The White Wolf (fairy tale)

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The White Wolf (French: Le Loup Blanc) is a French-language fairy tale collected from Wallonia by authors Auguste Gittée and Jules Lemoine. It is related to the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom or The Search for the Lost Husband, wherein a human princess marries a prince under an animal curse, loses him and has to search for him.

Summary

A king has three daughters. One day, before he goes on a journey, he asks his daughters what he can bring as presents for them. The first one asks for a diamond parure, the middle one for a golden parure, and the third asks for the singing leaf.

The king looks for the singing leaf, but cannot find it, until he sights a White Wolf in the woods. The White Wolf promises him the singing leave, but demands, in return, the first of his daughters that greets the king when he goes home. It so happens and the third princess meets her father.

The king takes his daughter to the White Wolf and leaves her there. The wolf guides her to his underground quarters: a magnificent palace with rich furniture. They live like this for some time, until one day the wolf announces that her elder sister is getting marries. She decides to pay her family a visit, and the wolf consents; when the ceremony ends, she just has to shout for him to come, and he will come to get her.

The princess attends her elder sister's marriage, and summons the white wolf to get her. Some time later, the princess's middle sister is getting married, and the princess attends it too. She stays a bit longer and tries to summon the white wolf to come get her, but he does not appear.

The princess wanders off until she meets an old sorceress. The princess tells her story and the sorceress gives her three nuts, for her to use in time of extreme need.

At last, the princess passes through an ivory gated into a village and sees the White Wolf and another fiancée coming out of a church. The princess follows them to a castle. She cracks open one of the nuts and produces a golden bracelet. She gives the bracelet to the White Wolf's second fiancée so she can spend a night by his side.

The princess cannot wake him up, and repeats the action twice: on the second night, she cracks open a second nut and finds a golden necklace, which she gives to the second fiancée, and on the third night, she finds a crown encrusted with perals and gemstone. Only on the third night, the princess manages to wake the White Wolf up. He regains his memory and departs with the princess back to their castle.[1][2]

Analysis

Tale type

The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 425A, "The Animal as Bridegroom". in this tale type, the heroine is a human maiden who marries a prince that is cursed to become an animal of some sort. She betrays his trust and he disappears, prompting a quest for him.[3]

Motifs

In his study about Cupid and Psyche and other "animal bridegroom" tales, scholar Jan-Öjvind Swahn [sv] surmised that the animal husband appears as a wolf in Germanic areas.[4]

As part of her journey, the heroine meets the Sun, the Moon and the Wind and gains their help,[5][6] or she is helped by three old crones.[7]

According to Hans-Jörg Uther, the main feature of tale type ATU 425A is "bribing the false bride for three nights with the husband".[8] In fact, when he developed his revision of Aarne-Thompson's system, Uther remarked that an "essential" trait of the tale type ATU 425A was the "wife's quest and gifts" and "nights bought".[9]

