''Little Catskin'' is an American
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
from
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
, collected by Marie Campbell in ''Tales from the Cloud Walking Country'', listing her informant as Big Nelt.
It is
Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love. Others of this type include ''
Catskin
Catskin is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs, in ''More English Fairy Tales''. Marian Roalfe Cox, in her pioneering study of ''Cinderella'', identified as one of the basic types, the Unnatural Father, contrasting with ''Cinderella'' ...
'', ''
Cap O' Rushes
"Cap-o'-Rushes" is an English fairy tale published by Joseph Jacobs in ''English Fairy Tales''.
Jacobs gives his source as "Contributed by Mrs. Walter-Thomas to "Suffolk Notes and Queries" of the ''Ipswich Journal'', published by Mr. Lang in ''Lon ...
'', ''
Donkeyskin
''Donkeyskin'' (french: Peau d'Âne) is a French literary fairytale written in verse by Charles Perrault. It was first published in 1695 in a small volume and republished in 1697 in Perrault's ''Histoires ou contes du temps passé''. Andrew Lan ...
'', ''
Allerleirauh
"Allerleirauh" ( en, "All-Kinds-of-Fur", sometimes translated as "Thousandfurs") 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 Gree ...
'', ''
The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter'', ''
The She-Bear
"The She-bear" is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the ''Pentamerone''.
Ruth Manning-Sanders included it in ''A Book of Princes and Princesses''.
It is Aarne-Thompson classification system folktal ...
'', ''
Mossycoat
"Mossycoat" is a fairy tale published by Katherine M. Briggs and Ruth Tongue in ''Folktales of England''. Carter, Angela. ''The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book'' New York: Pantheon Books, 1990. pp. 48-56. . It appears in ''A Book of British Fairy Tale ...
'', ''
Tattercoats
"Tattercoats" is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his ''More English Fairy Tales''.
It is Aarne–Thompson type 510B, the persecuted heroine. Others of this type include " Cap O' Rushes", "Catskin", " Little Cat Skin", "Allerl ...
'', ''
The Princess That Wore A Rabbit-Skin Dress'', ''
The Bear'' and ''
The Princess in the Suit of Leather
''The Princess in the Suit of Leather'' is an Egyptian folktale. It may also be referred to as ''The Princess in the Leather Burqa''. This story was originally published in translation in Inea Bushnaq's 1986 collection ''Arab Folktales''. Author ...
''.
Synopsis
A man puts away his dead wife's wedding gown, saying he would not remarry to a less pretty woman. His two older daughters mistreat the
youngest daughter
The youngest son is a stock character in fairy tales, where he features as the hero. He is usually the third son, but sometimes there are more brothers, and sometimes he has only one; usually, they have no sisters.
In a family of many daughters, ...
until she has to patch her gowns with catskin. One day, she puts on her mother's gown. Her father begged her to tell him who she was. She demanded and got a dress the color of all the clouds that go by, and another of all the flowers that bloom; then she told him that she was his daughter Little Cat Skin. He drove her away, and she took the dresses and went to work in a queen's kitchen. The queen had a party, and told Little Cat Skin she could come, and even gave her an old dress, but Little Cat Skin wore the dress of clouds. The queen's son fell in love with her. She went to another party in that dress, and then a
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
in the dress of flowers. The son gave her a ring and fell sick with love. Little Cat Skin offered to cook something for him, and she put the ring in the dish. He saw her and thought she looked like the girl, and when he found the ring, he knew she was. They married.
Analysis
Tale type
In his 1987 guide to folktales, folklorist
D. L. Ashliman
Dee L. Ashliman (born January 1, 1938), who writes professionally as D. L. Ashliman, is an American folklorist and writer. He is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Pittsburgh and is considered to be a leading expert on folklore an ...
classified the tale, according to the international
Aarne-Thompson Index, as type AaTh 510B, "A King Tries To Marry His Daughter", thus related to French tale ''
Donkeyskin
''Donkeyskin'' (french: Peau d'Âne) is a French literary fairytale written in verse by Charles Perrault. It was first published in 1695 in a small volume and republished in 1697 in Perrault's ''Histoires ou contes du temps passé''. Andrew Lan ...
'', by
Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...
, and other variants, such as
Allerleirauh
"Allerleirauh" ( en, "All-Kinds-of-Fur", sometimes translated as "Thousandfurs") 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 Gree ...
,
Cap O' Rushes
"Cap-o'-Rushes" is an English fairy tale published by Joseph Jacobs in ''English Fairy Tales''.
Jacobs gives his source as "Contributed by Mrs. Walter-Thomas to "Suffolk Notes and Queries" of the ''Ipswich Journal'', published by Mr. Lang in ''Lon ...
