The Folktale
Stith Thompson
Victorious youngest son. *Types 326, 402, 471, 513, 550, 551, 554, 569, 570, 571, 577, 580, 610, 935, 1650. See also references under each of these type entries in FFC LXXIV. *Hdwb. d. Märchens I 186a; Malone PMLA XLIII 398f.; *A. Christensen Danske Studier (1916) 46ff.; Chauvin II 115 No. 88. – Irish myth: Cross; Icelandic: *Boberg; Spanish Exempla: Keller; Jewish: *Neuman; India: *Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Graham; Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 491; Tahiti: Henry Ancient Tahiti (Honolulu, 1928) 614; Tuamotu: Stimson MS (T-G. 3/403, 615); Easter Island: Métraux Ethnology 383; Polynesian: Dixon 41; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 327 n. 185, (California): Gayton and Newman 74; Africa (Jaunde): Heepe 262, (Fang): Tessman 107, (Zanzibar): Bateman 155ff. No. 8, (Ekoi): Talbot 207, 259, 355, (Fjort): Dennett 65 No. 13, (Gold Coast): Barker and Sinclair 171 No. 34; Cape Verde Islands: Parsons MAFLS XV (1) 110f. No. 39. |
Part Two The Folktale from Ireland to India II – The Complex Tale 8. Good and bad relatives D. Successful Youngest Child |
In a large proportion of the stories of substituted brides and of persecuted wives or maidens the heroine who undergoes these sufferings and who finally triumphs is the youngest sister who is brought into contrast with her cruel or haughty elder sisters. [172] Likewise, in a whole group of the tales which we have noticed, the youngest son plays a similar role. [173] This contrast between elder and younger child does not always play a subordinate role in folktales, but in one of the most famous of all groups is all-important in the action of the story. The whole group is sometimes known as the Cinderella cycle, even when we are dealing with a hero. [174] It is normally true that in all tales of this kind the youngest child is also especially unpromising, either because of appearance, shiftless habits, or habitual bad treatment by others. But even though such qualities are emphasized in the narrative, it is never forgotten that the distinguishing quality of these heroes and heroines is the fact that they are the youngest. The tale known in the Grimm collection as Frau Holle ( This general theme of the two daughters, one kind and the other unkind, has already appeared prominently in the story of The Black and the White [p.126] Bride. [176] There it was merely the introduction to the story of the substituted bride. But in Frau Holle the contrasting action of the two girls in the lower world and their appropriate rewards is the whole story, and there is every tendency to elaborate the details. Basile told the tale in two different forms in his Pentamerone, and it received further literary treatment by Perrault. All of these authors added to the wealth of detail, and it has received much independent elaboration wherever it has been told. It is one of the most popular of oral tales, being distributed over nearly the whole world. It is found in almost all collections from every part of Europe, from southern and eastern Asia, from northern and central Africa, and from North and South America. In the western hemisphere it occurs in three widely separated American Indian tribes; in the French folklore of Louisiana, Canada, the West Indies, and French Guiana; and in the Spanish tradition of Peru and the Portuguese of Brazil. A cursory examination of appropriate bibliographical works shows nearly six hundred versions. A serious study, which we hope may sometime be undertaken, would probably bring to light many hundreds more. One special development of this tale, found only in eastern Europe, tells how the devil demands entrance into the house. But, on advice of the helpful animals, the girl demands that he bring her various things until the night has worn away and he must depart. [177] Possibly to be considered as a special variation of Frau Holle is a tale of which only six versions have been noted—Basque, French, Danish, and Swedish. In this story, The Presents ( Probably the best known of all folktales is Cinderella ( In Cinderella the heroine is abused by her stepmother and stepsisters. Her name is always connected in some way with ashes (Cendrillon, Aschenputtel, or the like), indicating her lowly position in the household. The poor girl receives supernatural aid, sometimes from her dead mother, or from a tree on the mother's grave, or from an animal (often a reincarnation of the mother), or from a fairy godmother. In some versions the helpful animal is killed, and a tree springs up which magically provides beautiful clothes for the girl. As in the familiar Perrault telling, she may dance three successive nights with the prince and escape just before the forbidden hour. Some versions tell how the prince sees the girl in church. At any rate, she flees from the prince and a search for her is necessary. It is not always the lost slipper which brings about identification, but she may be found by any of the approved methods known to readers of fairy tales—a ring thrown into the prince's cup or baked in his bread, or the special favor shown her when the tree bows before her so that she can pluck its golden apple. The version of Perrault is so familiar through two hundred and fifty years' use as a nursery tale that we are likely to think that all the details which he mentions are essential. Some of them, as a matter of fact, are practically unknown