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מס"ע מרכז סיפורי עם ופולקלור |
C. F. F |
The Folktale Corner The king's son and the magic ring Once upon a time
there was a king. This king had only one son. The king loved his son and
constantly watched over him. He would not let him leave the palace, lest something
happen to him, so the king's son spent all his childhood with his parents. The days turned into months and the
nonths became years. The boy grew up and as more he grew up, his curiosity to know what's outside the
palace grew as well. One day the boy heard sounds of
turmoil and noise coming from the street below. He looked out of his window
and saw two people loudly quarreling. The King's son was curious to know why
they were fighting. He left the palace, went down into the street and walked
toward the two quarreling people. "Why
are you fighting?" he asked them. "I
found a ring," replied one of them, "And this man tries to steal it
from me!" "An
outright lie!" said the second, "I'm the one who found the
ring!" The king's son looked at the ring, wondering:
"You are fighting for such a simple ring?" "Oh no, this is not a simple
ring. This is a magic ring. If you put the ring on a man's heart, he'll start
to talk and reveal all the secrets he has in his heart!" "If
this is the case," said the king's son, "then people like you
should not hold this ring. This ring should be mine! Give me the ring
immediately before I throw you into jail!" He showed them the royal seal he
had in his possession` They were frightened and quickly gave him the ring and
left. After that day
the desire to know the world outside the palace grew in the heart of the
king's son. He began to wander the streets of the capital, met with ministers
and judges, as well as with ordinary people, and acquired knowledge and
experience. When the king's son grew up, the
king and queen decided that it was time for him to
marry. They chose for him a daughter of a nobleman. A royal wedding was arranged to the young couple. When the ceremony was
over and the wedding banquet ended, the bride and groom entered into the
bridal room. The king's son turned to his wife:
"Listen my love: I must finish some royal letters. Lie down and go to
sleep. I'll join you soon." Did she have any choice? He is the
king's son and he decides. The bride went to her bed. The time passes and the
king's son does not arrive. Eventually she fell asleep. Realizing that his wife is asleep,
the king's son went to her silently and put the ring on her heart. Suddenly the bride opened her mouth
and began to speak: "What a bastard! We have
just married, and he abandons me and deals with his business. Well, let him
do what he pleases. I have enough lovers that will satisfy my
desires..." For the king's son it was enough.
The next day he announced his parents that he was divorcing his wife. "What? Why?" His mother
asked him. "I do not like her. She is not
good enough for me!" "My son," said the queen,
"You put shame on the royal house!" But the king's son insisted: "She
is not a proper bride. I don't want her!" All the requests and the pleas of
the queen did not help. The king's son did not change his decision and the
new bride had to leave the palace. The queen was worried. She searched
and found a new woman for her son and arranged another wedding. But again the king's son checked his wife's thoughts and
what he heard was not pleasant to his ears. The next day he told his mother
that he expelled this bride too. And
as in stories, so it is in life too: there is always a third time. The queen
found another bride for her son, but her fate was no different than that of the others. The queen gave up and stopped
looking for new brides. But the king's son kept looking for a
suitable bride. One day during a trip across the country, the king's son
arrived to a small village and there on one path he saw a beautiful girl. By
her simple and humble costume he could tell that she
is a simple peasant girl, but he noticed that she was keeping her body clean
and she was meticoulus about her clothes. She left
him the impression of a modest and well educated
girl, and he felt that she pulled him with a magic power. The king's son followed her until
he discovered where she lived. He returned to his mother, the queen, and told
her: "Mom, I finally found a girl that pleases my heart! She caught me
by her magic and my soul is attracted to her. I pray
you, go to her parents who are living in this and this village and ask them
to marry her to me." "Wait, wait," said the
mother, "Do you know her? Do her parents belong to the
aristocracy?" "No. I saw her only for a short
time. She is poor, but I'm in love with her. I
decided that only she will be my wife." "Listen my son," said the
mother, "Three times we married you with noble and highborn girls, and
you throw out each one of them a day after the wedding, and now you want to
take a simple girl from the village? She is not for you. You put shame on
us." "Mom, you should know that if
I don't get the girl, I'll expire and die from the agony of my longing for
her!" When she understood that her son is
talking from the bottom of his heart and his
suffering is very great, she decided once again to respond to his request.
