The white snake

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The white snake is a fairy tale ( ATU 673). It is in the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm at position 17 (KHM 17).

content

A king who is known for his wisdom and who does not escape anything has the mysterious habit of eating from a dish hidden under a lid after every lunch. He only lifts the lid when nobody is looking. A curious servant takes a look and finds a prepared white snake underneath. When he eats it, he can understand the language of animals. When the king accuses him of stealing the queen's ring, he can prove his innocence by slaughtering a duck that previously said she swallowed the ring. The king offers him a better post as an excuse. Instead, the servant lets himself be given a horse and rides out into the world. On the way he meets three fish, which he rescues from the reeds, an ant king, whose ants he spares by riding a detour so as not to have to cross the ant road, and finally three young, still flightless, hungry ravens who are cast out by their parents and for which he slaughters his horse. He comes to a castle whose beautiful king's daughter is promised to those who solve a problem. But if he fails, then he must die. He announces himself as a suitor, and the king tells him to fetch a ring from the sea. The three fish come and bring him ashore for him. The king's daughter does not want to marry a servant and still gives him the task of collecting three sacks of millet from the grass. After the ants have also solved this task for him, she gives him the task of bringing her an apple from the tree of life. He sets off, but the three ravens get the apple for him. When the princess eats it, her feelings change and they get married.

Origin, origins and distribution

Grimm's note noted from the Hanauischen (from the von Haxthausen family ). With regard to the helpful animals, they compare KHM 62 The Queen Bee (see also KHM 33 , 57 , 60 , 126 , 169 , 191 ) and, with regard to the effect of the white snake, the legend Seeburger See (Grimms Deutsche Sagen No. 131) and the bird heart in KHM 122 The Krautesel . You also mention Soldier Lorenz from Prohle's Children's Fairy Tale No. 7; a Scottish legend from Grant Stewart ; The magic horse at Straparola 3.2. In a manuscript by Ludwig Aurbacher in Grimm's estate, a couple forfeited their luck by curiously looking under the king's concealed bowl (later in Aurbacher's Volksbüchlein , Munich 1827, I, no. 60, pp. 101-104).

The Aarne-Thompson motif ATU 673 ("The White Snake") on which the fairy tale is based is part of a group of motifs in which the protagonist learns the language of animals with the help of a snake - in this case by taking the flesh of a white snake eats. This motif is well documented in Europe, often in Central and Eastern Europe, but also in Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia, the Baltic States and occasionally outside of Europe. An eastern version is documented for Kazakhstan, for example, but here the protagonists eat the heart of a bird, not a snake, as in KHM 122 ( Der Krautesel ) . In other Eastern versions, the snake is not killed, but grants the hero knowledge of the language of the animals out of gratitude for their salvation or sparing (e.g. Azerbaijani). This also corresponds to the ancient Melampus saga (Apollodor, 1.9). In the story of Bhima and Vasuki , the Indian Mahabharata offers a version that presents a fight with snakes and their voluntary help (not because of gratitude, but because of kinship) side by side, but the supernatural gift to the hero is not knowledge, but Force.

An early literary version from Europe is the Icelandic Völsungen saga (late 13th century), according to which Sigurd slays the dragon (worm) Fafnir, tastes his heart and thus learns the language of birds. Similarly describes Saxo Grammaticus ( Gesta Danorum , V.2.6-V.2.8, 12th century.) As Erik "the Eloquent" gained his wisdom by the fact that he ate the porridge, which his stepmother Kraka prepares for his half-brother and the Rollerus Black snake's saliva. Related stories can also be found in the birth legend of the Welsh bard Taliesin ( Hanes Taliesin , 16th c.), As well as in the Irish The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn (12th c.), After which the young Fionn mac Cumhaill for his master Fine gas the "Salmon of Knowledge "( eó fis ) is supposed to prepare, but costs from this and thus acquires the secret knowledge that Finegas wanted to acquire for himself. In these Celtic versions, however, the snake is replaced by a salmon or a (herbal brew from a) cauldron, possibly due to the lack of snakes in the fauna of Ireland .

interpretation

This story contains many elements that also appear in other fairy tales: an innocent accused, but who can happily prove his innocence ( The Six Swans ), knowledge of the language of animals ( The Three Languages ) or animals that serve him out of gratitude stand ( the two brothers ), and finally the tasks that he is given to get the beautiful king's daughter ( the six servants ).

