The Children with the Golden Locks
The Children with the Golden Locks (
Summary
A widowed man remarries. His new wife convinces him to abandon his three daughters. The father draws the three girls to the woods under the pretence of gathering apples. The man digs up a hole in the ground and covers it with a sheet. He climbs up the tree and beckons his daughters to come near the apple tree. The three sisters fall into the hole, and their father returns home.
Deep in the hole, they begin to feel hungry and the elder and middle sisters offer themselves to the others. The youngest, however, prays to God for an answer and her hands turn into a pickaxe and a spade. She excavates an exit out of the hole and reaches the king's stables. She steals the horses' fodder of almonds and raisins and takes them back to her sisters. One day, the horse groom notices that the horses are looking emaciated and investigates the matter. He discovers the girl stealing the horses' food and alerts the king.
The horse groom takes the three sisters to the king's court, who inquires them about their skills: the eldest claims she can weave a large carpet to accommodate the whole kingdom and then some; the middle one that she can cook a meal in an egg-shell for the whole kingdom, and the third sister promises to give birth to twin children, a boy and a girl with golden locks ("Goldschopf", in Dirr's text). The king marries the third sister and she gives birth to twins, but her jealous sisters replace the children for puppies and cast them in the sea in a box. The king then orders his wife to be bound in the castle gates, and for citizens to spit at and throw soot at her.
The box with the twins is found by a miller, who adopts and raises them as his own. Years laters, when the boy and the girl are grown up, the king invites the mothers and matrons of his kingdom for a feast. The miller takes the children to the feast and pass by the woman at the gate. The boy and the girl give her roses, wipe the soot off her body and kiss her. They join the feast and tell the guests that the woman at the gate is their mother. The king refuses to believe the two, until the boy produces a branch of dried vine. The boy then proclaims that the dried vine will spring to life and yield grapes, and that a roasted pheasant will come to life, perch on the branch and spread its wings. It happens so, thus proving their parentage. The king embraces his children, reinstates his wife and punishes the sisters-in-law.[4][5]
Sources
Analysis
Tale type
The tale is classified in the Georgian folktale index as tale type ATU 707, "Wonderful Children" (or "The Three Golden Children", in the international index). According to the Georgian folktale index, the children are born with golden hair and, years later, a "beautiful maiden" reveals the truth to the king.[7]
Georgian scholarship also states that the "starting episode" of Georgian variants is another tale type, indexed as -480G*, "Stepmother and Stepdaughter": a man remarries and his new wife orders him to abandon his daughters in the woods; they fall into a hole, but dig a way out to the king's stables.[8][9]
Variants
Georgia
In The Three Sisters and their Stepmother, published by author
In a Georgian tale translated into Russian with the title "Три сестры" ("Three Sisters"), a widower has three daughters and remarries. His new wife hates her stepdaughters, and orders her husband to get rid of them. The man then goes to the woods, digs up a hole near an apple tree, and brings some apples with him back home. The man's daughters accompany him to the woods to pick up fruits and fall into the hole. Their father buries them and returns home. However, the girls pray to God for their hands to become shovels and pickaxes, and they excavate an exit to a king's stables. The girls steal the horses' fodder (almonds and raisins), which causes the horses to grow emaciated. The prince wonders about it and places a watchman: after three nights, the watchman discovers the three sisters. The prince then inquires the three sisters about their abilities: the elder boasts she can cook food for the whole army inside an eggshell, and there would be half left; the middle one that she can weave a carpet large enough for the people to sit on, and there would be space left; and the youngest promises to bear children with golden locks. The prince chooses the third sister as wife, and marries the other two to his personal servants. For the next three years, the prince's wife gives birth to three golden-haired children in three consecutive pregnacies, which the elder sisters replace for puppies (the two boys) and a stone (the girl) and throw each of them in the water in a box. The prince returns and, on finding no human children, orders his wife to be wrapped in animal's skin, tied to a door and spat on by the people. Back to the children, a miller finds the siblings and raises them by the mill. One day, the prince rides near the mill and spots the three children playing together, resigning himself to the animals born by his wife. The prince keeps visiting the miller's children (unaware they are his own sons), gifiting them gems and coins, and one day invites them to his palace. The prince's sisters-in-law, fearing their deception will be discovered, go to the miller's house and convince the girl to send her brothers on quests: first, for a golden shirt she can wear to be even more beautiful. The elder brother goes to fetch it, and