The Green Knight (

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

: ''Den grønne Ridder'') is a Danish

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

Svend Grundtvig Svend Hersleb Grundtvig (9 September 1824, Copenhagen – 14 July 1883, Frederiksberg) was a Danish literary historian and ethnographer. He was one of the first systematic collectors of Danish traditional music, and he was especially interested ...

(1824-1883) in ''Danish Fairy Tales'' (18??)D. L. Ashliman,
The Green Knight:A Cinderella Story from Denmark
' and by

Evald Tang Kristensen Evald Tang Kristensen (24 January 1843 – 8 April 1929) was a Danish folklore collector and author. Working first as a schoolteacher and later solely as a collector, he assembled and published a huge amount of detailed information on all aspects ...

(1843-1929) in ''Eventyr fra Jylland'' (1881).Andrew Lang, ''The Olive Fairy Book'',
The Green Knight

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 ...

included a translation of Kristensen's version in '' The Olive Fairy Book'' (1907). This tale combines Aarne-Thompson type 510A with type 425N, the bird husband, and type 432, the prince as bird. Others of the first type include ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'',

The Sharp Grey Sheep The Sharp Grey Sheep or The Sharp-Horned Grey Sheep is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in ''Popular Tales of the West Highlands'', listing his informant as John Dewar, labourer, from Glendaruail, Cowal. It is Aarne-Thompso ...

The Golden Slipper The Golden Slipper (russian: Золотой башмачок) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in ''Narodnye russkie skazki''. It is Aarne-Thompson type 510A, the persecuted heroine. Synopsis An old man brought back two ...

The Story of Tam and Cam ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

Rushen Coatie Rushen Coatie or Rashin-Coatie is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his ''More English Fairy Tales''. It is Aarne–Thompson type 510A, the persecuted heroine, as is Cinderella. Synopsis A queen with a daughter died. On her de ...

Fair, Brown and Trembling Fair, Brown and Trembling is an Irish fairy tale collected by Jeremiah Curtin in ''Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland'' and Joseph Jacobs in his ''Celtic Fairy Tales''. It is Aarne-Thompson type 510A. Other tales of this type include ''Cinderella'', ...

, and

Katie Woodencloak "Katie Woodencloak" or "Kari Woodengown" (originally "Kari Trestakk") is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in ''Norske Folkeeventyr''. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Red Fairy Book''. It is Aarne� ...

; of the second two,

The Feather of Finist the Falcon The Feather of Finist the Falcon or Finist the Falcon (russian: Пёрышко Финиста ясна сокола) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in '' Narodnye russkie skazki''. It is Aarne–Thompson type 432, the ...

, The Blue Bird, and

The Greenish Bird "The Greenish Bird" is a Mexican fairy tale collected by Joel Gomez in La Encantada, Texas from a seventy-four-year-old woman, Mrs. P.E.Americo Paredes, ''Folktales of Mexico'', p215 It combines Aarne–Thompson types 425, "The Search for the Lo ...

Synopsis

A queen dying of cancer asked her husband to do whatever their daughter asked of him, and the king promised. The widow of a count and her daughter did everything to make themselves the princess's favorites (in some variants persuading the princess to have them stay at the castle), and then the widow told her that they could not stay unless the king married her. The princess implored the king to do it, and when his objections could not convince her, he married the woman. As soon as she was her

stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. Culture Ste ...

, the woman began to maltreat the princess. The king, seeing this, sent the princess to a summer palace, or had one built for her. He went there one day to bid her farewell because he was going on a long journey, to a great tournament. She told him to greet her to the Green Knight. At the tournament, he met no Green Knight, but on the way home, he came through a forest where he found 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 ...

, and on asking whose pigs they were, was told they were the Green Knight's. He went on and found the marvellous castle where the Green Knight, a handsome young man lived. He gave him his daughter's greetings. The Green Knight had never heard of her—in some variants, he says she must have been thinking of the green of the graveyard—but makes the king welcome and gives him a gift: either a green book or a casket with his portrait. The king returned home. In the variants with the book, the princess had not known why she had spoken of the Green Knight, and when she went through the pages of the book, he flew in as a bird and courted her; in the variants with the casket, she recognizes him as the man she dreamed of, and he comes to court her. In all variants, he visits her secretly, to avoid her stepmother, but her stepmother learns of it. In the bird variants, she puts a poisoned pair of scissors in the window; in the others, she puts a poisoned nail in the oar he used to row out. In all, he was injured visiting the princess and stopped. The princess, not knowing why, is told by a bird, or overhears two birds talking, of his illness, and that a snake with nine young snakes in her father's stables could cure him. She got the snakes, went to the Green Knight's castle, and got a job in the kitchen. There, she persuaded them to let her cook the soup for him. For three days, she fed him a soup made from three of the young snakes, and he recovered. In some variants, he went to the kitchen and recognized her; in others, she asked to marry him, and he refused because he had already promised to marry, and she cleaned herself up so that he recognized her. In all, they marry.

Legacy

''Den gronne ridder'' is the name given to tale type ATU 432 in Ørnulf Hodne's ''The Types of the Norwegian Folktale''.Hodne, Ørnulf.
The Types of the Norwegian Folktale
'. Universitetsforlaget, 1984. p. 102.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Knight (fairy tale), The

Green Knight The Green Knight ( cy, Marchog Gwyrdd, kw, Marghek Gwyrdh, br, Marc'heg Gwer) is a character from the 14th-century Arthurian poem ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' and the related medieval work ''The Greene Knight''. His true name is revea ...

ATU 400-459 ATU 500-559

Synopsis

Legacy

See also

References