"The Clever Little Tailor" (german: Vom klugen Schneiderlein) is a German fairy tale 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 ...

as tale 114. It is Aarne-Thompson type 850, The Princess's Birthmarks.

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 o ...

included it in ''

The Green 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 ...

''.

Synopsis

A proud princess set a riddle to her wooers and sent them away when they could not answer. Three tailors came. Two were known for their cleverness and skill, and the third for his uselessness. The princess asked them what two colors were her hairs. The first said black and white; the second brown and red; the third gold and silver, and he was right. The princess demanded that he spend the night with a bear as well. In his stall, the tailor began to crack nuts. He offered the bear not nuts but pebbles, and the bear could not crack them. The tailor took one away, substituted a nut, and cracked it. The tailor began to fiddle, and the bear danced. The tailor offered to teach it, but first he had to cut its nails. He trapped it in a vise and left it there. The princess agreed to marry him. The other two tailors freed the bear. It came after the carriage. The tailor stuck his legs out the window and threatened the bear with the claim that they were a vise. It ran off.

Analysis

Professor Stith Thompson classified the tale type as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 850, "The Birthmarks of the Princess". Another characteristic element of the tale type is the type of the birthmark: they are usually shown as a sun, a moon, or a star. French historian François Delpech ( fr) noted that strange birthmarks in folktales indicated a supernatural or royal origin of the characters, and mentioned the tale type in that regard. He interpreted the "hidden birthmark" as a sign of sovereignty, linked to the fate of the protagonist: to ascend to the throne.

Variants

Stith Thompson suggested the tale type ATU 850 originated from genuine European oral folklore, since an ancient literary version is not attested. He also stated that variants are "told all over Europe". This geographical analysis seems to have been confirmed by scholars

Richard Dorson Richard Mercer Dorson (March 12, 1916 – September 11, 1981) was an American folklorist, professor, and director of the Folklore Institute at Indiana University. Dorson has been called the "father of American folklore"Nichols, Amber M.Richard M. ...

and

Kurt Ranke Kurt Ranke (14 April 1908 – 6 June 1985) was a German ethnologist who specialized in the study of fairy tales. Biography Kurt Ranke was born in Blankenburg, Germany on 14 April 1908. His father was a postal inspector. Growing up in Essen, Ranke ...

, who claimed that the tale type was "narrated throughout Europe as well as in North and South America".

Slavic-speaking Area

August Leskien August Leskien (; 8 July 1840 – 20 September 1916) was a German linguist active in the field of comparative linguistics, particularly relating to the Baltic and Slavic languages. Biography Leskien was born in Kiel. He studied philology at the ...

claimed that that this "Märchenkreis" is very widespread in Slavic tradition, with the same plot: the princess sees the dancing animals (sheep, pigs, etc.) of a peasant who plays a musical instrument (flute, violin, etc.) and is interested in buying the animals, in exchange for showing her birthmarks.

Adaptations

Folktale scholar

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 ...

developed his own reconstruction of a proto-form of the tale type.

References

External links

''The Cunning Little Tailor''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clever Little Tailor Grimms' Fairy Tales Fictional tailors Bears in popular culture German fairy tales Textiles in folklore ATU 850-999