She wore her best clothes and accompanied by two women of the court she went
to the village and came to the girl's house. She knocked on the door and the
girl who was alone in the house opened the door. The queen saw that she lived
in a small, but very neat and clean house. When the girl realized who were the
guests that came to her house she was very ashamed. There
were no chairs on which she could even seat the guests, only the bed in her
room. The guests accepted her invitation,
and at that moment the girl's mother arrived. She
was a laundress and she came back from a hard day's work. The girl came quickly to the door
and whispered to her mother: "Mom, a very
distinguished guest came to us! Hurry and change your
working dress with your best dress before you go in to talk with them." The mother accepted her daughter's
advice. She washed her face, her hands and legs and put on her holiday
clothes. Then she came into the room and exchanged words of greeting
according to the custom. She served them for food and drink from the little
she possessed, the queen told her: "We ask you to give your daughter as
a bride for our prince. Would you agree to do it?" "Give my daughter as a bride
to your son?" wondered the woman, "I was happy if she would be a
simple slave in the palace. You give me great honor. Happily and honorably I
agree, and I'm sure that my daughter will please your son." "Very good!" said the queen.
She departed from the surprised mother and hurried to the palace to tell her
son that the girl whom he chose would be his wife. Shortly afterwards the girl was
brought to the palace and a magnificent and lavish wedding was arranged. After the banquet ended they went into the wedding room. The king's son
turned to his wife: "Listen my love: I must finish some royal letters.
Lie down and go to sleep. I'll join you soon." "With love and respect,"
replied his wife, "Go and do your job, and I'll wait for you in
bed." The bride went to her bed. Time
passed and the king's son did not arrive. Eventually the bride fell asleep. Realizing that his wife was asleep,
the king's son went to her and secretly put the ring on her heart. Suddenly the bride opened her mouth
and began to speak: "What happiness fell on me I'm so fortunate. I was
lucky to marry so splendid a groom. The poor one, he has to deal with the
kingdom affairs, even on his marriage day, but I will wait patiently until he
has time and I'll give up my will for his will. I
wish he will be always healthy and that God will bless all his deeds..." The king's son was very pleased to hear it.
The next day his mother came to him and asked him anxiously:
"Well son, do you like your bride?" "I think I found the perfect
bride, the soul of my heart," replied the king's son with a smile on his
lips, "I'll wait some more days and then I'll finally decide." During the next days
the king's son checked once again the thoughts of his new wife using the
ring, and what he heard pleased him ten times more. "This is I the bride that God
assigned me," he told his mother, "She and no one else. I will live
with her the rest of my life, and she will be the queen next to my side when
one day I ascend to the throne!" Since then the king's son and his
wife lived a life of happiness and joy. But nothing
lasts forever. One night, the king's son came back to the palace very sad. He
did not eat or drink and he frowned his face. "What happened?" His wife
asked him anxiously, "What troubles you?" At first
the king's son did not want to share his concerns, but after she pleaded more
and more, he finally said: "There is a war in our realm. The enemy comes
close and I must go to battle and lead the royal army. I'm so sorry to that I
have to leave you alone in the palace." "Don't be sorry," she
said, "do your duty and with the help of the
good Lord you will prevail the battle and come back in peace to me. I'll wait
for you and pray for your return." Next day the king's son left his
wife and went to war. His wife was seized with
sadness. Day after day she sat in the window
overlooking the sea and looked into the distance waiting for the return of
her beloved. One day as she sat in the window
and watched the waves, her eyes closed and she fell asleep. At that very morning
a boat came ashore with a prince from a distant land. As the boat approached
the beach the prince took the binoculars and watched
what was happening on the beach. Suddenly his eye caught the sight of the
sleeping princess in the palace window. One glance at her face was enough to
set the desire in his heart on fire He went ashore and asked who the
beautiful girl was, that burned his heart. Soon he found out that this girl
was the young wife of a king's son who had gone to battle and had not yet
returned. The prince walked through the city streets thinking of how he could
approach her and win her favors. Apparently his
thoughts found expression on his face. One of those brushas
– wicked and ugly old witches that are found in every city and every state,
paid attention to his fallen face and the sadness in his eyes and offered him
her service: "Young man," she turned to him, "Why this pale
face and what burden lies on your heart?" "None of your business."
he replied, "Leave me alone!" And to get
rid of her he gave her a coin. "I do not need handouts. I
just want to help you. Tell me what weighs on your heart. Maybe I can help
you." After many entreaties, the prince
shared the secrets of his heart: "I was caught in the fire of my passion
for the princess in the palace and I do not know how to find a way to her
heart nor how I can win her." "If that's what's bothering
you, remove anxiety from your heart. Give me three gold dinars, and I'll make
sure that your desire will be satisfied." The prince gave her the money, and
the old brusha bought some expensive
perfumes and scented soaps, bundled them in a nice bundle and then went to
the palace and asked to see the face of the princess. "Who are you?" asked the
guards at the gate. "I am a distant relative of
the princess and I want to keep her company and ease her loneliness." The guards let her in and the
princess received her. "I do not know you." said the surprised princess, "I had no
idea of your existence." "I'm your mother's relative,"
said the old woman, "but till now I had no chance to meet you because I
live in a far away village. I heard you became a princess and now sivce I happened to be in the capital, it came to my mind
to visit you and give you a small gift." "I do not need gifts."
