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30-500: The story opens with the heroine, who is so greedy for parsley that her mother steals it for her. As a result, she is called Parsley. The parsley comes from the garden of a neighboring convent run by an abbess. The girl is seen by three princes, and because of her beauty, they quarrel over her. The resentful abbess curses the girl for the commotion, turning her into a toad and sending her far away.. The king decides to allow fate to choose his successor from among his three sons. He sets them

60-674: A fairy in disguise). Sibling rivalry may also spring up in these stories, but usually over the youngest daughter's marriage. They may incite their sister to break the taboo her husband has laid on her, as in Cupid and Psyche , or make it appear that she has killed her own children to make her husband hate her, as in The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird . Youngest daughters may also appear as not

90-422: A knife and cut the throats of eleven of her sleeping daughters, because of their night caps. Esben woke his brothers, and they all fled. The brothers left Esben behind on their horses. The brothers took service with the king as stableboys . When Esben arrived, no one gave him a place, but he managed to get his food with one thing or another. His brothers did not stand to attention for Sir Red, whom everyone else at

120-412: A stick and whittled it, so it was whiter than his brothers' horses, and rode off on it. The eleven brothers came to a house where a woman told them they could not only stay for the night, they could each have one of her daughters. They were pleased. Esben came up behind them and sneaked about. In the night, he had his brothers change caps with the girls. At midnight, the woman, who was a witch , came with

150-413: A walnut shell. Again, the toad provides. For the third task, the king orders them to return with a bride. The one who obtains the most beautiful wife will be king. This time, the toad herself accompanies the youngest prince, riding in a cardboard carriage drawn by rats, with hedgehogs for outriders, a mouse for a coachman, and two frogs as footmen. When they turn a corner, the prince is astonished to see

180-662: Is a subversion; in most versions the hero chooses to wed the eldest princess while the youngest of the twelve daughters was the only one to realize she and her sisters were being followed during their nightly ventures. A pair of siblings, whether a girl and a boy as in Hansel and Gretel or two girls as in Snow-White and Rose-Red or Kate Crackernuts , or two boys as in The Gold-Children , often features them as co-protagonists rather than as rivals. This is, in fact,

210-468: Is offered the choice of half a loaf with his mother's blessing and the whole with her curse , and takes the blessing where his brothers took the curse, and in The Golden Bird he takes a talking fox's advice to avoid an inn where his brothers decided to abandon their quest. This magical helper is often long faithful to him; he may fail many times after the initial test, often by not respecting

240-762: Is usually the heroine of the tale, as in The Seven Ravens , The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird (in the second generation), The Fair Fiorita , The Death of Koschei the Deathless , The Twelve Wild Ducks or The Blue Bird . Even in these tales, the youngest son may be set out: in The Seven Ravens , he is the first to guess that their sister has found them; in The Twelve Wild Ducks , he argues against his oldest brother, who wants to kill their sister as

270-588: The youngest daughter may be an equivalent figure. Prior to his adventures, he is often despised as weak and foolish by his brothers or father, or both — sometimes with reason, some youngest sons actually being foolish, and others being lazy and prone to sitting about the ashes doing nothing. But some times the youngest son is the one that does the most work. Sometimes, as in Esben and the Witch , they scorn him as small and weak. Even when not scorned as small and weak,

300-472: The Tower", including tales such as Rapunzel . The White Cat is an early literary version of the tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy in 1697, featuring cats instead of frogs. A Hungarian variant, Ribike , shows the titular Ribike also obsessed with her favourite type of fruit, redcurrants . After being cursed by a nun, she helps the prince in lizard form. In a French tale, La Belle Blonde (Blond Beauty),

330-693: The World and the Flying Ship . He generally succeeds in tasks after his older brothers have failed, as in The Red Ettin , or all three are set to tasks and he is the only one to succeed, as in Puddocky . He may happen on the donor that gives him his success, as Puddocky has pity on him, but usually he is tested in some manner that distinguishes him from his brothers: in The Red Ettin he

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360-627: The carriage replaced by a beautiful coach with human attendants, and that the toad has become a beautiful woman whom he recognizes as Parsley. He is selected as the new king, and marries Parsley. Edgar Taylor translated the tale as "Cherry, or the Frog-Bride" in German Popular Stories (1826), changing both the desired plant and the girl's name to Cherry, and grouped it with tales by the Brothers Grimm . This translation

390-515: The castle hated but the king liked. Sir Red decided to revenge himself by saying they had said they could get the king a dove with a silver feather and a golden one. The king demanded it of them. Esben told them to get him some peas, then he recited a charm to his stick, and it flew him back to the witch's. He had noticed she had such a dove; he spread the peas and caught it. The witch saw him too late to catch him, but they exchanged taunts. Angry, Sir Red claimed that they had said that they could get him

420-549: The cause of their misery. Sibling rivalry in fairy tales is, in general, a trait of same-sex siblings. The ubiquity of this theme has made it an obvious target for revisionist fairytale fantasy . Andrew Lang has his Prince Prigio jeer at the notion that he should go first on the quest, when he is the oldest son; only after his two younger brothers have not returned can he be compelled to go. Likewise, in Diana Wynne Jones 's Howl's Moving Castle , Sophie, being

450-580: The girl be handed over to her, as in Rapunzel . Gail Carson Levine adapted this story in her children's book For Biddle's Sake. This story is classified as Aarne–Thompson Type 402, the Animal Bride, and closely related to The Frog Princess , wherein a transformed frog, the bride of the youngest son, performs better at three tasks to test the brides than the other sons' human brides. Puddocky also shares parallels with Type 310, "The Maiden in