Variants

Belgium

In another French language variant from Wallonia, collected by Auguste Vierset [wa] with the title Gris-loup et Petite-cadette ("Grey Wolf and Little Youngest Sister"), a king has three daughters. Before he leaves on a journey, he asks what presents he can bring them: the first asks for a robe of gold and silver; the middle one for a cloak of gold and silver, and the the youngest for a talking bird with golden head and silver neck. The king departs and cannot find the requested item, until he meets a wolf in the woods. The wolf promises to give the king the little bird in no time, but demands in exchange the first thing that greets him on his way home. The deal is made and the king returns home with the three objects, and is greeted first by his youngest daughter. The wolf appears after three days and takes the princess as his bride, taking her to his castle in the forest. After some time, the princess, feeling bored at her new home, asks the wolf to visit her family. The wolf thinks her family will want to know about her new life, but she assures him she will tell nothing. The wolf takes the princess to her father's castle, and after three days, they return. Some time later, the princess dreams her father died, and urges the wolf to take her back to her family. Once there, the sisters threaten the princess with guns. The princess reveals about the wolf: a man by night and a wolf by day. She senses something wrong with the wolf and goes back to this castle, but canont find him. The princess wanders the world until she finds a hut. An old woman lets her in. The princess asks the old woman if she saw the wolf (named Gris-loup), and she is told he is to marry a king's daughter. Before the princess departs, the old woman gives her an apple, a nut and a hazelnut. The princess goes to a castle, where she finds work as a cleaning woman. On a grand dinner, the princess cracks open the nut and produces a gold and diamond wagon, and bribes the king's daughter for a night with the (now human) Gris-loup. She tries to make him remember, but fails. On the second day, she cuts open the apple in four pieces that become four horses decorated with gold and diamond. The third time, the princess cracks open the hazelnut and produces a little golden windmill. The princess gives it to the king's daughter and manaages to wake Gris-loup up. At the end of the tale, Gris-loup, before the wedding guests, asks them a riddle: he had a key he lost; had a new one made, but found the previous one; which should he keep? The guests agree that he should keep the first key. And so Gris-loup stays with the princess, his first wife.[10]

Germany

In a dialectal variant in the Heanzischer [de] dialect collected by folklorist Johann Reinhard Bunker [de] with the title Ta' waissi Wulf ("The White Wolf"), a king gets lost during a dark night, until a "schwarzen Jäger" ('dark hunter') offers to help, in exchange for the king's youngest daughter. A white wolf comes to take her. She eventually visits the house of the Moon, the Sun and the Wind, climbs a glass mountain and disenchants the white wolf.[11]

In a German variant from Silesia, published by Friedmund von Arnim with the title Der König Weißenfels ("King Whiterock"), titular King Whiterock has a daughter. One day, he is away on a journey and does not know what kind of gift he can get his daughter. He meets a wolf that offers him a thing he has never seen (playing leaves and singing grass, a golden wheel and a golden Weif), but demands in return the first thing that appears under the gate. The princess gets the strange presents, but the wolf appears to claim her as his bride. The wolf flies with her over the forest and warns her not to fall asleep, but, midway on her aerial journey, she dozes off and falls off from the wolf into the forest below. She survives and lives for two years in the forest. She is eventually found and taken to a nearby castle. She finds out that the wolf who took her is there, in human form, but under a spell. She tries to reach him on the first night by bribing the queen with a golden gift. The second night, she gives the queen a spinning wheel. On the third and final night, the princess of Whiterock bribes the queen with the present her father gave her, and manages to talk to the wolf prince.[12]

In a variant collected by Karl Müllenhoff with the title Der weiße Wolf ("The White Wolf"), a king gets lost during a hunt. A little black man offers to help him find his way back, in exchange for the first thing that greets him on his way back. The king returns home and is greeted by his youngest daughter. Eight days later, a white wolf appears to get the princess. The princess climbs on the wolf's back and they ride to the Glass Mountain. The princess questions the wolf about their long journey, and the wolf, annoyed, threatens to drop the girl off his back. After a few more questions, the wolf fulfills his threat and lets the princess slip from his back. The princess wanders off through the forest and reaches a hut. An old woman takes her in and gives her chicken soup. The woman tells her to talk to the Wind, and lets her take the chicken bones with her. The princess visits the Wind and the Sun, who also give her chicken soup, and tell her to consult with the Moon. The Moon takes her to the Glass Mountain, but it is so steep se cannot climb it. The princess, then, uses the chicken bones and one of the bones of her little finger to create a ladder to the Glass Mountain. She learns that the (now human) white wolf is getting married to another girl. She sings a song during the wedding party and makes the white wolf prince remember.[13]

