The Singing Bone

"The Singing Bone" ("Der singende Knochen") is a German fairy tale, collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 28.^[1] It is Aarne-Thompson type 780.^[2]

Synopsis

A boar lays waste to a country, and two brothers set out to kill it. The younger meets a dwarf who gives him a spear, and with it, he kills the boar. Carrying the body off, the man meets his older brother, who had joined with others to drink until he felt brave. The older brother lures him in, gives him drink, and learns of the younger brother's adventure. They then set out to deliver the body to the king, but on passing a bridge, the older kills the younger and buries his body beneath it. He takes the boar himself to the king and marries the king's daughter.

One day a shepherd sees a bone under the bridge and uses it to make a mouthpiece for a horn, which begins to sing on its own. The shepherd takes this marvel to the king. On hearing the song, which tells the tale of the murder, the king has the younger brother's skeleton dug up. The older brother cannot deny murdering him and is executed. The younger brother's bones are buried in a beautiful graveyard.^[3]

Origin

Graham Anderson has identified the ancient Greek story of Meleager and the Calydonian boar as a possible early variant of this story, noting that both stories involve a man who hunts a boar, murders a relative, and is killed when this information is found out. Also, in both stories, the murderer's doom is brought about by "a hidden, stick-like object of whose effect the criminal himself can have no knowledge".^[4]

Variations and adaptations

In music

The cantata Das Klagende Lied by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler is based partly upon this tale.
This tale is also found in ballad form, in "The Twa Sisters", wherein the siblings are sisters instead of brothers.^[5]

In literature

Beth Hahn's literary suspense novel, The Singing Bone (2016), is loosely based on "The Twa Sisters".^[6]

References

↑ Grimm, Jacob and Wilheim. "28: The Singing Bone". Household Tales. SurLaLune Fairy Tales.
↑ Ashliman, D.L. "The Singing Bone and other tales of Aarne-Thompson type 780". SurLaLune Fairy Tales.
↑ Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. "28: The Singing Bone". SurLaLune Fairy Tales. Retrieved September 2, 2002.
↑ Anderson, Graham (2000). Fairytale in the Ancient World. Routledge. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-0-415-23702-4. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
↑ Thompson, Stith (1977). The Folktale. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. p. 136.
↑ Hahn, Beth (March 1, 2016). The Singing Bone (1st; Hardcover ed.). Regan Arts. ISBN 9781942872566.

External links

The full text of The Singing Bone at Wikisource

The Brothers Grimm
Key articles	Jacob Grimm Wilhelm Grimm Grimms' Fairy Tales Deutsche Sagen Deutsche Mythologie
Notable tales	"The Frog Prince" "Cat and Mouse in Partnership" "Mary's Child" "The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was" "The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids" "Trusty John" "The Wonderful Musician" "The Twelve Brothers" "Brother and Sister" "Rapunzel" "The Three Little Men in the Wood" "The Three Spinners" "Hansel and Gretel" The White Snake "The Fisherman and His Wife" "The Brave Little Tailor" "Cinderella" "The Riddle" "Little Red Riding Hood" "Town Musicians of Bremen" "Snow White" Rumpelstiltskin "Sleeping Beauty"
Other	Grimm's law Göttingen Seven Grim Tales The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics The Brothers Grimm Grimm Tales The Sisters Grimm Fairy tale American McGee's Grimm German Fairy Tale Route Grimm Once Upon a Time

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