Posted on by Stephanie McGann

Fairy Tales #8: The Fisherman and His Wife

The Fisherman and His Wife is one of the lesser known tales by the Brothers Grimm, but it is right up there with the best of them. It is has a gripping, imaginative plot that offers many lessons about the dangers of greed. Better still, those lessons are not black and white, so there is ample room for debate. Let’s begin by looking at the plot and then examine two controversial questions my students engage.  

PLOT SUMMARY
Exposition – The Background

A fisherman and his wife pass their days living in a shack by the sea.     

Inciting Incident – The Problem
The Fisherman and His Wife by Alexander Zick

All of that changes one day when the fisherman catches a magical, talking fish who had once been a prince. The fisherman at first plans to cook and eat his catch like any other, but the fish begs him not to. Being of a generous heart, the fisherman releases the fish.  

Rising Action – The Build-up

His wife, however, reprimands him gravely for letting the fish off the hook without first demanding a wish. She insists her husband go back the very next day, find the fish, and demand a wish in exchange for letting him go. When the fisherman asks his wife what they should wish for, she quickly responds that she wants a nice cottage instead of their “filthy” shack.

The husband obeys his wife, goes back to the seashore, calls out to the fish who readily comes swimming back, and presents his wife’s wish. The fish, in turn, changes their shack into a nice cottage.

When the fisherman returns home later that day, his wife seems happy with their new home. Feeling satisfied himself, he says, “This is quite enough.”

“We will see about that,” the wife retorts.

Thus ensues a daily progression of new wishes, each trading out one home for another and always increasing the wife’s station in life. She next contrives to have a palace over which she is lord, then a kingdom over which she is king, then an empire over which she is emperor, and finally all of Christendom over which she is pope.

The fisherman begs his wife not to keep demanding more wishes but fears her too much to refuse her bidding. Like an errand boy, he goes back day after day and fishes for wishes on her behalf. Though the fish keeps granting them in turn, the water and clouds turn ever more murky and grey.  

Climax – The Point of No Return

Still not satisfied, the wife racks her brains all night long trying to think of what could be better than being pope. When the first rays of light streak across her bedroom, she asks, “Could not I cause the sun and the moon to rise?”

Falling Action – The Unraveling

The fisherman fears his wife more than ever as he realizes she wants to be like God. Amidst thunder and lightning, the man obediently runs away from her like a madman, calls out to the fish, and presents his wife’s newest wish. 

Anti-resolution – Not So Happily Ever After

Upon hearing it, the fish simply replies, “Go home. She is sitting in her filthy shack again.” And just like that, the fisherman and his wife lose everything they had gotten from the fish.

PLOT ANALYSIS

When reading this story with my students, it is always interesting to see how intently they follow the plot. Their inquisitive eyes and furrowed brows race through the storyline, eager to find out what will become of the fisherman and his wife.

With the first wish, it is not at all obvious what is going to happen. It even seems like a good thing that they get to upgrade their “filthy” shack to a nice cottage. As the wishes become greedier and the sky turns darker, however, the students soon realize things have not gotten better for the fisherman and his wife but much, much worse.

The First Wish

During our discussions, students unanimously condemn the fisherman’s and his wife’s greed. Many say familiar expressions like, they should have “quit while they were ahead.” Or, they should have been “careful what you wished for.” Indeed, there are dozens of similar adages that can be readily applied.

It gets a lot more complicated, however, when we discuss whether or not the fisherman and his wife should have wished for anything at all. Some inevitably think it was okay that they tried to improve their station in life. The problem, in their opinion, was that the fisherman and his wife went overboard.

Others argue that even one wish was too much because it set them on an insatiable path. Both viewpoints are certainly valid, so the object of debating the prudence of making the first wish is not to come up with the “right” answer. Rather, the goal is to have students think deeply about the nature of greed.

The Final Wish

We also have a rich discussion about the final wish. Specifically, I ask my students whether or not the fisherman and his wife got what they wished for. Did the wife get to become like God?

