"The Raven" is a
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 ...
, number 93 in their collections.
It is
Aarne–Thompson type 401, the girl transformed into an animal.
Synopsis
A queen wished her naughty daughter would turn into a raven and fly away, so she could have some peace, and her
wish
A wish is a hope or desire for something. In fiction, wishes can be used as plot devices. In folklore, opportunities for "making a wish" or for wishes to "come true" or "be granted" are themes that are sometimes used.
In fiction
In fiction a ...
was instantly
fulfilled. She flew away to a forest.
In the forest, a man heard a raven tell him she was an enchanted princess, and he could deliver her if he went to a certain cottage and accepted no food from the old woman there. The raven would drive by in a carriage every day for
three
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
days. If he remained awake, he would break the spell. Each day, the old woman persuaded him to drink but one sip, and each day, overcome by weariness, he was fast asleep by the time the raven drove past. On the final day, the raven left the sleeping man a bottle of wine, a loaf, and a piece of meat, all three of which were inexhaustible and put a gold ring with her name on his finger. She also gave him a letter telling him there was another way he might deliver her: by coming to the golden castle of Stromberg.
The man wandered, looking for the castle, and found a
giant
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...
who threatened to eat him, but the man fed him with his magical provisions. Then the giant brought out his map, which displayed all the towns, villages and houses in the land – but not the castle. He asked the man to wait until his brother came home. The brother was able to find the castle on an older map, but it was thousands of miles away. The brother agreed to carry the man to within a hundred leagues of the castle, and the man walks the rest.
As the man approached the glass mountain on which the golden castle stood, he could see the bewitched princess drive her carriage around the castle and go in. But the glass mountain was too slippery for him to climb, and he lived in a hut at the foot of the mountain for a year. One day he met three robbers fighting over three magical items: a stick that opened doors, an
invisibility mantle, and a horse that could ride up the glass-mountain. The man offered them a mysterious reward in exchange for the items, but he insisted on first trying them out, to see if they worked as promised. After he had mounted the horse, taken the stick, and was made invisible by the cloak, he hit the robbers with his stick and rode up the glass mountain. He used the stick and mantle to get into the castle and threw his ring into the princess's cup. She couldn't find her rescuer though she searched the entire castle, until he finally revealed himself by throwing off the mantle. They were married.
See also
*
Black Bull of Norroway
The Black Bull of Norroway is a fairy tale from Scotland. A similar story titled The Red Bull of Norroway first appeared in print in ''Popular Rhymes of Scotland'' by Robert Chambers in 1842. A version titled The Black Bull of Norroway in the 18 ...
*
Raven Tales
Raven Tales are the traditional human and animal creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They are also found among Athabaskan-speaking peoples and others. Raven stories exist in nearly all of the First Nation ...
*
The Blue Mountains
*
The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples
"The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples" (''Zlatna jabuka i devet paunica'') is a work of Serbian epic poetry. It is classified as Aarne-Thompson type 400*, "The Swan maiden, Swan Maiden", and ATU 400, "The Quest for the Lost Wife".
It was publis ...
*
The Seven Ravens
"The Seven Ravens" (German: ''Die sieben Raben'') is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 25). It is of Aarne–Thompson type 451 ("The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers"), commonly found throughout Europe.
Georgios A Megas col ...
*
The Three Dogs
The Three Dogs is a German fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Green Fairy Book'', listing his source as the Brothers Grimm. A version of this tale appears in '' A Book of Dragons'' by Ruth Manning-Sanders.
It is Aarne-Thompson type 5 ...
*
The Three Princesses of Whiteland
"The Three Princesses of Whiteland" (''De tre prinsesser i Hvittenland'') is a Norwegian fairy tale, collected by Norwegian writers Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their collection of folktales and legends ''Norske folkeeventyr ...
*
The Twelve Wild Ducks
"The Twelve Wild Ducks" (Norwegian: ''De tolv villender'') is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in ''Norske Folkeeventyr''.
It is Aarne–Thompson type 451, the brothers who were turned into birds.
P ...
*
What Came of Picking Flowers
External links
SurLaLune "The Raven"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raven, The
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Fictional princesses
Fictional ravens
Fiction about shapeshifting
Fiction about giants
Fiction about invisibility
Female characters in fairy tales
ATU 400-459