The first story in this second unit is a tale of the six brothers who were transformed into swans by a wicked and jealous witch. They had a younger sister who was spared the fate of her brothers, but in order to free them from their cruel state had to maintain silence for 6 years. Nearly 6 years later, she has been betrothed to a neighboring king and has already wed him. However, she has been accused by her jealous mother-in-law of killing her young children and is about to be put to death. As the day of judgement nears, the allotted 6 years of silence came to a close and the young wife was able to exonerate herself and free her brothers from the curse of the swans. This story was very similar to another one I had read in the Irish fairy tales unit.
Next we have the story of good King Thrushbeard, who was rejected as a suitor by a beautiful princess who was too proud and haughty for her own good. Her own father, disgusted and irritated by his daughter's antics promised to marry her to the next beggar who appeared at the door. The next day, a beggar walked in and played a little tune on his lyre. The king agreed to marry his daughter to him and away they went. Over the next few weeks, she faces more and more hardships, until at last her husband sends her away to work at the king's castle (not her father's, a different one). She is repeatedly humiliated time and time again until at last the ruse is up and her beggar-minstrel husband reveals himself to be King Thrushbeard. They are properly wed and live happily ever after.
Next we have a somewhat funny story of three spinsters. In this tale, a young woman hates spinning thread and so her mother beats her just as the queen passses by. When the queen inquires about it, ashamed, her mother lies and flips the truth, telling the queen that her daughter will not stop spinning. The queen, delighted, asks the mother to take the daughter with her and she consents, leaving the young girl to be dragged away with the queen. The queen then tells the young woman that she can marry her oldest and most eligible son once she finishes spinning 3 full rooms of flax into thread. Disheartened, the young lady resigns herself to her fate, but suddenly sees three ugly women pass by. It just so happens that they are the three fated spinsters, and they quickly spin all three rooms of flax. They do so on one condition: that they are invited to her wedding as cousins. The woman agrees, and at the day of the wedding, the bridegroom quietly asks his wife why they are so ugly. The women overhear and answer that each of their physical maladies are caused in one way or another by the spinning they have done. Horrified, the prince orders his wife to never again spin any flax, and so her lifelong dream of an easy, spinning free life is fulfilled.
Story Source: Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane with illustrations by Walter Crane
Next we have the story of good King Thrushbeard, who was rejected as a suitor by a beautiful princess who was too proud and haughty for her own good. Her own father, disgusted and irritated by his daughter's antics promised to marry her to the next beggar who appeared at the door. The next day, a beggar walked in and played a little tune on his lyre. The king agreed to marry his daughter to him and away they went. Over the next few weeks, she faces more and more hardships, until at last her husband sends her away to work at the king's castle (not her father's, a different one). She is repeatedly humiliated time and time again until at last the ruse is up and her beggar-minstrel husband reveals himself to be King Thrushbeard. They are properly wed and live happily ever after.
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| A girl with a spinning wheel (Source) |
Story Source: Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane with illustrations by Walter Crane
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