Horse, Flower, Bird: Stories

By Kate Bernheimer and Rikki Ducornet

An imaginative, hauntingly poetic collection of contemporary fables that redefine the fairy tale for the modern woman. In Kate Bernheimer’s familiar and spare—yet wondrous—world, an exotic dancer builds her own cage, a wife tends a secret basement menagerie, a fishmonger’s daughter befriends a tulip bulb, and sisters explore cycles of love and violence by reenacting scenes from Star Wars. Enthralling, subtle, and poetic, this collection of eight tales takes readers back to the age-old pleasures of classic fairy tales and makes them new. Their haunting lessons are an evocative reminder that cracking open the door to the imagination is no mere child’s play, and that delight and tragedy lurk in every corner. “Each of these spare and elegant tales rings like a bell in your head. memorable, original, and not much like anything you’ve read.” —Karen Joy Fowler “These stories are the product of a vivid imagination and crafty manipulation by their skillful creator.” —Publishers Weekly “A strange and enchanting book, written in crisp, winning sentences; each story begs to be read aloud and savored.” —Aimee Bender “Horse, Flower, Bird rests uneasily between the intersection of fantasy and reality, dreaming and wakefulness, and the sacred and profane. Like a series of beautiful but troubling dreams, this book will linger long in the memory. Kate Bernheimer is reinventing the fairy tale.” —Peter Buck, R.E.M. “Quirky, twisted. . . . Quietly unhinged narratives by an author who reinvents the fairy tale.” —Kirkus Reviews “[Bernheimer’s] strangely moving stories, such as the eight collected in Horse, Flower, Bird, combine fantasy with deep wisdom; the illustrations by Rikki Ducornet are an added delight.” —Reader’s Digest “Imaginative. . . . Lean and lyrical writing. . . . Bernheimer’s passion for fairy tales is evident in every story she spins.” —Library Journal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Release date: Mar 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781566892827

Kate Bernheimer

Kate Bernheimer has been called “one of the living masters of the fairy tale” (Tin House). She is the author of a novel trilogy and the story collections Horse, Flower, Bird and How a Mother Weaned Her Girl from Fairy Tales, and the editor of four anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award winning and bestselling My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales and xo Orpheus: 50 New Myths. She is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she teaches fairy tales and creative writing.

Book preview

HORSE, FLOWER, BIRD

COPYRIGHT © 2010 by Kate Bernheimer

COVER AND BOOK DESIGN by Linda Koutsky

COVER AND INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS © Rikki Ducornet

AUTHOR PHOTO © Emily Wittman

Coffee House Press books are available to the trade through our primary distributor, Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, www.cbsd.com or [phone]. For personal orders, catalogs, or other information, write to: [e-mail].

Coffee House Press is a nonprofit literary publishing house. Support from private foundations, corporate giving programs, government programs, and generous individuals helps make the publication of our books possible. We gratefully acknowledge their support in detail in the back of this book.

To you and our many readers around the world,

we send our thanks for your continuing support.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CIP INFORMATION

Bernheimer, Kate.

Horse, flower, bird : stories / by Kate Bernheimer.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-56689-247-6 (alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-56689-282-7 (ebook)

1. Fairy tales—Adaptations. I. Title.

PS3602.E76H67 2010

813’.6—dc22

2010016257

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Stories from this collection have appeared, or are forthcoming, in the following publications. The author expresses her gratitude to the supportive editors of: 3rd Bed, 5_Trope, Born Magazine, A Galaxy Not So Far Away, Filter, The Portland Mercury, The Press Gang, Radical Society, Sou’Wester, Western Humanities Review, and Tin House.

A Cuckoo Tale

A Tulip’s Tale

A Doll’s Tale

A Petting Zoo Tale

A Cageling Tale

A Garibaldi Tale

A Star Wars Tale

Whitework

Shall we let them have a little music? asked Emily, and she wound up the musical box. It went tinkle, tinkle and Darner stirred in his dreams.

Mr. Plantaganet could not tell one of its tunes from the other. I have to have words, said Mr. Plantaganet. Words help me to know what it is. Like those carols, Tottie. Do you remember them? And he began to hum God Bless the Master of This House. Do you remember them, Tottie?

I remember everything, said Tottie, listening to the music.

Yes, I suppose you must, and for so long, said Mr. Plantaganet. Such a long time, Tottie.

Yes, said Tottie.

Things come and things pass, said little Mr. Plantaganet.

Everything, from trees to dolls, said Tottie.

Even for small things like us, even for dolls. Good things and bad things, but the good things have come back, haven’t they, Tottie? asked Mr. Plantaganet anxiously.

Of course they have, said Tottie in her kind wooden voice.

Good things and bad. They were very bad, said Mr. Plantaganet.

But they come and pass, so let us be happy now, said Tottie.

Without Birdie? asked Mr. Plantaganet, his voice trembling.

Birdie would be happy. She couldn’t help it, said Tottie.

And Birdie’s bright tinkling music went on in the doll’s house, and on her hat that still hung in the hall, and on her feather broom, and on her bird, and on her parasol, the colors and the patterns were still bright.

—RUMER GODDEN

The Doll’s House

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who liked to atone. She especially liked The Day of Atonement. Atoning, she felt at one.

On that glorious day every year, with the leaves in colors

Reviews for Horse, Flower, Bird

[nickelini · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A delightful little gem of a book. Difficult to describe, definitely not for every reader, but a real find for the reader who likes quirky books.