Week 12- #GRIMMread2019
Well, we are back to murder, mayhem, and gore in this week's stories, along with strange forms of resurrection. "Old Sultan" is my favorite story this week, and it offered up some of that wonderful animal comedy, which was comforting after reading the more gruesome tales.
Thumbling as Journeyman- basically a slightly altered version of Thumbling, which is very similar to Tom Thumb.
Fitcher's Bird- A horrifying tale that is very similar to Bluebeard. An old wizard roams around kidnapping young women, in particular, three sisters (one at a time). He charges each with protecting an egg, which I assume symbolizes purity and fidelity, and gives her permission to enter any room except one. The first two enter the forbidden room, which is a bloody chamber filled with body parts. Each gets blood on the egg, which is how the wizard knows they disobeyed him, and he chops them up. The third sister is clever. She hides the egg, and enters the bloody chamber, and puts her sister's bodies parts back together: Frankenstein style, and they are resurrected. She hides them, and the wizard, who thinks this one has been faithful decides to marry her. She sneaks her sisters back home, disguises herself as a bird, escapes, and manages to trap the wizard and all his friends in his home, and burns it to the ground. This is the first story we've read so far in which sisters are friends, and a girl rescues her sisters instead of her brothers.
The Juniper Tree- This is a very long story, and it's another gruesome one. I'll try to make this short. There are a few similarities to "Snow White". A little boy is abused by his stepmother, who is possessed, and who eventually kills him, and frames her daughter for it. She then cooks the boy in a stew and feeds him to his father, all while his sister is bawling her eyes out. The sister takes his bones and brings them to the Juniper Tree, which is where the boy's mother is buried. Then the boy is somehow reincarnated into a bird. He gathers some items by singing to random villagers. He gives a gold chain to his father, red shoes to his sister, and drops millstone on his stepmother, killing her. Then he is transformed back into his true form. Again, a brother is saved by his sister, because even though he saves himself in the end, he wouldn't have been resurrected into a bird if his sister hadn't gathered his bones and brought them to his mother's tree.
Old Sultan- Old Sultan is a good dog, but he's old, so his owner decides he isn't any use anymore and decides to put him down. The dog goes to his friend, the wolf, who hatches a plan to save him. The wolf will pretend to take the baby, and Old Sultan will chase him off. Well, the dog's owner then changes his tune, and promises to always feed and take care of him for the rest of his days. Now, the wolf wants something in return. He asks the dog to look the other way, while he takes one of the sheep. Old Sultan does not agree to this, and he warns his owner, who discovers the wolf and chases him away with a flail. The wolf then wants revenge. He gets a boar to challenge the dog, and the only help that the toothless, old dog can find is a three-legged cat. As they are walking to the showdown, the wolf and boar somehow mistake the cat for a sabre, which I assume is some sort of lion or tiger, and they hide. The cat sees the boar's ear, which he mistakes for a mouse, and he bites it. The boar gives the wolf up, and runs away. The wolf is afraid of the cat, so he decides to become friends with Old Sultan again. This tale is about loyalty, and true friendship. Old Sultan is really the only character, besides the cat, that shows true loyalty and friendship. He is loyal to his owner, even after his owner had planned to betray his years of loyalty by putting him down. His owner was only loyal after he saw use in Old Sultan. The wolf is a fair-weather friend as well. He offered to help Old Sultan, not asking anything in return, but after this he demanded something that Old Sultan couldn't give, because his first loyalty was always to his owner. He only becomes friends with the dog again because he is afraid of being hurt by the cat.
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