This fairy tale is quite similar in theme to The twelve brothers, and equally strange. Here goes.
A brother and a sister live with their wicked stepmother. Once again, our characters are left nameless, so let’s call the siblings Claude and Agatha, and the stepmother Susan, for clarity. Anyway, we know that Susan is a terrible parent because the siblings lament that she “kicks us away with her foot”. Indeed, that’s the only way to kick, if I’m not mistaken. Due to this abuse, Claude and Agatha decide to flee, and escape in the darkness of night. However, Susan (who apparently is a witch) soon discovers their absence. As punishment, she enchants the rivers and streams so that the siblings will be turned into animals if they drink from them. Claude is the first to get thirsty and reaches down into the water to drink. However, Agatha can hear the stream talking, realizes that the water is bewitched and intervenes. The siblings press on, thinking that this was an isolated case of witchery, but it turns out that all the rivers are having lively conversations. By the third stream, Claude is inevitably overcome by thirst and takes a sip. This immediately turns him into a roe deer. Thankfully, he seems to have all his mental faculties intact, and can still talk, so he and Agatha just proceed as if nothing happened. Eventually, they discover a small hut in the forest and decide to make it their home.
One day, a king is hunting in the woods. For some reason, Claude simply cannot resist the urge to be chased by the hunters and decides to leave the safety of the hut. Agatha tries to persuade him to stay, but to no avail, so she lets him out on the condition that he say a password to prove his identity upon his return. They agree on “my little sister, let me in” as the password (passsentence?). This is somewhat on the nose, but perhaps they reasoned that nobody would expect something so obvious. Claude is chased around all day by the king’s hunt, only to escape them and return to the hut unharmed. He says the password, and is let in. The king’s men desperately want to catch this beautiful buck so they return the following day, again without any luck. This time, though, a sneaky hunter finds the hut and spots Claude entering with the password. He informs the king, and on the third day they go to the hut, say the password and are let in by Agatha. She’s in shock, but so is the king, who is smitten by her beauty and falls in love immediately. He asks for her hand in marriage. Agatha accepts on the condition that she can bring Claude, alive. The king agrees, they leave for his castle and live happily together.
Susan is envious of the siblings and their newfound happiness. Her own daughter, let’s call her Karen, is ugly, only has one eye, and had wanted to marry the king. Alas, Agatha is now the queen and has given birth to a boy. Susan decides to infiltrate the castle by taking on the form of the chambermaid. Once inside, she advises Agatha to take a warm bath. She then locks Agatha in the bathroom, who dies by suffocation from the intense fire that’s heating the bath. Susan then transforms Karen to look like Agatha. However, she cannot mask the missing eye. So naturally, she tells Karen to always lay on her side in the bed so that the missing eye cannot be seen. I really doubt that this strategy would work for very long, but fine. Meanwhile, Agatha walks around the nursery (still dead), breastfeeds her baby and feeds Claude (hopefully not breastmilk). The actual chambermaid spots the dead Agatha, realizes that this is the real queen and tells the king. The king (who apparently is a wizard) resurrects Agatha. They prosecute Susan and Karen for their crimes. Karen is sentenced to be “taken into the forest where she was torn to pieces by wild beasts”, while Susan “was cast into the fire and miserably burnt”. Claude then turns back to human form and with that the “sister and brother lived happily together all their lives”. The end.
Once again, we’re left with confusing plot holes. Of course, anytime there are witches and wizards involved, these absurdities can all be dismissed by appealing to magic. Nevertheless, let’s list some peculiarities, shall we? First, wouldn’t Agatha also eventually have to drink from the enchanted streams, or did she just get a drink before they left the house? I don’t know, perhaps she drank well water once they arrived at the hut. Second, if Susan is a powerful witch, why not simply enchant the siblings to return? I guess Claude retained his mental abilities once transformed, so perhaps her powers are limited such that she cannot change people’s actions. However, she could just as easily have cursed them in some other way, so that their hut burned down or something along those lines. She does end up murdering Agatha, so we know that she’s willing to go to great lengths to achieve her ends. The same goes for the king. If he’s a wizard, why not transform Claude back to human form? Why not curse Susan? What I’m saying is that, without additional information, it’s very hard to know what’s in people’s power to do and whether their actions make any sense or not. Also, why on earth would a corpse breastfeed her baby with zombie milk? There’s a sentence I thought I’d never say.
I don’t know if there’s any deeper meaning to this story, other than that it’s important to change your passwords frequently, but a common theme that I’ve noticed so far in these Grimm tales is the urge for people to escape from oppression and subjugation, as well as an intense desire for retribution. And who can blame them, really? Although sometimes romanticized, life for the average citizen in the middle ages was rife with hunger, abuse and the occasional plague. Hmm, it seems like not much has changed…
Sorobetea 