In a variant published by Germanist Ulrich Jahn [de] with the title Der weisse Wolf ("The White Wolf"), a king and a queen have a beautiful daughter. One day, a suitor comes to their castle to court the princess. After the king returns from a hunt, he agrees to the wedding and gives his daughter to the man. The princess and the man ride a carriage through the forest. When they pass a certain distance, the man becomes a white wolf, and orders the princess to get a louse from his fur and throw it out of the carriage. The white wolf then warned her that if another carriage squashes the louse, the carriage and the wolf will disappear and the princess will be left alone in the woods. As the wolf predicted, another carriage, carrying the wolf human wife inside, squashes the louse and the white wolf disappears, leaving the princess in the woods. She survives by eating roots and berries, and meets a tinker, a broom maker and a discharged soldier - the latter the only one who knows of the white wolf. The soldier advises her to keep walking until she finds a hut. The princess does and an old woman welcomes her in. The old woman bids her eat a chicken for dinner, and hides her from her sons. Suddenly, the woman's sons, the Sun, the Star and the Moon, come, one at a time. The princess tells the Moon the whole story and the Moon advises her to return the way she came until she sees a body of water, and use the chicken bones to create a ladder. Before the princess leaves, she is given three dresses, one decorated with suns, the second with stars and the third with moons. The princess reaches the body of water, uses the chicken bones and climbs the ladder to the other margin. She reaches the white wolf's city and wears the first dress to draw the attention of the white wolf's wife. The princess gives the three dresses for three nights with the (now human) white wolf and manages to wake him up on the third time. The white wolf wakes up and gives the princess a sack of money. She returns to her father's castle and bids him summon all soldiers in the kingdom, hoping to find the discharged soldier that helped her. She does and they marry.[14]

In a tale collected in Kattenstedt with the title Der Wolf mit dem Wockenbriefe ("The Wolf with the Wockenbrief"), a count is trying to find a present for his youngest daughter (the titular Wockenbrief, which, in the tale, is an ornated piece of parchment), but does not seem to find it. A wolf appears to him with the Wockenbrief, which he agrees to give the count in exchange for the first thing that greets the man on the way back. The count returns home and is met by his youngest daughter. The wolf comes to collect his due, but the count tries to trick him with a swineherd's daughter, then a cowherd's daughter. The wolf eventually gets the count's daughter and takes her and the gift with him. They live together in the forest, but the count's daughter leaves and cannot find her way through the forest. She finds a hut in the woods and a woman lets her in. The woman's husband, the Wind, enters soon enought and is told the whole story. Feeling sorry for the girl, he takes her to the wolf's castle the next morning and instructs her to use the Wockenbrief at the door when the sun is shining on it, to draw the wolf's second bride's attention. She sells the Wockenbrief for three nighs with the (now human) wolf and manages to talk to him on the third night. The wolf and the count's daughter marry, and the second bride is banished.[15]

Lithuania

In a Lithuanian tale published by August Leskien and Karl Brugmann with the title Ápė báltaji vílka, translated into German as Vom weissen Wolf ("About the White Wolf"),[16] a king has three daughters. Before he leaves on a journey to Vilna, he asks what his three daughters want in return. The third princess asks for a garland of wild flowers. He goes to Vilna, buys a dress for his elder, a kerchief for the middle one, but cannot find the gift the youngest requested. When he traverses a deep forest, he sees a white wolf with a garland of wild flowers on its head. The wolf makes a deal with him: he will forfeit the carpet, but demands in exchange the first thing that greets the king on his return - whatever it is, the wolf will come in three days to fetch it. The king returns and his youngest daughter greets him. Dreading to fulfill his end of the deal, the king tries to trick the wolf with the daughter of a servant, but the animal discovers the ruse and returns to the castle until he gets the youngest princess on the third time. He takes her to a big farm and takes off his white wolf skin. They live together. Six months into their domestic arrangement, she visits her family on the occasion of her elder sister's wedding, then returns with the white wolf. After another six months, the princess returns for the middle one's wedding, and her mother, the queen, spies on her wolf son-in-law taking off the wolfskin. The queen orders the maids to heat up the oven and throw the wolfskin in the fire. After the animal skin is burnt, the human wolf disappears. The princess decides to look for him; she wanders through the forest and reaches a small hut, the Wind inside. She asks him if he saw the White Wolf, but he replies he does not know. The princess then visits the hut of the Star, the Moon and finally the Sun. The Sun answers he saw the White Wolf, but he is now married to another princess. To help the princess, the Sun givs her a pair of magical shoes, a spinning wheel that can spin moss into silk, a carving knife that whenever carves out wood golden shard appears, and a fork. The princess wears the shoes and reaches the foot of a Glass Mountain, but the mountain is so steep she has to ask a blacksmith to shod her hands and fashsion her a chain. She finally climbs the mountain and walks into a courtyard. She disguises herself as an old woman and bribes the second wife with the Sun's golden gifts for three nights with the white wolf. After the third night, the white wolf wakes up and remembers his former wife. At an assembled court, the white wolf asks the guests a riddle of an old key and a new one.[17]

