAB protagonist (noble) is raised and identifies as a woman, she falls in love with a handsome nobleman who turns out to be in the same situation but AFAB, they marry happily and have a child. [Cw: gender dysphoria]

Florinda, Chilean, collected in 1962. AFAB protagonist who physically transitions to male through divine intervention while he is already married to a fully supportive wife. [Cw: attempt at incest, attempt at being outed.]

The Abbot of Druimenaig, Irish, collected or written 1484-87. A young abbot finds himself transformed into a woman, lives as a wife and mother for seven years, is then transformed back and goes back to his wife, but divides parental responsibility with his husband. [Cw: initial unhappiness at both transformations, mixed-feelings ending.]

Ileana Simziana, Romanian, collected 1870s. AFAB protagonist (royal) who physically transitions to male while completing impossible tasks because of a “curse” that suits him very well. [Cw: attempt at being outed]

The Girl Who Was a Boy, based on the previous tale, but “gently adapted into the 21st century” by Paul B. Sturtevant. (In other words: minus some “product of its time” issues.)

The Princess and the Dív who exchanged sexes, Persian, collected in the 12th century. AFAB protagonist (royal) who was raised as a man strikes a deal with an AMAB spirit to briefly exchange sexes so that he can marry his betrothed, the exchange is made permanent because they are both happier for it. [Cw: threat of parental abuse.]

If you are interested in this topic, I heartily recommend the thesis “She was really the man she pretended to be”: Change of Sex in Folk Narratives by Psyche Z. Ready (2016).