Of course, the literal answer is no. Indeed, they lost everything they had previously gained.

With a little prodding, though, they begin to come up with figurative interpretations that are extremely insightful. Some say they become slaves to their newfound wealth, distancing themselves further and further from God. As such, they end up losing any semblance of likeness they ever had to Him.

Others suggest that since the fisherman and his wife are humbled in the end, they have a newfound chance of being like God, who has perfect humility alongside absolute power.

Still others argue that the wife does get her final wish because she has power over her husband. In their little world, filthy as it is with the vice of greed, she has absolute power. She didn’t need an empire or a kingdom to “rule” over her husband, so she got her original shack back. Though hers is a corrupt kind of power, it is precisely the kind she foolishly sought.

CONCLUSION

The Fisherman and His Wife offers many real-life lessons about greed, albeit with plenty of grey area. While my students never agree on “how much is enough,” they certainly agree that too much is a bad thing. Likewise, they realize that fortunes can easily be turned into misfortunes. That is not to say wealth is bad, per se, but that it comes with a price.

Image in the public domain



Posted on by Stephanie McGann

Fairy Tales #7: The Mermaid

Magical. Mysterious. Heartbreaking. Perplexing. It’s hard to come up with just the right adjective to describe The Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. His storyline does not fit squarely into the fairy tale world that rewards virtue (think Cinderella) nor does it fall neatly into the anti-fairy tale world that punishes vice (think Godfather Death). It’s a little of both, kind of like real life, and that makes it surprisingly uncomfortable in a child’s story.

Nevertheless, I include it in my line-up of fairy tales because that discomfort makes it a powerful teaching tool. Let’s take a look at the plot and then try to understand the lessons Hans Christian Andersen was trying to get across. There is tremendous wisdom there for parents and children alike.

PLOT SUMMARY
Exposition – The Background

Though no humans have ever seen it, a great kingdom exists deep under the sea. It is ruled by the sea king who lives with his mother and six charming mermaid daughters. Like all mermaids, they are created to live 300 years, upon the expiration of which they will turn into seafoam.

The daughters have a strong fascination with the human world above but are not permitted to go there until their fifteenth birthday. In the meantime, they content themselves with their grandmother’s stories about humans and collect various artifacts from shipwrecks and the like. One by one, each sister has her turn to go to the surface until it comes to the youngest, called simply “the little mermaid.”

Inciting Incident – The Problem

The little mermaid spends her first night above the surface of the ocean watching a party aboard a great ship. As it turns out, the crew was celebrating the sixteenth birthday of a handsome prince. A storm sweeps in, lightning strikes, and the ship begins to go under.

The little mermaid, who was watching the prince most intently, sees that he has been knocked unconscious. She at first plans to take him home to her collection but then realizes he would die under water. She instead swims him to shore and leaves him on the beach.

Rising Action – The Build-up

From that day forward, the little mermaid falls into a downcast state. She thinks of the prince all the time and hopes in vain to see him again. As her grandmother explains, mermaids are not made for the human world. Not only do they lack legs, but they also do not have souls. Not willing to give up her dream of being with the prince, she eventually goes to the sea witch and begs her help.

Climax – The Point of No Return

The sea witch agrees to change the little mermaid’s tail into legs so she can join the human world. In exchange the little mermaid must give up her voice, which is her most alluring asset and the essence of who she is. Though her legs will be beautiful on the outside, they will cause her great pain. With each step, she will feel as though she is walking on knives.

Additionally, the little mermaid must win the love of the prince to stay a human. If he marries another, she will die and instantly turn into seafoam, forfeiting the 300 years she otherwise would have had.  Even knowing all this, the little mermaid accepts the bargain, drinks a magical potion, and gets legs.

Falling Action – The Unraveling

On land, the little mermaid soon meets the prince. He is taken with her and eventually confesses that he loves her better than anyone else, but he nonetheless pines after the elusive woman who had previously saved him from the shipwreck. All the while, the prince has no idea that the little mermaid is indeed she. Without her voice, the she is unable to tell him who she really is.

