fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3267 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3267 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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I've been reading a lot of fairy tales lately and now I've got some speculative questions.

In stories where someone promises their first-born to whatever creature they're dealing with:

1. What happens if they're sterile?
2. What's keeping them from remaining celibate? Would the creature use underhanded means to attain the baby?
3. Would adopted children not count, since they specifically mention the first born child?
4. If the person dies before they have children, would the promise still need to be fulfilled in an alternate way? Like, take their sibling's child instead?
5. What does the creature want the child for?

I'm curious but all the stories I've read the creature is defeated or there is some loophole and the child isn't given away. Any recommendations for stories that address these questions?

Also, feel free to use as a general question thread.

Fairy tales tend to be from a point in time where people weren't choosing to be childfree, so it wasn't a matter of if you had a child, but when. If they were sterile, the odds were in their favor... but it wouldn't make for a very exciting fairy tale.

As to #4, I think that was the running theme of the Paranormal Activity movies?

But wouldn't some people choose not to have a child if they had to give it up immediately? It seems like a difficult thing to do.

I've only seen the first Paranormal Activity. I don't think it was brought up in that one.

the very point of these fairytales is "fate will fuck you over if you deal with evil." you plan on not having children? you definitely will in some way, be it that one drunk night with a tavern wench or a chaste kiss with a magical fairy princess who gets pregnant from being looked at. Or your child might be born from a flower or a stem of bamboo.

Most those stories tend to stem from a time when most people had kids, I think.

I'm guessing that WOULD indeed be the way to break the deal, but at the sacrifice of having a progeny.

I'm not sure, but I think n some variations of Rumplestilskin he wanted the child to raise. Which is...odd.

I sort of assumed most of them wanted to eat the child or use it for some dark ritual.

Wouldn't the creature be angry though? Like, they're usually giving the protagonist something like abilities or saving their life.

That is odd. Though at least he is willing to make a trade instead of just stealing a kid, so good for him.

Dark rituals seem to make the most sense. Though, I don't see why they don't just steal a baby. I know some mythical creatures have odd rules they have to follow. Are there any that are forbidden from stealing from humans?

I'd assume if they were sterile, celibate, or died before they had children, the deal would be void. The creature would lose out on his investment.

I also think whether adopted children would count would depend on whatever fine print or monkey's paw situation that the creature added. Better get a lawyer!

What the creature wants the kid for could depend on the creature. As an heir, for food, as a slave, for their delicious baby souls, to turn into a monster, etc.

I don't have any stories that address this other than various folklore about creatures that steal babies.

That's what I assumed. I also assume that the creature would be pissed and probably do something about it.

If they are accepted, I feel like that would lead to shady people taking random orphans and pawning them to demons.

I'd love to see a story about what happens after the trade. I'm sure that there are some but I can't think of any.

Yeah, that's all I could find. And those don't really get into what happens later.

WP:

A character promises some demon their first child but ends up never having children.

20 years later, the demon checks his unpaid debts and finds the character's still unpaid.

He shows up at their apartment to collect their cat, pointing to evidence where the character has referred to the cat as their precious baby on Facebook.

A supernatural legal battle ensues.

I never knew I needed this in my life, but I do.

I would love to see that.

I would love to read a story like that.

#1 was actually addressed in the TV show Reaper, in which the main character's parents sold their firstborn to the devil. They figured it was a safe deal, since the husband was infertile. Except that reversing someone's infertility without telling them is well within the scope of the devil's power, so...

I've had a Tumblr for awhile now, and I've never really done anything with it. I thought of something recently that I want to make a post about, but I can't think of anything else. Is it weird if it just has one post for awhile until I think of something else?

Not really? I don't think so. My Tumblr has no posts at all, and I probably won't post any anytime soon, if ever, so you'd be one step ahead of me. (I really only have a Tumblr to make it easier to follow Tumblr's I like.)

The story doesn't specifically address any of your questions, but Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter by Diane Stanley is a children's retelling of the fairytale where the miller's daughter is horrified at the King's "spin gold and marry me or don't and die" proposal and tells Rumpelstiltskin "I'd rather marry you than that jerk."

I'll have to read that one!

Has anyone come across a story similar to the following:
A man promises his firstborn to a magical being and then he goes and impregnates a woman after a one night stand. He doesn't tell the woman about the deal before leaving her. The woman is shocked when the being comes to collect the baby, but she wants to keep the child.

Or

A man promises his firstborn to one magical being and a woman promises her firstborn to another. The man and woman marry and she gets pregnant. Both beings come for the newborn and end up raising the baby together.

I haven't read stories like either of those. The second sounds great; wish it existed!

[ SECRET POST #3267 ]

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