an old woman says the shirt is nailed to a church door, guarded by lions and tigers. He brings back the shirt, and the prince's sisters-in-law talk about another quest: for a singing nightingale. The elder brother goes to fetch the bird, and becomes petrified. The middle brother goes next and also falls before the bird. Lastly, their young sister manages to find the bird, rescues her brothers, and they return home. The prince notices their absence, but the siblings explain their sister was sick, thus they could not fulfill his invitation. The nightingale, who can sing and speak, advise the children to bring bouquets to the woman nailed at the church door. It happens thus, and the elder sister try to poison their dish during the meal, but the bird warns them to throw the food to the dogs. The animals eat it and die. The next day, they invite the prince for another meal, where he learns the whole truth. The prince then orders his wife to be taken off the door, given a nice bath and clothes, and brought to him. The family is reunited at last.[11]
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani scholarship classifies tale type 707 in Azerbaijan as two Azeri types. In the first type, 707A, "Uşağın dəyişdirilməsi" ("Replacing Children"), the king overhears three sisters talking, the youngest of whom promising to bear children with hair of gold and hair of silver; the king marries the third sister and she gives birth to twins, a golden-haired daughter and a silver-haired son, who are replaced for puppies; the twins' mother is punished in a harsh way, while the children are rescued by a miller. The children reunite with their father years later. In the second type, indexed as 707B, the twins are sent on quests for extravagant objects by a witch; the male twin fulfills the quests with the help of a horse.[12]
In an Azeri tale published by Azeri folklorist Hənəfi Zeynallı with the title "Продавец шиповника" ("The Wild Rose Seller"), an old man sells wild roses for a living for him and his three daughters. He remarries. One day, his new wife tells him that his earnings are not enough for the whole family, and issues an ultimatum for him: either he stays with his three daughters and she leaves, or he stays with her and abandons his three daughters. He chooses the second option. The man goes to the market to buy some apples, while the stepmother covers up a well with grass. The man brings home the apples and the daughters ask where he got them. The stepmother tricks the girls to go outside. They fall into the well and the man leaves them there. Some time later, the girls begin to feel hungry and decide to eat the one who jumps the lowest. Every time, it is the youngest sister who does. However, they find some raisins on the ground to sate their hunger. After three days, they decide to excavate their way out of the well and discover where the raisins are coming from: the king's stables. They enter it to forage for more food from the horses. The king notices something wrong with the horses and investigates. He discovers the three girls and inquires about their skills: the eldest promises to weave a large carpet where the royal army would sit and there would still be space left; the middle sister that she can cook food for the while army in an egg shell; the youngest that she can bear twins, a boy and a girl with hair with a half of gold and a half of silver. The king marries all three sisters; the elder two fail in their boasts, while the youngest bears the twins, who are cast in the water and saved by a miller. Years later, the king meets his twins and takes them to dinner, where the whole truth is revealed.[13]
Dagestan
In a variant from Dagestan, "Три сестры" ("Three Sisters"), a man loses his wife. His three daughters convince their father to marry their neighbour. The woman becomes their step-mother, but, after some time, she convinces her husband to abandon the girls in the woods. The man goes to the market, buys some amber beads and goes to the woods to dig an up hole. He throws the beads into the hole and draws his daughters to the hole. They fall into the hole and the father covers the hole with a large rock. The sisters wish for their hands to become a shovel, a pickaxe and a spade, and begin excavating an exit. They reach the king's stable and hide under its roof, while one of them descends to get dates for the others. Time passes, and the king notices that his horses haven't been eating properly and sends his three sons to investigate. The two elders sleep on the job, but the youngest prince discovers the third girl, the prettiest of the sisters, who has been stealing the food. The king marries his three sons to the three women. The youngest gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl, with golden hair, but her sisters cast them in a box in the water. The twins are saved by an old woman. Years later, she takes them to a king's celebration. He notices the children and asks the old woman about them, then discovers they are his son and daughter.[14]
Ossetia
