The CLASSIC FAIRY TALES E D I T E D BY M A R I A T A T A R A NORTON CRITICAL EDITION THE CLASSIC FAIRY TALES The cultural resilience of fairy tales is incontestable Surviving over the cen­ turies and thriving in a variety of media, fairy tales continue to enrich our imag­ inations and shape -our lives T h i s Norton Critical Edition of The Classic Fairy Tales examines the genre, its cultural implications, and its critical history T h e editor has gathered fairy tales from around the world to reveal the range and play of these stories over time The Classic Fairy Tales focuses on six different tale types: "Little Red Riding Hood," "Beauty and the Beast," "Snow White," "Cinderella," "Bluebeard," and "Hansel and Gretel." It includes multicultural variants of these tales, along with sophisticated literary rescriptings Each tale type is preceded by an introduc­ tion, and annotations are provided throughout Also included in this collection of over forty stories are tales by Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar W i l d e "Criticism" collects twelve essays that interrogate different aspects of fairy tales by exploring their social origins, historical evolution, psychological dynamics, and engagement with issues of gender and national identity Bruno Bettelheim, Robert Darnton, Sandra M Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Karen E Rowe, Marina Warner, Zohar Shavit, Jack Zipes, Donald Haase, M a r i a Tatar, Antti Aarne, and Vladimir Propp provide critical overviews A Selected Bibliography is included THE S E R I E S : Each Norton Critical Edition includes an authoritative text, contextual and source materials, and a wide range of interpretations— from contemporary perspectives to the most current critical theory—as well as a bibliography and, in most cases, a chronology of the author's life and work ABOUT C O V E R P A I N T I N G : The Enchanted Prince, by Maxfield Parrish Reproduced by per­ mission of © Maxfield Parrish Family Trust/Licensed by ASAP and VAGA, N Y C / C o u r t e s y American Illustrated Gallery, N Y C ISBN - - 7 - NEW YORK • LONDON The Editor MARIA TATAR is the author of The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, Off with Their Heads! Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood, and Lustmord: Sexual Vi­ olence in Weimar Germany She holds the John L Loeb chair for Germanic Languages and Literatures at Har­ vard University, where she teaches courses on German cultural studies, folklore, and children's literature W W N O R T O N Also & C O M P A N Y , I N C Publishes T H E NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr and Nellie Y McKay et al T H E NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE edited by Nina Baym et al T H E NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY FICTION edited by R V Cassill and Joyce Carol Oates T H E NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE edited by M H Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt et al T H E NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF LITERATURE BY WOMEN edited by Sandra M Gilbert and Susan Gubar THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN POETRY edited by Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY edited by Margaret Ferguson et al T H E NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT FICTION edited by R V Cassill and Richard Bausch T H E NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF WORLD MASTERPIECES edited by Sarah Lawall et al T H E NORTON FACSIMILE OF THE FIRST FOLIO OF SHAKESPEARE prepared by Charlton Hinman T H E NORTON INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE edited by Jerome Beaty and J Paul Hunter T H E NORTON INTRODUCTION TO THE SHORT NOVEL edited by Jerome Beaty T H E NORTON READER edited by Linda H Peterson, John C Brereton, and Joan E Hartman T H E NORTON SAMPLER edited by Thomas Cooley THE NORTON SHAKESPEARE, BASED ON THE OXFORD EDITION edited by Stephen Greenblatt et al For a complete list of Norton Critical Editions, visit us on the World Wide Web at vvww.wwnorton.com/college/english/nce/welcome.htrn A N O R T O N CRITICAL EDITION THE CLASSIC FAIRY TALES ^âéz TEXTS CRITICISM Edited by MARIA TATAR HARVARD U N I V E R S I T Y W • W • NORTON & COMPANY • New York • London For Lauren and Daniel Copyright © 1999 by W W Norton & Company, Inc All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First Edition The text of this book is composed in Electra with the display set in Bernhard Modem Composition by PennSet, Inc