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

The Cannibals 

(Illustration by Walter Crane)

Reading A consists of three stories broken into multiple parts.

1.     The fisherman and his wife is a story about a couple who lived in the shore. He was fishing one day and caught a flounder. The flounder told him he was a prince so the man let him go. His wife told him he should have made a wish so the man went back and wished for a little cottage like his wife had asked. The flounder granted him that wish. The cottage was beautiful and had a farm and garden but the wife got greedy and now wanted a castle. The man however did not want to, but he did anyway for his wife. The next morning, she asked to be king. Then she asked for be emperor. The man was against his wife’s wishes but complied anyways.  Then she asked to be pope and the flounder granted all her wishes. She then wished to have order of the sun and moon. The flounder granted her this wish. There they sat as the sun and moon forever.

2.     Aschenputtel (Cinderella) is about a rich man whose wife dies from illness. He has one daughter. He remarries and brings home her two daughters as well. They were evil to her. The man had to travel for work and the two sisters were cruel to Aschenputtel. The id was holding a festival but Aschenputtel was forbidden to attend. The doves helped Aschenputtel get ready and she was unrecognizable. She met the prince and he was head over heels. She had to leave but he searched for her. He found her but she ran from him. He found her again and the step sister cut off her toes to fit into the shoe he brought. The other sister cut off her heel. Aschenputtel came out and the shoe fit. On their wedding da the step sisters tried to crash the wedding but the birds plucked their eyes out.

3.     The Robber Bridegroom is about a miller and his gorgeous daughter. He was nervous of who she would marry. Suitor after suitor came after her. She met a charming man who tricks her to go on a journey to find him When she reaches a house an old woman tells her she cam to “cut throats” and her death awaits not her marriage. The old woman tells her she will be killed and eaten, the people are cannibals. She helps the girl and tells her how to escape. The men arrived and killed and cooked another woman. The girl stayed quiet and hid. She sprang out and had them condemned and executed.

Bibliography. Lucy and Walter Crane. Brothers Grimm. Source.