East of the sun and west of the moon

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East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a Norwegian folk tale by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe . A collection of these fairy tales first appeared in 1847.

action

A white bear meets a poor farmer and asks if he would give him his youngest daughter. In return for this, the man would receive wealth. Since the girl hesitates, the farmer asks the bear to return later so that the farmer can persuade his daughter in the meantime. The white bear then takes the girl into his enchanted castle. At night he loses his bear form and comes into her bed as a man. However, for lack of light, she can never see him. As her homesickness grows, the bear agrees that she can visit her family. She has to promise never to speak to her mother alone, but only in the presence of other people. Once home, everyone greets her and her mother makes constant attempts to speak to her alone. Eventually the mother succeeds and convinces her to tell the whole story. The mother insists that the white bear must be a troll , gives the girl a couple of candles and tells her to use the candles at night to see who or what is next to her in bed.

The girl obeys and finds an attractive prince in bed. She spills three drops of the melted wax on the prince and wakes him up. The prince tells her that if she had lasted a year he would have been released from his curse. But now he has to go to his stepmother who has bewitched him and marry her hideous daughter. The daughter is a troll princess and lives with her stepmother in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon . In the morning the girl sees that the palace has disappeared. Then she goes in search of the prince. On a big mountain she finds an old woman with a golden apple. She asks the old woman if she knows the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. But the old woman cannot tell her, but lends her a horse to ride to the neighbor who may be able to help her. In addition, the woman gives the girl the golden apple. The neighbor cannot help her either, but sends her to the neighbor, lends her a horse and gives her a golden comb. The third neighbor has a golden spinning wheel . She too does not know the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. She lends the girl a horse to catch the east wind and gives her the spinning wheel.

The east wind has never been east of the sun and west of the moon at the castle, but its brother, the west wind, is stronger and could have been there. He takes her to the west wind. The west wind does the same thing and brings you to the south wind and that brings you to the north wind. The north wind reports that it knows where the castle is east of the sun and west of the moon and takes the girl there.

The next morning the girl takes the golden apple. The daughter who wants to marry the prince sees the apple and wants to buy it. The girl agrees on the condition that she can spend a night with the prince. The daughter agrees, but gives the prince a sleeping potion so that the girl cannot wake him up. The same thing happens the next night after the girl sold her the golden comb. While the girl tries to wake the prince, her crying and shouting is overheard by some imprisoned citizens who tell the story to the prince. On the third night, after the daughter has received the spinning wheel, she again gives the prince the sleeping potion. But he doesn't drink it and wakes up when the girl comes to wake him up.

The prince tells her that she can save him. He explains that he will not marry anyone who cannot wash the wax off his shirt. His stepmother and her daughter will not be able to do this because they are trolls. Therefore he will have her, the girl, called because she is able to clean the shirt and he will then marry her. The plan works and the trolls are bursting with rage. The prince and his bride free the prisoners from prison, take the gold and silver and leave the castle east of the sun and west of the moon.

reception

Lisa Tetzner has retold the Norwegian fairy tale under the same title. It became the namesake of a collection of stories for children edited by Paul Maar . The book with illustrations by Philip Waechter was published by the Berlin company Aufbau-Verlag.

German editions

  • P. Asbjørnsen and J.Moe, J .: Norwegian folk tales . 1-2. Berlin: Hans Bondy, [1908], pp. 93-304 .
  • Norwegian folk tales . Edited and translated by Klara Stroebe and Reidar Th. Christiansen. Cologne 1967, No. 31 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrew Lang, The Blue Fairy Book , "East of the Sun and West of the Moon"
  2. ^ Heidi Anne Heiner , Tales Similar to East of the Sun and West of the Moon