A Study of Fairy Tales Part 36

The _Story of Puss-in-Boots_ appeared in _Straparola_, 11, 1, and in _Basile_, 2, 4. Laboulaye, in his _Last Fairy Tales_, has retold the Pentamerone tale, _Gagliuso_, in which the Cat is a crafty advocate of his Master's interests, but the Master is ungrateful and forgets the Cat. The effect of the tale is not pleasing, it is a satire on grat.i.tude.

The _Story of Puss-in-Boots_ is also told by Ludwig Tieck, with twelve etchings by Otto Speckter, published in Leipzig, in 1843. A critic, writing for the Quarterly Review in 1844, "An Article on Children's Books,"[17] recommended this edition of _Puss-in-Boots_ as the beau ideal of nursery books. _Puss-in-Boots_ appeared also in the Swedish of Cavallius. A monograph on the Carabas tale has been written by Andrew Lang.

_Tom Thumb and Little Thumb_

_Tom Thumb_, another romantic tale suited to the first grade, is one of the most entertaining of tales. The germ of _Tom Thumb_ exists in various forms in the books of the far East, among American Indians, and among the Zulus of South Africa. Tom Thumb is one of the oldest characters in English nursery literature. In 1611, the ancient tales of Tom Thumb were said to have been "in the olde time the only survivors of drouzy age at midnight. Old and young, with his tales chim'd mattens till the c.o.c.k's crow in the morning. Batchelors and maids have with his tales compa.s.sed the Christmas fireblocke till the curfew bell rings candle out. The old shepheard and the young plowboy, after a days' labour, have carol'ed out a _Tale of Tom Thumb_ to make them merry with, and who but little Tom hath made long nights seem short and heavy toyles easie."

_Tom Thumb_, as has been previously mentioned, most probably was transmitted to England by the early Nors.e.m.e.n. _The Tale of Tom Thumb_, as told by Jacobs, was taken from the chap-book version in _Halliwell_. The first mention of Tom is in Scot's _Discoverie of Witchcraft_, in 1584. Tradition says that Tom died at Lincoln, which was one of the five Danish towns of England. A little blue flagstone in the cathedral, said to be his tombstone, was lost and has never been replaced during recent repairs early in the nineteenth century.

_Tom Thumb_ was first written in prose by Richard Johnson, in 1621. In Ashton's _Chap-Books of the Eighteenth Century_ we have a facsimile of the chap-book, _The Famous History of Tom Thumb_. The tale is in three parts. The first part, which is much superior to the rest of the tale, was taken from a copy printed for John Wright, in 1630. The second and third parts were written about 1700. The first part closes with the death of Tom from knightly feats. He was buried in great pomp, but the fairies carried him to Fairy Land. The first part closed with a promise of the second:--

The Fairy Queen, she lov'd him so As you shall understand, That once again she let him go Down to the Fairy Land.

The very time that he return'd Unto the court again, It was as we are well inform'd In good King Arthur's reign.

When in the presence of the King, He many wonders wrought, Recited in the Second Part Which now is to be bought

In Bow Church Yard, where is sold Diverting Histories many; And pleasant tales as e'er was told For purchase of One Penny.

The second part opens with Tom's return to Fairy Land. His second death is caused by a combat with a cat. Again he is taken to Fairy Land. In the third part the Fairy Queen sends Tom to earth in King Thunston's reign. His final death occurred from the bite of a spider.

_The Life and Adventures of Tom Thumb_ appeared in the _Tabart Collection of Fairy Tales_, noted before, and a version entirely in verse was included in _Halliwell_. A monograph on _Tom Thumb_ was written by M. Gaston Paris. _Little Thumb_ as it appeared in _Perrault_ and in _Basile_, was a tale similar to the German _Hansel and Grethel_. _Thumbling_, and _Thumbling as Journeyman_ are German variants. Andersen's _Thumbelina_ is a feminine counterpart to _Tom Thumb_, and in Laboulaye's _Poucinet_ we have a tale of the successful younger brother, similarly diminutive.

There were current many old stories of characters similar to Tom Thumb. A certain man was so thin that he could jump through the eye of a needle. Another crept nimbly to a spider's web which was hanging in the air, and danced skillfully upon it until a spider came, which spun a thread round his neck and throttled him. A third was able to pierce a sunmote with his head and pa.s.s his whole body through it. A fourth was in the habit of riding an ant, but the ant threw him off and trampled him. In a work written in 1601, referred to in Grimm's _Household Tales_ a spider relates:--

Once did I catch a tailor proud Heavy he was as elder wood, From Heaven above he'd run a race, With an old straw hat to this place, In Heaven he might have stayed no doubt, For no one wished to turn him out.