In an Ossetian variant published by Ossetian-Russian folklorist Grigory A. Dzagurov with the title "Своевольная кривобокая девица Каскатина" (German: Das eigensinnige krumme Mädchen Kaskatina;[15] English: "Maiden Kaskatina"), on her deathbed, a wife warns her husband not to marry a woman of certain aspect. He becomes a widower and his three daughters insist he remarries. He finds a woman just like his late wife warned him about and declines her proposal. The woman dyes her hair and tricks the man into marrying her. After the wedding, she begins to poison the father against the daughters. One day, he comes home with fine looking apples and their daughters ask where he found them. The man takes the three girls to the woods and draws them to a hole with a pile of apples. The girls fall into the hole and their father goes home. The three sisters pray to their deities for their fingers to become shovels and spades, so that they can excavate an exit out of the hole. They dig a way to the khan's mill, where they begin to live, sing and dance. Their activities draw the court and the khan's attention, who finds the trio. He inquires about their skills: the eldest claims to be able to weave a hundred felts from one bundle of wool, the middle that she can cook a meal for a hundred people with a single egg, and the youngest says she will bear him golden-haired twins, a boy and a girl. The khan marries the youngest and she gives birth to the golden-haired twin, but her sisters place them in a box and cast them in the river. The box washes ashore and the children live by themselves by the river bank. When they are older, their aunts convince the female twin to ask her brother to build an iron tower deep within the dark forest. After the tower is built, the midwife visits them and tells the girl to get a music-producing fur coat, a magical mirror (looking glass) and a girl named Kaskatina, who possesses magical petrifying powers. The brother fails to get Kaskatina; the sister saves him and brings Kaskatina with them. Kaskatina marries the male twin.[16]
In another Ossetian tale, "Ӕрхуы мӕсыджы бадӕг бурчызг" or "Бронзовая девушка Медной башни" (French: "La fille blonde qui se tient dans la tour de cuivre", English: "The blond girl at the tower of copper"), a widowed man marries a woman that wants his three daughters to be abandoned in the woods. He leads them to a tree with bright red fruits and throws them in a pit. The three girls pray for salvation, and three shovels and pickaxes appear. They use the tools to excavate an exit to the prince's mill, where they rest and eat food. One day, the prince finds the three sisters and inquires about their abilities: the elder says she can stitch many types of footwear with only a quarter of leather; the second that she can prepare a great meal with a handful of flour, and the last that she can bear twins, a boy with golden hair and a girl with silver tresses. The king chooses the third girl as his wife, and takes the other two to live at the castle with them. Jealousy burning at their hearts, the two elder sisters take the children as soon as they are born and abandon them in the woods, to be suckled by a she-dog. As they grow up, they build a makeshift hut to house themselves and the she-dog; the sister stays at home and the brother hunts. One day, the two aunts visit them and convince the pair to seek a woman with blond hair that lives in a tower of copper. The boy takes his talking horse and gets the girl. The next day, their hut becomes a mansion of copper, with a tower of copper. Next, the two aunts convince them to look for a fur coat ("pelisse") stamped with a sun on the plastron and a moon on the back, and that produces music and sings.[17][18]
In another Ossetian tale collected by philologist Bernhard Munkácsi, Ärtʼä čəˈzʒə āˈrɤau, and translated as Märchen von den drei Töchter (Russian: "Сказка о трёх сёстрах"; "The Tale of Three Daughters"), an old man loses his wife and remarries. His new spouse forces him to abandon his three daughters in the woods. He does just that; the girls fall into a hole. The youngest prays to God to give them shovels and pickaxes to excavate an exit. They dig a way out of the hole and into the king's stables, where they find food. The king's horses are getting thinner and he orders a night watch. His servants find the three maidens, and the king ('aldar') inquires them about their skills: the elder sister boasts she can sew shirts for then men; the middle one that, with a single cup of araki, she can make ten man drink from it; and the youngest promises golden-haired twins, a boy and a girl. Some time later, she bears the children, which are abandoned with a she-dog and replaced for puppies to disgrace her. The twins survive and are nursed by the she-dog, who hunts hares to feed them with. Years later, the aunts learn the twins are alive and send them for the jowl of a swine in the "Milchsees" ('sea lake') and for a wife for the Brother, a "golden maiden" that lives in a mountain beyond seven mountains. In the second quest, the male twin arrives at the golden maiden's place and is petrified by the maiden's powers. The female twin goes after him and forces the maiden to restore her brother, then the three of them return home. At the end of the tale, the golden maiden directs the twins to their father's house, where she reveals the twins are his children, showing him their golden curls.[19][20]
Adyghe people
Tale type ATU 707 is also attested among the
