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Paper short abstract

Drawing on embodied cognition and materialist methodologies, this paper examines the descriptive language used in T. Kingfisher's Thornhedge (2023). Well-known metaphors attest to the importance of the environment in shaping human thought and experience, and the power of story to enact change.

Paper long abstract

T. Kingfisher’s Thornhedge (2023) adapts the tale of “Sleeping Beauty,” but its protagonist is the fairy who casts the sleeping spell on the princess. Yet Toadling, a hybrid human-toad shapeshifting creature, is trying to mitigate harm, rather than to enact a curse. She channels vast amounts of water into her spell, but this action has long-lasting environmental effects on the surrounding land, which in turn affects the trajectory of human life in the region.

Drawing on embodied cognition and historical materialist methodologies, this paper will examine how the metaphorical language used in Thornhedge’s narration attempts to convey Toadling’s perception of the world around her. Environmental touchstones underscore her understanding of humanity, and these well-known metaphors attest to the importance of the natural environment in shaping human thought and experience. Building on earlier scholarship, this paper will also explore connotations of toads and frogs in folklore. Unlike in many other shape-shifting fairy tales, Toadling is explicitly not cursed, though a human character perceives her as cursed.

Importantly, with the acceleration of climate change, weaving together the folkloric mode with environmental metaphor seems urgent. As Toadling herself understands, stories – especially those with calls to action –cannot easily be fought, and the character’s duality attests to the inseparability of the human and the natural. Toadling serves as a model for an exploration of the human (as) animal, and how the language in which we tell our stories and describe our experiences shapes how we understand our place in the natural world.