The Robber Bridegroom (fairy tale)
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- For the novel of this title, see The Robber Bridegroom.
- For the Children's book by Roald Dahl, see Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Robber Bridegroom is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 40.[1] Joseph Jacobs included a variant, Mr Fox in English Fairy Tales,[2] but the original provenance is much older; Shakespeare (circa 1599) alludes to the Mr. Fox variant in Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1:
- Like the old tale, my lord: "it is not so, nor `t was not so; but, indeed, God forbid it should be so."
It is Aarne-Thompson type 955, the robber bridegroom.[3] This type is closely related to tales of type 312, such as Bluebeard, and type 311, such as How the Devil Married Three Sisters and Fitcher's Bird.[4]
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[edit] Synopsis
A miller wished to marry his daughter off, and so when a rich suitor appeared, he betrothed her to him. One day the suitor complained that the daughter never visited him, told her that he lived in the forest, and overrode her reluctance by telling her he would leave a trail of ashes. She filled her pockets with peas and lentils and marked the trail with them as she followed the ashes.
They led her to a dark and silent house. A bird called out to warn her that she entered a murderer's house. An old woman there told her that the people there would kill and eat her unless she protected her, and hid her. A band of robbers arrived with a young woman, and they killed and ate her. When one chopped off a finger to get at its golden ring, it fell into the air and landed in the bodice of the hiding woman. The old woman discouraged them from searching, because the finger would not run away.
As soon as the robbers slept, she and the old woman fled. Wind had blown the ashes away, but they followed the lentils and reached her home.
When the wedding day arrived and the guests were telling stories, she said that she would tell a dream she had had, and told of her visit to the robbers' den, punctuating it with "My darling, I only dreamed this." -- or the robber punctuating with exclamations that it was not so in the Mr. Fox variant -- until she reached the end and produced the finger.
The robber bridegroom and all his band were put to death.
[edit] Variants
In Jacobs's version, the woman, Lady Mary, went to the house out of curiosity, Mr Fox having not even suggested that she come, and she was not told of the horrors there, but found the murdered bodies of women, as in Bluebeard.
In an American variant, from the Ozarks, the heroine resolved never to marry and never did, because she had concluded men were bad; she just stayed with her own family, who were happy to have her.[5]
[edit] Adaptations
Neil Gaiman wrote a short story entitled The White Road, based on "Mr Fox." In this short story, published in Gaiman's 1998 book Smoke and Mirrors (book), a recent love interest of Mr Fox's has followed him home. She finds evidence of murder in his home and, later, witnesses the grisly killing of another victim. She reveals his true nature to a crowd at a local Inn, via a "story of a dream." She ultimately shouts that he is "Bluebeard" and "Gilles de Rais."
[edit] References
- ^ Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, Household Tales, "The Robber Bridegroom"
- ^ Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales, "Mr Fox"
- ^ D. L. Ashliman, "The Robber Bridegroom and other folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 955"
- ^ D. L. Ashliman, "40: The Robber Bridegroom"
- ^ Angela Carter, The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book, p 230, Pantheon Books, New York, 1990 ISBN 0-679-74037-6