,
Mossycoat
"Mossycoat" is a fairy tale published by Katherine M. Briggs and Ruth Tongue in ''Folktales of England''. Carter, Angela. ''The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book'' New York: Pantheon Books, 1990. pp. 48-56. . It appears in ''A Book of British Fairy Tale ...
,
The Bear,
The She-Bear
"The She-bear" is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the ''Pentamerone''.
Ruth Manning-Sanders included it in ''A Book of Princes and Princesses''.
It is Aarne-Thompson classification system folktal ...
and
The King who Wished to Marry his Daughter.
Variants
Researcher Isabel Gordon Carter collected and published a
North Carolinian
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
variant from
Southern Blue Ridge. In this tale, titled ''Old Catkins'', a widowed man has three daughters. One of the daughters is lazy and hated by the other two. The man puts away his deceased wife's dress and promises to marry one that can fit in that dress. One day, his youngest daughter wears it, her father sees someone wearing the dress from the fields and rushes back home. He asks his daughter who waswearing the dress, but the girl asks her father a dress before she confesses: the father gives her a dress "the color of every cloud ... of the ereal", another the colour of every bird, and a third the colour of every fish in the sea. She then reveals ''she'' was the one who wore her mother's dress; her father beats her and expels her from home. She leaves home, takes the dresses to a dressmaker, and finds work as a queen's servant. Due to her diligence, the queen becomes fond of her, and invites her to a big dance at a "club house", and promises to lend her some clothes for her to wear. The girl - named Catskin or Catskins - is given the queen's clothes, but goes to the dance with the dresses she brought with her from home. She dances with the king's son. The king's son falls in love with her, but, after three nights of her presence at the dance, he cannot find her again, and grows sick with love. The girl then promises to bake a cake for him, and places her ring inside it. The girl takes the cake to the prince, he gets better and marries the girl.
Folklorist
Arthur Fauset
Arthur Huff Fauset (January 20, 1899 – September 2, 1983) was an American civil rights activist, anthropologist, folklorist, and educator. Born in Flemington, New Jersey, he grew up in Philadelphia, where he attended Central High School.
...
collected an African-American tale from
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
with the title ''Catskin'': a man's dying wife makes him promise to marry another wife that look like her. After she dies, the man, intenting on fulfilling his wife's vow, declares he wants to marry his own daughter, to the latter's horror. She consults with her godmother what she can do to avoid it, and the godmother advises her to ask for some wedding gifts first: a "speakin' lookin' glass", a dress made of the hide of a jack, and a ring that can fit the finest bird of the air. Still obeying her godmother's advice, she places the looking glass to answer for her on the wedding day, and leaves home wearing the Jackskin. She goes to another kingdom and finds work as a turkey girl. One day, the king's son spies through the keyhole and sees the Jackskin girl wearing a beautiful dress "the color of fair weather". THe prince falls in love with the girl and becomes ill with love. Some time late,r he wishes for cake to eat, and every maiden bakes one, but the prince does not eat them. Instead, he prefers a cake made by Jackskin. She bakes a cake for the prince and hides her ring in it. The price finds the ring and summons every maiden to try it, until he sends for Jackskin. He puts the king on her finger and marries her.
In a tale collected by American folklorist
Richard Chase
Richard Trenton Chase (May 23, 1950 – December 26, 1980) was an American serial killer, cannibal, and necrophile who killed six people in the span of a month in 1977 and 1978 in Sacramento, California. He was nicknamed The Vampire of Sac ...
with the title ''Catskins'', a poor, orphaned girl works for a couple and wears only a ragged dress she patches with catskins. Some time later, her employer's wife dies, and he goes to work on the fields. Meanwhile, Catskins wears the dead woman's dress; the man goes home and seeing her in that dress, asks her to marry him. She agrees, but asks first for a dress: the first one the colour of all fishes in the sea; the second one the colour of all birds of the air; and the third one the colour of all flowers of the world. Lastly, she asks for the man's flying box. Catskins takes the dresses and flies away on the box to another kingdom. She keeps the dresses inside the box, and utter a magical command for the box to hide under a stone, then goes to the castle and finds work as a kitchen maid. One day, the king holds a dance in the palace, and Catskins goes to the dance wearing one of her dresses, and dazzles the king's son. After the dances end, he becomes ill with longing for the mysterious woman at the ball. Catskins bakes him a cake and hides a ring inside it. The prince finds the ring. An old woman takes Catskins to meet the prince, but she goes to the woods, summons the flying box and flies back to the castle. She wears the three dresses in front on the king, who recognizes her and marries her.
[Chase, Richard. ''Grandfather Tales''. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1976 ]948
Year 948 ( CMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Arab–Byzantine War: Hamdanid forces under Sayf al-Dawla raid into Asia Minor ...
pp. 106-115, 236.
References
Sources
*
{{Donkeyskin
American fairy tales
Female characters in fairy tales
ATU 500-559