The prince’s father arranges for him to be married to a princess from a nearby kingdom. The prince reluctantly agrees to meet the princess and ends up believing her the woman who saved him. (Unlike in the Disney version, the princess does not try to deceive the prince, he simply believes it of his own will. She’s the one, so to speak.)

The two are married at once in a grand ceremony at sea with the little mermaid in attendance.

Resolution – Almost Happily Ever After
The Little Mermaid’s Sisters by Anne Anderson

The poor little mermaid is miserable during the ceremony and reception, for she knows that she will die upon the following morn. In the final moments before the sunrise, her mermaid sisters rise to the surface and try to help her. They present her with a magical dagger they got from the sea witch and beg her to kill the prince. If she does so, she will get her mermaid life back.

The little mermaid nearly kills him but thinks better of it. No sooner does the sun come up, then she dies according to the terms of her agreement with the sea witch.

Unexpectedly, however, the little mermaid finds herself in the presence of beings called “daughters of the air.” In her new state, she will have 300 years to win a soul by doing unseen good in the human world. Though in the end she does not get to live happily ever with the prince, she will get to live eternally in heaven.

PLOT ANALYSIS

Few of my students ever like the ending of The Mermaid though they mostly see the justice of it. The reason the little mermaid does not get to live happily ever after with the prince is because she was not created for that purpose. She was made to be a mermaid, not a human. What’s more, she clearly compromises herself when she bargains with the sea witch, so the human life she assumes is false.

But if she does not deserve to get the prince, then why does she get to win a soul? After all, mermaids are supposed to live their mortal lives for 300 years and then turn into seafoam—no soul, no heaven, nothing. And yet she gets something better than her mermaid family when she rises up with the daughters of the air upon her death.  

In order to answer that question, we need to first examine the world of the story.

Ocean, Earth, Sky, Heaven

Hans Christian Andersen builds a natural hierarchy into his setting that begins with the ocean on the bottom, moves up to the earth, then onto the sky, and concludes with heaven.

The mermaids of the ocean are akin to animals in that they have bodies but do not have souls. As such, they are lower than their earthly counterparts, the humans, who have bodies and souls. The daughters of the air are kind of in limbo. They have neither body nor soul but the promise of both. Finally, heaven is the highest place, and it can only be reached with a soul.

The “Voice” of the Soul

Though the mermaids do not have souls, they do have beautiful voices. In fact, their voices are their essence. That means that when the little mermaid bargains with the sea witch and sells her voice, it is kind of like she is selling her soul to the devil.

So intent is she on marrying the prince that she is willing to compromise herself beyond recognition. One drink of the sea witch’s potion and her mermaid tail turns into legs. She likes that trade, despite the physical pain it entails, because it makes her more attractive to the prince. But she also loses her voice, which makes her less attractive. Not only is she unable to win his love through her songs, but she cannot even tell him who she is.

Literally, her identity is gone; figuratively, her true self, her very essence, is lost.

My students generally have mixed feelings about the little mermaid’s deal with the sea witch. Many are inclined to see it as a rather innocent or even commendable action because she is “following her heart.” The problem with that interpretation, however, is that it forgets that the little mermaid does not have a human heart to follow. She is less than a human, so to speak. Thus, her heart is not guiding her in a virtuous sense but in more of an instinctual, covetous sense.

To Be Human

Luckily, the little mermaid finds her true self in the final moments of her life when she is given the chance to kill the prince in order to save herself. As we know, she chooses to let herself die rather than kill him. This act is the first selfless one she has performed.

To review, everything in her life up to that point was designed for her sake. She wants to marry the prince because she wants him and the immortal soul marriage could give her. Of course she saves his life on the shipwreck, but she does so to add him to her collection. Hence, even that service is rendered thinking first of herself.

In contrast, she saves the prince’s life in the end, full-knowing she will lose her own. Her sisters, well-intentioned as they are, behave like mermaids when they give her the knife. “Look out for yourself,” they remind her in short. Theirs is a survival instinct. Yet, the little mermaid has overcome that instinct in herself. She has become like a human in that she finally knows the meaning of love. She knows that true love, agape, is about sacrifice.

