Fairy tales/myths with female protagonists

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I'm on the hunt for a fairy story or myth with a strong female protagonist. It needs to have good imagery. I like the morrigan but I can't find a story about her I like. Thinking about Tam Lin. I'm not home at the moment so it's some what restricting my ability to look.

Medea as well, but there are many versions

If you're interested in the Morrigan, she's involved in the story of the Táin Bó Cúailnge which has Queen Medb (Maeve) as a central character.

This is going to sound weird, and possibly because I am an older sister myself, I always thought that Wendy was the hero of Peter Pan...

Probably not helpful here though.

I think Hansel and Gretel, as mentioned above has Gretel as a brave, resourceful girl to aspire to, and lots of good imagery for younger ones - unfortunately it's also terrible regarding the whole wicked old woman can of worms.

Molly Whuppie is fab. It is a similar tale to Hansel and Gretel but it's very much the girl who saves the day and outwits the ogre. It's not a reworking it's a traditional. English tale gathered by Joseph Jacobs. Another great one is Mr Fox which is similar to Bluebeard but again it's the woman who saves herself rather than waiting around for a man to do it. I think it's also Joseph Jacobs, who gathered English folk tales in the same way the Grimms did in Germany.

"I found a strange one about a girl who refuses to marry and her father throws her into the sea to drown, when she tries to climb back her dad cuts her fingers off, her fingers become sealsand she becomes a sea godess. I quite like that although it's a little short."
Sedna, Inuit goddess of the sea (my knowledge courtesy of Big Finish productions and the rather good Peter Davison and Nyssa story "THE LAND OF THE DEAD".)

What about pirate Grace? We have a story about her in a kids book of traditional pirate stories - an Irish legend/ story based on someone who really existed I think. In the story we have she is refused refuge in a storm by a local lord/ chieftain type and kidsnaps his son to teach him to keep the old tradition of hospitality to those in need - nobody is harmed, and he is eventually contrite, definitely a kids story, Grace definitely comes out best (and is a pirate chieftain in her own right to begin with) but there may be a darker more grown up version!

Just googled her - actually she's probably too historical to qualify as a myth
www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/grace-o-malley-16th-century-pirate-queen-ireland-001773

My parents were really into Grace O'Malley when I was little. We had an album of songs based on her life and the myths around it. Thanks to this thread I looked it up and found it on Spotify, so I am indulging in nostalgia this afternoon.

The Wild Swans.

Ali Baba and the forty thieves- Morgiana is bad ass!

There's a theory that fairy tales are a means of social control - they teach children about gender roles and how to behave. If that's true then there are no (traditional) feminist fairytales.

There's lots of feminist analysis if fairytales around. Obviously Angela Carter deconstructed and reimagined some common fairytale archetypes; I think it's Marina Warner (?) who does a lot of analysis too. It's an interesting topic.

If you are up for modern fairy tales you could try Sara Matiland's A Book of Spells. A tale told from the perspective of the witch in Hansel and Gretel. Or Cinderella's stepmother www4.ncsu.edu/~leila/documents/maitland.pdf

Is this any use? www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses?source=Myth

Every single fairy story i tell has strong females, even when reading a book, what i say doesn't always match the writing.

Just do Jack and the giant beanstalk but change Jack to Jacqueline and the giant stalk to a spooky cave.

Why a cave?

The house of cats

The beanstalk is a phallic symbol

A beanstalk in a fairy tale is a phallic symbol? You know this for sure?

fairy tales and all classic art for that matter are full of innuendo! why do you think the witch wanted hansel and gretel to climb in her 'oven'? Why did the prince go round asking women to fit their 'foot' in his glass 'slipper'? Do you really think the pied piper terrorised all those kids with his 'magical pipe'?

I think you need to do more research.

The myth of Psyche is a good one.
Mumside how do the magic beans become a 'spooky cave'? Bruno Bettelheim notwithstanding, folk tales aren't all to be interpreted as reductively as that.

Possibly I have too much of an analytical mind being an art teacher. I see phalluses everywhere!

The Czech legend of Šárka is a good one.