Book design by Antonina Krass Cover illustration: The Enchanted Prince, reproduced by permission of © Maxfield Parrish Family Trust/Licensed by ASAP and VAGA, NYC /Courtesy American Illustrated Gallery, NYC Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The classic fairy tales : texts, criticism / edited by Maria Tatar, p cm — (Norton critical edition) Includes bibliographical references ISBN 0-393-97277-1 (pbk.) Fairy tales — History and criticism I Tatar, Maria M., GR550.C57 1998 385.2-dc21 98-13552 W W Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y 10110 www.wwnorton.com W W Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W I T 3QT 890 Contents Introduction ix The Texts of The Classic Fairy Tales INTRODUCTION: Little Red Riding Hood The Story of Grandmother Charles Perrault • Little Red Riding Hood Brothers Grimm • Little Red Cap James Thurber • T h e Little Girl and the Wolf Italo Calvino • T h e False Grandmother Chiang Mi • Goldflower and the Bear Roald Dahl • Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf Roald Dahl • The Three Little Pigs 10 11 13 16 17 19 21 22 INTRODUCTION: Beauty and the Beast 25 Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont • Beauty and the Beast 32 Giovanni Francesco Straparola • T h e Pig King Brothers Grimm • T h e Frog King, or Iron Heinrich Angela Carter • T h e Tiger's Bride Urashima the Fisherman Alexander Afanasev • The Frog Princess The Swan Maiden 42 47 50 66 68 72 INTRODUCTION: Snow White Giambattista Basile • T h e Young Slave Brothers Grimm • Snow White Lasair Gheug, the King of Ireland's Daughter Anne Sexton • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 74 80 83 90 96 INTRODUCTION: Cinderella Yeh-hsien Charles Perrault • Donkeyskin Brothers Grimm • Cinderella Joseph Jacobs • Catskin The Story of the Black Cow 101 107 109 117 122 125 vi CONTENTS Lin Lan • Cinderella The Princess in the Suit of Leather 127 131 INTRODUCTION: Bluebeard Charles Perrault • Bluebeard Brothers Grimm • Fitcher's Bird Brothers Grimm • T h e Robber Bridegroom Joseph Jacobs • Mr Fox Margaret Atwood • Bluebeard's Egg 138 144 148 151 154 156 INTRODUCTION: Hansel and Gretel Brothers Grimm • Hansel and Gretel Brothers Grimm • T h e Juniper Tree Joseph Jacobs • T h e Rose-Tree Charles Perrault • Little Thumbling Pippety Pew Joseph Jacobs • Molly Whuppie 179 184 190 197 199 206 209 INTRODUCTION: Hans Christian Andersen The Little Mermaid The Little Match Girl The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf The Red Shoes 212 216 233 235 241 INTRODUCTION: Oscar Wilde The Selfish Giant The Happy Prince The Nightingale and the Rose 246 250 253 261 Criticism 267 Bruno Bettelheim • [The Struggle for Meaning] 269 Bruno Bettelheim • "Hansel and Gretel" 273 Robert Darnton • Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose 280 Sandra M Gilbert and Susan Gubar • [Snow White and Her Wicked Stepmother] 291 Karen E Rowe • To Spin a Yarn: The Female Voice in Folklore and Fairy Tale 297 Marina Warner • The Old Wives' Tale 309 Zohar Shavit • The Concept of Childhood and Children's Folktales: Test Case — "Little Red Riding Hood" 317 Jack Zipes • Breaking the Disney Spell 332 CONTENTS Donald Haase • Yours, Mine, or Ours? Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and the Ownership of Fairy Tales 353 Maria Tatar • Sex and Violence: The Hard Core of Fairy Tales 364 Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson • From The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography 373 Vladimir Propp • Folklore and Literature • From Morphology of the Folktale The Method and Material • Thirty-One Functions • Propp's Dramatis Personae Selected Bibliography 378 382 382 386 387 389 384 VLADIMIR PROPP Functions of characters serve as stable, constant elements in a tale, independent of how and by whom they are fulfilled They constitute the fundamental components of a tale The number of functions known to the fairy tale is limited If functions are delineated, a second question arises: in what classi­ fication and in what sequence are these functions encountered? A word, first, about sequence T h e opinion exists that this sequence is accidental Veselôvskij writes, "The selection and order of tasks and encounters (examples of motifs) already presupposes a certain freedom." Sklovskij stated this idea in even sharper terms: "It is quite impossible to understand why, in the act of adoption, the accidental sequence [Sklôvskij's italics] of motifs must be retained In the testimony of wit­ nesses, it is