Said the princess, I am surrounded by wealth. " But the old woman begged her to accept
the gift. The princess that was kind a person, did not want to offend her,
and she received her gift. The old woman said good-bye, but
came back the next day and the day after and so on for some days. One day while talking to her, the
old woman turned to her and told her in smooth tongue: "It came to my
ear that a handsome prince came to the city. He saw you and was captured by his love to you. You set the fire of love
in his heart. This prince is much more than your husband in beauty and richness. He would do for you, anything, as long as you
leave your husband and devote yourself to him. My advice to you is that you
should accept his courtship. Your husband is on the battlefield and who knows
if he will return safe and sound or, God save, fall on the battlefield. You
may find yourself widowed at a young age and suffer loneliness for the rest
of your life. Avail yourself of the opportunity that rolled at your door!
" The princess realized that she was
one of those "mean old women", but she knew that because her
husband was not there and there was no one to protect her, she must conduct
her actions carefully and choose the way of cunning wisdom. "Alright," she said to the
old woman, "I'm ready to devote myself to him, but before I do it, I
want him to prove his love to me by building a magnificent palace for me,
near my palace. Near the palace he should plant a large garden surrounded by
a high wall and in the garden center he should dug a water
pool and fill it with rosewater. On the edge of the pool, all around,
I ask him to plant golden carnations unparalleled in their beauty to those which are found in any other garden. And in order
that people will not know about our relationship and begin gossiping, he should also carve a tunnel connecting my room with his
room. The tunnel should begin at a hidden entrance in the closet in my room
and seventy steps should lead away to his room in the palace. " "I'm sure that the prince will
answer all your requests." Said the old woman and hurried to say goodbye
to the princess and to deliver the good news. The prince did not wait even a
minute. He hired contractors and workers to begin the work, and as the
proverb says: "Kuando
la kaza esta yena, presto se aze la sena, "In a house full and rich, soon will be
prepared the dish" After a short time the palace was completed and stood
standing. In the palace courtyard a garden was
planted, with a pool that smelled of roses smell and on the edge of the pool
all around there were spectacular golden carnations. While the prince was occupied
building the palace, the princess secluded herself in her room thinking about
her husband and the many favors he awarded her. She had strong longing for him,
and when the thought about that wicked brusha
came to her mind she said to herself: I'll live on
and see what will happen in the end. While she was absorbed in thought
the old woman appeared and told her: "All your requests were filled. Now
you must fulfill your promise and come at nightfall to the prince's
room." "Certainly," replied the
Princess, "Ask him to be ready tonight for my arrival. I'll go
downstairs and come to him." The evil brusha
run to the prince and told him happily, "She'll come to you tonight. Get
ready for her arrival." And what do you think happened that
night? The princess put on her clogs. She entered the closet and began to
walk down the stairs. "Plunk, plunk!" The clogs echoed in the
tunnel as she put her feet on the first step. The prince heard the sound of
the tapping, waiting impatiently for her arrival, but at that moment the
princess cried aloud, as she mimics the voice of the queen: "My bride,
my bride, where are you?" And then she replied
with her own voice: "Yes, ma'am, I'm coming immediately." The princess climbed the step and
disappeared in her room, and the disappointed prince continued to wait for
her for a long time till he realized that his would
not come that night and he went to bed with a broken heart. The second night once again the
prince heard her footsteps echo. "Plunk, plunk! Plunk, plunk!"
There she is on the second step, but once again the pretended voice of the
queen: "My bride, my bride, where are you?" "I'll be right there,
ma'am!" Replied the Princess and climbed back the two steps. The prince heard those footsteps
and the pretended exchange of words. He felt he is going to explode from the
intensity of his passion to her, but once again he
had to conquer his passion all day long hoping that she will come tonight. On the third night
the prince clung to the door, burning in his desire, lending his ear to hear
her footsteps: There she is: "Plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk!" First
step, second step, third step, and suddenly the voice of the queen calls her
and to his great sorrow, he hears how she comes up the stairs and disappears
in her room and there was silence in the tunnel. The poor prince whose hopes were shattered fell trembling
on his bed by the intensity of his emotion, suffering from his unsatisfied desire.
What can I say – the princess could
not find a better trick. Night after night she came down the stairs adding
each time one more step, raising more and more the desire and then she came
back up to her room. The poor prince felt that in a
moment he will die of a broken heart. On the seventieth night
once again he heard in the tunnel the pounding footsteps: "Plunk, plunk!
Plunk, plunk! Plunk, plunk." One more step, one more step. Here she
comes to the sixty step, here she comes the last step, here she puts her hand
on the door handle and turns it. His heart is beating fast, pounding in his
chest like a hammer. Soon he will embrace her in his arms ... And once again
this damn voice: "My bride, my bride, where are you?" And the princess goes away from him. And this time his strength failed him.
