How Six Made Their Way in the World | |
---|---|
Folk tale | |
Name | How Six Made Their Way in the World |
Also known as | How Six Men got on in the World; How Six Travelled through the World |
Aarne–Thompson grouping | ATU 513A |
Country | Germany |
Published in | Grimms' Fairy Tales |
"How Six Made Their Way in the World" (German : Sechse kommen durch die ganze Welt, KHM 71) is a Grimms' fairy tale about an ex-soldier and his five companions with special abilities who through their feats obtain all of the king's wealth. It is classed as ATU type 513 A, or the "Six Go through the Whole World" type. [1]
The Grimms' main version is the one of many collected from storyteller Dorothea Viehmann, localized in Zwehren ; a version close to it known in Paderborn is also discussed in their notes. [2] [3]
"How Six Men got on in the World" (Hunt, 1884), "How Six Travelled through the World" (Wehnert, 1853) are among other English-translated title given for this tale. A lesser known translation was given as Fritz and his Friends. [4]
A soldier discharged from military duty receives only three coins for his service. [lower-alpha 1] He vows that the king will one day hand over all his treasures. While traveling, the soldier meets five others with extraordinary abilities, and recruits them to become his servants. They are: a strong man who pulled six trees from the ground with his bare hands, a keen-eyed hunter who was taking aim at a fly on a twig two miles away, [lower-alpha 2] a man whose breath could turn seven windmills, a fast runner who had to remove one leg to slow himself down, [lower-alpha 3] and a man who causes a terrible frost in the air unless he wears his hat crooked over one ear. [9]
The soldier and his servants go to town where the king has organized a footrace with his daughter: the reward for victory was her hand in marriage, and punishment for defeat was death. The contestant and the princess must carry a pitcher (de: Krug ) of the same kind, draw water from a certain well and return. The soldier is granted permission to have his servant substitute for him in the race, and the fast runner completely outdistances the daughter immediately. But after he fills his pitcher, he feels weary halfway on his return, and takes a nap using a horse's skull as pillow [lower-alpha 4] This does not prevent him from oversleeping, and the daughter catches up with him and upsets his pitcher. The keen-eyed hunter witnesses this, and shoots the skull from under his head. The runner wakes, refills his pitcher and finishes the race well ahead of the princess. [6]
The princess does not wish to marry a common ex-soldier, and the king decides not to honor the promise by plotting murder. He invites the six companions into an iron-floored room for a banquet, and orders a fire be stoked from underneath to roast them to death. But death is averted thanks to the ability of the frost-bringer, who straightens his hat. [12]
The king, baffled that the men survived, bribes the soldier into renouncing marriage to his daughter. The soldier asks for as much gold as his servant can carry, and the strong man carries all the king's wealth in a huge bag, and they leave. The king angrily sends soldiers on horseback after them, but the man with the powerful breath power blows all the soldiers away. One sergeant is spared alive and sent back to tell the king what happened. Upon hearing the events the monarch decides to leave the soldier and his servants alone to live rich and happy for the rest of their lives. [13]
The tale is classed as folktale type 513 A "Six Go through the Whole World" under the Aarne–Thompson classification system. [14] To this type also belongs "The Six Servants" (KHM 134). [14]
The story is very similar to other European folk tales and fairy tales about a man with very talented servants, such as "The Six Servants", "Long, Broad and Sharpsight", "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship", "How the Hermit Helped to Win the King's Daughter", "The Clever Little Tailor".[ citation needed ] Rudolf Erich Raspe and Gottfried August Bürger interpolated an adaptation of the tale into his version of the Baron Munchausen stories. [15]
"Rapunzel" is a European fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Brothers Grimm's story was developed from the French literary fairy tale of Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1698), which itself is an alternative version of the Italian fairy tale Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile.
"The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimm's Fairy Tales. Traditionally, it is the first story in their folktale collection. The tale is classified as Aarne-Thompson type 440.
Grimms' Fairy Tales, originally known as the Children's and Household Tales, is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first published on 20 December 1812. Vol. 1 of the first edition contained 86 stories, which were followed by 70 more tales, numbered consecutively, in the 1st edition, Vol. 2, in 1815. By the seventh edition in 1857, the corpus of tales had expanded to 200 tales and 10 "Children's Legends". It is listed by UNESCO in its Memory of the World Registry.
"The White Snake" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is of Aarne–Thompson type 673, and includes an episode of type 554.
"Hans My Hedgehog" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. The tale was translated as Jack My Hedgehog by Andrew Lang and published in The Green Fairy Book. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 441.
"The Seven Ravens" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is of Aarne–Thompson type 451, commonly found throughout Europe.
"Trusty John", "Faithful John", "Faithful Johannes", or "John the True" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1819. Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Book.
How the Devil Married Three Sisters is an Italian fairy tale found in Thomas Frederick Crane's Italian Popular Tales (1885). It was collected and originally published in German as "Der Teufel heirathet drei Schwestern" by Widter and Wolf in 1866.
"Fitcher's Bird" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 46.
"The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats" is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 123 "The Wolf and the Kids".
"The Brave Little Tailor" or "The Valiant Little Tailor" or "The Gallant Tailor" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. "The Brave Little Tailor" is a story of Aarne–Thompson Type 1640, with individual episodes classified in other story types.
"The Four Skillful Brothers" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is Aarne-Thompson type 653.
Conall Cra Bhuidhe or Conall Yellowclaw is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands.
Belle-Belle ou Le Chevalier Fortuné is a French literary fairy tale, written by Madame d'Aulnoy.
"Thumbling," published in German as "Daumesdick" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1819. The Grimms included another, similar story, "Thumbling's Travels." Both stories are related to the English Tom Thumb and often share its title when translated into English.
"The King of the Golden Mountain" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales.
"The Old Dame and her Hen" is the English title given by Dasent to the Norwegian folk tale, Asbjørnsen and Moe’s number 35.
The Dragon is an Italian literary fairy tale, included in Giambattista Basile's Pentamerone, first published 1635. In the English language, the tale was a selection in Thomas Keightley's Fairy Mythology (1828), and later appeared in John Edward Taylor 's translation of the entire work, The Pentamerone, or, The Story of Stories, Fun for the Little Ones (1848). The tale has been classed as a version of Aarne–Thompson type 462 "the outcast queens and the ogress queen", rather than as "the dragon-slayer". It exhibits folklore motif K873, "fatal deception by giving narcotic."
"The Grave Mound" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, KHM 195. It is Aarne-Thompson type 779, Divine Rewards and Punishments.
"Thumbling's Travels" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812. The original German name for the character is "Daumerling," not to be confused with the similar tale "Daumesdick" or KHM 37, which was added in 1819. Both tales are frequently translated into English as "Tom Thumb" or "Thumbling" and are categorized as Aarne-Thompson type 700.