"The Swineherd" ( da, Svinedrengen) is a literary

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 ...

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

about a

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

who disguises himself as a

swineherd A swineherd is a person who raises and herds pigs as livestock. Swineherds in literature * In the New Testament are mentioned shepherd of pigs, mentioned in the Pig (Gadarene) the story shows Jesus exorcising a demon or demons from a man and a ...

to win an arrogant princess. The tale was first published December 20, 1841 by C. A. Reitzel in

Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in '' Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. Third Booklet'' (''Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Ny Samling. Tredie Hefte''). The tale appears to be original with Andersen though similar tales are known. "The Swineherd" has been adapted to other media.

Plot

A poor prince wants to marry the Emperor's daughter and sends her two beautiful gifts, a nightingale and a rose. The princess rejects the humble gifts because they're real and natural, rather than artificial. The prince then disguises himself and applies for the position of swineherd at the palace. Once on the job, he creates a musical pot. The princess slogs through the mud to the swineherd's hut and pays ten kisses for the pot. When the swineherd follows the pot with the creation of a musical rattle, she pays one hundred kisses for it. The Emperor, disgusted that his daughter would kiss a swineherd for a toy, casts her out. The prince, having found the princess unworthy of his love, washes his face, dons his royal attire, and spurns the princess as her father did. The princess is left outside the palace door singing dolefully.

Sources

The tale appears to be Andersen's invention though the punishing of proud princesses is a stock theme in folk and fairy tales. In Basile's ''

Pentamerone The ''Pentamerone'', subtitled ''Lo cunto de li cunti'' ("The Tale of Tales"), is a seventeenth-century Neapolitan fairy tale collection by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile. Background The stories in the ''Pentamerone'' were collect ...

'' (1634) a tale tells of proud Cinziella and her wooing by a prince disguised as a gardener. In the Grimm collections, "

King Thrushbeard King Thrushbeard (german: König Drosselbart) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 52). It is of Aarne–Thompson type 900. Origin The tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of ''Kinder- und Hausm ...

" is a similar tale of a royal disguising himself to woo an arrogant princess. Andersen's tale is less sentimental than the traditional tales. In traditional tales, the woman is softened and continues to love the man once he is revealed to be royalty but in Andersen she is cast away and left alone mourning the loss of love and status.

Publication

The tale was first published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark on 20 December 1841 in '' Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. Third Booklet'' (''Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Ny Samling. Tredie Hefte'') and first translated into English by

Charles Boner Charles Boner (1815–1870) was an English travel writer, poet and translator. Life He was the second child and only son of Charles Boner, of Bath, Somerset, who died at Twickenham, 14 Aug. 1833, and was born at Weston, near Bath, 29 April 1815. ...

in 1846 who published it in ''A Danish Storybook''.

Analysis

Professor

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 ...

acknowledged Andersen's literary tale as originating from similar European stories of a swineherd who flirts with a princess. The difference, however, is that the princess in those tales shows her birthmarks to the youth. Professor

Stith Thompson Stith Thompson (March 7, 1885 – January 10, 1976) was an American folklorist: he has been described as "America's most important folklorist". He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which indexes folktales by type, and the ...

classified such tales as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 850, "The Birthmarks of the Princess".

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 ...

wrote that the "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

Stage

*The tale has been adapted to other media. ''Les cent baisers'' (The Hundred Kisses), is a ballet choreographed by

Bronislava Nijinska Bronislava Nijinska (; pl, Bronisława Niżyńska ; russian: Бронисла́ва Фоми́нична Нижи́нская, Bronisláva Fomínična Nižínskaja; be, Браніслава Ніжынская, Branislava Nižynskaja; – Febr ...

to music by Baron Frederic d'Erlanger and a libretto by

Boris Kochno Boris Evgenievich Kochno or Kokhno (russian: Бори́с Евге́ньевич Кохно́; 3 January 1904 – 8 December 1990) was a Russian poet, dancer and librettist. Early life Kochno was born in Moscow, Russia, on 3 January 1904. His fa ...

. The ballet premiered at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

18 July 1935 with

Irina Baronova Irina Mikhailovna Baronova FRAD (; 13 March 1919 – 28 June 2008) was a Russian ballerina and actress who was one of the Baby Ballerinas of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, discovered by George Balanchine in Paris in the 1930s. She created ro ...

as the Princess and

David Lichine David Lichine (russian: Дэвид (Давид) Лишин; 25 October 1910 – 26 June 1972) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and choreographer. He had an international career as a performer, ballet master, and choreographer, staging works fo ...

as the Prince. The ballet was first staged in Australia by de Basil's Ballets Russes on 5 December 1936. *An operatic adaptation was undertaken by

Nino Rota Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (; 3 December 1911 – 10 April 1979), better known as Nino Rota (), was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visco ...

(1911–1979) called ''The Swineherd Prince'' ( it, Il Principe Porcaro) when he was thirteen. Britain's only permanent marionette theatre,

Harlequin Puppet Theatre The Harlequin Puppet Theatre (founded 1958) is a puppet theatre at Rhos-on-Sea, Wales. Britain's oldest permanent puppet theatre, the Harlequin was built in 1958 by Eric Bramall and is now run by his former puppeteer partner, Chris Somerville.Sa ...

Rhos-on-Sea Rhos-on-Sea ( cy, Llandrillo-yn-Rhos) is a seaside resort and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The population was 7,593 at the 2011 census. It adjoins Colwyn Bay and is named after the Welsh kingdom of Rhos established there in late ...

, Wales, presented "The Swineherd" in an adaptation by Eric Brammell in 1958.Harlequine Puppet Theater: The Repertoire
/ref> In the 1950s, Soviet/Russian composer

Boris Tchaikovsky Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky (russian: Бори́с Алекса́ндрович Чайко́вский; 10 September 1925 – 7 February 1996), PAU, was a Soviet and Russian composer, born in Moscow, whose oeuvre includes orchestral works, cha ...

wrote a suite of

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...

for a radio production of ''The Swineherd''. *Parts of the story have been used in Evgeny Shvarts's 1934 play ''The Emperor's New Clothes''.

References

External links

"Svinedrengen"
Original Danish text

English translation by

Jean Hersholt Jean Pierre Carl Buron (12 July 1886 – 2 June 1956), known professionally as Jean Hersholt, was a Danish-American actor. He is best known for starring on the radio series '' Dr. Christian'' (1937–1954) and in the film ''Heidi'' (1937).Obitua ...

"The Swineherd"
at SurLaLune {{DEFAULTSORT:Swineherd, The 1841 short stories Danish fairy tales Fictional princes Fictional princesses Works by Hans Christian Andersen ATU 850-999