The Spinning-Woman by the Spring

Last updated

The Spinning-Woman by the Spring or The Kind and the Unkind Girls is a widespread, traditional folk tale, known throughout Europe [1] and in certain regions of Asia, including Indonesia. The tale is cataloged as AT 480 in the international Folktale catalog.

Contents

Synopsis

Two stepsisters are, one after another, sent out to serve in the house of a witch where they are assigned what appear to be difficult or impossible tasks. For instance, they are tasked to carry water with a sieve.

The kind girl, however, obeys requests from grateful animals and learns from the birds' song that she must line the sieve with clay to complete her task. Other chores they are assigned include washing black wool white, and gathering flowers at midwinter.

As payment for her household work she can choose one of three caskets, an attractive red, a common yellow or an ugly blue casket. Again, she receives advice from the animals and makes the modest choice and becomes richly rewarded.

Even though the unkind girl is also able to understand the animals, she refuses to follow the advice given by the birds and the help offered by other animals. [2]

Analysis

In many variants, the witch-like character that presents the girls with the choice of casket is replaced by personifications of the twelve months of the year. [3] According to scholar Warren Roberts, this narrative appears in Southeastern Europe, namely, Italy, Greece, [4] Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. [5]

It has been argued that the donor in these stories shows some connection to an underworld realm, or has an otherworldly description. [6]

According to scholar Andreas Johns, "in many European and East Slavic versions", the girl drops a spindle into a well, which is the entry point to the otherworld. [7]

Godwin and Groenewald mentioned that in African stories, the calabash is the instrument to draw water, while in the European versions, it is a bucket. [8] However, according to Marie Campbell, Warren Roberts's study on the tale type indicated that the motif of the bucket in the well is "typically German". [9]

International distribution

The tale type is recorded all over the world: a great number of versions were registered from Scandinavia and Russia, but tales also exist from Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, North and South America, India, China and Japan. [10]

Origins

According to scholar Christine Goldberg, Warren E. Roberts, through the historic-geographic method, distinguished two forms of the tale type, one old and one new, and their origin point as the Near East. [11] However, Slovak professor Viera Gaspariková  [ uk ] suggested that the tale type AaTh 480 is "relatively recent" and originated in Europe, in a Romance-speaking region. [12]

Europe

The Kind Girl with her fuse sat by the well. Illustration from Household stories from the collection of the Bros. Grimm (1914). Household stories from the collection of the Bros. Grimm (1922) (14749751571).jpg
The Kind Girl with her fuse sat by the well. Illustration from Household stories from the collection of the Bros. Grimm (1914).

At least 700 versions have been collected from all over Europe. [13]

Professor William Bernard McCarthy states that, in Hispanic tradition, the tale type ATU 480 "frequently" led to ATU 510A, "Cinderella". [14] Further scholarship points that this combination also happens in Catalan, French and Portuguese variants. [15]

The tale type is said to be "the most widely collected" type in Estonia, [16] with 234 variants reported. [17]

According to scholar Bronislava Kerbelyte  [ lt ], the tale type is reported to register 363 Lithuanian variants, with and without contamination from other tale types. [18]

Middle East

Scholar Ulrich Marzolph  [ de ] remarked that the tale type AT 480 was one of "the most frequently encountered tales in Arab oral tradition", albeit missing from The Arabian Nights compilation. [19]

Africa

The tale type is also "largely known" in Africa, [20] [21] "found all over" the continent. [22] Africanist Sigrid Schmidt claims that this tale type, among others, must belong to a very old and indigenous tradition of the continent. [23] A similar opinion is shared by ethnologist Geneviève Calame-Griaule  [ fr ]: according to her, the tale type "seems deeply rooted" in Africa, due to "its frequency and permanence". [24]

According to scholar Denise Paulme, in African tales, the good character meets an old man or old woman on their way to fetch some water, and this mysterious elder asks her to delouse them or to give them food. In addition, the rivalry may occur between female blood siblings (twins or not), stepsisters, and even between co-wives of the male character. [25]

