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In literature, an enchanted forest is a forest under, or containing, enchantments. Such forests are described in the oldest folklore from regions where forests are common, and occur throughout the centuries to modern works of fantasy. They represent places unknown to the characters, and situations of liminality and transformation. The forest can feature as a place of threatening danger, or one of refuge, or a chance at adventure. ==Folktales== The forest as a place of magic and danger is found among folklore wherever the natural state of wild land is forest: a forest is a location beyond which people normally travel, where strange things might occur, and strange people might live, the home of monsters, witches and fairies. Peasants who seldom if ever traveled far from their villages could not conclusively say that it was impossible that an ogre could live an hour away.〔C. S. Lewis, "On Science Fiction", ''Of Other Worlds'', p68 ISBN 0-15-667897-7〕 Hence, in fairy tales, Hansel and Gretel found a cannibalistic witch in the forest;〔Heidi Anne Heiner, ''(The Annotated Hansel and Gretel )''〕 Vasilissa the Beautiful encountered Baba Yaga herself;〔Heidi Anne Heiner,''(The Annotated Vasilissa the Beautiful )''〕 Molly Whuppie and her sisters ran into a giant.〔Joseph Jacobs, "(Molly Whuppie )", ''English Fairy Tales''〕 It was in a forest that the king of ''The Grateful Prince'' lost his way, and rashly promised his child for aid,〔W. F. Kirby, "(The Grateful Prince )", ''The Hero of Esthonia''〕 where the heroines, and their wicked stepsisters, of ''The Three Little Men in the Wood''〔Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, "(The Three Little Men in the Wood )" ''Household Tales''〕 and ''The Enchanted Wreath''〔Andrew Lang, "(The Enchanted Wreath )", ''The Yellow Fairy Book''〕 met magical tests, and where Brother and Sister found the streams that their evil stepmother had enchanted.〔Heidi Anne Heiner, ''(The Annotated Brother and Sister )''〕 In ''Beauty and the Beast'', Belle's father is lost in the forest when he finds the Beast's castle.〔Betsy Hearne, ''Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale'', p 28, ISBN 0-226-32239-4〕 The evil cat-spirits of ''Schippeitaro'' live in the forest.〔Andrew Lang, ''The Violet Fairy Book'', ("Schippeitaro" )〕 Indeed, in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'', the hero always goes into the forest. It is not itself enchanted, but it contains enchantments and, being outside normal human experience, acts as a place of transformation.〔Jack Zipes, ''The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World'', p 65-67, ISBN 0-312-29380-1〕 The German fairy tale has an unusual tendency to take place in the forest; even such neighboring countries as France or Italy are less like to have fairy tales situated in the forest.〔Paul Delarue, ''The Borzoi Book of French Folk-Tales'', p xvii, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York 1956〕 Even in folklore, forests can also be places of magical refuge.〔Maria Tatar, ''The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales'', p73, ISBN 0-691-06722-8〕 Snow White found refuge with dwarfs from her stepmother,〔Heidi Anne Heiner, ''(The Annotated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs )''〕 The Girl Without Hands found a hut to stay in when she had been slandered to her husband,〔Heid Anne Heiner, ''(The Annotated Girl Without Hands )''〕 and Genevieve of Brabant found not only a refuge from slander but a doe magically came to her aid.〔Max Lüthi, ''Once Upon A Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales'', p 76, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, 1970〕 Even Brother and Sister hid in the forest after their stepmother turned the brother into a deer. At other times, the marvels they meet are beneficial. In the forest, the hero of a fairy tale can meet and have mercy on talking animals that aid him.〔Jack Zipes, ''The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World'', p 115, ISBN 0-312-29380-1〕 The king in many variants of the ballad ''The Famous Flower of Serving-Men'' finds an enchanted hind that leads him astray uncanny, but it brings him to a talking bird that reveals to him a murder and that a servant of his is actually a woman, whom the king then marries.〔"(The Famous Flower of Serving-Men )"〕 It is in the forest that the dwarf of ''Rumpelstiltskin''〔Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, "(Rumpelstiltskin )", ''Grimm's Fairy Tales''〕 and the fairy of ''Whuppity Stoorie''〔 John Rhys, "(Whuppity Stoorie )", ''Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1901. Volume 2.〕 reveal their true names and therefore the heroines of those tales have a way to free themselves. In ''Schippeitaro'', the cats reveal their fear of the dog Schippeitaro when the hero of the tale spends the night in the forest.〔 The creatures of the forest need not be magical to have much the same effect; Robin Hood, living in the greenwood, has affinities to the enchanted forest.〔Holt, J. C. ''Robin Hood'' p 9 (1982) Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27541-6.〕 Even in fairy tales, robbers may serve the roles of magical beings; in an Italian variant of ''Snow White'', ''Bella Venezia'', the heroine takes refuge not with dwarfs but with robbers.〔Italo Calvino, ''Italian Folktales'' p 739 ISBN 0-15-645489-0〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Enchanted forest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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