In a variant from the Adyghe people with the title "Три дочери старика" ("The old man's three daughters"), first collected in the mid-19th century and published in 1872, an old man brings some apples home and his daughters want to go with him the next time he picks up fruits. The man goes to the woods, digs up a hole near an apple tree and covers it with a carpet. He lures his daughters to the hole, they fall into it and he abandons them there. The three girls pray to God to save them and to provide them with food. With God's help, they climb out the hole and take shelter atop a tree. The khan passes by the forest and finds the three girls on the tree. He then inquires about their skills: the eldest says she can sew clothes for his army in one day; the middle one that she can sew clothes for 50 horsemen, and the youngest saying she will bear twins (a boy and a girl), both with a half of white gold and a half of yellow gold. The khan chooses the youngest as his wife. She gives birth to her twins, who are taken by her jealous sisters and cast in a box. The box with the children wash ashore and is found by a lady of the river,[a] who raises the twins by the river bank, while their biological mother, as punishment, is tied to the khan's palace's gates. An old woman passes by the disgraced queen and asks for some flour, and bakes two cakes with her breastmilk. The old woman goes to the river bank and gives the children the cakes. They taste it; the boy recognizes their mother's milk, while the girl complains that hers was baked with water. They tell their adoptive mother the event and she says she has to let them go into the world. The boy then builds a house for him and his sister. A passing old man convinces the female twin to find them a dove and a maiden named Ayrish-Ayrishakan. The Brother gets the bird, but becomes stone due to the maiden's powers, and is rescued by his Sister.[23]
Ingush people
In a tale from the Ingush people, collected in 1963 with the title "Мальчик с солнцем во лбу и месяцем между лопаток" ("The Boy with the Sun in his Mouth and the Moon between his shoulders"),[24] a man remarries. His new wife wants him to get rid of his three daughters, so he abandons them in the woods under the pretence of picking up apples. The girls climb a tree to shelter themselves. A prince passes by with his retinue and finds them. He then inquires them about their skills: the oldest says she can weave clothes for 60 men in one night; the middle sister says she can cook a meal for 60 men with the quantity of wheat in a copper thimble, and the youngest that she can bear a son with a shining sun on the front and a moon between the shoulders. The prince marries the youngest sister and she gives birth to a boy just as she described. The boy is cast in the water by his aunts, but is saved and grows up. He is then sent to tame a red stallion, [wild] like a tiger, and to bring back a girl who can petrify people.[25]
Abaza people
In a tale from the
Balkar people
In a tale from the
Karachay-Balkar people
In a tale from the
Tatar people
Author
Kumyk people
In a variant from the Kumyks, collected in Dagestan with the Kumyk title "Къарачач" (Russian: Карачач, romanized: Karachach), a widowed old man sets a test before he remarries: he will only marry if a pair of leather boots rot under the roof. A neighbour woman finds the boots and accelerates their decay, to allow her to marry him. Time passes; she begins to despise her three step-daughters, and orders her husband to get rid of them in the woods. The man digs up a hole next to a tree and draws his daughters there; they fall in the hole, and their father abandons them. The girls manage to excavate an exit to the king's stables, where they live on the horses' ration. The king discovers them and inquires about their abilities: the elder girl claims she can sew garments for 40 men, the middle one that she can cook a large meal only with a handful of rice in an eggshell, and the youngest that she will bear him twins, a boy with golden curls and a girl with the moon on the forehead. The elder two fail to deliver, but their sister is pregnant with the twins. Spurred by envy, they take the twins, cast them in the water in a box and replace them for puppies. The twins are saved by a fisherman named Dazhanhuvat, and are given the names Suvsar ("Сувсар", the girl) and Tabuldu ("Табулду", the boy). Years later, the twins' aunts discover their nephews have survived and send the "enem" to their house. The enem convinces Suvsar to send her twin for the branch of a magical dancing tree and some water from a magical singing fountain. Tabuldu goes to a palace, breaks off a branch from the tree and fetches some water from the spring, and returns home to use them in their garden. He plants the branch and waters it with the magical water, and suddenly the same spring appears and the branch turns into a tree with clapping leaves and dancing branches. Knowing the twins succeeded in their first quest, the aunts and enem send them on another quest, for Karachach herself, a maiden with petrifying powers.[32]
Footnotes
- Circassian mythology.[22]
References
- ^ Dirr, Adolf. Kaukasische Märchen. Jena: Verlegt bei Eugen Diederichs. 1920. pp. 42–45.
- ^ Грузинские народные сказки [Georgian Folk Tales]. Сост., вступит, статья, примеч. и типолог. анализ сюжетов Т. Д. Курдованидзе. Book 2. Moskva: Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1988. pp. 147-150 (Tale nr. 96).
- ^ Hoogasian-Villa, Susie. 100 Armenian Tales and Their Folkloristic Relevance. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 1966. p. 493.
- ^ Dirr, Adolf. Kaukasische Märchen. Jena: Verlegt bei Eugen Diederichs. 1920. pp. 42–45.
- ^ Dirr, Adolf; Menzies, Lucy. Caucasian Folk-tales, Selected & Translated From the Originals. New York: E.P. Dutton & co., 1925. pp. 44–47.