He fell in my web, hung in a knot, Could not get out, I liked it not, That e'en the straw hat, safe and sound, Nine days ere him came to the ground.

A delightful little rhyme, _Tom Thumb_, is among Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_. It may refer to the Danish _History of Tom Thumb_:

I had a little husband No bigger than my thumb; I put him in a pint pot And there I bade him drum: I bridled him and saddled him, And sent him out of town; I gave him a pair of garters To tie up his little hose; And a little handkerchief To wipe his little nose.

The English version of _Tom Thumb_ as we know it today, opens with a visit of the magician Merlin at the cottage of an honest and hospitable ploughman. Merlin rewarded the Goodman and his Wife for their hospitality by calling on the Queen of the fairies, who brought to the home, Tom Thumb, a boy no bigger than a man's thumb.

The time of the tale is in the days of Merlin and King Arthur's court.

The tale is marked by a number of distinct English elements. The introduction of the Queen of the Fairies, of Fairy Land and the visit there, and of the fairy clothes they make for Tom, are all decidedly English. The sly ways of Tom, his tricks and his cleverness are distinctly English humor. He played with the boys for cherry-stones, and took theirs. He had so much curiosity that he fell into his mother's pudding. He was so light that on a windy day he had to be tied to a thistle when his mother went to milk the cow; and so, with his oak-leaf hat, he got caught in the cow's one mouthful. After other strange adventures he arrived at King Arthur's court where he became the favorite. His feats at tilts and tournaments give a glimpse of English court life, with its pastime of hunting; and fighting with the sword brings in the knight element. The story has little plot, being a succession of many episodes and a repet.i.tion of some. It shows little constructive ability, promises to be a perpetual tale, and is ended only by sudden death at the poisonous breath of the spider. _Tom Thumb_ is one of the tales of pure fancy, with no underlying meaning, created for pure entertainment, to please children and grown-ups by its little people and little things. The moral is in the effect of Tom's character.

Perrault's _Little Thumb_ tells how a poor f.a.got-maker and his Wife sat by the hearth, sad with famine, and Little Thumb overheard their words. When they started to the wood to gather f.a.gots, Little Thumb, like Hansel, scattered pebbles. The parents left the seven children in the wood but little Thumb guided them home by his pebbles. They set out a second time, when Little Thumb scattered bread-crumbs; and as the birds ate them, the children were lost. Little Thumb climbed a tree and saw the light of the Ogre's cottage afar off. The children reached the Ogre's cottage where Little Thumb changed the golden crowns of the seven little Ogresses, and putting them on his brothers, saved their lives. Then they all fled through the wood and hid in a rock, while the Ogre in his seven-league boots, pursued them and lay down to rest at the rock in which they were hidden. Little Thumb sent his brothers home, stole the fairy boots, and through craft, persuaded the Ogre's Wife to give him all the Ogre's gold. So, rich and happy, he returned to his father's home.

This tale shows a number of common motifs that appear in other tales:

(1) The design of distressed parents to expose children to the forest.

(2) The discovery and prevention of the scheme by a child.

(3) The repet.i.tion of incident; the clew spoiled by the birds.

The trail motif, similar to the one in _Hansel and Grethel_.

(4) The arrival of children at the home of the Ogre.

(5) The shifting of crowns to the heads of his brothers.

(6) The flight of the brothers pursued by the Ogre in seven-league boots.

(7) Little Thumb, stealing the boots and winning court favor, or the Ogre's treasure.

Some say that in this tale, symbolically, the forest represents night; the crumbs and pebbles, stars; and the Ogre, the sun. Little Thumb, because of his cunning and invention, has been called the Ulysses of the fairy tales. His adventure with the Ogre at the rock, while not a parallel one, reminds one of Ulysses and Polyphemus. Both succeeded in getting the better of the giant. An English edition of this tale was ill.u.s.trated by William Blake.

_Snow White and Rose Red_

_Snow White and Rose Red_, besides blending the romantic and the realistic, ill.u.s.trates rather completely how the old tale may stand the tests which have been emphasized here. As a romantic type, it contains adventure and the picturesque. It arouses emotion. It contains objects of beauty; and the strange Bear and the stranger Dwarf, about both of whom there is a sense of mystery. It exaggerates character and incidents beyond the normal,--the Mother and Daughters were more lovely than mortals usually are,--and the harmony between man and beast may belong to the millennium rather than to this common earth. This is one of the most romantic of fairy tales in that it is a highly idealized type.