References

  1. ^ Gittée, Auguste; Lemoine, Jules. Contes populaires du pays wallon. Gand, 1891. pp. 19-23.
  2. ^ Vierset, Auguste. "III. Psyche. A.-Variante nouvelle". In: Bulletin de Folklore 1 (1891): 201-202.
  3. ^ Fellows, Folklore (2004). FF Communications. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. p. 249. ISBN 978-951-41-0963-8.
  4. ^ Swahn, Jan Öjvind. The Tale of Cupid and Psyche. Lund, C.W.K. Gleerup. 1955. p. 229.
  5. ^ Thompson, Stith (1977). The Folktale. University of California Press. pp. 97-98. ISBN 0-520-03537-2.
  6. ^ Ursache, Otilia (2015). "Chipul tăinuit în basmele populare europene". Philologica Jassyensia. XI (1): 267–276. ProQuest 1723107452.
  7. ^ Bamford, Karen. "Quest for the Vanished Husband/Lover, Motifs H1385.4 and H1385.5". In: Jane Garry and Hasan El-Shamy (eds.). Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature. A Handbook. Armonk / London: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. p. 254.
  8. ^ Hurbánková, Šárka (2018). "G.B. Basile and Apuleius: first literary tales : morphological analysis of three fairytales". Graeco-Latina Brunensia (2): 75–93. doi:10.5817/GLB2018-2-6.
  9. ^ Fellows, Folklore (2004). FF Communications. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. p. 249. ISBN 978-951-41-0963-8.
  10. ^ Vierset, Auguste. "III. Psyche. A.-Variante nouvelle". In: Bulletin de Folklore 1 (1891): 193-201.
  11. ^ Bünker, Johann Reinhard. Schwänke, sagen und märchen in heanzischer mundart. Leipzig, Deutsche verlagsactiengesellschaft, 1906. pp. 248-252.
  12. ^ . Hundert neue Mährchen im Gebirge. Volume 1. E. Bauer, 1844. pp. 99-104.
  13. ^ Müllenhoff, Karl. Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der Herzogthümer Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg. Kiel: 1845. pp. 405-407.
  14. ^ Jahn, Ulrich. Volksmärchen aus Pommern und Rügen l. Norden/Leipzig: 1891. pp. 331-335.
  15. ^ "Der Wolf mit dem Wockenbriefe". In: Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde vol. 3, 1893. pp. 189-195, 195-196.
  16. ^ Lang, Andrew. The Gray Fairy Book. New York: Longmans, Green, 1905. pp. 168-177.
  17. ^ Leskien, August; Brugman, K. Litauische Volkslieder und Märchen. Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, 1882. pp. 167-170 (Lithuanian text); 438-443 (German translation).

Category:Belgian fairy tales Category:Fictional wolves Category:Fictional princes Category:Fiction about shapeshifting Category:Female characters in fairy tales Category:ATU 400-459

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