His heart broke and he fell down dead. A few days later news reached the
palace: the king's son overcame the enemy and won the battle. The enemy was
defeated in war and now the prince made his way home. When the prince entered the city, a
magnificent reception was arranged. Celebrations were held throughout the entire city and the biggest
celebration was held at the palace court. The princess received her husband
who came back safely from the battlefield, with hugs and kisses. In the evening they went to bed. The king's son waited until his
wife was deeply asleep and then he put the ring on
her chest, and listened attentively to the words that came from her mouth. The words came from the lips of the
princess: "What a pity, the poor guy! He wasted all his property on me
and now he had also lost his life and what came out of it?" "Aha!" thought the king's
son, "she betrayed me!" He put the ring once again on her
heart and heard the words that penetrated like a dagger into his heart:
"My poor lover, rest in peace ..." When daylight came the king's son
got up from sleep, grabbed his wife without saying a word, and droved her
away from the palace with only her nightdress on her body. When his mother heard what
happened, she flayed his actions poignantly: "How stupid you are to do
that? The poor one! Where shall she turn and what
shall she do after you threw her into the street? Is there no mercy in your
heart? What is her sin and what is her crime? She was a good woman and
faithful to you all these years. Why are you so cruel to her? " But the king's son did not bother to
reply. He left her and went back to deal with the kingdom business. And the princess that was thrown into
the street for no fault on her side – what did she do? Where did she go? She entered the palace that was built for her by her lover, took menswear and
disguised as a man. With this dress she roamed
freely in the city streets and with the money that she found in the palace
she acquired jewelry and precious stones, brought them to her new home and
opened a jewelry store right in front of the palace. There she sold to all
comers, pearls, gemstones, bracelets, Nose-rings and jewelry of all kinds. One day when the king's son went
out of his palace he saw for the first time the new palace
that was built near his palace with its jewelry store. He asked his mother:
"Who is the owner of the new palace that was built here in my
absence?" "This is the palace of the
handsome prince who came here from the sea and built his palace here."
She replied. The king's son curiosity arose. The
next day, he entered the shop and begun to converse with the prince. His disguised wife who impersonated
as the prince, talked with him willingly: "I like your city and I enjoy
living in it. I have enough money. I opened the shop to amuse myself and to
chatter with the buyers." They kept talking about world
affairs and the king's son enjoyed very much the conversation with the
handsome prince who answered wisely all his questions. Something in the prince's appearance
and his good manners attracted him very much. "Mom," he told his mother
on his return to the palace, "today I visited the shop of the new prince
who settled here. He is so gentle and he has beautiful face
and my conversation with him was so exhilarating. His dress is very neat and
elegant and his smile captivated my heart. I suspect that he is not a man but
a woman!" "It is very easy to find out
such a thing," said his mother, "invite him to dinner at your
palace and let him slice the bread. If he puts the bread on his chest to
slice it, he is a woman, but if he puts it on the table as men are used to,
then no doubt he's a man. Moreover, the recent days
were very rainy and the roads are full of mud. Watch him when he comes. If he
steps with his muddy boots on the carpets without any thought, it is a man,
but if, entering your palace he removes his boots then probably he is a
woman." And who heard their conversation? The wife of the king's son, who passed through the tunnel and put
her ear on the closet door in the palace. Next day the king's son went to the
prince's shop and invited him to dine with him. The prince gladly accepted his invitation.
At the appointed time he came to the palace of the
king's son, trampled on the carpets with his muddy boots without hesitation
and soiled them with patches of mud. When they sat at the table and the
king's son asked him to slice the bread, he did it swiftly as a man. The
Queen was convinced that he is a man, but the prince insisted: "My heart
tells me that he is a woman not a man!" "If this is so then go and
visit him in his palace," she replied, "When you enter his room,
carefully check if there are women's clothes there. If you see only men's
clothes all over the place without order, you can be
assured that this is a man. Then ask him to accompany you go to the
clothes market and bring him purposely to the lane in which women's clothing
and jewelry are displayed. If you see that he is attracted
by the clothes and the jewelry, then he is a woman, but if he rushes
to get away then you are mistaken and your new friend is a man. And if still you are not convinced, invite him to spend
the night at your palace. I will spread fresh rose petals on the bed and
cover them with a sheet. If I find out in the morning that the leaves had
withered during the night, it is a sure sign that he is a woman, but if they
remain fresh, no doubt he's a man." I do not have to tell you that the
princess eavesdropped to this conversation too. The next day the king's son went to
visit in the prince's palace. The latter received him warmly as usual:
"Welcome. I was just intending to invite you to visit my house, and but
you came on your own initiative." The king's son looked around and
saw the prince's clothes scattered everywhere, on the bed, on the sofa and on
the chairs. There was no sign of a woman's clothing or makeup. "I would like you to come with
me to make shopping in the market" said the
king's son to the prince, "I need a new coat." The prince accompanied him
willingly. They passed on their way across the women's clothing and jewelry
stores. The prince walked quickly and did not shoot glance even once at the goods which were displayed there. When the king's son finished his
purchases he, invited the prince to come and stay at his palace. This proposal was also accepted gladly by the prince. After the meal
the king's son led the prince into one of the palace rooms. The impersonated
prince locked the door from inside. Then she crumpled up the sheet to create
the impression that someone slept there at night, but she did not lay down on
it. Instead she lay on the carpet and spent the
night there. Several times during the night she
sprayed water on the rose petals from a bottle that she had brought with her.