The story was current in Germany before the time of the Grimms, and appeared in the collection of Caroline Stahl. The rhyme,--

Snowy-white, rosy-red, Will ye strike your lover dead?

was taken from a popular song, and is found in a child's story in _Taschenbuch Minerva_ for 1813.

_Snow White and Rose Red_ is full of many beauties; the characters are beautiful, the setting is beautiful, and the spirit of the whole is full of beauty. There is sister-love; and mother-love--not the selfish kind that loves but its own, but that similar to the rich growth of our modern times, when mother-love seeks to include those without the home. There is genuine kindness that pours its sweetness on the Bear or on the Dwarf, that falls like the rain on the deserving and on the ungrateful; there is devotion to animals and a lack of enmity between man and beast; and there is a portrayal of the beauty of domestic life and of the charms of childhood in simple life--its play, its pleasure, and its tasks. This is all set as in two pictures whose sky is the golden glow of pa.s.sion for the sun and the spring-time and summer it brings. In the first picture, on the edge of the forest stands a little cottage before whose gate grow two rose-trees, a red rose-tree and a white rose-tree, not only symbols of the beauty of the spring-time and of the rich fruitage of summer, but also symbols typifying the more wondrous beauty of the character of the two children, Snow White and Rose Red. In the second picture, a tall palace rears itself, before whose gate grow two rose-trees also, a red rose-tree and a white rose-tree, not only symbols of the same beauty of spring-time and fruitage of summer, but also symbols typifying the beauty of loveliness and the fairness of happiness and prosperity that guarded from harm the lives of the deserving Snow White and Rose Red, and continued to bless them to the close.

First, looking at the characters in this tale, we see a Mother who ill.u.s.trates the richness of womanhood. She managed her own home and kept it a place of beauty and cheer. She had two daughters, both lovely, but very different. She recognized this difference and respected it, and permitted each child to enjoy a delightful freedom to grow as was her nature. She permitted the children to play but she also commanded willing obedience. She arranged their work with fairness so that each had her share and each seemed free in doing that work to use her individual taste and judgment. She taught her children to spin and to sew, and she read to them. She told them about the guardian Angel who watched over them to keep them from harm. She was not anxious when they were out of sight, for even when Snow White and Rose Red stayed in the wood all night and slept on the leaves, she had no fear, for no accident ever happened to them. As a strong, n.o.ble woman, without fear, and full of love, pity, and fairness,--George Eliot's ideal of highest character,--the Mother of Snow White and Rose Red has no equal in the fairy tales.

The two Children, beautiful as the roses that grew outside the cottage, were both industrious, good, amiable little girls, who in their natural sweetness showed the spirit of the Golden Age when peace and good-will dwelt among men. They were natural children and they loved to play. They gathered berries in the forest, they played hide-and-seek among the trees, they waded in the river, went fishing, made wreaths of flowers, and played with their animal friends. They fed the hares cauliflower, or watched the fawns grazing and the goats frisking; and even the birds loved them and did not fly away when they were near. In the home they kept things not only clean but beautiful; they not only did work but took pleasure in doing that work. Now at a time when domestic life in the home is being threatened, _Snow White and Rose Red_ gives a realistic picture of the beauty of domestic life, its simple joys and charm. In summer there was always a nose-gay for the Mother, and in winter there was a cheery fire with a copper kettle over it, shining like gold. And in the evening when the snow fell fast outside, inside was warmth and comfort. The Children sat sewing and the Mother reading, while a lamb and a white dove beside them enjoyed their protection and care.

The entrance of the Bear gave the Children a natural thrill of fear.

But the Mother, with beautiful hospitality, gave the Bear protection and kindness and led them to overcome that fear. To the Bear they showed that good nature which willingly serves; and in the tricks they played with their comrade they showed a great strength of vitality and that freedom which grows where there is no repression.

The Bear departed at spring-time; and as he left Snow White thought she saw glittering gold under his coat. This seems to hint that the tale is symbolic, typifying the change of seasons. Spring, the Bear, took refuge in the cottage during the cold winter months; but in the spring he had to go abroad into the forest, to guard his treasures from the evil Dwarf of winter.