480-417: The girl goes once more to the fairy, who creates a castle of silver for her. The girl and her husband win a portion of the kingdom. Youngest son The youngest son is a stock character in fairy tales , where he features as the hero . He is usually the third son, but sometimes there are more brothers , and sometimes he has only one; usually, they have no sisters. In a family of many daughters,

510-406: The girl’s fairy foster mother keeps her in a tower only accessible by climbing her long hair. When the girl runs away with a prince, the fairy angrily turns her into a frog. To divide his kingdom between his sons, the king challenges the prince and his brother to bring home beautiful brides. The frog begs the fairy for help, and is restored to humanity. The king then requires his sons to build castles;

540-497: The helper's advice. Indeed, in The Golden Bird , the fox declares that the hero does not deserve his help after his disobedience, but still aids him. This success may make his brothers an additional obstacle , as in The Golden Bird , where they overpower him and steal what he has won on his quest. In some tales, such as The Grateful Beasts , they conclude he may be a rival in advance, and they attempt to stop him before

570-496: The heroine of the tale, but the bride of the hero; when there is more than one princess, the bride is almost always the youngest, as in King Kojata , The Hairy Man , The Magician's Horse , or Shortshanks . A ballad may feature three sisters solely so that the youngest of them can be preferred. The choice of a younger and prettier sister may also cause intrafamily friction in a ballad. The Twelve Dancing Princesses

600-487: The magical boar with silver and golden bristles . Esben made them give him a bag of malt, and using it, caught just the boar that belonged to the witch. The king was pleased with that, although his brothers did not even thank Esben. Sir Red claimed they had said they could get a lamp that could shine over seven kingdoms. This task, he had to sneak inside the house and hide. The witch called to her daughter to make her porridge and add no salt, so Esben poured salt into it. There

630-460: The more common pattern when the children are of the opposite sex, or when they are boys (usually twin boys). The story of the "kind and unkind girls" often features a pair as rivals. They are more often stepsiblings than siblings, but as siblings, the younger is generally the favored, as in Diamonds and Toads or some variants of The Red Ettin . In tales where the brothers had a sister, she

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660-560: The oldest daughter, is resigned to having the worst chances to make her fortune, but is precipitated into the plot by evil magic. Tales that feature youngest sons: Tales that feature youngest daughters: Esben and the Witch Esben and the Witch ( Danish language : Esben og Troldheksen ) is a Danish fairy tale first collected by Jens Kamp . Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book . A version of

690-516: The only one willing to fulfill a promise that their father made, as in Beauty and the Beast or Bearskin . In The Little Mermaid , it is the youngest daughter of King Triton who falls in love with the prince after she saves him from drowning. In Diamonds and Toads , the younger-&-least favoured daughter of a widow marries a king's son (after having passed a 'Test of Character' administered by

720-588: The quest; in others, such as Thirteenth or Boots and the Troll , he must set to tasks because they have spitefully claimed that he said he could. This rivalry is not a necessary component of the character. He may also be the only one of the brothers to set about the work, as in Dapplegrim . In some tales, such as the Norwegian version of The Master Thief , the brothers are only mentioned and vanish from

750-559: The tale also appears in A Book of Witches and A Choice of Magic , by Ruth Manning-Sanders . It is Aarne-Thompson type 327B (a small boy defeats an ogre). In it, a boy named Esben outwits an evil witch to get the magical treasures for the sake of his brothers. A farmer had twelve sons, and the youngest , Esben, was little while his brothers were big and strong. One day the brothers persuaded their father to let them seek their fortunes; he gave them each horses and money. Esben decided he would go too. His father refused to aid him. He took

780-656: The tale entirely when they set out to seek their fortune. Heroines in fairy tales are more often marked out as stepdaughters, but sometimes they appear as the youngest daughter. In Molly Whuppie , it is the youngest who outwits the ogre. The White Bear in East of the Sun and West of the Moon marries the youngest daughter; in the Black Bull of Norroway , the heroine's older sisters set out to seek their fortunes before her. She may be

810-416: The task of finding a hundred-yard piece of linen fine enough to fit through a ring. While the two oldest princes choose to follow busier roads and collect bales of linen, the youngest son sets out on a dark and lonely road. He comes into a marsh, where he encounters a toad which offers him the fabric he needs. It exceeds his brothers' discoveries. The king then sends them out to find a dog that can fit inside

840-985: The youngest son is seldom distinguished by great strength, agility, speed, or other physical powers. He may be particularly clever, as in Hop o' My Thumb , or fearless, as in The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was , but more commonly his traits include refusal to abandon the quest , as in Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf or The Brown Bear of the Green Glen , and courtesy to strangers, especially those who appear weak, as in The Water of Life or The Fool of

870-502: Was no water in the house, so the daughter asked her mother for the lamp to fetch more. Esben then pushed her into the well and she drowned, and he ran off with the lamp. After the king received it, Sir Red made a new claim, about a coverlet (bed cover) that sounded when touched. The boy tried to steal it, but it sounded and the witch caught him. But her last and youngest daughter took a liking to him, and together they twice tricked her mother into having him live in captivity. Eventually, when

900-513: Was slightly revised and altered by Marian Edwardes and included as "Cherry the Frog-Bride" in Grimm's Household Tales (1912). In a parallel tale from the Grimms, The Three Feathers , there is no scene of garden theft, and the frog's origin is never explained. Andrew Lang translated the tale under the title of "Puddocky". In Lang's version, the owner of the parsley garden is a witch who demands that

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