precisely the sequence of events which is distorted most of all." This reference to the evidence of witnesses is unconvincing If witnesses distort the sequence of events, their narration is meaningless T h e sequence of events has its own laws T h e short story too has similar laws, as organic formations Theft cannot take place before the door is forced Insofar as the tale is concerned, it has its own entirely partic­ ular and specific laws T h e sequence of elements, as we shall see later on, is strictly uniform Freedom within this sequence is restricted by very narrow limits which can be exactly formulated W e thus obtain the third basic thesis of this work, subject to further development and verification: The sequence of functions is always identical As for groupings, it is necessary to say first of all that by no means all tales give evidence of all functions But this in no way changes the law of sequence T h e absence of certain functions does not change the order of the rest W e shall dwell on this phenomenon later For the present we shall deal with groupings in the proper sense of the word T h e presentation of the question itself evokes the following as­ sumption: if functions are singled out, then it will be possible to trace those tales which present identical functions Tales with identical func­ tions can be considered as belonging to one type On this foundation, an index of types can then be created, based not upon theme features, which are somewhat vague and diffuse, but upon exact structural fea­ tures Indeed, this will be possible If we further compare structural types among themselves, we are led to the following completely unex­ pected phenomenon: functions cannot be distributed around mutually exclusive axes This phenomenon, in all its concreteness, will become apparent to us in the succeeding and final chapters of this book For the time being, it can be interpreted in the following manner: if we designate with the letter A a function encountered everywhere in first position, and similarly designate with the letter B the function which MORPHOLOGY O F THE FOLKTALE 385 (if it is at all present) always follows A, then all functions known to the tale will arrange themselves within a single tale, and none will fall out of order, nor will any one exclude or contradict any other This is, of course, a completely unexpected result Naturally, we would have ex­ pected that where there is a function A, there cannot be certain func­ tions belonging to other tales Supposedly we would obtain several axes, but only a single axis is obtained for all fairy tales They are of the same type, while the combinations spoken of previously are subtypes At first glance, this conclusion may appear absurd or perhaps even wild, yet it can be verified in a most exact manner Such a typological unity rep­ resents a very complex problem on which it will be necessary to dwell further This phenomenon will raise a whole series of questions In this manner, we arrive at the fourth basic thesis of our work: All fairy tales are of one type in regard to their structure We shall now set about the task of proving, developing, and elabo­ rating these theses in detail Here it should be recalled that the study of the tale must be carried on stricdy deductively, i.e., proceeding from the material at hand to the consequences (and in effect it is so carried on in this work) But the presentation may have a reversed order, since it is easier to follow the development if the general bases are known to the reader beforehand Before starting the elaboration, however, it is necessary to decide what material can serve as the subject of this study First glance would seem to indicate that it is necessary to cover all extant material In fact, this is not so Since we are studying tales according to the functions of their dramatis personae, the accumulation of material can be suspended as soon as it becomes apparent that the new tales considered present no new functions O f course, the investigator must look through an enormous amount of reference material But there is no need to inject the entire body of this material into the study W e have found that 100 tales constitute more than enough material Having discovered that no new functions can be found, the morphologist can put a stop to his work, and further study will follow different directions (the formation of indices, the complete systemization, historical study) But just be­ cause material can be limited in quantity, that does not mean that it can