Descriptions of Ladies
There’s a certain way of describing a woman’s beauty that is undeniably “fairy tale.” Often, certain body parts of facial features are compared to something else. White as snow, red as a rose, etc., etc.
The Rose-Tree (English) - “The girl was as white as milk, and her lips were like cherries. Her hair was like golden silk, and it hung to the ground.
Binnorie (English) - “...with her cherry cheeks and golden hair...”
Guleesh (Celtic) - “The rose and lily were fighting in her face, and one could not tell which of them got the victory. Her arms and hands were like the lime, her mouth as red as a strawberry when it is ripe, her foot was as small and as light as another one‘s hand, her form was smooth and slender, and her hair was falling down from her head in buckles of gold.“
The Story of Deirdre (Celtic) - “Deidre grew like the white sapling, straight and trim as the rash on the moss.”
The Wooing of Olwen (Celtic) - “More golden was her hair than the flower of the broom, and her skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer were her hands and her fingers than the blossoms of the wood anemone amidst the spray of the meadow fountain. Brighter were her glances than those of a falcon; her bosom was more snowy than the breast of the white swan, her cheek redder than the reddest roses.“
Snowmaiden (Russian) - “Her skin was whiter than the driven snow,her fair hair gleamed with a touch of ash or silver birch, her eyes were bluer than the frosty sapphire sky.”
The Rosy Apple and the Golden Bowl (Russian) - “She was as lovely as the flowers in spring, her eyes were as radiant as the rays of the sun, her face was as fair as the sky at dawn, and the tears rolling down her cheeks were like the purest pearls.”
The Little Mermaid (Danish) - “Her skin was as clear and as soft as a rose petal, her eyes as blue as the deepest sea.”
The Princess Mayblossom (French) - “The Princess had been named Mayblossom, because she was as fresh and blooming as Spring itself, and she grew up tall and beautiful, and everything she did and said was charming.”
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