At morning she said goodbye to the king's son and
then she went to her palace and hurried up the stairs of the tunnel to hear
what the king's son says his mother. The king's son told his mother
about his visit at the prince palace and the way he behaved in the market The
queen in her turn told him I that the rose petal had stayed fresh even though
the prince slept on them all night. "Had he been a woman," she
said, "the leaves would wither leaves, but if you are not convinced yet,
invite him to visit the bathhouse with you. There naked truth will be
revealed ..." The next day the king's son visited
again at the prince's shop. "I'm on my way to the
bathhouse," he said "I thought to invite
you to accompany me. This is a clean and elegant bathhouse and you'll have a
great fun." "An excellent proposal,"
the prince replied, "I'll join you happily. It is a long time since I
visited a bathhouse that would be my cup of tea." They went together to the
bathhouse. When they got there they met high-ranking
people, judges and ministers. While the king's son was talking to his
friends, the prince rushed to wash his face his hands and his feet and then
dried himself donned his hat and sat down. When the king's son was ready to
come into the bathroom, he offered his friend to take off his clothes and go
with him to the bathhouse. "I'm sorry." The prince said "while you were talking with your friends, I had
washed and now after I dried myself, there is no point that I would go there
again." So once again
the attempt of the king's son to discover the secret of the prince failed. The king's son returned to the
palace and told his mother what happened. "No doubt you are mistaken, my
son, if the prince was woman he would not dare go with you to the bathhouse,
but you can make one last attempt: go to his home at dawn and surprise him.
Look what is the state of the house. If you find there disorder, dishes in
the sink and dirt on the floor, then it is a sure sign that he is a man. A
woman would not dare to go to bed before arranging the house and washing the
dishes." The son listened to his mother's
advice. The next day at dawn he went to visit at the
prince's home. The prince received him dressed with nightshirt. Obviously he'd just got up from sleep. The floor was
filthy and the sink full of dirty cutlery. He led the king's son into the
garden. The king's son was surprised by the extraordinary
beauty of the garden. The smells that came out of the rosewater pool,
and the many flowers around, intoxicated his senses. He particularly admired
the golden carnations that he had not seen in any other gardens. He was going
to pick one of them, but the prince stopped him: "These flowers are
intended to beautify the garden and emphasize the beauty of the pool. You can
look at a flower but you must not touch it or pick it." The king's son pleaded with the prince to let him
pick one flower, but the prince refused imperiously to his request. The king's son felt discouraged. "If you do not
let me pick the flower, I'll die here before your eyes!" He said. At that moment
the prince took off his hat, ruffled his long golden hair, and let them surf
on his the neck and his shoulders. "My husband," she said,
"You, a king's son, humiliated yourself in front of me for one flower,
and I, who comes from a simple family, caused a beautiful prince who courted
me, to lose his life and his palace in his trying to seduce me, without even
looking at his face. You drove me out of your palace with no inquiry and no
questioning and threw me on the street without thinking twice. It was my luck
that this unfortunate prince left me his palace, otherwise where could I go? " At that moment
the princess fell down and fainted. The king's son recognized her as his wife
for whom he was secretly yearning. He sprayed rosewater on her from the pool
and she awaked. Then he carried her in his arms to his palace where he
confessed to her about the magic ring he had in his possession and about the
reason that caused him to divorce her. "If it is so," said the
Princess, "then I will not come back to you, and be your wife, unless you
give me this damn ring and let me throw it into the depths of the sea." The prince filled the demand. The
ring sank and was lost in the deep and with it all the feelings of jealousy
in the king's son heart. Loyalty and love filled their hearts and peace and
tranquility came back to dwell at their home. They were blessed
with joy and grace, and their happiness illuminates our face. Yoel Perez The Jewish-Spanish
folktale "The magic ring and the king's son" was recorded by the
researcher Moshe Atyas as he heard it in
Ladino from an anonym informant in his youth. Atyas
wrote the tale from his memory and formulated it in Hebrew, in a
sophisticated language far from the style of the traditional storyteller. So I allowed myself to formulate the story anew in a
spoken language, but staying faithful to the text that was brought in his
book "The Golden Feather." This book contains twenty stories from
his legacy and was published in 1976, three years
after his death. The tale is clearly a feminine
story, even though it is opened with the life-story
of the king's son and his marriage to four women, the protagonist of the tale
is ultimately the peasant girl that he takes as a wife. This girl has to
manage with the life at the king's court. Three male figures appear in the
story: the king, the king's son and the foreign prince who tries to seduce
the heroine. The number of female figures is
greater and includes the heroine of the story, her
mother the laundress, the queen and the brusha
– the wicked old woman. Let us look first at the male
characters. The king almost does not play a role in the story. He is
mentioned at the beginning as the one who prevents his son to go out to the
world without his supervision and once again when he
decides together with the queen to marry him. The first episode reflected a
very common motif in adolescence folktales – the oedipal motif – the process
of growing up and the revolting against the father's authority, the struggle
for independence. After the second mention the king
disappears completely from the plot. When the son goes to battle, leaving his
wife alone, the king does not appear. In such a way
the storyteller creates a situation in which the young princess is forced to
cope on her own with the foreign prince's seduction. The second male character, the
king's son, drives the plot. The king's son comes of age. He makes decisions,
but many of them are hasty decisions. His advisor is his mother who accompanies
him at every step. She indeed lectures him for his wrong decisions and
supports him in his attempts to discover the secrets of the princess, but her
influence is limited. She can not force him to
listen to her, and she cannot oppose his actions. The third figure is the figure of
the foreign prince. He appears here in the role of the seducer of the
princess who tries to catch her in his net and pays for it with his life.
