"The White Bride and the Black One" 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 ...
, tale number 135. It is
Aarne-Thompson type 403A.
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 and ...
,
The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales
Other tales of this type include ''
The Three Little Men in the Wood
"The Three Little Men in the Wood" or "The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest" (german: Die drei Männlein im Walde) is a German fairy tale collected in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 13). Andrew Lang included it in ''The ...
'', ''
Brother and Sister
"Brother and Sister" (also "Little Sister and Little Brother"; German: ''Brüderchen und Schwesterchen'') is a European fairy tale which was, among others, written down by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 11). It is a tale of Aarne–Thompson Type 450. In ...
'', ''
Bushy Bride
Bushy Bride (in no, Buskebrura, link=no) is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe. It is Aarne-Thompson type 403 (The Black and the White Bride). It is included in Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book.
Synopsis
A widower with a son ...
'', and ''
The Enchanted Wreath
The Enchanted Wreath is a Scandinavian fairy tale, collected in Benjamin Thorpe in his ''Yule-Tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions''. Andrew Lang adapted a variant of it for ''The Orange Fairy B ...
''.
Synopsis
A woman and her daughter are cutting fodder when the Lord comes up to them and asks the way to the village. The woman and the daughter refuse to help, and the woman's stepdaughter offers to show him. In return, the others turn black and ugly, but the stepdaughter is granted three wishes: beauty, an everlasting purse of gold, and to go to Heaven upon her death.
Her brother Reginer, a coachman to the king, asks for a portrait of her, and hangs it in his room. The king sees it and resolves to marry her. Her brother sends for her, and the stepmother and stepsister come too. The stepmother enchants the coachman so he is half-blind, and the bride so she is half-deaf. The white bride does not hear what the coachman says, and instead follows the stepmother's command to remove her dress and garments, and then to look out the window, where she is pushed out. The king is horrified by the black bride, and throws the brother into a snakepit, but the stepmother persuades him to marry the black bride.
A white duck comes to the kitchen and tells the kitchen boy to light the fire, and then asks of Reginer and the black bride. After a few days of this, the kitchen boy tells the king. The king cuts off the duck's head, which transforms into the white bride. The king frees the brother from the snake pit and asks the stepmother what ought to be done to someone that did the deed that she had done. She says that person should be stripped and put in a barrel studded with nails, and a horse should drag it off. The king has it done to her and the black bride, and he proceeds to marry the white bride.
See also
*
The White Duck
The White Duck (russian: Белая уточка) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in ''Narodnye russkie skazki''. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Yellow Fairy Book''.
Synopsis
A king had to leave his newly-wed wife for a ...
References
Further reading
* Belmont, Nicole, and Brunhilde Biebuyck. "Myth and Folklore in Connection with AT 403 and 713."
Journal of Folklore Research
The ''Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on folklore, folklife, and ethnomusicology. It was established in 1942 and is published ...
20, no. 2/3 (1983): 185-96. www.jstor.org/stable/3814531.
External links
SurLaLune Fairy Tale site ''The White Bride and the Black One''
{{DEFAULTSORT:White and the Black Bride
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Fiction about shapeshifting
Literary duos
Works about marriage
Female characters in fairy tales
German fairy tales
ATU 400-459
False hero