This story came to the brothers by way of Wilhelm Grimm's future wife, Dortchen Wild. It is believed that Charles Perrault's The Fairies was a source of inspiration, given that similar punishment/reward systems were used for the kind and unkind girls. Some variants have the queen asking the king that mercy be shown to her stepmother and stepsister, who are then banished instead of executed.
Category: #FairytaleTuesday
#FairytaleTuesday: Rapunzel
[CW: child abuse, attempted suicide] One of the most well known fairytales in the world, this one was published by the Grimm brothers in 1812 but it first appeared several centuries earlier. Giambattista Basile’s Petrosinella is the oldest written version, dating back to 1634. Mademoiselle de la Force published Persinette in 1698 and Johann Gustav Büsching published Das Mährchen von der Padde in 1812, shortly before the Grimm's published their version.
#FairytaleTuesday: Little Brother and Little Sister
[CW: child abuse, violence against women] This is a relatively old tale which was first seen in print in Giambattista Basile's Pentamarone in the mid-17th century. It can be seen in various forms all over Europe and was told to the Grimm brothers by Marie Hassenpflug. A shortened version was included in the first edition of their tales but the story was later expanded for subsequent editions. This one contains obvious similarities to tale type 451: The Nurse Looking for Her Brothers, which we touched on in #FairytaleTuesday: The Twelve Brothers.
Fairytales or Folklore?
It feels like I'm always online and especially always on Twitter. Having said that, I do miss things occasionally. When I re-started with the Grimm fairytale sharing, I automatically went with #FolkloreThursday to post them on Twitter. I didn't realize that, in my long absence, #FairytaleTuesday had been started some years ago. So, I'm going … Continue reading Fairytales or Folklore?
#FairytaleTuesday: Riffraff
[CW: animal on animal violence] This tale has also been known as The Adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet: How They Went to the Mountains to Eat Nuts", "The Pack of Ragamuffins", "The Vulgar Crew", "A Pack of No-goods", and "The Pack of Scoundrels". It was told to the Grimms by August von Haxthausen sometime before 1812.
#FairytaleTuesday: The Twelve Brothers
[CW: threats of violence to children and women] This is one of my favorite story types and includes a number of variants, including The Six Swans, The Twelve Wild Ducks, Udea and her Seven Brothers, The Wild Swans, The Seven Ravens, and The Magic Swan Geese. This particular version was told to the Grimm brothers by Julia and Charlotte Ramus and included in the first edition of their tales.
#FairytaleTuesday: The Hand with the Knife
[CW: mutilation, child neglect] Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index type 576: The Magic Knife This is one of those lesser known tales that appeared in the Grimm’s first edition but was removed in later editions. I couldn't find this specific story in the ATU classification and there is no history available that I could find without doing some serious … Continue reading #FairytaleTuesday: The Hand with the Knife
#FairytaleTuesday: The Stolen Pennies
One day a father was sitting at the table with his wife and children and a good friend who was visiting him, and they were having their noonday meal. As they were sitting there, the clock struck twelve, and the visitor saw the door open, and a pale child dressed in snow-white clothes entered.
#FairytaleTuesday: The Nightingale and the Blindworm
Once upon a time there lived a nightingale and a blindworm, each with one eye. For a long time they lived together peacefully and harmoniously in a house. However, one day the nightingale was invited to a wedding, and she said to the blindworm, “I’ve been invited to a wedding and don’t particularly want to go with one eye. Would you be so kind as to lend me yours? I’ll bring it back to you tomorrow.”
#FairytaleTuesday: The Wolf and the Seven Kids
[CW: animal-on-animal violence] The wolf went away to a shopkeeper and bought a big piece of chalk, which he ate, and it made his voice soft. Then he returned to the house door of the seven kids and called out with a soft voice: “Dear children, let me in. I’m your mother, and I’ve brought something for each of you.”
Bluestocking Writes... 