The Gifts of the Magician & The Great Historical Oxtail Mystery

In which I explain how the wonderful story of Gifts of the Magician is connected to Oxtail via an extremely tenuous link and actually quite an interesting history.

Story - The Gifts of The Magician adapted from Andrew Lang’s Crimson Fairy Book

Recipe - Braised Oxtail with Orange & Star Aniseadapted from Diana Henry’s Recipe

This story is Finnish in origin from the Finnische Marhchen, it shares similarities with the The Magician’s Horse, Iron John and the Hairy Man.  The dispossession of a weak king occurs in various other stories, most notably The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa from Russia, The Grateful Beasts from Hungary and a Breton fairy tale called King Fortunatus’ Golden Wig.  A weak king often results in a a strong clever queen and I must admit to twisting this story slightly in this direction.

The Great Historical Oxtail Mystery, associated research material and further reading can be found on my blog Hestia's Kitchen where I indulge myself in food history.