What is interesting is the importance of the snake here. It brings about wisdom and the ability to see through other beings ( Ferenand dull and Ferenand unmistakable ). Perhaps the king suspected that the servant had done something forbidden, but perhaps he is particularly suspicious. In many other fairy tales, snakes or people who are compared to them are especially insidious ( The King of the Golden Mount ). It is also typical that man appropriates the enlightening gift forbidden, like the fruit of the tree of knowledge ( Genesis ). A similar motif as in the fairy tale can also be found in a Flensburg legend, where catching the blue snakes even leads to immortality or wealth.

The anthroposophist Rudolf Meyer compares the snake with the autochthonous back muscles of humans and sees a connection to intuitive , animal abilities. They are only available to a few (hood over the plate) and make special demands on compassion for suffering beings, which the servant shows in the fairy tale (hence a white snake).

filming

  • The white snake , Germany / Austria, fairy tale film of the ZDF series Märchenperlen . It was first broadcast on December 19, 2015 on ZDFneo . This version uses the themes of the fairy tale quite freely.

literature

  • Grimm, brothers. Children's and Household Tales. Complete edition. With 184 illustrations by contemporary artists and an afterword by Heinz Rölleke. Pp. 129-133. 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. P. 39, 449. Revised and bibliographically supplemented edition, Stuttgart 1994. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-003193-1 )

Web links

Wikisource: The White Snake  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rölleke, Heinz (ed.): Fairy tales from the estate of the Brothers Grimm. 5th improved and supplemented edition. Trier 2001. pp. 54-55, 109-110. (WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier; ISBN 3-88476-471-3 )
  2. ↑ Thompson, Stith. The Folktale . University of California Press. 1977. p. 181. ISBN 0-520-03537-2
  3. ^ Frazer, James G. "The Language of Animals". In: Archaeological Review . Vol. I. No. May 3, 1888. D. Nutt. 1888. pp. 166 and 175-177.
  4. ↑ Kurt Ranke: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales: Search-Seduction ( de ). Walter de Gruyter, 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-023767-2 , p. 647.
  5. ^ Kazakh folk tales . Schönbrunn-Verlag, 1986, ISBN 978-3-85364-168-2 , pp. 170–172 ( google.de [accessed July 6, 2020]).
  6. ↑ H. Achmed Schmiede (translator): The petrified city. Azerbaijani fairy tales. Volk und Welt, pp. 53-66 , accessed July 6, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Apollodorus, Library, book 1, chapter 9. Retrieved July 6, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Mahabharata - Book 1 - Chapter 128 - The Princes' Childhood. Retrieved July 6, 2020 .
  9. ↑ August Raszmann: Bd. The saga of the Wölsungen and Niflungen in the Edda and Wölsungasaga ( de ). C. Rümpler, 1863.
  10. ^ Saxo (Grammaticus): Gesta Danorum ( en ). Clarendon Press, 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-820523-4 .
  11. ↑ Explanations of the first nine books of the Danish history of the Saxo Grammaticus Part I Books IV - Wikisource .
  12. ↑ Joseph Falaky Nagy: Conversing with Angels and Ancients . Cornell University Press, January 1, 1997, ISBN 978-1-5017-2905-8 .
  13. ↑ ZDF press portal: "The White Snake" with Tim Oliver Schultz / ZDFneo and ZDF show the first film adaptation of Grimm's fairy tale , accessed on December 20, 2015