It is time now for the Frog Princess. I found out yesterday about the fairy tale classification system. This is type 402 - animal bride - in the ATU Index.
"The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU Index) is a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore studies. The ATU Index is the product of a series of revisions and expansions by an international group of scholars: Originally composed in German by Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne (1910); the index was translated into English, revised, and expanded by American folklorist Stith Thompson (1928, 1961); and later further revised and expanded by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther (2004). The ATU Index, along with Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (1932) (with which it is used in tandem) is an essential tool for folklorists." ~Wikipedia
"The king (or an old peasant woman, in Lang's version) wants his three sons to marry. To accomplish this, he creates a test to help them find brides. The king tells each prince to shoot an arrow. According to the King's rules, each prince will find his bride where the arrow lands. The youngest son's arrow is picked up by a frog. The king assigns his three prospective daughters-in-law various tasks, such as spinning cloth and baking bread. In every task, the frog far outperforms the two other lazy brides-to-be. In some versions, the frog uses magic to accomplish the tasks, and though the other brides attempt to emulate the frog, they cannot perform the magic. Still, the young prince is ashamed of his frog bride until she is magically transformed into a human princess."
Can you imagine being considered the heroine because of the ability to perform household tasks for a King. What does he need a daughter-in-law servant for? There's the core of fairy tale lessons: innocence, beauty and virtue are valued as the attribute a woman should possess (and passivity is good too). Ambition is evil and possessed by witches and stepmothers.
I read this article by Dr. Silima Nanda "The Portrayal of Women in the Fary Tales" and had to admit it was discouraging to find out about social and cultural values through the centuries. Rather than dwell on the past, the index of tales is fascinating - I found the index HERE.It starts with animal tales and progresses through to people tales.
For example, ATU 425 - Beauty and the beast ATU 440 - The Frog King ATU 510A - Cinderella
Our pictures for today are our Spring stories - what's blooming in the garden yesterday.
How did a frog get to be associated with a prince? The story "The Frog Prince" or "The Frog King, or the Iron Henry" is a Brothers Grimm story, and the first in their collection. It dates from 1810. Wikipedia says that the Grimms treasured this tale, and it has been postulated that part of it may extend back to Roman times.
It is also postulated that the particular line in the story is a jab at the emperor Nero who was often mockingly compared to a frog. That seems mild compared to Nero's vices - his rule is associated with tyranny and extravagance, he was considered compulsive and corrupt, he murdered his mother. He's the one who allowed Rome to burn. And one article claimed: He was known to play the part of a bride in mock weddings.
In the original Grimm version of the story, the frog's spell was broken when the princess threw it against the wall, while in modern versions the transformation is triggered by the princess kissing the frog. In between, the frog was transformed after spending the night on the princess' pillow. Or 3 nights, depending on versions.
Here's the Iron Henry subplot: The frog prince also has a loyal servant named Henry (or Harry) who had three iron bands affixed around his heart to prevent it from breaking in his sadness over his master's curse. When the frog prince transforms into his human form Henry's overwhelming happiness causes all three bands to break, freeing his heart from its bonds.
And of course, here's the ending: "... they lived happily a great many years."
I went looking for frog and princess jokes, but they are creepy. This is an amusing one.
Why did the frog say meow? He was learning a foreign language.
