The Dragon and the Dry Goods Princess

Teya Rosenberg teaches children’s literature at the University of
Alberta.

In this generally enjoyable collection of 18 stories, David Arnason
reworks well-known fairy tales and uses fairy-tale patterns and
structures in contemporary settings. A number of the stories are
retellings of such classics as Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red
Riding Hood, and Snow White. Through shifts in the perspective of the
narration or through the emphasis on the psychological elements that are
subtextual in the older versions, Arnason presents the old tales in a
new light.

In addition to the known stories, the author creates his own tales of
prairie characters and situations, calling attention to the fairy-tale
or archetypal possibilities of everyday Canadian life—and often making
fun of those possibilities or that life. The title story plays with the
idea of a princess as a girl who takes material goods for granted and
asserts that “there were enough princesses in Winnipeg for a dozen
dragons.” Another story portrays a genie as a con artist, which
corresponds to the genies in traditional narratives, except that this
genie lives in a Coleman lantern. Other stories are not parodic, but
rather evolve the sense of morality found in many folktales, such as the
tale of the cowboy who succeeds economically and socially, and in doing
so, loses that which brought him success.

Some of these stories are funny, others are moving, and a couple are
tedious. In this respect, The Dragon and the Dry Goods Princess is
reminiscent of older collections of folktales: uneven but fun, and best
read slowly rather than right through at one setting. For those
interested in fairy-tale parody or reinvention, the collection goes
beyond the simple inversion found in many current fairy-tale rewritings
by providing a variety of approaches.