The Skriker Actor Packet

GLOSSARY of TERMS & REFERENCES
adders !1" # a reference to a group of venomous snakes
Tom Tit Tot !1" ! the name of the English fairy tale version of the German Grimm
Brothers’ Rumpelstiltski!. In the English version, the girl sends Tom Tit Tot away with the
words “Nimmy Nimmy Not! Your name is Tom Tit Tot” "Jacobs 18#. Tom Tit Tot then
disappears with a deafening “shriek.”
vicar !2" # the priest of a parish in the Church of England who receives a stipend
or salary but does not receive the tithes of a parish
bluebell !3" # a blue wildflower that grows along the British countryside. “In
English folklore was said to call the fairies to their meetings. People also would
not walk through a field of bluebells because they believed it to be enchanted
and that the fairies would spirit them away $ never to be seen by human eye
again. And take heed a warning: Should any one be so unlucky as to actually hear
the bluebells ringing then they will die within a year” "Lloyd#.
“Eating a plum in the enchanted orchard...was my undoing !3" # reference to a line in
the British folk tale The Fairy Dwe"ing on Selena Moor. The story tells of a man who gets lost,
yet finds his love "who he thought was dead# held captive in an enchanted orchard by fairies.
Tired and exhausted, the man is tempted to eat some of the food, but the girl warns him
that eating a golden plum is what shrunk and trapped her in the orchard. The man tries to
rescue both himself and the girl by throwing his hedging gloves at the tiny faeries. This,
however, causes the faeries and his love to disappear forever, leaving the man depressed and
detached from the world for the rest of his life "Briggs 184#.
“blue beard’s one bloody chamber maid” !3" # refers to the French and German fairy
tale of Bluebeard, a wealthy man who was newly married to his third or fourth wife. Having
to go away on business for several days, he leaves his new wife with keys to all the grandiose
rooms in his estate. He tells her she can go into all the chambers except for the closet at the
end of the hall, and if she disobeys him she will earn his anger and resentment. The wife’s
curiosity gets the best of her, however, and when she eventually gives into her temptation
and opens the closet door, she sees the bloody corpses of all Bluebeard’s former wives
hanging from the walls. Frightened, she drops the keys onto the ground which become
incurably stained with blood. Bluebeard sees the stain upon his return and goes to cut o%
his wife’s head with his sword. Just as he is about to strike, the woman’s brothers reach the
estate and kill Bluebeard.
“Don’t get this ointment...in your eyes” !3" # This line begins the reference to the
British folk tale The Fairy’s Midwif# "also known as Fairy Ointmen$ or The Fairy’s Nurs##
where a mortal midwife is called to deliver a baby in the middle of the night. After the baby
is delivered, the mother asks the midwife to rub some ointment in the baby’s eyes, but not
to rub any in her own eyes. Curious, the midwife does rub some into her own eyes and
suddenly the house turns into an elegant abode and all the newborn child as well as the
parents appear more beautiful than before. The midwife leaves without telling the faeries
what she has done, but runs into the husband at the market later in the week. She sees him