"The Hut in the Forest" (also The Hut in the Wood; German: ''Das Waldhaus'') is a German

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 ...

collected by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

(KHM 169).

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

included it in ''

The Pink Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...

'' (1897). It is Aarne-Thompson type 431.

Synopsis

A wood-cutter told his wife to have his oldest daughter bring him his dinner in the woods. She lost her way and in the night found a house with a gray-haired man and a

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...

, a cock, and a brindled

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

. She asked for shelter. The man asked the animals, the animals said "Duks", and the man agreed, and told her to cook dinner. She cooked for him and herself, and asked for a bed. He directed her to an upper room, where she went to sleep. The old man followed her and opened a trapdoor that let her down into the cellar as her punishment. The next day, the same thing happened with the second daughter. On the third day, the youngest ended up in the hut. She pet the animals, and when she had made supper for herself and the old man, also got barley for the birds and hay for the cow. She went upstairs to sleep, but at midnight, a sound like the house tearing apart woke her. Still, it stopped, and she went back to sleep In the morning, she found herself in a palace with a king's son, enchanted with three attendants. The king's son had been bewitched by an evil

fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

to remain there as an old man until a woman - who is very kind to people and animals - arrived. He summoned her parents to the wedding, and made her sisters servants to a charcoal burner, until they learned not to leave poor animals to suffer hunger.

Analysis

The tale is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 431, "The House in the Forest". In this type of enchanted husband narrative, the old man is actually a prince, and his three animals are his three servants. This type may also appear combined with tale type ATU 480, " The Kind and Unkind Girls". Tale type 431 is also found in Turkey, where the "House in the Woods" becomes a "House of Cats".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hut in the Forest, The Hut in the Forest Hut in the Forest ATU 400-459

Synopsis

Analysis

See also

References

External links