be selected at one's own discretion It should be dictated from without W e shall use the collection by Afanâs'ev, starting the study of tales with No 50 (according to his plan, this is the first fairy tale of the collection), and finishing it with No 151 Such a limitation of material will undoubtedly call forth many objections, but it is theoretically jus­ tified T o justify it further, it would be necessary to take into account 1 Propp bases his analyses on one hundred tales from Alexander Afanasev's Russian Fairy Tales, trans Norbert Guterman (New York: Pantheon, 1945) [Editor) 386 VLADIMIR PROPP the degree of repetition of tale phenomena If repetition is great, then one may take a limited amount of material If repetition is small, this is impossible T h e repetition of fundamental components, as we shall see later, exceeds all expectations Consequently, it is theoretically pos­ sible to limit oneself to a small body of material Practically, this limi­ tation justifies itself by the fact that the inclusion of a great quantity of material would have excessively increased the size of this work We are not interested in the quantity of material, but in the quality of its anal­ ysis Our working material consists of 100 tales T h e rest is reference material, of great interest to the investigator, but lacking a broader interest * # # Propp's Thirty-One Functions One of the members of a family absents himself from home (absention) An interdiction is addressed to the hero (interdiction) T h e interdiction is violated (violation) T h e villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (reconnais­ sance) T h e villain receives information about his victim (delivery) T h e villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his belongings (trickery) T h e victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy (complicity) T h e villain causes harm or injury to a member of the family (villainy) 8a One member of a family either lacks something or desires to have something (lack) Misfortune or lack is made known; the hero is approached with a request or command; he is allowed to go or he is dis­ patched (mediation, the connective incident) 10 T h e seeker agrees to or decides upon counteraction (beginning counteraction) 11 T h e hero leaves home (departure) 12 T h e hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., which prepares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or helper (the first function of the donor) 13 T h e hero reacts to the actions of the future donor (the hero's reaction) 14 T h e hero acquires the use of a magical agent (provision or receipt of a magical agent) 15 T h e hero is transferred, delivered, or led to the whereabouts of an object of search (spatial transference between two king­ doms, guidance) PROPP'S DRAMATIS 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 PERSONAE The hero and the villain join in direct combat (struggle) The hero is branded (branding, marking) The villain is defeated (victory) The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated (liquidation) The hero returns (return) The hero is pursued (pursuit, chase) Rescue of the hero from pursuit (rescue) T h e hero, unrecognized, arrives home or in another country (unrecognized arrival) A false hero presents unfounded claims (unfounded claims) A difficult task is proposed to the hero (difficult task) T h e task is resolved (solution) T h e hero is recognized (recognition) T h e false hero or villain is exposed (exposure) T h e hero is given a new appearance (transfiguration) The villain is punished (punishment) The hero is married and ascends the throne (wedding) * # * Propp's Dramatis Personae 387 Villain Donor or provider Helper Princess (a sought-for person) and her father Dispatcher Hero False Hero Selected Bitliograpky ANTHOLOGIES Abrahams, Roger D., comp African Folktales New York: Pantheon, 1983 Afanasev, Alexander, comp Russian Fairy Tales Trans Norbert Guterman New York: Pantheon 1945 Andersen, Hans Christian Eighty Fairy Tales Trans R P Keigwin New York: Pantheon, 1976 Arabian Nights Trans Richard F Burton Ed David Shumaker New York: Avenel Books, 1978 Asbj0rnsen, Peter Christian, and Jôrgen M e , comps Popular Tales from the Norse Trans Sir George Webbe Dasent New York: D Appleton, 1859 ——- Norwegian Folktales New York: Pantheon 1960 Basile, Giambattista The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile Trans Benedetto Croce Ed N M Penzer vols London: John Lane the Bodley Head, 1932 Blecher, Lone Thygensen, and