The Children again showed their sweetness and good nature when, while gathering sticks, they came upon the Dwarf, with his wrinkled face and snow-white beard, the end of which was caught in a split of a tree.

The contrast is delightful, between the cross and impatient Dwarf and Rose Red who offered to fetch help, and Snow White who politely tried to soothe his impatience by cutting off the end of his beard with her scissors. This time the Dwarf s.n.a.t.c.hed a sack of gold which lay at the foot of the tree, and fled, most ungrateful, not even thanking the Children. The Children had two other adventures with the Dwarf; and these, together with their adventure with the Bear, make up the plot of the story. They met the Dwarf a second time, one day when they went fishing. Then Rose Red told him to be careful or he'd fall into the water, because a great fish was pulling on the bait and his beard became entangled in the fishing-line. Snow White again cut off the end of his beard to free him and again he s.n.a.t.c.hed his bag--this time of pearls, lying among the rushes--and fled. One day, on going to town to buy thread, needles, laces, and ribbons, they met the Dwarf a third time. This time an eagle had caught him and was about to carry him off. The Children, with compa.s.sion, held on and freed him; but again he scolded, seized his bag of precious stones, and slipped away to his cave. On their return from town, the Children again met the Dwarf, in the wood, counting his treasure. Again he was very angry, but just then the Bear arrived out of the forest and demanded the life of the Dwarf. The Dwarf offered up in his stead, Snow White and Rose Red. But the Bear, faithful to his old comrades, slew the Dwarf, and then becoming a beautiful Prince, went home with the Sisters. Snow White married the Prince and Rose Red his Brother, and they all lived with their Mother happily in the beautiful palace.

When the Bear slew the Dwarf spring returned to the land. The Dwarf with his snow-white beard seems to typify winter. Each time the Dwarf's beard was cut the beard of winter became shorter, another winter month was gone, and there remained a shorter season. The bag of gold which the Dwarf first took might signify the golden fruit of autumn, and the pearls and diamonds which he next took, the ice and snow of winter. The Dwarf's beard became entangled in the fishing-line when the icy winds of winter began to give the pond its frozen coat; and then the animals of the wood were compelled to seek a refuge. When the Bear came out of the wood to meet the Dwarf and slew him, the time for the departure of winter was at hand, and spring returned to the land.

This fairy tale evidently shows a good, interesting plot, with something happening all the time. The climax is very distinctly marked, everything leads up to the meeting of the Bear and the Dwarf in the forest. The characters present interesting variety and strong contrasts. The setting is unusually beautiful: the cottage, the wood, the lake, the town, the hillside, the palace, and the two symbolic rose-trees. The tale appeals to the emotions of love, kindness, compa.s.sion, and grat.i.tude. It presents to the imagination distinct episodes: the home-life of the Children in the cottage, their life in the wood, their adventure with the Bear, their three adventures with the Dwarf, and the meeting of the Bear and the Dwarf. The conclusion follows closely upon the climax,--the Bear, grateful to the kind Children, saved their lives and re-transformed, became a Prince. The happy marriage brings the tale to a close, with the palace home guarded by the two rose-trees. The message of the tale is the possible beauty of woman's love and character, and the loveliness of spring and of summer.

A Modern Tale[18]

_The Elephant's Child_

_The Elephant's Child_ might be examined here more particularly because it is unusually interesting as an example of the complete test applied to the child's fairy tale. One need not test it as to interest for it was written especially for children by one who could play with them. As to literature it certainly has mind and soul; there is no doubt about its structure or its appeal to the sympathies. The quant.i.ty of good humor and fun it bestows upon childhood is a permanent enrichment; for even a child's world has need of all the good cheer and fun that can be given to it.

This tale is especially interesting also because it might be cla.s.sed as almost any one of the types of tales. It is not acc.u.mulative though it possesses to a marked degree three characteristics of the acc.u.mulative tale, repet.i.tion, alliteration, and all sorts of phonic effects. And it is not an old tale. But it is not only one of the most pleasing animal tales we possess but one of the best humorous tales having the rare quality of freshness. It is realistic in its portrayal of animal life; and it is highly romantic in its sense of adventure, the heroic, the strange, and the remote.

As a short-story it shows the essentials, originality, ingenuity, and compression. The single interest is how the Elephant got his trunk, and everything points to the climax of his getting it. The plot is "entertaining, novel, comical and thrilling." The structure is very easily seen in these ten episodes:--

1. The introduction; the family; the Child; his home; his questions; the new, fine question.

2. The Elephant's Child set out to answer his own question.