This week, I read Crane's translation of a collection of fairy tales. I chose this one based on its description and those of the other fairy tale units. After last week, I wanted to read a collection of fairy tales to compare to the versions of the stories in the English Fairy Tales unit.
The Fisherman and His Wife: Oh, the lessons one could learn about being greedy. As I read through this story, I got more and more frustrated with the wife's demands and increasingly sorry for the husband. In the end, I hope the wife learned her lesson--to be content with what she has and not to constantly want more. In a way, this is a good moral for everyone as it could apply to daily life: we should be happy with the season of life that we are in and live in the present, and not continually be anxious about the future, or the "next step" in life.
Aschenputtel: The familiar story of Cinderella (German translation: Aschenputtel). I kept thinking throughout this story that Aschenputtel is both really quick-witted and quick on her feet. To be able to escape through the pigeon house, change out of her dress, and return to the house to sit by the fire in such a short time must have taken a lot of effort. Minor details, though...
I have loved this story since childhood because it puts its characters in their proper place. Aschenputtel, with her piety and goodness, deserves what she received in the end after enduring such harsh torment from her stepmother and stepsisters. The latter, although their punishments were extreme and gruesome, certainly got their dues as well.
The Robber Bridegroom: This story was comparable to the one of Mr. Fox in the English Fairy Tales unit (and indeed, as I look back at said story, the introduction states that Dan Ashliman has made a compilation of Robber Bridegroom variations). Who knows how many of the terrible crimes the gang had committed, but I was certainly glad when the young bride-to-be unmasked them.
The Six Swans: What I found interesting about this story was that it said nothing about the stepmother being evil until she finds the clew of yarn (although the king must have been relying his instincts when he first meets her, but this is not explicitly stated). Therefore, for the first part of the story, I was confused as to why the children had to be locked up.
The rest of the story was empowering. For the young sister to have the willpower to remain completely silent for six years is inspiring and a true testament to her love for her brothers. It is sad to see evil try to tarnish such a pure love, but it is encouraging to see that this evil is not rewarded.
King Thrushbeard: In this story, the moral that one should not judge based on appearance pervades strongly throughout. The maiden at first loses opportunities to marry a worthy king like Thrushbeard because she scorns his appearance (and that of other suitors). Then, when she marries the beggar and is sent to work in the marketplace selling pots, people buy her wares at first because she is beautiful, but she finds that she cannot depend on this for very long. In the end, she ultimately learns her lesson and it is fortunate that King Thrushbeard maintains his love for her long enough for her to humble herself.
The Three Spinsters: This was the first story in this unit that I hadn't heard before (or a variation of it). The entire time, I was expecting the maiden to go back on her word and not invite the spinsters to the wedding, or act ashamed of them, but I am glad that she did not do so. It is interesting, though, that this story seems to reward laziness--overall, the girl did hardly anything and successfully escaped spinning in the end.
Snow White: Ah, the classic fairy tale. I grew up with this story and I have heard countless different versions of it, so I was curious to see how this played out overall. Whereas in the original Disney movie, the evil stepmother only tries one time to kill her (with the poisoned apple), in this story, she attempts three times. Even though Snow White is only seven years old (which is, admittedly, a very young, naive age), I get frustrated at her for falling for the queen's tricks over and over again. However, the rest of the story was as it is usually told, and I am glad that Snow White ends up happy and the stepmother is brought to justice.
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