After his death, the princess takes his place, and skillfully plays the male character. What can we say about the feminine
characters? The queen is an active figure, but with limited power, being a
woman who lives in a typical patriarchal society. The laundress, the princess's
mother, is also drawn as a humble and powerless
figure. The figure that deviates from the
usual conventions of feminine behavior is the brusha.
The brusha (bruja
in Spanish) is a general name for both: a witch and a wicked old woman who
behaves like a witch. She is perceived as a negative quarrelsome figure, who undermines the foundations of society. She stands on
her own and obeys no one. Now that we had a short glance at
the minor characters, let us look deep into the heroine's
actions. The plot of the story takes place in a patriarchal society, a
society where decision makers are men. Women in patriarchal society have a
definite place: they are supposed to behave according to the established
patterns of behavior that fixed for them by men. The heroine
of our story is no exception. As a woman she is very
limited in her possibilities and her actions. Only when she disguises as a
man she can take action. In a patriarchal society woman
should be always under the patronage of someone; in her youth
a girl is under the patronage of her parents and she leaves that patronage
only when she gets married. Then, she enters her husband's custody.
Independent woman has no place in a patriarchal society. Women who are their
own master are perceived as a threat to the social
order and are crucified by it. When the heroine of
the story is cast from the palace, she finds herself in an impossible
situation, a situation of a woman without means that nobody sponsors her. So in what way then can women
successfully cope with the difficulties that the masculine society creates? They use four ways: A. Using cunning. B. Exploiting the weaknesses of men
with whom they cope. C. Using the
feminine charms – both corporal and erotic. D. Reliance on
women fraternity and women solidarity. We will try to show how the heroine of the story makes use in each one of these means.
At the beginning of the story the heroine is in a disadvantageous position. Her
fresh husband has two advantages: first he belongs
to the aristocracy, while she is a peasant girl, and second he is holding a
ring that allows him to discover her secrets, a ring that he already used
previously when he decided to expel his three previous wives next to their
wedding day. Our heroine
finds her way to the kingdom because of her character: she is modest, she
keeps her clothes clean and she blindly obeys her husband's whims. So in the beginning of the story she plays the ideal
female stereotype set by male society, and finds the way to her husband's
heart. She succeeds where her predecessors failed. Even her secludedness
in the palace does not protect her from the impact of men. Even sitting in
the window and watching the sea is enough for letting herself being revealed to the danger of desecration of her
innocence by a stranger. In the Book of Samuel there was
written about Michal, Saul's daughter: "And it
was so, as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David,
that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window." (II
Samuel Chapter VI Verse 16) The exact Hebrew
words were not "looked out" but "she was reflected" or
"she was overlooked", that is to say, she had not only look out but
let herself to be seen by others. It was enough for the sages of the
Talmud to blame her in misconduct. They said about her that she was not just
a passive observer, but she caused others to look at her. Our heroine
did not even do this. She only looked out, but it was enough to arouse the
attention of the seducer. Furthermore, when the king's son looked out of his
window to see what happens in the street, this act heralded the beginning of
his independence as a man, his entry into life outside. When the princess
looked out from her window, she endangered herself as a woman. It is also
interesting to compare the thoughts of the princess as she overlooks the sea
and the thoughts that are passing in the foreign prince's head when he
observes her at that moment from his ship: The princess looks away wistfully
and expectantly, waiting for her husband's return. However
the foreign prince looks at her and the thoughts that are passing in his mind
are thoughts of seduction and lust. In order to cope with her new
situation as a defenseless woman she is forced to
turn to guile: demanding from the lover impossible demands. And once again, pay attention to the fact that here is
once more a mirror reflection: her cunning against the cunning of the brusha, who finds a way to enter the palace and
win the princess's faith, by presenting herself as a relative bringing her
presents. Our princess, who is well-versed in
cunning ways, does not fall in her net and immediately identifies her
intentions. The gifts that the brusha brings
to the princess are perfumes and soaps. She tries to influence her and
intoxicate her senses through smell. Later we will see that the princess uses
a similar trick – rosewater pool – to intoxicate her husband to dull his
senses. But even when she presents her demands
to the lover, it includes not only the construction of the palace but also
the establishment of a very special garden with rosewater pool and golden
carnations. She does not know yet if he can build the palace at all before
her husband's return, but she is planning ahead and
thinks about the future. According to the Talmudic sages,
Abigail, David wife, "seduced in her mention", because she
