Korb has a master's degree in English literature and creative writing and has written for a wide variety of educational publishers. In the following essay, she discusses how the various elements of "The Feathered Ogre" are representative of the archetypal hero's journey.

In his introduction to his collection Italian Folktales, Calvino describes the typical folktale:

[T]hey offer, in their oft-repeated and constantly varying examinations of human vicissitudes, a general explanation of life preserved in the slow ripening of rustic consciences; these folk stories are the catalog of the potential destinies of men and women, especially for that stage in life when destiny is formed, i.e., youth, beginning with birth, which itself often foreshadows the future; then the departure from home, and finally, through the trials of growing up, the attainment of maturity and the proof of one's humanity.

The trajectory of "The Feathered Ogre" closely...