Week 18- #GRIMMread2019

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 http://shonnaslayton.com/grimm-read-2019-challenge/

     My favorite story this week is "Jorinda and Joringel". I've seen the title of this one before, probably when flipping through my copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales, but I had not read it, and it isn't one of the popular tales, so I knew absolutely nothing about it. I found this strange tale to be eerie and captivating. I particularly like the rich imagery. It's definitely got some creepy parts to it, but it really isn't that violent, especially when compared to some of the other tales, and it has a happy ending.

     The story opens with an exposition on the witch. She lives in an old castle in the middle of the forest. She can lure wild animals and birds to her, which she kills, boils, and roasts. During the day she shape-shifts into an owl or a cat, and at night she takes on her human form. Anyone that steps to close to her castle is paralyzed like a stone, and the maidens are turned into exotic birds and kept in cages. The witch has 7000 cages full of these birds!

     Enter Jorinda and Joringel. They are a young couple, very much in love, and engaged to be married. Their names are so similar that I think this must symbolize how close they are to each other. They go on a romantic walk in the forest, and they are so happy, until they're not. Suddenly, they are both filled with immense sorrow. There is no explanation in the story for this. Perhaps, this is part of the witches magic. If so, it's a good tactic. At first, Jorinda and Joringel are careful not to venture near to the witch's castle, but their sorrow is overwhelming, and they become distracted. Jorinda sings with a songbird in the forest and Joringel joins her. The next thing you know, Jorinda is changed into a nightingale, and Joringel is frozen on the spot. The witch takes Jorinda away in a cage to her castle. She comes back and calls upon Zachiel (the only time this name is mentioned) to release Joringel. Joringel begs the witch to free Jorinda, but she refuses.

     After this, Joringel finds a village and tends sheep for several years. One day he has a dream about a blood-red flower with a pearl in the middle that he finds in the forest. With this flower, he is unstoppable, and he frees Jorinda. So, the next day he goes into the forest, where he finds the blood-red flower with a drop of dew, resembling a pearl, in the middle. He takes the flower to the witch's castle, and he is, indeed, unstoppable. When he comes to the room of birds, he wonders how to find Jorinda among so many of them. Then he sees the witch carrying one of the the bird cages, trying to elude him. He catches up with her, and he touches her and the bird with flower. The bird turns back into Jorinda, and the witch loses all her powers. Jorinda and Joringel are happily together again at last.

     This story leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and I think that it has a lot of potential for a retelling despite its'obscurity. Some of my questions include: Why is the witch obsessed with keeping maidens as birds in cages? Who is Zachiel? Why did the witch free Joringel? Is the Flower symbolic, or is it just a flower? What happened to the other trapped maidens?

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