The Twelve Huntsmen

Last updated
The Twelve Huntsmen
Folk tale
NameThe Twelve Huntsmen
Also known asThe Bride's Venture
Aarne–Thompson groupingATU 884
CountryGermany
Published in Grimms' Fairy Tales

"The Twelve Huntsmen" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm as tale number 67 in their Grimm's Fairy Tales . Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book .

Contents

It is Aarne-Thompson type 884, the forsaken fiancée. Other tales which include this type as part of their plot are The True Bride , The Two Kings' Children , and Sweetheart Roland .

This tale has also been given the alternate title "The Bride's Venture". [1]

Synopsis

Once there was prince who was engaged to a beautiful maiden whom he loved. One day, the prince was summoned to his father's deathbed and was so grief-stricken that he promised he would marry the neighboring princess whom his father wished he would marry. After his father died and the prince became king, he felt bound by his promise to marry the other princess. His fiancée heard of the new king's promise and asked her father for eleven maidens who looked exactly like her. Each maiden dressed as huntsmen went to the king's court.

At court, the king had a lion who knew everything. It told him that the huntsmen were women, and to test them, the king should put peas on the floor: a man's firm step would crush them, while a woman's would make them roll. The maiden heard this and warned her companions to step firmly. And so, when the huntsmen stepped on the peas, they were crushed. The lion then said the king should put spinning wheels in the room, betraying the maidens' interest. Once again, the maiden learned of the lion's plan and warned her companions. The lion soon fell from favor as the king believed he did not know everything, as once thought.

When the king's new bride entered court, the maiden fainted. Fearing that a faithful servant had fallen ill, the king came to her aid and found she had the ring he had given her. He dismissed the new bride and married the maiden, and restored the lion to favor as it had seen the truth.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Frog Prince</span> German fairy tale

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Frog Princess</span> Fairy tale

The Frog Princess is a fairy tale that has multiple versions with various origins. It is classified as type 402, the animal bride, in the Aarne–Thompson index. Another tale of this type is the Norwegian Doll i' the Grass. Eastern European variants include the Frog Princess or Tsarevna Frog and also Vasilisa the Wise ; Alexander Afanasyev collected variants in his Narodnye russkie skazki, a collection which included folk tales from Ukraine and Belarus alongside Russian tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Goose Girl</span> German fairy tale

"The Goose Girl" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1815. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 533.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Twelve Dancing Princesses</span> German fairy tale

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans My Hedgehog</span> German fairy tale

"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.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Singing, Springing Lark</span> German fairy tale

"The Singing, Springing Lark", "The Singing, Soaring Lark", "The Lady and the Lion" or "Lily and the Lion" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, appearing as tale no. 88.

<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 (Monster) as Bridegroom". Dorothea Viehmann prepared the story for the Grimms' collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Robber Bridegroom (fairy tale)</span> German fairy tale

"The Robber Bridegroom" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 40. Joseph Jacobs included a variant, Mr Fox, in English Fairy Tales, but the original provenance is much older; Shakespeare alludes to the Mr. Fox variant in Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Two Brothers</span> German fairy tale

The Two Brothers is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 60. It is Aarne-Thompson type 303, "The Blood Brothers", with an initial episode of type 567, "The Magic Bird Heart". A similar story, of Sicilian origin, was also collected by author and folklorist Andrew Lang in The Pink Fairy Book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Girl Without Hands</span> German fairy tale

"The Girl Without Hands" or "The helpless Maiden" or "The Armless Maiden" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is tale number 31 and was first published in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. The story was revised by the Grimm brothers over the years, and the final version was published in the 7th edition of Children's and Household Tales in 1857. It is Aarne-Thompson type 706.

King Kojata or The Unlooked for Prince or Prince Unexpected is a Slavonic fairy tale, of Polish origin. Louis Léger remarked that its source was "one of the most important collections of Polish literature".

"The Riddle" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1819. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 851.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Water of Life (German fairy tale)</span> German fairy tale

"The Water of Life" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 97.

The Three Dogs is a German fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book, listing his source as the Brothers Grimm. A version of this tale appears in A Book of Dragons by Ruth Manning-Sanders.

"The True Bride" or "The True Sweetheart" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as tale 186.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Two Kings' Children</span> German fairy tale

"The Two Kings' Children" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales, tale number 113.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Three Feathers</span> Fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm

"The Three Feathers" is a story by the Brothers Grimm, in their Kinder- und Hausmärchen. It is KHM nr. 63. It is classified as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 402, "The Animal Bride". A second variant of the tale also collected by the Brothers Grimm is "The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat", listed as KHM 106.

The Beautiful Palace East of the Sun and North of the Earth is a Swedish folktale collected from Smaland by Swedish folktale collectors George Stephens and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius. It features versions of the swan maiden, a mythic female character that alternates between human and animal shapes.

Princess Aubergine is an Indian folktale collected by Flora Annie Steel and sourced from the Punjab region. It concerns a princess whose lifeforce is tied to a necklace, and, as soon as it falls in the hand of a rival, the princess falls into a death-like sleep - comparable to heroines of European fairy tales Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Variants exist in India, both with a heroine and a hero whose life is attached to a magical necklace.

References

  1. Lily Owens, ed. (1981). The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. pp. 244–247. Avenel Books. ISBN   0-517-336316