In that final act of sacrificial love, she wins a place among the daughters of the sky. She likewise gets her voice back and wins the promise of a soul.

CONCLUSION

Even if you are extremely faithful, this ending is a hard one, especially for a child. Hans Christian Andersen knew that to be the case, yet he wrote it anyways. Simply put, he wanted to teach children to consider the full weight of their actions. His message, though grave, is not meant to scare.

We can tell this by looking at his narrative voice. Hans Christian Andersen is what I call a parent narrator. His voice is wise and discerning, gentle and reassuring as he tells what turns out to be a very sad story. As readers, we know he cares for his little mermaid much as the sea king does. He does not want the little mermaid to trade her voice to the sea witch for a false promise of happily ever after, nor does he want any of his readers to make similarly fatal mistakes.

Yet he does not scold or rebuke the little mermaid. He knows such headstrong desires are a part of life. Like a good parent, he trusts his little mermaid will figure out her mistakes and expects her to make amends for them, even if it takes 300 years.

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

Fairy Tales #6: The Twelve Brothers

I don’t recall ever having a student who was familiar with The Twelve Brothers by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm before I passed out copies of it. In fact, I was not familiar with it myself until I became a teacher and started designing my first unit on fairy tales. I was looking for something a little different than the usual line-up, and The Twelve Brothers was perfect.

It has just the right amount of hardship and heartache to warrant its happily ever after ending. Not only that, its bizarre storyline provides tremendous insight into the mindset and realities of the Middle Ages.

PLOT ANALYSIS
Exposition – The Background

There once lived a king and queen who had twelve sons. It happened that the queen was expecting, and her husband said, “If the thirteenth child which thou art about to bring into the world is a girl, the twelve boys shall die, in order that her possessions may be great, and that the kingdom may fall to her alone.”

Inciting Incident – The Problem

The queen was so sad upon hearing this order that her youngest son, Benjamin, would give her no peace until she explained the reason for her sadness. So hearing, he came up with a plan to hide with his brothers in the woods until the baby was born. If the child was a boy, they would return to the palace. If a girl, they would leave forever.

To the boys’ disappointment, the baby was a girl. So they ventured deeper and deeper into the woods until they came upon an enchanted cottage, which they made their home.

Rising Action – The Build-up

After the passing of ten years, the girl, who was beautiful and good and had a star on her forehead, learned she had brothers who nearly died for her sake and set off to find them. She chanced upon their very cottage and found Benjamin home alone for his brothers were out hunting, and it was his job to keep the house.

The two were happily reunited, but he feared his brothers would not share his joy. As it turned out, they had vowed to kill all maidens since they had suffered on the account of a maiden. Benjamin then used the lure of gossip to persuade his brothers not to kill the next maiden they met. Having obtained their word, he brought his sister out of hiding. Just like that, the old vendetta vanished, and the siblings were happily united.

Climax – The Breaking Point
The Twelve Brothers by Henry Justice Ford

One night soon thereafter, however, the sister picked twelve flowers from the garden of their enchanted cottage, and her brothers were all transformed into crows. By some unexplained sorcery, the brothers’ lives were contained in the flowers, and the only way for them to become men again was for their sister to stop talking for the next seven years.

Falling Action – The Unraveling

The sister immediately made a vow of silence. Alone as she was, it might not have been that hard to fulfill, but she soon found herself sought after by a king who wanted to marry her. Nevertheless, she stayed true to her vow during their courtship and marriage, even in the face of slanderous talk from her evil stepmother-in-law that ultimately condemned her to death by fire.

Resolution – Happily Ever After

Just as the first flame from the fiery stake was about to burn the sister, the term of her seven years of silence expired, and twelve crows flew down to stomp out the fire. Instantly, they turned into her brothers. The siblings were reunited; the king took his wife back; and the evil stepmother-in-law was killed. In short, everyone (but the stepmother-in-law) lived happily ever after.

