The Wedding of Mrs. Fox

"The Wedding of Mrs. Fox" is two German fairy tales collected under the same title by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as number 38.[1] It was included in all editions, and is classified as Aarne-Thompson type 65, 1350, 1352*, and 1510.[2]

The second version of the tale was told to the Grimms by Ludovico Brentano Jordis, who also wrote down "The Lion and the Frog" for the brothers.[3]

Synopsis

In the first version of the story, Mr. Fox has nine tails. He feigns death to test his wife's fidelity. Mrs. Fox rejects all the fox suitors that have less than nine tails. When she marries a fox with nine tails, Mr. Fox arises and throws everyone out of his house, including his wife.

In the second version, Mr. Fox dies, and Mrs. Fox is suited by a dog, a deer, a hare, a bear, and a lion. She rejects them because they do not have red pants and a pointed face. When a fox arrives and meets her requirements, she agrees to marry him and laments her first husband's selfishness.

Motifs

The Grimms used the word "Zeiselschwänze" for "tails" when Mrs. Fox asks about her potential suitors in the first version of the story. The root "schwanz" creates a double entendre as it is also used to describe male genitalia.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, Household Tales, "The Wedding of Mrs. Fox"
  2. 1 2 D.L. Ashliman, Mrs. Fox's Wedding
  3. ↑ The Queen's Mirror: Fairy Tales by German Women, 1780-1900. Edited by Shawn C. Jarvis. University of Nebraska Press, 2001. 27.
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