"The White Snake" (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
: ''Die weiße Schlange'') 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 ...
and published in ''
Grimm's Fairy Tales
''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publis ...
'' (KHM 17). It is of
Aarne–Thompson type 673, and includes an episode of type 554 ("The Grateful Animals").
Synopsis
A wise
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
receives a covered dish every evening. A young servant is intrigued one night when he retrieves the King's dish and discovers a coiled white snake under the cover. The servant takes a small bite and discovers that he can now understand and
communicate
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
with animals.
Shortly afterwards the servant is accused of stealing the
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
's ring. He is given one day to prove his innocence or submit to punishment. After having given up, he sits awaiting his demise when he overhears a goose complaining about a ring stuck in her throat. The servant leaps up, grabs the goose and hurries to the kitchen, where the cook slits the goose's neck and reveals the missing gold ring. The King apologizes and offers the servant land and riches. The servant declines, accepting only a little
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and a horse on which to see the world.
On his journey to another town in another kingdom, the servant first encounters a number of animals in distress, including three fish out of water, ants at risk of being trodden upon, and starving
raven
A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...
fledglings in a nest. In each case the servant heeds the call for help, and in each case the grateful animals respond with "I will remember and return the favour".
In the next town, the servant learns that the King has announced that he wishes to marry off his daughter, but any suitor must agree to complete an arduous task to the end or be put to death. After one glimpse of the beautiful girl, the young man agrees. The King tosses a golden ring into the sea and tells the young man to retrieve it. He also adds that the young man must either bring the ring back, drown while getting the ring, or be drowned upon returning without it. However, the three fish appear, carrying a mussel with the King's ring inside.
Astonished, the King agrees to the marriage of his daughter to the servant. However, the princess sets him upon another task of refilling sacks of grain that she has spilled in the grass, because she has found out that he is not a noble and thus not her social equal. The young man is discouraged because he believes it impossible to gather all of the grain from the ground, and he lies down and falls asleep. When he wakes, he is surprised to find all the sacks are now refilled, with not one grain missing. The ant king had all of the ants working the entire night to fill them.
Still not satisfied, the princess sends the servant off on to bring her an apple from the
Tree of Life
The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History ...
. The servant does not know where the Tree of Life stood, but he sets off anyway. After a long journey, he encounters the three raven fledglings, who have flown to the end of the world, where the Tree stands, and retrieved the apple for him. The servant takes the apple to the princess and shares it with her, and the two are happily married.
Analysis
The tale is classified in the
Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as ATU 673, "The White Serpent's Flesh". The tale is part of a cycle of stories where the character comes to know the language of animals through the help of a serpent - in this case, by eating the flesh of a white serpent. The motiv is well-known in Europe and frequently found in Central and Eastern Europe, but also in Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia, in the Baltic countries and occasionally also outside Europe.
The motif of the mythical ring thrown away, swallowed by an animal and retrieved shortly after is also classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as ATU-736A and originates from the ancient greek tale of the
Ring of Polycrates .
An early literary version is provided in the
Icelandic ''
Volsunga Saga'' (late 13th century) that describes how
Sigurd
Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Meroving ...
slew the dragon
Fafnir and learned the language of birds when tasting Fafnir's heart. Similarly,
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...
(
Gesta Danorum
''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...
, V.2.6-V.2.8, 12th c.) describes how Eric acquired eloquence and wisdom by eating the snake-infested stew his step-mother
Kraka had prepared for his half-brother Roller. Further related medieval tales include the
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
Hanes Taliesin
''The Hanes Taliesin'' (''Historia Taliesin, The Tale of Taliesin'') is a legendary account of the life of the poet Taliesin recorded in the mid-16th century by Elis Gruffydd. The tale was also recorded in a slightly different version by John Jo ...
, and the Irish
Salmon of Knowledge
The Salmon of Knowledge ( ga, An Bradán Feasa) is a creature in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology, sometimes identified with Fintan mac Bóchra, who was known as "The Wise" and was once transformed into a salmon.
Fenian Cycle
The Salmon sto ...
.
Adaptations
![Household_stories_Bros_Grimm_(L_%26_W_Crane)_plate_facing_p93](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Household_stories_Bros_Grimm_%28L_%26_W_Crane%29_plate_facing_p93.png)
Literature
*
Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book '' Live or Die''. Her poetry details ...
wrote an adaptation as a poem called "The White Snake" in her collection ''Transformations'' (1971), a book in which she re-envisions sixteen of the ''Grimm's Fairy tales''.
"''Transformations'' by Anne Sexton"
/ref>
* The King's Servant, a short story in Maud Lindsay's ''The Story-teller'' (1915), is "adapted with a free hand" from Grimm's "White Snake."
Film and Television
*The titular white snake appears in the Czech children TV series ''Arabela'', where it enables both Princess Arabela and the evil magician Rumburak to understand the animal tongue.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:White Snake
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Fictional snakes
Talking animals in fiction
German fairy tales
ATU 650-699