Molly Whuppie
Molly Whuppie | |
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Folk tale | |
Name | Molly Whuppie |
Also known as | Maol a Chliobain |
Aarne–Thompson grouping | ATU 327B, "The Brothers and the Ogre" + ATU 328, "Boy Steals the Ogre's Treasure" |
Country | England |
Published in | English Fairy Tales |
Molly Whuppie is an English language fairy tale set in Scotland. It was first published in 'Three Folk-Tales from Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire' in "Folklore" (6.2.1884). Rev. Walter Gregor said that the tales had been 'communicated to me by Mr. Moir, Rector of the Grammar School, Aberdeen. He had them from his mother, who kindly wrote out " Mally Whuppie " and " The Red Calf" at my request.' Anglicising the name to "Molly" from "Mally" Joseph Jacobs used this source of the story in his English Fairy Tales.[1] A Highland version, Maol a Chliobain, was collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands.[2] Jacobs noted the relationship between the two tales, and an Irish variant, "Smallhead," and concluded that the tale was Celtic in origin.[1]
It is
Molly Whuppie
In the Molly variant, a couple had too many children, so they took the three youngest into the forest and left them.
In the Maol variant, three daughters left their mother to seek their fortune. She baked three
They came to a house and begged to be let in. The woman warned them that her husband was a
They ran on to a king's palace, or to a great farm. Their story impressed the king or farmer, but he said if she stole the giant's sword from the back of his bed, he would marry his oldest son to her oldest sister. She went and hid under the bed. When the giant went to sleep, she stole the sword. It rattled when she went over the threshold, and the giant chased her, but she escaped over the bridge of one hair. The king married his oldest son to her oldest sister, and then told her if she stole the purse the giant kept under his pillow, he would marry his second son to her second sister. Once again she hid under the bed and stole it while he slept, but he woke and chased her, and again she escaped over the bridge of one hair. Her second sister was married to the king's second son.
Then the king said if she stole the ring the giant wore on his finger, he would marry his youngest son to her. She went off, hid under the bed, and grabbed the ring, but the giant caught her. He asked what she would do if he had done to her what she had done to him and she had caught him. She said she would put him in a sack, with a dog, a cat, a needle, thread, and shears. Then she would hang the sack on the wall, go to the woods for a thick stick, and come back and beat him dead. The giant declared that he would do just that. When she was in the sack and he was gone, Molly began to say, "Oh, if ye saw what I see." The giant's wife asked her what she meant until she asked if she could see the same. Molly cut her way out with the shears and sewed the wife into it. The giant came back and began to hit her. The dog's barking and the cat's meows were too loud for him to hear his wife's voice, but he saw Molly running off with the ring. He chased her, but she escaped over the bridge of one hair, married the king's youngest son, and never saw the giant again.
Publication
The tale was also published by author Flora Annie Steel in English Fairy Tales, with the title Molly Whuppie and the Double-Faced Giant.[6]
Analysis
Tale type
The tale is classified in the international
Motifs
The motif of the mother's blessing for less food or her curse for more is a common British folktale theme: "
According to German scholar
See also
References
- ^ a b Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales, "Molly Whuppie"
- ^ a b John Francis Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, "Maol a Chliobain"
- ^ Uther, Hans-Jorg. The Types of International Folktales. 2004.
- ISBN 0-393-05163-3
- ^ Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Hop O' My Thumb"
- ^ Steel, Flora Annie. English Fairy Tales. New York: Macmillan. 1922. pp. 335-345.
- Brigg, Katherine Mary. A dictionary of British folk-tales in the English language, incorporating the F. J. Norton collection. Part A: Folk Narratives - Volume 1. London: Routledge & Keegan Paul, 1970. pp. 38 (entry nr. 2), 39 (entry nr. 4).
- Enzyklopädie des Märchens Online. Edited by Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, Heidrun Alzheimer, Hermann Bausinger, Wolfgang Brückner, Daniel Drascek, Helge Gerndt, Ines Köhler-Zülch, Klaus Roth and Hans-Jörg Uther. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2016 [1981]. p. 153. https://www-degruyter-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/database/EMO/entry/emo.3.032/html. Accessed 2023-07-09.