hints to David that he should not forget her when he becomes a king and when
she herself gets rid of Naval, her husband, and that he would marry her: "And it shall come
to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good
that He hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince
over Israel… And when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember
thy handmaid." In this context, a popular proverb
is placed in the mouth of Rabbi Nahman: "The
duck lowers his head [to find the nearest grains], but his eyes look
forwards [to find more grains]", that is to say, the duck walks with
his head down but his eyes are looking far and wide to find other things.
Abigail behaves like this and so also our heroine –
both plan their actions. According to another version the proverb that was
quoted by Rabbi Nachman was, "Woman, along
with conversation [works with the] – spindle", that is to say; women
know how to use time and take maximum advantage of it – talking and the same
time working. This proverb also may adjust somewhat our heroine.
Presenting the princess as one who plans her steps well in advance,
emphasizes her characteristics as a woman. However
her husband, the king's son makes all the way reckless spontaneous decisions without
thinking about the future. It seems that here we encounter the same manly and
feminine stereotypes that are common in a patriarchal society and determine
the gender status of each one of the genders within it. When the princess finds out that
her lover was able to meet all her demands she is
using a new trick: taking advantage of the weaknesses of the man who courts
her. For seventy nights she is increasing more and
more the fire of passion burning in his heart. Every day she is pouring oil
on the fire while she is reinforcing his passion, until he reaches the
breaking point and dies of a broken heart. The storyteller is weaving
marvelously the story as he is describing with a master hand the flip-flops
echo in the tunnel, echo that is maddening the lover's mind. With the death of the lover she has
to deal with a new problem, how to hide his body and win his palace, and she
finds solutions to these problems too. She does not know what her future
holds. She is also not aware of the existing of the magic ring of her
husband. At this point of the story she is not sure
yet whether she would have a use in the palace, the garden and the tunnel.
Taking the keys is just another security measure she takes in case something
goes wrong. And although her husband returned
safely from the battlefield, she did not yet reach the state of tranquility.
She remained loyal to her husband and she grappled bravely and cunningly with
her lover. But she has pangs of conscience because
the keeping of her virtue and innocence keeping her loyalty to her husband
cost her lover' life and property. She feels guilty, but she keeps her
emotions in her heart. She has no idea that her husband can find out her
heart secrets. In the next episode, after it seems
to her that her troubles had ended, she falls once again "from a high
mountain to a deep pit". And once again she has
to deal with the most dangerous situation of a woman's life in patriarchal
society: life without means of support, without a male sponsor who can
protect her. At this point she discovers a new
resourcefulness: in order to survive in a hostile and dangerous manly world,
she must impersonate as a man. From her point of view
this is an ideal solution: She prepared in advance the means that can help
her to do this, but the task is not simple at all: she has to adopt a male
identity. The king' son who meets her admires the wisdom of the false prince,
his beauty and his nice manners, but unconsciously he feels that something is
wrong. The storyteller suggests to us here
that with all her goodwill she can not play the role
perfectly. Her feminine qualities betray her. There seems to be here more comprehensive statement: in the perception of
patriarchal society each of the genders has a definite role and definite
behavior that separate between them and perpetuate the gap. Any attempt to
cross the lines is a threat to the status quo. Impersonation is only a
temporary solution. Moreover, the prince is assisted by his mother's feminine knowledge. Here we
see once more the reflection: there is an analogy to the actions of the
foreign prince who was assisted by the female figure
of the brusha. The princess is dealing not
only with her husband's instincts, but with whole
set of tests offered to her husband by another woman, the mother of
her husband and his ally. She is deceiving both because she knows how to use
the means at her disposal: the same tunnel that allowed her to defeat her
lover she uses now in a different way, to fool her husband. And if we mentioned the queen, we should
look at her reaction to the expulsion of the princess from the palace. Here
we can see the place of women fraternity and women solidarity in the story;
though she stands beside her son and supports him, she can
not avoid scolding at him and fuming athis
behavior. We know nothing about the relationship between the queen and her
daughter-un-law, but now in a state of crisis, pity for the poor bride is
emerging in her heart. She pities the girl that had been
thrown into the street through no fault of her hand. She as a woman
knows how hard may be the life of a woman thrown onto the street and she
feels sorry for her. She makes a lot of efforts to
persuade her son to reconsider his decision, and when he can not resist her
implorations, he just runs away from her room and leaves without saying
