| The Gnome | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Folk tale | |
| Name | The Gnome |
| Aarne–Thompson grouping | ATU 301A |
| Country | Germany |
| Published in | Grimms' Fairy Tales |
"The Gnome" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales , tale number 91. [1]
It is Aarne-Thompson type 301A, [lower-alpha 1] The Quest for the Vanished Princesses. [3]
A king owns a poison tree, and whoever eats a fruit from it will vanish underground. His three daughters want to see if that really happens. The youngest says that their father loves them too much for that, so they eat the fruit and sink underground. The king becomes so worried about his daughters vanished underground, that he offers their hand to whoever saves them.
Three huntsmen set out. They find a castle with no one in it but food set out, so they watch and then eat, and agree to draw lots; one will stay and make camp while the other two will search. The eldest stays until he is confronted by a small gnome who begs for bread. The eldest reluctantly gives him a piece, but the gnome asks him for the whole loaf. At first, the eldest is confused about why the Gnome wanted so much bread, but when he refuses, the gnome suddenly beats him up until he is unconscious so that he can take away the whole loaf to chow down on. The same thing happens to the second huntsman. Later, the third one finds his companions unconscious, and accuses the gnome for ambushing them during their quest. Blamed for his wrongdoing, the gnome is forced to apologize, promising to show him how to rescue the king's daughters. He shows him a deep well without water, warns that his companions might betray him and so he has to go alone, and vanishes. The third tells the other two, and they go to the well. The eldest and next both try to be lowered, but panic; the youngest goes down and finds the king's daughters being held captive, one by a dragon with nine heads, one by one with five, one by one with four. He kills the dragons and has the king's daughters lifted in the basket. Then he puts in a rock; his brothers cut the rope and take the princesses back to the king.
The youngest finds a flute. Playing it conjures up elves, who bring him to the surface. The princesses tell the truth, and the angered King sentences the older brothers to death by hanging, yet he allows the youngest son to marry the youngest princess anyway for being the only sibling in the offspring to do the right thing for his family.
The rescue of the princesses and the throwing down the cliff by his rivals appear also in The Story of Bensurdatu ; in The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life , the hero is also thrown down by the rival.
"The Golden Goose" is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.
The Blue Light is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a soldier who finds a magical object that provides him a supernatural helper. Many of the features from Hans Christian Andersen's later work The Tinderbox and from the story of Aladdin and his magic lamp originate with this version.
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1815. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 306.
"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.
The Iron Stove is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, as tale number 127. It is Aarne–Thompson type 425A, the animal bridegroom. Dorothea Viehmann prepared the story for the Grimms' collection.
"Maid Maleen" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 198.
"The Hut in the Forest" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book (1897). It is Aarne-Thompson type 431.
The Ram is a French literary fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy.
"The Twelve Brothers" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.
"The Four Skillful Brothers" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is Aarne-Thompson type 653.
"The Brown Bear of the Green Glen" is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as John MacDonald, a "Traveling Tinker". He also noted the parallels with The Water of Life.
"The King of Lochlin's Three Daughters" is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as Neill Gillies, a fisherman near Inverary.
The Story of Bensurdatu is an Italian fairy tale collected by Laura Gonzenbach in Sicilianische Märchen. Andrew Lang included it in The Grey Fairy Book.
The King of England and his Three Sons is a Romani fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in More English Fairy Tales. He listed as his source Francis Hindes Groome's In Gypsy Tents, where the informant was John Roberts, a Welsh Roma. Groome published the tale as An Old King and his three Sons in England.
Prince Hat under the Ground is the Swedish version of an old Scandinavian fairy tale. The Norwegian version is called East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
The Norka is a Russian and Ukrainian fairy tale published by Alexander Afanasyev in his collection of Russian Fairy Tales, numbered 132.
Prâslea the Brave and the Golden Apples is a Romanian fairy tale collected by Petre Ispirescu in Legende sau basmele românilor.
"The Three Snake-Leaves" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 16. It is Aarne-Thompson type 612, "The Three Snake-Leaves".
"How Six Made Their Way in the World" 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.
In folkloristics, "The Animal as Bridegroom" refers to a group of folk and fairy tales about a human woman marrying or being betrothed to an animal. The animal is revealed to be a human prince in disguise or under a curse. Most of these tales are grouped in the international system of Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index under type ATU 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband". Some subtypes exist in the international classification as independent stories, but they sometimes don't adhere to a fixed typing.
The full text of The Gnome (under the title "The Elves") at Wikisource