Americas

The tale type is also said to be "widespread" in U.S. tradition. [26] Folklorist Herbert Halpert, in turn, asserted that in American and English variants of the tale type, two narratives exist: one like The Three Heads of the Well (girl combs three heads at a well), and another he dubbed Long Leather Bag (heroine is kind to objects and animals, finds a leather bag in the witch's chimney). [27]

In literature

A more direct appearance of the choice of casket motif occurs in Japanese folktale The Tongue-Cut Sparrow : a poor old man rescues a sparrow and is presented with the choice between a large casket and a small one; he chooses the small box. This tale is also a variant of the ATU 480 tale type.

Shakespeare

The same motif is used by William Shakespeare in the play The Merchant of Venice . Act 2, Scene VII where the Prince of Morocco has to solve the riddle and find out what casket hides Portia's portrait.

MOROCCO
The first, of gold, who this inscription bears,
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;'
The second, silver, which this promise carries,
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves;'
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt,
'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.'
How shall I know if I do choose the right?

List of tales

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snow-White and Rose-Red</span> German fairy tale

"Snow-White and Rose-Red" is a German fairy tale. The best-known version is the one collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1837 in the third edition of their collection Grimm's Fairy Tales. It was first published by Wilhelm Grimm in 1827 in Wilhelm Hauff's Märchen-Almanach. An older, somewhat shorter version, "The Ungrateful Dwarf", was written by Caroline Stahl (1776–1837). Indeed, that appears to be the oldest variant; no previous oral version is known, although several have been collected since its publication in 1818. Oral versions are very limited regionally. The tale is of Aarne-Thompson type 426.

The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index is a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore studies. The ATU index is the product of a series of revisions and expansions by an international group of scholars: Originally published in German by Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne (1910), the index was translated into English, revised, and expanded by American folklorist Stith Thompson, and later further revised and expanded by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther (2004). The ATU index is an essential tool for folklorists, used along with the Thompson (1932)Motif-Index of Folk-Literature.

The Canary Prince is an Italian fairy tale, the 18th tale in Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino. He took the tale from Turin, making various stylistic changes; he noted it developed a medieval motif, but such tales as Marie de France's Yonec produced a rather different effect, being tales of adultery. A variant on Rapunzel, Aarne–Thompson type 310, The Maiden in the Tower, it includes many motifs that differentiate it from that tale. Other fairy tales of this type include Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa, Petrosinella, Prunella, and Rapunzel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamonds and Toads</span> Fairy tale by Charles Perrault

Diamonds and Toads or Toads and Diamonds is a French fairy tale by Charles Perrault, and titled by him "Les Fées" or "The Fairies". Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Book. It was illustrated by Laura Valentine in Aunt Louisa's nursery favourite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Three Heads of the Well</span> Story in Jacobs English Fairy Tales

The Three Heads in the Well is a fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shita-kiri Suzume</span> Traditional Japanese fable

Shita-kiri Suzume, translated literally into "Tongue-Cut Sparrow", is a traditional Japanese fable telling of a kind old man, his avaricious wife and an injured sparrow. The story explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy on the characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hut in the Forest</span> German fairy tale

"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 Enchanted Wreath is a Scandinavian fairy tale, collected in Benjamin Thorpe in his Yule-Tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions. Andrew Lang adapted a variant of it for The Orange Fairy Book.

Prunella is an Italian fairy tale, originally known as Prezzemolina. Andrew Lang included it in The Grey Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 310, the Maiden in the Tower.

"Doctor Know-all" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 98 in Grimms' Fairy Tales. It has an ATU index of 1641. Another tale of this type is Almondseed and Almondella.