anything. In this part of
the story we meet all the stereotypical features that the patriarchal society
ascribes to each one of the genders in order to emphasize the separation
between them: the way of cutting bread, the different attention to fellowman
property – stepping on the carpets with dirty boots instead of removing them,
order and cleanliness, the test of the rose petals that supposed to be a
"scientific" objective test of gender, and later the walking near
the market stalls that exhibit feminine items – dresses and jewelry – that
should arouse the curiosity and draw the glances of the prince if he is
indeed an impostor. Similar tests are
known to us
from the Midrash about the relationship
between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. In one of the riddles presented
by the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, she asks him to tell the difference between
men and women, and this is what the Midrash
says: Another example did [the Queen of Sheba], she
brought him young children, the same sight, the same height and the same
dress, and she told him: "tell the females from
the males." He hinted his servants to bring walnuts and almonds and to
disperse them before them. Males who were not embarrassed took them in their
clothes; females who were embarrassed took them in their scarves. So he said: "These are males and those are females!"
she said to him: "My son, you are very smart." (Midrash
of Proverbs chapter A) Here comes a new peak in the plot:
an invitation to the bath-houses. The princess gets out of it by her
cunning. The final test that is supposed to
differentiate between men and women is the test of the house cleaning. It is expected from a woman to keep her house clean and unlike
a man not postpone the housework for the next day. This test allows our
storyteller to pass the stage of the plot from the palace to the garden. At
the beginning of the story the princess enchanted
the king's son by her nice manners, her cleanliness and her clean clothes.
Later she captured the heart of the foreign prince solely by her visage. Until that point
she actually used the natural features of her beauty and her character. Even
in the description of her meeting with the evil brusha,
the storyteller informs us that she kindly consented to accept her gifts in
order not to insult her. In her meeting with the king's son in the jewelry
store she once again enchants the king' son with the charming suavity of her
conversation, though she plays the role of man. It seems that her good character
does not allow her to play the game till its very
end. In the episode that occurs in the garden near the rosewater pool, she
intoxicates her husband's heart and dulls his senses through the smell rising
from the pool. It seems as if she repay him here for the rose petals test
that she did to him. And then comes the moment of truth. At the
right moment she exploits his weakness – his
willingness to humiliate himself in front of her just to cause her to let him
pick the flower. She casts the truth at his face and makes the obvious
comparison between his behavior and her behavior. It seems that the exposal of the
secret about the death of her lover is for her a therapeutic act that allows
her to get rid of her guilt, though it is done
unconsciously. In any case her excitement at this
moment is so intense that she loses her consciousness and faints at his feet.
The king's son sprays rosewater on her face to revive her, as she sprayed
water on the rose petals to prevent them from fading. The fainting of the
girl has also another meaning: The effort to play the masculine role requires
self-discipline and exertion of all her forces. It seems that this moment is
a breaking point for her: She sacrificed so much to keep her honor and
loyalty, while her husband was ready to abase himself for a flower. The storm
of emotions that takes control of her while she is listening to his words
causes her to lose her consciousness. But maybe it is a trick? Maybe she is
so afraid from the moment of the discovery that she uses the last means that
is available to her in order to arouse his sympathy and
compassion and she stages fainting? Once again, this behavior is often attributed to women. Of course
one can interpret this act in both ways, but I tend to think that this is not
an act of cunning, but a sign of her intense excitement. One cannot ignore the symbolism of
the garden, the pool and the carnations. Garden and pool had always
symbolized the female body. The prohibition of picking the flower symbolizes
the prohibition of harming a woman's innocence: one can look at but not
touch, let alone pick. And of course there is the
clear erotic symbol of the tunnel – the penetration and the regression. The confession of the woman is
pulling her husband's confession. Within the mutual reconciliation, he
reveals his secret – the secret of the ring that had given him an advantage
all the way, a secret that he did not share even with his mother. The consent
of the king's son to allow her to throw the ring into the sea completes her
victory: within her limits as a woman she had
reached the point of spiritual equality between them. She is still the
obedient woman and he is still the dominant man, but for all that something was changed. We see therefore how in this remarkable feminine story all the tools that allow a woman to find her place in a manly world are demonstrated: cunning, exploiting of man's weaknesses, using her erotic physical charm, and the assistance provided by women fraternity and women solidarity.
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