- ^ Dirr, Adolf. Kaukasische Maerchen. Jena: Eugen Diederich, 1922. pp. 288-289.
- ^ Kʻurdovaniże, Tʻeimuraz et al. The index of Georgian folktale plot types: systematic directory, according to the system of Aarne - Thompson. Tbilisi: Merani, 2000. p. 64.
- ^ Kʻurdovaniże, Tʻeimuraz et al. The index of Georgian folktale plot types: systematic directory, according to the system of Aarne - Thompson. Tbilisi: Merani, 2000. p. 48.
- ^ Грузинские народные сказки [Georgian Folk Tales]. Составление, вступительная статья, примечания и типологический анализ сюжетов: Т. Д. КУРДОВАНИДЗЕ. Book 1. Moskva: «Наука», 1988. p. 354.
- ^ Wardrop, Marjory Scott. Georgian folk tales. London: D. Nutt. 1894. pp. 5–11.
- ^ "Грузинскія преданія и сказки по русски" [Georgian Legends and Fairy Tales - in Russian]. In: "Сборник материалов для описания местностей и племен Кавказа". Тom X, Section 3. Тифлис: Управление Кавказского учебного округа, 1890. pp. 61-66 (tale nr. 8).
- ^ Rüstəmzadə, İlkin (2013). Azərbaycan nağıllarının süjet göstəricisi (in Azerbaijani). Bakı: Elm və təhsil. pp. 180–181.
- ^ Зейналлы, Ханефи; Багрий, Александр Васильевич. "Азербайджанские тюркские сказки". Academia, 1935. pp. 171–177 (text), 635 (source and classification).
- ^ "Сказки народов Дагестана" [Folk Tales of Dagestan]. Сказки и мифы народов Востока. Moskva: Наука, 1965. pp. 265–269 (text), 314 (classification) (Tale nr. 86).
- ISBN 9783424005974.
- ^ Осетинские народные сказки. Запись текстов, перевод, предисловие и примечания Г. А. Дзагурова. Мoskva: Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1973. pp. 202–213 (text), 571 (classification) (Tale nr. 49).
- ^ "Осетинские народные сказки". Moskva: Государственное издательство художественной литературы, 1951. pp. 117–129.
- ISBN 978-2-296-13332-7.
- ^ Munkácsi, Bernhard. Blüten der ossetischen Volksdichtung. Otto Harrassowitz, 1932. pp. 72–88.
- ^ Byazyrov, A. (1978) [1960]. Осетинские народные сказки [Ossetian Folk Tales]. Tskhinvali: Ирыстон. pp. 176–181.
- ^ Алиева, А. И. (1986). Поэтика и стиль волшебных сказок адыгских народов (in Russian). Nauka. pp. 34–35.
- ^ Сказки адыгских народов. Составление, вступительная статья и примечания А. И. Алиевой» М., Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1978. p. 370 (tale nr. 29, note 1).
- ^ Сказки адыгских народов. Составление, вступительная статья и примечания А. И. Алиевой» М., Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1978. pp. 238–243 (text), 370 (source), 399 (classification) (tale nr. 29).
- ISBN 9781843840817.
- ^ Сказки и легенды ингушей и чеченцев. Сост., пер., .предисл. и примеч. А. О. Мальсагова. М., Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1983. pp. 44–47 (Tale nr. 6), 375 (classification).
- ^ авазинские народные сказки. Составление, перевод с абазинского, вступительная статья, примечания В. Б. ТУГОВА. Moskva: Наука, 1985. pp. 201–205 (text for tale nr. 67), 377 (source), 404 (classification).
- ^ Pröhle, Wilhelm. "Balkarische Studien II". In: Keleti Szemle, № 16 (1916): pp. 213-235.
- ISBN 978-5-91766-141-4.
- ^ "Сказки горскихъ татаръ" [Fairy Tales from Mountain Tatars]. In: "Сборник материалов для описания местностей и племен Кавказа" Vol. 23. Tíflis: 1897. pp. 28-34.
- ^ "Народные сказки балкарцев и карачаевцев" [Folk Tales from Balkars and Karachays]. Moskva: ОЛМА Медиа Групп, 2003. pp. 73-78.
- ^ Riordan, James. Tales from Tartary. London: Kestrel Books; New York: Viking Press, 1979. pp. 106-114.
- ISBN 978-5-02-037393-8.
Further reading
- Курдованидзе, Т. Д. "К вопросу об этническом и интерэтническом в грузинской волшебной сказке (на примере типа AT 707)". Труды Тбилисского госуниверситета. Т. 191, 1977, pp. 95–106.