The three feathers
The three feathers is a fairy tale ( ATU 402). In the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm from the 2nd edition of 1819 it is at position 63 (KHM 63), previously with others at position 64.
content
A king promises the kingdom to the one of his three sons who brings him the finest carpet. He blows three feathers in the air for them to follow. The two older and clever ones move east and west. They laugh at the youngest, who is called stupid, because his pen falls to the ground. He is sad at first. There he finds a trap door by the pen, below it a staircase and a door behind which a toad lives. She gives him what he needs. His brothers, who in their arrogance have only fetched cheap cloths, but demand a new condition, because the stupid lacks the mind. The king has the most beautiful ring and finally the most beautiful woman brought to him. The toad gives the stupid a hollowed out yellow turnip with six mice strung on. When he puts one of the little toads in it, she becomes a beautiful woman in a carriage. The two older men still demand that the women jump through a ring because they think their two farm wives can do it better. But they break their limbs. But the Dummling's wife skilfully leaps through the ring like a deer. Then the stupid becomes king and rules wisely.
Stylistic peculiarities
The toad, here called Itsche , speaks in two poems. They are the same as in a similar scene in The Iron Furnace . When the stupid knocks on the door, she calls out:
"Jungfer green and small, Hutzelbein, Hutzelbein's little dog, Hutzel back and forth, let's see quickly who would be outside."
When he expresses his wish, she says:
"Jungfer green and small, Hutzelbein, Hutzelbein's little dog, Hutzel back and forth, bring me the big box."
Origin and variants
The three feathers is in the children's and house tales from the 2nd edition of 1819 as no. 63. The note is taken from Zwehrn (by Dorothea Viehmann ) and reports on variants (e.g. Dummling has to cut a toad through the heart with a sword , Cat gives him the most beautiful scent) as well as the custom of blowing out feathers. Among other things, the snake maiden are mentioned in Grimms Deutsche Sagen (1, 13), Braunschw. Collection p. 271–286 , Büsching p. 268 von der Padde , Zingerle p. 348 , Aulnoy No. 19 la chatte blanche , Cavallius p. 300 , in Norwegian by Asbjörnsen p. 160 , in Polish by Lewestam p. 101 , Albanian by Hahn 2 , 166. 167, in Serbian at Wuk No. 11.
The first edition from 1812 contained a very similar version together with The White Dove and The Queen Bee under the surtitle Von dem Dummling , No. 64. It largely corresponds to Wilhelm Grimm's handwritten original version from 1810: The Dummling finds a marble slab with a under the stone Ring, under which sits a girl who makes for him the finest yarn, the most beautiful carpet. When he is supposed to bring the woman, it shows him a frog that says "embrace me and sink yourself" . When he takes it and jumps into a pond with it, the frog becomes the most beautiful woman who can jump through the ring as the only one.
Grimm's fairy tales contain many examples of Dummling or Hans, whom his brothers grudge or do not believe in his success ( the satchel, the hat and the horn , the queen bee , the poor miller's boy and the kitten , the clever little tailor ) or even want to kill him ( Der singing bones , the golden bird , dat meerkats , the water of life , the strong Hans ). The triple number of companions is also common in other areas: the little table, donkey and club out of the sack , the devil with the three golden hairs , the three children of fortune , the three craft boys , the three brothers , the devil and his grandmother , the three lazy ones .
interpretation
Bruno Bettelheim sees an Oedipus conflict . A child can particularly identify with the third as a dumbass, since this corresponds to the original family constellation. He wins by using the power of his unconscious , from which his competitors are cut off. While they remain fixed on the surface of things with unspecified cleverness, where they can only find gross things, he descends into the underworld, but you have to refine and sublimate its content yourself. The meaning of change is shown in the last sentence of the fairy tale, where no wedding is depicted, but the wisdom of the stupid is emphasized. In terms of depth psychology, Hedwig von Beit interprets the king as the ruling consciousness, which usually runs out of vitality (colorful carpet) in the middle of life. The trinity perceived by him must be completed by the previously undeveloped function of the psyche, the clumsy stupid, to a four. He reaches the anima unconscious of the man , the female earth being , for which the dark cave, toad and turnip stand. The ring is a mandala for the self. Even Wilhelm Salber noticed the quasi geometric order of succession problem. Contrary to the existing form, it is precisely the unformed that becomes fruitful.
The carpet can be seen as a weaving of the Norns and thus as the fate of man. This can also be seen in the expression "as beautiful and fine as none could be woven up on earth".
filming
- 2014: Die Drei Federn , Germany, fairy tale film of the 7th season from the ARD series Six in one fell swoop , directed by Su Turhan
literature
Primary literature
- Grimm, brothers. Children's and Household Tales. Complete edition. With 184 illustrations by contemporary artists and an afterword by Heinz Rölleke. Pp. 364-367. Düsseldorf and Zurich, 19th edition 1999. (Artemis & Winkler Verlag; Patmos Verlag; ISBN 3-538-06943-3 )
- Grimm, brothers. Children's and Household Tales. Last hand edition with the original notes by the Brothers Grimm. With an appendix of all fairy tales and certificates of origin, not published in all editions, published by Heinz Rölleke. Volume 3: Original Notes, Guarantees of Origin, Afterword. Pp. 124-126, 470-471. Revised and bibliographically supplemented edition, Stuttgart 1994. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-003193-1 )
- Rölleke, Heinz (ed.): The oldest fairy tale collection of the Brothers Grimm. Synopsis of the handwritten original version from 1810 and the first prints from 1812. Edited and explained by Heinz Rölleke. Pp. 90-105. Cologny-Geneve 1975. (Fondation Martin Bodmer; Printed in Switzerland)
Interpretations
- von Beit, Hedwig: Symbolism of the fairy tale. Bern, 1952. pp. 337-355. (A. Francke AG, publisher)
- Lenz, Friedel: Visual language of fairy tales. 8th edition. Pp. 171-177. Stuttgart, 1997. (Verlag Freies Geistesleben und Urachhaus GmbH; ISBN 3-87838-148-4 )
- Bruno Bettelheim: Children need fairy tales. 31st edition 2012. dtv, Munich 1980, ISBN 978-3-423-35028-0 , pp. 119–128.
- Wilhelm Salber: fairy tale analysis (= work edition Wilhelm Salber. Volume 12). 2nd Edition. Bouvier, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-416-02899-6 , pp. 156–157, 159, 161.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bruno Bettelheim: Children need fairy tales. 31st edition 2012. dtv, Munich 1980, ISBN 978-3-423-35028-0 , pp. 119–128.
- ↑ by Beit, Hedwig: Symbolik des Märchen. Bern, 1952. pp. 337-355. (A. Francke AG, publisher)
- ^ Wilhelm Salber: fairy tale analysis (= work edition Wilhelm Salber. Volume 12). 2nd Edition. Bouvier, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-416-02899-6 , pp. 156–157, 159, 161.
- ↑ Bruno Bettelheim: Children need fairy tales. .Deutsche-Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1977, p. 103; P. 105.
