Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Week 14 Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (Crane), Part B

The Six Swans
(Illustration by Walter Crane)




Part B consists of four stories:
1.     The Six Swans – A king was hunting and lost his people. He got lost in the forest and an old woman told him that she would help him out if he married her daughter. He had a bad feeling about her but needed to get out so he agreed. When they returned he hid his six sons and one daughter in another castle because he didn’t trust his new wife. The queen was curious about where he went and discovered the boys who she turned into swans. She turned out to be an evil witch like her mother. But the last daughter remained and the queen knew nothing of her. The king discovered what happened. Later that night the daughter was visited by her brothers who can only stay in human form for 15 minutes. They told her she was going to die but she set on a mission to free her brothers from the curse. They found out that if she didn’t speak for six years and made six skirts from flowers they could be set free. She later an into a king and she did not utter a word but he married her. His mother didn’t trust her. She had a baby and the mother stole the baby to accuse the wife of doing something to him. She couldn’t defend herself so she was sentence to death on the last day of the sixth year. Right before she was to die her brothers appeared in swan form and she gave them their skirts. They turned into humans, she told her husband everything.
2.     King Thrushbeard – A king was trying to find a suitor for his daughter. She was rude she called them short, fat, tall, pale and the king was disappointed so her forced her to marry a beggar.  Since she was now a beggar’s wife she could not live in the castle. She beggar took her home and she realized the forest and land belonged to a man she mocked and named “King Thrushbeard.” When they arrived at the beggars home he realized she couldn’t do anything and she realized she would be mocked if people saw her living in a hut and doing dirty work. She became a kitchen maid and a wedding was about to happen. King Thrushbeard told her he made her like this to teach her a lesson but now that she’s learned they can get married.
3.     The Three Spinsters – A lazy girl was getting beat by her mother when a queen was walking by and heard. She asked the mother why and too ashamed to say her daughter was lazy she told her that her daughter would not stop spinning. The queen took her in and told her to spin. The girl didn’t know what to do and made a promise to three ugly old women that if they help her, they can attend the wedding at once. The groom asked them why they were so ugly and they told him their features came from spinning so he demanded his new wife never spin again.

4.     Snow White – A queen finds out she’s not the most beautiful and Snow White actually is. She demanded Snow White be killed and the Huntsman let her go. She ran and became weak and was founded by seven dwarfs. The Queen asks the mirror again and discovers what Snow White has been up to. The queen knocked her out and the dwarfs came home to find her laying on the ground. The queen went back to the mirror only to find out snow white was still alive. A woman poisoned a comb and tried to kill Snow White again, but failed. She eats a poisoned apple. The mirror finally gives her the answer she wanted. Later a prince discovers her and brings he back. The queen finds outs. They were able to curse the queen and made her dance until she died.

Bibliography. Lucy and Walter Crane. Brothers Grimm. Source

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