The Green Man of Knowledge
This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary. (July 2022) |
The Green Man of Knowledge is a Scottish folktale collected in 1954[1] and published in 1958, in the academic journal Scottish Studies.[2] It is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 313, "Girl Helps the Hero Flee" or "The Magic Flight".
Source
The tale was collected from informant Geordie Stewart, a
Summary
An old widow has a son named Jack, who is considered a fool. Jack sits by the ashes and plays cards with his pet, a collie-dog. When he is 21 years old, he leaves home to seek his fortune elsewhere. He goes to a place called "Land of Enchantment", where - the narrator describes - animals and birds can talk.
Feeling hungry at a certain point of the journey, Jack meets a speaking
Jack leaves the cot and walks a bit more. He hears some bells - the sign of a village nearby. Jack goes to the village and enters an inn. He sees some men playing cards with another one dressed all in green. Jack plays with the gentleman in green and wins. The gentleman in green says his name is Green Man of Knowledge, who lives in a place "east o' the moon and west o' the stars".
Jack decides to follow the man further into the Land of Enchantment, despite the innkeeper's warnings that the Green Man of Knowledge will lead him to certain death.
Jack reaches the house of another old woman, who gives him a piece of knitting for him to sit on and a piece of advice to always look forward, never looking behind him. Jack uses the piece of knitting and flies to the house of a third old woman. The third old woman greets him and tells Jack is approaching the Green Man of Knowledge's castle. She also gives him some advice: there is a bridge that leads to the castle, but it turns into a spider's web (a trap). The only way to get across is by traversing the river with the help of the Green Man's youngest daughter, the most powerful of his three daughters; they come to bathe in a river that runs under the bridge, the two elder become black birds, the youngest a white one; he should to steal the garments of the Green Man's youngest daughter to force her to help him get across to Green Man's castle.
The Green Man of Knowledge greets Jack and welcomes him into his house. That night, the Green Man's youngest daughter comes to Jack's room and tells him "he spelled her", and that she loves him, so she will help him in whatever her father asks of him.
The next day, the Green Man orders Jack to perform three tasks: first, to retrieve the Green Man's wife's golden ring, which fell in a dry well. For the first task, the Green Man's youngest daughter helps Jack by turning herself into a ladder to reach the bottom of the well, but Jack cannot miss one step, lest the girl breaks a bone of her body. Jack climbs down the ladder, he misses one step, but gets the ring and presents it to the Green Man. That same night, the Green Man's youngest daughter goes to Jack's room to reveal that, luckily for them, only a her pinkie finger was broken, but she had to wear gloves during dinnertime to avoid casting any suspicion on them.
The next day, Jack is tasked with building a new castle for the Green Man. Once again, his youngest daughter helps Jack. Lastly, Jack's task is to clear a wood of ants. Jack accomplishes the tasks with the help of the Green Man's daughter. Finally, the Green Man's daughter convinces Jack to run away from her father, and advises him to choose a lame mule (which is herself, under a new form).
Jack rides the lame mule away from the Green Man's castle as the creature pursues the pair. The Green Man's daughter asks Jack to look into her ear for anything they can use to hinder the pursuit. First, he finds a drop of water, which Jack throws behind them to create a lake; second, he finds a small stone, which he throws behind to create hills and mountains; lastly, he throws behind a spark of fire to create a conflagration behind them that consumes the Green Man.
The Green Man's daughter and Jack leave the Land of Enchantment and prepare to go to his village. For her help in destroying her father, she tells him she will return to him in a year and a day, but warns him not to let him be kissed by anyone, lest he forgets about her and their adventure.
However, as soon as Jack goes home, his collie dog licks his face, and he forgets about the Green Man's daughter. Jack uses the fortune he gained from the Green Man to become rich and buy himself a large place. He sets his sights on a miller's daughter as a bride for him. On the eve of his wedding, he sees a maiden in tatters and hires her as a servant. The maiden cooks and cleans.
