The Sprig of Rosemary
The Sprig of Rosemary is a Spanish fairy tale collected by Dr. D. Francisco de S. Maspons y Labros in Cuentos Populars Catalans. Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book.
It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband.
Synopsis
A man makes his only daughter work very hard. One day after work, he sends her to collect firewood. She does, and picks herself a sprig of rosemary as well. A handsome young man appears and asks why she has come to steal his firewood. She says that her father sent her, then the young man leads her to a castle and tells her that he is a great lord and wants to marry her, so they marry.
An old woman who looks after the castle gives her the keys but warns her that if she uses one, the castle will fall to pieces. After a time, curiosity overcomes her, and she opens it to find a snakeskin; her husband, a magician, uses it to change shape. Then the castle falls to pieces. She cries, breaking off a sprig of rosemary and goes to search for him.
She finds a house of straw where they take her in service, but she grows sadder by the day. When her mistress asks, the daughter tells her story, and her mistress sends her to the Sun, the Moon, and the Wind, to ask. The Sun can not help her, but gives her a nut and sends her on to the Moon; the Moon can not help her but gives her an almond and sends her on to the Wind; the Wind does not know but says he will look. He learns her husband was hidden in the palace of the king, and is to marry the king's daughter the next day.
The daughter implores him to put it off if he can, and after giving her a walnut, the Wind blows on the tailors sewing for the wedding and destroys their work. The daughter arrives and cracks the nut, finding a fine mantle. She sells it to the princess for a great sum of gold. Then the almond holds petticoats, which she also sells. Then the walnut holds a gown, and for this she demands to see the bridegroom. The princess finally agrees, and when she goes in, she touches him with the rosemary, which brings his memory back, and they go back to her home.
Motifs
The unwitting theft is a common motif, but in fairy tales, the usual offender is the father, as in The Singing, Springing Lark or Beauty and the Beast; the motif is found in other folktales, such as the ballads Tam Lin and Hind Etin.
Finding the husband can change shape is a common thread in stories of this type, but the discovery that the husband can become a beast is rare; usually, as in East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway, The Enchanted Snake, and The Enchanted Pig, the bride finds her animal bridegroom is also a man. Furthermore, the usual disaster stems not merely from the discovery but the attempt to break the spell on him—although it is not unique for the violation of the taboo to bring disaster, as in The Tale of the Hoodie.
The quest is common to all fairy tales of this type, and the specific motifs of the Sun, the Moon, and the Wind are found in others, such as The Enchanted Pig and The Singing, Springing Lark.
In most variants, all the magical treasures are used to bribe the heroine's way to the hero, but the false heroine manages to trick the hero to nullify it, instead of this tale's technique where she actually sells the first two things.