Reading Notes: Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm B

Source: The Three Spinsters from Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane

I wanted to do a reading on Snow White, but I feel like it'd be longer than I wanted to do for just notes. I find that the Grimm Brothers are grim, but I like these types of fairy tales. They're fun to read. There's this feeling of dread looming as I do the readings because I feel like they're all going to turn out poorly, which is... interesting? I don't know.

The Three Spinsters starts out with a lazy girl who would not do her spinning. The mother beats her daughter and the girl loudly cries. She cries so loud that the people outside can hear her and one of those people who can hear her is the Queen. She asks why she is doing that and out of embarrassment, she lies that her daughter won't stop spinning and because she's poor, she can't afford to support her habit. The Queen takes her to her castle or whatever and tells the girl to spin the flax. If she can do that, she can marry the Queen's son. The girl doesn't do that and sits alone for three days.

The girl finds three women after the Queen had told her to get to work. She asks the women for help and they make a deal with her. They want to come to her wedding and be listed as cousins. The girl agrees to this and they spin the flax for her. The Queen is delighted to find that the girl has done the job.

At the wedding, the women sit with her. The Queen and his son had no reason to turn down her request. Her groom is appalled by their appearance though. He asks each of them how they got to be... that way and they answer in ways that lead him to believe spinning is the cause of their appearances. He decides that his bride shall never spin again and she is saved from a life of spinning. What an ideal ending for her! I thought that this one was sort of funny and entertaining to read. With that, I'm finished! :)

An illustration of the three spinsters (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm A

Source: The Robber Bridegroom from Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane

I don't know how long it's been since I've done a reading! I'm glad to be able to finish one more before I'm done!

I'm doing notes for "The Robber Bridegroom." It begins with a beautiful girl who has been promised to marry a man she doesn't feel any affection for. She feels a chill about him. He asks her why she hasn't visited him and he says that he will line the path with ashes so she can find his house. She had told him previously that she didn't know where he lived. When she got to the house, she hated it and to make things worse, a voice told her to leave because he did awful things. An old woman that comes out of nowhere tells her that the people living there are robbers. They will eat her unless she hides and the old woman agrees to help her. Wow, that is a predicament.

The robbers come back and kill a girl they have brought home. They begin cutting her up and they see she has a gold ring on her finger. When they cut that off, the finger falls near the coffin where the girl is hiding. They go to look for it, but the old woman tells them to go. She follows a trail of lentils and peas that have sprouted and goes home.

Now, it's her wedding day. Her bridegroom comes and they sit around a table. She tells everyone of the experience she's had, but describes it as a dream. When she gets to the end, she holds up the finger, proving it had really happened. The groom tries to run, but the townspeople grab him and he's brought to justice. It was a lot to process and I was worried she would be harmed, but this was a good ending.

The Robber Bridegroom illustrated by Walter Crane (Wikimedia Commons)