George Blecher Swedish Tales and Legends New York: Pantheon,1993 Briggs, Katharine M A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language 4vols London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970-71 , and Ruth L Tongue Folktales of England Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1965 Bushnaq, Inea, comp Arab Folktales New York: Pantheon, 1986 Calvino, Italo, comp Italian Folktales Trans George Martin New York: Pantheon, 1980 Carter^ Angela The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories Harmondsworth: Penguin, V , ed The Second Virago Book of Fairy Tales London: Virago Press, 1992 , ed The Virago Book of Fairy Tales London: Virago Press, 1990 Chase, Richard, comp American Folk Tales and Songs New York: Signet, 1956 Clarkson, Atelia, and Gilbert B Cross, comp World Folktales: A Scribner Resource Collection New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980 Crossley-Holland, Kevin, comp Folktales of the British Isles New York: Pantheon, 1988! Dahl, Roald Revolting Rhymes London: Jonathan Cape, 1982 Dasent, George Webbe, comp East o' the Sun and West o the Moon Toronto: Dover, 1970 Datlow, Ellen, and Terri Windling, eds Black Thorn, White Rose New York: Avon, 1994 Snow White, Blood Red New York: William Morrow, 1993 Dawkins, R M., comp Modern Greek Folktales Oxford: Clarendon, 1953 Delarue, Paul, comp Borzoi Book of French Folk Tales New York: Knopf, 1956 Dorson, Richard M., comp American Negro Folktales New York: Fawcett Publications, 1968 Buying the Wind: Regional Folklore of the United States Chicago: U of Chicago P,W Folktales Told Around the World Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1975 Eberhard, Wolfram, comp Folktales of China Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1965 Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz, comps American Myths and Legends New York: Pantheon, 1984 Feldmann, Susan, comp The Storytelling Stone: Myths and Tales of the American Indians New York: Dell, 1965 Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm Trans Jack Zipes Toronto: Bantam, 1987 r ë 389 390 S E L E C T E D BIBLIOGRAPHY Hallett, Martin, and Barbara Karasek, comp Folk and Fairy Tales Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 1991 Hearn, Michael Patrick, comp Victorian Fairy Tale Book New York: Pantheon, 1988 Jacobs, Joseph, comp Celtic Fairy Tales London: D Nutt, 1892 English Fairy Tales (1890) London: Bodley Head, 1968 Lang, Andrew, comp The Blue Fairy Book (1889) New York: Dover Publications, 1974 The Green Fairy Book (1892) New York: Dover Publications, 1974 The Pink Fairy Book (1897) New York: Dover Publications, 1974 The Red Fairy Book (1890) New York: Dover Publications, 1974 Yellow Fairy Book (1894) New York: Dover Publications 1974 Lurie, Alison, comp Clever Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folktales New York: Crowell, 1980 The Oxford Book of Modem Fairy Tales Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993 Massignon, Geneviève, comp Folktales of France Trans Jacqueline Hyland Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1968 Mieder, Wolfgang, comp Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry Hanover, N.H.: UP of New England, 1985 Minard, Rosemary Womenfolk and Fairy tales Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975 Montgomerie, Norah, and William Montgomerie, comps The Well at the World's End: Folk Tales of Scotland Toronto: The Bodley Head, 1956 Nov, Dov, comp Folktales of Israel Trans Gene Baharav Chicago: U of Chicago Opie, Peter, and Iona Opie, comp The Classic Fairy Tales London: Oxford UP, 1974 Perrault, Charles Perrault's Complete Fairy Tales Trans A E Johnson et al New York: Dodd, Mead, 1961 Phelps, Ethel Johnston, comp The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981 Tatterhood and Other Tales Old Westbury, N.Y.: Feminist Press, 1978 Philip, Neil, comp The Cinderella Story: The Origins and Variations of the Story Known as "Cinderella" London: Penguin, 1989 Pourrat, Henri, comp French Folktales Trans Royall Tyler New York: Pantheon, 1989 Ramanuian, A K., comp Folktales from India New York: Random House, 1991 Randolph, Vance, comp Pissim in the Snow and Other Ozark Folktales Urbana: U oflllinois P, 1976 Sticks in the Knapsack and Other Ozark Folk Tales New York: Columbia UP, 1958 Ranke, Kurt, comp Folktales of Germany Trans Lotte Baumann Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1966 Rugoff, Milton A., comp A Harvest of World Folk Tales New York: Viking, 1949 Simpson,^Jac