The Princess That Wore a Rabbit-skin Dress

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"The Princess That Wore a Rabbit-skin Dress" is an American fairy tale from Kentucky, collected by Marie Campbell in Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, listing her informant as Uncle Tom Dixon. [1]

Contents

It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B. [2] Others of this type include Catskin , Cap O' Rushes , Donkeyskin , Allerleirauh , The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter , The She-Bear , Mossycoat , Tattercoats , The Bear and The Princess in the Suit of Leather . [3]

Synopsis

A king died after his wife gave birth to a girl. The queen remarried, and that husband also died. Then she married a third time, and that husband was so cruel to her that she became ill and died. The last husband wanted to marry her daughter. The daughter's mare told her to ask her stepfather for a dress of silver; with some help from fairies, it took a year and six months. Then she asked for a dress of gold, which took two years and six months, and a dress of diamonds and pearls, which took three years and six months. The mare gave her a dress of rabbit skin, and the princess rode off on her. Some hunters, including a prince, found her and took her to the castle, where they gave her a job in the kitchen. They were rude, saying she needed only the ears to be a rabbit. One day, the mare told her that the prince was going to a party; the mare carried her there and gave her a nut that held the silver dress. The next day, she went in the gold dress; the third, in the dress of diamonds and pearls, and the prince gave her a golden ring. She wore the ring after she took off the dress, and the prince recognized and married her.

Motifs

This is an unusual variant of type 510B, where the man who wishes to marry her is commonly her actual father. In other variants, such as "Catskin" and "Mossycoat", her father usually threatens to marry the heroine to an unwanted suitor who is not a relative.

Related Research Articles

"Cap-o'-Rushes" is an English fairy tale published by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales.

Catskin is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs, in More English Fairy Tales. Marian Roalfe Cox, in her pioneering study of Cinderella, identified as one of the basic types, the Unnatural Father, contrasting with Cinderella itself and Cap O' Rushes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allerleirauh</span> German fairy tale

"Allerleirauh" is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no. 65. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book.

The Brown Bear of Norway is an Irish fairy tale collected by Patrick Kennedy which appeared in his Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts (1866). It was later included by Andrew Lang in his anthology The Lilac Fairy Book (1910), though Lang misattributed his source as West Highland Tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Iron Stove</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Woodencloak</span> Norwegian fairy tale

"Katie Woodencloak" or "Kari Woodengown" is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.

"Tattercoats" is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his More English Fairy Tales.

<i>Donkeyskin</i> Literary work

Donkeyskin is a French literary fairytale written in verse by Charles Perrault. It was first published in 1695 in a small volume and republished in 1697 in Perrault's Histoires ou contes du temps passé. Andrew Lang included it, somewhat euphemized, in The Grey Fairy Book. It is classed among folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love.

The Dirty Shepherdess is a French fairy tale collected by Paul Sébillot. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book.

The Tale of the Hoodie is a Scottish fairy tale, collected by John Francis Campbell in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands. Andrew Lang included it, as The Hoodie-Crow, in The Lilac Fairy Book.

The Sharp Grey Sheep or The Sharp-Horned Grey Sheep is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as John Dewar, labourer, from Glendaruail, Cowal.

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"The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter" is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as Ann Darroch from Islay.

"The She-bear" is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.

The Bear is a fairy tale collected by Andrew Lang in The Grey Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson classification system type 510B, unnatural love. Others of this type include Cap O' Rushes, Catskin, Little Cat Skin, Allerleirauh, The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter, The She-Bear, Tattercoats, Mossycoat, The Princess That Wore A Rabbit-Skin Dress, and Donkeyskin, or the legend of Saint Dymphna.

"Mossycoat" is a fairy tale published by Katherine M. Briggs and Ruth Tongue in Folktales of England. It appears in A Book of British Fairy Tales by Alan Garner. The story known by folklorists was collected by researcher T. W. Thompson from teller Taimi Boswell, a Romani, at Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, January 9, 1915.

The Golden Bracelet is an American fairy tale from Kentucky, collected by Marie Campbell in Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, listing her informant as Aunt Lizbeth Fields.

Little Catskin is an American fairy tale from Kentucky, collected by Marie Campbell in Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, listing her informant as Big Nelt.

The Princess in the Suit of Leather is an Egyptian folktale. It may also be referred to as The Princess in the Leather Burqa. This story was originally published in translation in Inea Bushnaq's 1986 collection Arab Folktales. Author Angela Carter included it in The Old Wives’ Fairy Tale Book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hachikazuki</span>

Hachikazuki or Hachi Katsugi is a Japanese folktale of the Otogi-zōshi genre. It refers to a maiden of noble birth who wears a bowl on her head and marries a prince.

References

  1. ↑ Marie Campbell, Tales from the Cloud-Walking Country, p 161 Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1958
  2. ↑ Marie Campbell, Tales from the Cloud-Walking Country, p 259 Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1958
  3. ↑ Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Donkeyskin Archived 2007-02-11 at the Wayback Machine "
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