MOTIFS
Primogeniture

In order to understand the bizarre twists in this fairy tale, we have to read it as a critique of primogeniture, which refers to the passing of wealth, land, and titles onto the oldest male heir. That was common practice in the Middle Ages. A king, for example, needed a son to bequeath his realm to. Only in the rarest of circumstances would a daughter receive the crown. In such cases, the daughter would really give the power of rule over to her husband.

(Queen Elizabeth is one such example. She refused to marry because she knew it would strip her of power. Not only that, her dad, King Henry VIII, married and divorced SIX times in large part to get a son.)

Against this backdrop, the king in The Twelve Brothers is rather odd. Though he has sons in spades, he not only wants a daughter but prefers to give her everything. He is even going to kill his sons to make sure they have no chance of claiming their lawful inheritance. Hence, the story turns primogeniture on its head to show how unfair it is. Primogeniture figuratively “killed” daughters in the same way that the king plans to kill his sons.

Once my students realize this, they stop thinking the story bizarre and realize that it’s really quite progressive. Children should be treated equally, whether male or female, youngest or oldest.

Girl Power

What’s more, the story celebrates “girl power” and even suggests that women would be great rulers. Beginning with her birth and ending with her vow of silence, the sister holds the power of life and death over her brothers. Yet, she does not wield that power for her own benefit. Rather, she does so sacrificially.

She gives up her inheritance in order to take care of her brothers and later gives up her voice and everything that went with it in order to turn her brothers back into men.

Her “power,” therefore, is not simply something she inherited. Indeed, she gave that kind of worldly power up. Instead, she has true power, that which is born out of sacrificial love. We see this represented by the star on her forehead. It is not just a birthmark; it is an outward sign of the inner grace that “crowns” her very self.

CONCLUSION

That kind of crown is the birthright of everyone, and whether we wear it or not is always within our power. Therein lies the full message of The Twelve Brothers. We may not always get what we deserve in life, but we should always live as the kings and queens God made us to be. Put differently, life is not about getting; it is about giving.

Like so many fairy tales, the message of The Twelve Brothers transcends time and place, offering lessons well beyond the literal storyline. It reminds us that we are all born to greatness.

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

Fairy Tales #5: Little Red Cap

No fairy tale collection would be complete without the story of Little Red Cap, otherwise known as Little Red Riding Hood. Its beloved title character has captured the imagination of generations of little girls and taught them not to trust the big bad wolf.

The story has been reinvented over and over again, often with the goal of “softening” the darker details or painting it with a more secular brush. The Brothers Grimm would have had none of that, however. Their version is “dark” by today’s standards precisely because they wanted to paint a gripping picture of what could happen if one wanders off the path.

PLOT ANALYSIS
Exposition – Background

Once there was a good little girl who was loved by everyone. Her grandmother especially doted on her and made her a little red velvet cap, which she wore so much that everyone called her Little Red Cap.

Inciting Incident – The Problem

Her life takes an unexpected twist one day when she is sent on what would seem a rather benign task. Her mother says, “Come, Little Red-Cap, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother. She is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path…”

Little Red Cap’s story unfolds from there. Her challenge is to stay on the path and complete her errand safely.  

Rising Action – The Build-up

Along the way, she meets a sly wolf who pretends to be good. He tricks Little Red Cap into straying from the path to pick wild flowers so that he can run ahead to Grandmother’s cottage.

Once there, the wolf knocks on the door and pretends to be Little Red Cap. Grandmother is deceived and invites him to “lift the latch” and enter her cottage. The wolf then goes to her bedroom and swallows her whole. He wastes no time disguising himself as Grandmother and lays in wait for Little Red Cap, whom he intends to eat next. 

Climax – The Breaking Point

When Little Red Cap arrives, she senses that something is not right, but she still walks into the back bedroom expecting to find Grandmother. Thus ensues the famous “Grandmother, Grandmother…” lines wherein Little Red Cap notes how different the wolf’s ears, eyes, hands, and mouth look than those of her real grandmother. No sooner does she realize that it’s the wolf, then he goggles her up. 