elsewhere; for example, the glass slipper. A vast majority of the versions do have a slipper, but not of glass. It has been suggested that Perrault's glass slipper comes from a confusion between the French words verre and vaire, and this may possibly be true. The fairy godmother is a relatively rare occurrence in the tale. On the other hand, traits not found in Perrault assume importance as we trace the tale around the world: the help of the dead mother, usually reincarnated as an animal, the clothes colored like the sun, moon, and stars, and the appearance of the heroine as a herder of turkeys. This story of Cinderella appears in not fewer than five hundred versions in Europe alone. It seems to be popular in India and Farther India and has been taken without change by Europeans to the Philippines and elsewhere in Indonesia. It is found among the North African Arabs, in the Western Sudan, in Madagascar and on the island of Mauritius. It has also been well received in America. The French have brought it to Missouri and Canada, and the isle of Martinique. It has also been reported from Brazil and Chile. Especially interesting are the modifications of this story by the North American Indians, the Piegans of the Glaciar Park area, the Ojibwa of the Great Lakes, and the Zuñi of New Mexico. In the latter version an almost complete adaptation to the Zuñi environment has been made. The abused daughter is a turkey herd (as in some European versions). Her turkeys take pity on her and furnish magic clothes. She attends the tribal dance and attracts the chief's [p. 128] son, but she disobeys her turkeys and overstays her time. They punish her by taking away all her beautiful clothes. A reader who was not familiar with the Cinderella story might well imagine that this is a native Zuñi tale. Its actual Spanish origin is unmistakable. As Miss Cox's analysis of this cycle shows, there is very considerable mutual influence exerted between Cinderella and the related tale of Cap o' Rushes ( This tale has been made popular in the world of readers by treatment in every important literary collection of stories since the sixteenth century—Straparola, Basile, and Perrault. But its wide acceptance in the folklore of the whole area from Scandinavia to India would seem, for the most part, to be independent of these literary treatments. While not so universally told as its companion story, Cinderella, well over two hundred oral versions have been noted by folktale students. But only a single variant each from Africa and the two Americas have thus far come to light. So closely related in detail to Cinderella and Cap o' Rushes that it is frequently considered a variant form is the story of One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes ( buried and from them there grows a magic tree with golden apples. The tree [p. 129] will yield its fruit only to Two-Eyes, into whose hands the apples come of themselves. When a prince asks for some of the apples the sisters fail and only Two-Eyes can give them to him. The tale naturally ends with her marriage to the prince. It seems unlikely, in spite of Dr. Krappe's contention, [180] that this modern European folktale has any organic connection with the old Greek myth of Phrixos and Helle. There are, however, literary versions of our story in Germany and Sweden from the sixteenth century down. Though it is by no means as popular as either Cinderella or Cap o' Rushes, it is distributed rather evenly over the whole of Europe. It is also known in India, Indonesia, North Africa, and Madagascar. A version from English tradition has recently been reported from Virginia. What may be considered a variation of this story is the tale of The Little Red Bull ( Although many examples of the fortunate youngest son have appeared in other connections in some of the tales we have already examined and in those to come later, [182] one story of a "male Cinderella" deserves special mention here. In The Prodigal's Return ( In Europe this story seems to be entirely confined to the Baltic states and Denmark, where it has been collected in large numbers. But its presence in America among the Micmac Indians and among the Missouri French gives every indication that it was brought across the ocean by Frenchmen. In Missouri it has been skilfully combined with the tale of The Youth Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Is ( |
[172] In cases where the contrast is not with elder sisters it is usually with stepsisters. [173] For the victorious youngest daughter, see [174]Some authors have used the term "male Cinderella" for such younger and unpromising sons. [175] In many versions she is the stepdaughter and is made to contrast with the stepmother's real daughter. [176] Type 403. This [177] See Bolte-Polívka, I, 221ff. for a list of these versions. Though some seventy are mentioned, they are all from countries between Bohemia and the Caucasus. See [178] For a discussion of this version, see R. D. Jameson, Three Lectures on Chinese Folklore, pp. 45ff. [179] This [180]A. H. Krappe, Folk-Lore, XXXIV (1923), 141ff. [181]For discussion see: Bolte-Polívka, III, 65; Béaloideas, II, 268, 273. [182] Among other places, the favorite youngest son is found in the following tales: The White Cat ( |
Types: 314, 326, 361, 402, 431, 440, 471, 480, 510A, 510B, 511, 511*, 513, 513A, 550, 551, 554, 569, 571, 577, 580, 610, 620, 706, 707, 923, 923A, 935, 1650 |
Motifs H592.1, K555, L10, L50, Q2 |