The Three Heads in the Well 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, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...

collected by

Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Jacobs ...

in ''English Fairy Tales''. It is Aarne–Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls. Others of this type include ''

Shita-kiri Suzume , translated literally into "Tongue-Cut Sparrow", is a traditional Japanese fable telling of a kind old man, his avaricious wife and an injured sparrow. The story explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy on the characters. Andrew La ...

'', ''

Diamonds and Toads Diamonds and Toads or Toads and Diamonds is a French fairy tale by Charles Perrault, and titled by him "Les Fées" or "The Fairies". Andrew Lang included it in ''The Blue Fairy Book''. It was illustrated by Laura Valentine in ''Aunt Louisa's nurs ...

'', '' Mother Hulda'', '' Father Frost'', '' The Three Little Men in the Wood'', '' The Enchanted Wreath'', ''

The Old Witch The Old Witch is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his 1894 book, ''More English Fairy Tales''. It is also included within '' A Book of Witches'' by Ruth Manning-Sanders and ''A Book of British Fairy Tales'' by Alan Garner. It is ...

'', and ''

The Two Caskets The Two Caskets is a Scandinavian fairy tale included by Benjamin Thorpe in his ''Yule-Tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions''. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Orange Fairy Book''. It is Aarne- ...

''. Literary variants include ''

The Three Fairies "The Three Fairies" is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the ''Pentamerone''. It is Aarne–Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls, and appears to stem from an oral source.Jack Zipes, ''The G ...

'' and ''

Aurore and Aimée ''Aurore and Aimée'' is a French literary fairy tale written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Like her better known tale ''Beauty and the Beast'', it is among the first fairy tales deliberately written for children.Jack Zipes, ''The Great Fa ...

''.

Synopsis

In the days before

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...

, a king held his court in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

. He had a beautiful daughter by his beautiful wife. When his wife died, he married a hideous widow with a daughter of her own, for her riches, and his new wife set him against his daughter. His daughter begged leave to go and seek her fortune, and he permitted it, and his wife gave her brown bread, hard cheese, and a bottle of beer. She goes on her way and sees an old man sitting on a stone. When he asks what she has, she tells him and offers him some. After they eat, he tells her how to get through a hedge, and that she will find three golden heads in a well there, and should do whatever they tell her. The heads ask her to comb them and wash them, and after she does so, one says she shall be beautiful, the next that she will have a sweet voice, and the third that she shall be fortunate and queen to the greatest prince that reigns. She goes on, and a king sees her and falls in love with her. They marry and go back to visit her father. Her stepmother is enraged that her stepdaughter and not her daughter gained all this, and sent her daughter on the same journey, with rich dresses, sugar, almonds,

sweetmeats Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categorie ...

, and a bottle of rich wine. The daughter was rude to the old man, and slighted the three heads, and they curse her with

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve d ...

, a harsh voice, and marriage to a cobbler. She goes on. A cobbler offers to cure her leprosy and voice if she will marry him, and she agrees. Her mother, finding she had married a cobbler, hangs herself, and the king gives his stepdaughter's husband a hundred pounds to quit the court and live elsewhere.

Analysis

Tale type

The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 480, "The Kind and Unkind Girls".

Motifs

Scholarship points that this plot (to comb three heads at a well) happens in variants from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. The oldest record of this story exists in '' Old Wives' Tale'', published in 1595, by author

George Peele George Peele (baptised 25 July 1556 – buried 9 November 1596) was an English translator, poet, and dramatist, who is most noted for his supposed but not universally accepted collaboration with William Shakespeare on the play '' Titus Andronicu ...

. Folklorist Herbert Halpert, in turn, asserted that in American and English variants of the tale type, two narratives exist: one like ''The Three Heads of the Well'' (girl combs three heads at a well), and another he dubbed ''Long Leather Bag'' (heroine is kind to objects and animals, finds a leather bag in the witch's chimney).

Variants

In a Romani tale titled ''The Little Crop-tailed Hen'', a widow lives with her ugly hunchbacked daughter next to a widower with his beautiful daughter. The widow and the widower marry and the girls become step-sisters. One day, the widow sends her hunchbacked daughter to fetch water. The hunchbacked girl passes by a witch-woman's hut and is invited to go in, but insults the woman's little hut. She then goes to the well; three boars' heads come up in the water surface and ask the girl to wipe and comb them. The hunchbacked girl denies their request and brings home only muddy water. The beautiful girl walks the same path, but is courteous to the witch-woman and fulfills the boars' heads' request and fetches a bucket of clear water. This repeats twice more, until the boars' heads decide to punish the hunchbacked girl for her unkindness: they curse her to have half of her head bald, the other half filled with nits, and to be uglier than before. As for the girl, the boars' heads bless her with half of her hair of silver, the other of gold and for her to become even more beautiful.Williams-Ellis, Amabel. ''Gypsy folk tales''. London: Pan Books, 1973. pp. 44-54.

References