Falling Action – The Unraveling

Luckily, the wolf is so full from his two-course meal that he falls asleep in Grandmother’s bed and begins snoring loudly. A nearby huntsman hears the loud snoring and decides to check on Grandmother, thinking she may be ill. When he goes inside, he sees the wolf and shouts, “So here I find you, you old sinner.” He gets ready to shoot the wolf but thinks better of it and decides to cut his stomach open instead.

Resolution – Lesson Learned

Out pops Little Red Cap and Grandmother. Though they’re both a little worse for the wear, they eat the basket of goodies and feel much better.

MOTIFS
Journey through the Woods

Woods are dark and scary places. Just ask any little child to venture deep into the woods on his own, and see how he responds.

Little Red Cap does not seem afraid, however, when her mother tells her to walk through the woods to Grandmother’s house. Ironically, she’s too young to get scared. She doesn’t know, or at least doesn’t understand, that danger awaits. She has grown up in the safety of her mother’s home and expects that safety to stay with her in the woods. But, of course, it doesn’t. The wolf greets her almost immediately and plans to devour her.

Красная шапочка

So, too, in life does danger always lurk. The woods, then, is a metaphor for life’s figurative journey from beginning to end. It starts in the safety, certainty, and comfort of one’s own home with parents who, like Little Red Cap’s mother, try to teach the ways of the world. In its most primitive sense, those teachings are designed to heighten a child’s chances of survival. One day, ready or not, that same child must face the world alone.

Many, like Little Red Cap, wander off the path and even get devoured. Sure, Little Red Cap gets a second chance when the huntsman cuts her out of the wolf’s belly, but that’s hardly something she could have counted on.

By extension, the woods also symbolize our earthly journey to Heaven, with sin as the ever-present danger.

The Big Bad Wolf

This brings us to the infamous big bad wolf who metaphorically represents sin. He’s no stranger to this role either, as there are seemingly endless stories with wolves as bad guys. Even Christ used this metaphor in His Parable of the Good Shepherd.

If the wolf’s so big and bad, though, why doesn’t he just eat Little Red Cap right away and then go gobble up Grandma?

Little Red Riding Hood by J.W. Smith

The answer to this question reveals much about the nature of sin. Thanks to free will, we can either invite sin into our life or turn it down. Likewise, the wolf cannot do anything to Little Red Cap without her participation. For that matter, he cannot even get into Grandmother’s house without permission. Remember—the wolf opens the door himself but only after Grandmother invites him to do so.

Of course, both Little Red Cap and Grandmother are tricked by the wolf. He’s a liar and a master of disguise, feigning to be good and dressing as someone he’s not. Sin is the same way. It, too, pretends to be good, or at least not that bad. After all, Little Red Cap was trying to do something nice for her grandmother when she stopped to pick flowers. Nevertheless, by doing so she disobeyed her mother and gave the wolf his chance.

Once he has it, he takes as much as he can. He isn’t satisfied with one meal. He has to have two. And so his appetite would have grown had the huntsman not come along. Likewise, sin always gets bigger and hurts more people unless it is killed entirely.

To do so, we must see it for what it is—sin. The huntsman immediately sees through the wolf’s disguise, notably calling him “sinner,” and that’s why he is able to kill him.     

CONCLUSION

One of the nice things about Little Red Cap is that it can be read at so many different levels. At its most basic, it reminds children to listen to their parents and not to trust strangers. That’s a pretty good point by itself. Indeed, my students often think that’s what it boils down to.

“We know where this one’s going,” they seem to think when I pass out the story.

After we unpack the metaphors, however, they suddenly look at the story differently, almost like they’re hearing it as little children for the first time. They once again fear for Little Red Cap when she walks into Grandmother’s room and examines the wolf’s ears, eyes, hands, and mouth. They can imagine themselves in her shoes, realizing too late that sin has crept into the most treasured corners of their lives.

In truth, we have all been in Little Red Cap’s shoes when we would rather be in the huntsman’s.