The Green Knight is a Danish fairy tale, collected by Svend Grundtvig (1824-1883) in Danish Fairy Tales (18??) and by Evald Tang Kristensen (1843-1929) in Eventyr fra Jylland (1881). Andrew Lang included a translation of Kristensen's version in The Olive Fairy Book (1907).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Knights of the Fish</span> Spanish fairy tale

The Knights of the Fish is a Spanish fairy tale collected by Fernán Caballero in Cuentos. Oraciones y Adivinas. Andrew Lang included it in The Brown Fairy Book. A translation was published in Golden Rod Fairy Book. Another version of the tale appears in A Book of Enchantments and Curses by Ruth Manning-Sanders.

The Little Bull-Calf is an English Romani fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in More English Fairy Tales.

"The Twelve Months" is a Czech fairy tale, which was first mentioned by a Czech writer, scholar, physician, lexicographer, canon of the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague and a master of the University of Prague in the 14th century - mistr Klaret/Bartoloměj z Chlumce, who mentions the fairy tale as a preaching exemplum.

The Young Slave is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Peasant's Wise Daughter</span> German fairy tale

"The Peasant's Wise Daughter", "The Peasant's Clever Daughter" or "The Clever Lass" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as tale number 94. It has also spread into Bohemia and Božena Němcová included it into her collection of Czech national folk tales in 1846.

The Calumniated Wife is a motif in traditional narratives, numbered K2110.1 in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. It entails a wife being falsely accused of, and often punished for, some crime or sin. This motif is at the centre of a number of traditional plots, being associated with tale-types 705–712 in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index of tale-types.

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

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.

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 Forgotten Bride" or "The Forgotten Fiancée" is a motif of folktales recognized in several folktale motif indices.