Just on the wedding day, the priest is taking too long to arrive, and the servant girl suggests she distracts the guests with a number: she owns a wooden rooster and a wooden hen that can talk. She acts out a scene with the wooden birds, replaying Jack's adventures with her, in an effort to jog his memory. Jack remembers and marries the Green Man's youngest daughter.[4][5]
Analysis
Tale type
The tale is classified in the international
Motifs
Scholarship stated that the colour
The swan maiden
Folklorist Stith Thompson pointed that the formula of the ATU 313 tale is often combined with the character of the swan maiden.[11]
In the same vein, William Bernard McCarthy reported that in Irish tradition the swan maiden is frequently appears in tale type ATU 313 ("The Master Maid", "The Magical Flight", "The Devil's Daughter").[12] In that regard, Norwegian folklorist Reidar Thoralf Christiansen suggested that the presence of the Swan maiden character in tale type ATU 313 "could be explained by the circumstance that in both cycles a woman with supernatural powers plays a leading part".[13]
Variants
Wales
In a
Gaelic
In a
Scotland
Folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs reported a similar story from Scotland, titled Green Sleeves. In it, the prince loves to gamble and one day gambles with a man named Green Sleeves, who wins the bet and in return asks for the youth as an apprentice/slave/servant. To find Green Sleeves's house, the prince fetches the swan garments of a bathing maiden, named Blue Wing, who is one of the daughters of Green Sleeves.[18] Katharine Mary Briggs, in the same book, cited The Green Man of Knowledge as another tale containing the character of the swan maiden as the daughter of the tale's nemesis (ogre, giant, wizard, fairy king, etc.).[19]
Ireland
In an Irish tale, The Story of Grey Norris from Warland, John, a king's son, plays ball in the ball-alley. One day, "an old man with a long grey beard" named Grey Norris from Warland comes to play with him, the prize - anything the one asks of the other. The first time, John wins and asks for the rooms in his father's palace to be filled with gold before every sunrise. The second time, John wins again and wishes for his father's meadows to be filled with cattle. The third time, Grey Norris wins and sets the prince a task: the youth must find Grey Norris's castle by the end of the year. The king's cook prepares a cake with her breastmilk and gives him a dreoght reel of cotton for him to use to go to her giant brother. John follows the reel of cotton to the cook's first giant brother. The creature consults in a large book the location of Grey Norris's castle, but cannot find it. He suggests John consults with an elder brother. The second giant brother cannot find anything either, so he directs John to a third brother, older than both giants. The third giant brother summons an eagle three times with a trumpet. The eagle appears and says it broke free from the Grey Norris's chains and flew to them. The eagle takes John to Grey Norris's castle, and John feeds the eagle a piece of his flesh. The eagle tells him that three maidens will come to bathe in the water in the form of swans; he should hide the youngest's garment, because she is Grey Norris's daughter. John does as the eagle instructed and reaches Grey Norris's castle. The old wizard lets him in and spend the night. The next day, John is made to clean out the stable for a needle, and his daughter advises the human prince to choose the rusty fork to do the chore. However, John cannot fulfill the task, and Grey Norris's daughter performs it for him. The next task is for John to shoot some birds and build a bridge of feathers. Grey Norris's daughter shoots a single a bird with a gun, takes three feathers and magically creates a bridge. Thirdly, to cut down an entire forest with an axe and make it into dishes and cups. The fourth task is to summon a bull, and the last is for John to tell a tale to Grey Norris's different parts. The princess tells John to place cowdung on Grey Norris's head and in other parts of his body, then prepare two horses, for they will escape that night. They also get a she-dog's three pups. Grey Norris learns of their escape and sends a large she-dog after them. Thrice the she-dog returns with its pups, instead of the runaway pair. Grey Norris then goes after them himself. To stop the wizard, John and the princess throw behind them a few water droplets to create a lake, then a needle to create a forest of iron. John and the princess reach his father's house, and she warns him not too be kissed by anyone, lest he forgets about her. John's favourite lapdog licks him and he forgets. The princess is found and taken in an old weaver. After 12 months, John is set to be married to a lady of the court. On John's wedding day, the princess goes to court and offers to make a number for them: to dance on a tightrope. The princess falls and breaks her leg. The next year, the princess uses a cock and hen to jog John's memory, and he finally remember her.[20]
In a tale from
Adaptations
The tale was adapted into an episode of the series Animated Tales of the World.[22]
See also
- The Master Maid
- The Battle of the Birds
- Nix Nought Nothing
- The Grateful Prince
- The White Dove
- Green Man
References
- ISBN 9781134560462.
- ^ ISBN 9780080257570.
- .
- ISBN 9780080257570.
- ISBN 9781134560462.
- ISBN 0-313-25961-5.
- ^ Bruford, Alan; MacDonald, Donald A.. Scottish traditional tales. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2003 [1994]. p. 447.
- ISBN 978-951-41-0963-8.
- ^ Randolph, Vance. The Devil's Pretty Daughter. Columbia University Press, 1955. p. 215.
- ^ Hulbert, J. R. "Syr Gawayn and the Grene Knyʒt". In: Modern philology Vol. 13 (1915/16). p. 456.
- ISBN 978-0520035379.
- ISBN 978-1-57806-959-0.
- JSTOR 20521447.
- ^ "Welsh Gypsy Folk-Tales collected and edited by John Sampson". In: Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. New series. vol. 1 (1907-08). pp. 258-270.
- ^ Groome, Francis Hindes. Gypsy Folk-Tales. London: Hurst & Blackett. 1899. pp. 254-255.
- ^ Williams-Ellis, Amabel. Gypsy folk tales. London: Pan Books, 1973. pp. 89-101.
- ^ "The Tale of the 'Bodach Glas', translated from the Gaelic, by Mrs. Mackellar". In: The Celtic Magazine. Edited by Alexander McBain. Vol. XII. Inverness: A. and W. Mackenzie. 1887. pp. 12–16 (part 1); 57–64 (part 2).
- ISBN 0-394-40918-3.
- ISBN 0-394-40918-3.
- JSTOR 1252773.
- ^ McManus, L. (1915). "Folk Tales from Co. Mayo, Ireland". In: Folklore, 26:2, 191-195. DOI: 10.1080/0015587X.1915.9718871
- ^ Baker, Rachel Bevan (director); Monk, Seonag and McKinnon, Calum (screenplay). "The Green Man of Knowledge: A Story from Scotland". Animated Tales of the World. Length: 13min. Airing date: 2001.
Further reading
- Henderson, Hamish. “The Green Man of Knowledge”. In: Scottish Studies 2 (1958): 47-85.
External links
- Geordie Robertson at Kist o Riches