References

  1. ↑ McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 158. ISBN   978-1-57806-959-0
  2. ↑ Sherman, Josepha (2008). Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore. Sharpe Reference. pp. 271-272. ISBN   978-0-7656-8047-1
  3. ↑ Kropej, Monika. "Slovene midwinter: deities and personifications of days in the yearly, work, and life cycles". In: Mencej, Mirjam (ed.). Space and time in Europe: East and West, Past and Present. Ljubljana: Zbirka Zupaničeva knjižnica, št. 25. Ljubljana: Oddelek za etnologijo in kulturno antropologijo, Filozofska fakulteta [Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Arts], 2008. p. 181.
  4. ↑ Dawkins, Richard McGillivray. Modern Greek folktales. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1953. p. 451.
  5. ↑ Roberts, Warren E. (1958). "The special forms of Aarne-Thompson type 480 and their distribution". Fabula . 1 (1): 99–100. doi:10.1515/fabl.1958.1.1.85.
  6. ↑ Vaz da Silva, Francisco (2000). “Cinderella the Dragon Slayer". In: Studia Mythologica Slavica 3 (May). Ljubljana, Slovenija. pp. 193-194. https://doi.org/10.3986/sms.v3i0.1836.
  7. ↑ Johns, Andreas. Baba Yaga: The Ambiguous Mother and Witch of the Russian Folktale. New York: Peter Lang. 2010 [2004]. p. 124. ISBN   978-0-8204-6769-6
  8. ↑ Godwin, Denise, and H. C. Groenewald. "SOME ZULU VARIANTS OF "THE SNAKE BRIDEGROOM"." Merveilles & Contes 8, no. 2 (1994): 299-300. Accessed 2 September 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41390394.
  9. ↑ Campbell, Marie. Tales from the Cloud Walking Country . Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press. 2000. p. 263. ISBN   9780820321868.
  10. ↑ Dekker, Ton. "Vrouw Holle". In: Van Aladdin tot Zwaan kleef aan. Lexicon van sprookjes: ontstaan, ontwikkeling, variaties. 1ste druk. Ton Dekker & Jurjen van der Kooi & Theo Meder. Kritak: Sun. 1997. p. 394.
  11. ↑ Goldberg, Christine. "The Historic-Geographic Method: Past and Future". In: Journal of Folklore Research 21, no. 1 (1984): 13. Accessed April 12, 2023. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3814340.
  12. ↑ Pacalová, Jana. "Slovenské povesti Jána Francisciho (metóda, tvar, koncepcia)". In: Slovenská literatúra 55, 2008 p. 18 and footnote 39.
  13. ↑ Ross, R. M.; Greenhill, S. J.; Atkinson, Q. D. "Population structure and cultural geography of a folktale in Europe". Proceedings. Biological Sciences. 2013 Apr. 280 (1756): 20123065. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.3065.
  14. ↑ McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 108. ISBN   978-1-57806-959-0.
  15. ↑ Villalba Arasa, Laura. "Estudi i edició de tres versions de La Ventafocs i les germanastres (ATU 480 + 510A) recollides per Adelaida Ferré i Gomis". In: Estudis de Literatura Oral Popular [Studies in Oral Folk Literature], [en línia], 2015, Núm. 4, pp. 159-160. https://www.raco.cat/index.php/ELOP/article/view/304875 [Consulta: 13 March 2021].
  16. ↑ Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the World. Second Edition. Volume I: A-F. Edited by Anne E. Duggan and Donald Haase, with Helen J. Callow. Greenwood Press. 2016. p. 307. ISBN   978-1-61069-253-3.
  17. ↑ Järv, Risto; Kaasik, Mairi. "Estonian Fairy Tales Up the Beanstalk into Heaven and Coal Porridge: Two Tales of Growing Up". In: Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, [S.l.], v. 12, n. 1, p. 11, July 2018. ISSN   2228-0987. Available at: <https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/278>. doi: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2018-0002.
  18. ↑ Skabeikytė-Kazlauskienė, Gražina. Lithuanian Narrative Folklore: Didactical Guidelines. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University. 2013. p. 30. ISBN   978-9955-21-361-1
  19. ↑ Marzolph, Ulrich; van Leewen, Richard. The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia. Vol. I. California: ABC-Clio. 2004. p. 12. ISBN   1-85109-640-X (e-book)
  20. ↑ D’Huy, Julien; Dupanloup, Isabelle. "D’Afrique en Amérique: la bonne et la méchante fille (ATU 480)". In: Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée [New Comparative Mythology]. 2015, 2, pp. 1-13. <http://nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/archive/2015/02/19/julien-d-huy-et-isabelle-dupanloup-d-afrique-en-amerique%C2%A0-la-5562363.html
  21. ↑ McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 158. ISBN   978-1-57806-959-0
  22. ↑ "-les <<Deux Filles>> (Aarne-Thompson 480) (...) ce conte (...) se retrouve dans toute l'Afrique". Calame-Griaule, Geneviève. "Smith, Pierre, Le récit populaire au Rwanda [compte-rendu]". In: Journal des africanistes, 1976, tome 46, fascicule 1-2. p. 269. www.persee.fr/doc/jafr_0399-0346_1976_num_46_1_1783_t1_0269_0000_1
  23. ↑ Schmidt, Sigrid. Children Born from Eggs: African Magic Tales - Texts and Discussions. Afrika erzählt Band 9. Cologne, Germany: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. 2007. p. 311. ISBN   978-3-89645-192-7.
  24. ↑ Calame-Griaule, Geneviève. "The Father's Bowl: Analysis of a Dogon Version of AT 480". In: Research in African Literatures 15, no. 2 (1984): 168. Accessed 11 July 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4618102.
  25. ↑ Paulme, Denise. "Morphologie du conte africain". In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 12, n°45, 1972. p. 151. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/cea.1972.2775]; www.persee.fr/doc/cea_0008-0055_1972_num_12_45_2775
  26. ↑ McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 158. ISBN   978-1-57806-959-0.
  27. ↑ Randolph, Vance. The Devil's Pretty Daughter. Columbia University Press, 1955. pp. 199-200.

Literature

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.