The Frog Prince

The Frog Prince by the Brothers Grimm

Genre: Traditional Literature, Folklore, Fairy Tale (Children's)

 

I read this classic fairy tale in the Classics of Children’s Literature (6th Edition) by John W. Griffith and Charles H. Frey. Published by Pearson in Upper Saddle River, NJ in 2005.

My initial response to the Grimms’ The Frog Prince is that it clearly follows the mythos, or master plot, that structures many fairy tales. For instance, the Prince was victimized by a “wicked witch” and altered into a frog (p. 45). The Prince’s loyal servant was so distraught by the alteration that his heart had to be protected with iron belts—this information not only promotes a message of loyalty but also offers evidence to reinforce the wickedness of the witch. Her act was so ghastly it had dire repercussions beyond the Prince. The Prince, now a frog, spent his time in the woods, assumingly encountering adventures until the King’s daughter comes along to offer a resolution. The King also contents to the Prince marrying his daughter, which consequently results in the familiar fairy tale ending of a restructured family. In contrast, The Frog Prince is different from other fairy tales because the King had to order his daughter to hold true to her word and free the Prince from his altered state. 

The Grimms’ must have had some purpose or alternative function in mind when writing the story in this way. To better understand this, I asked myself, how would the story have been different if the King did not influence his daughter? What if we deleted the lines: “that which thou hast promised must thou perform,” “so go now and let him in,” and “That which thou hast promised in thy time of necessity, must thou perform.” (p. 45)? I have a sneaky suspicion that the daughter would have left the Prince (the frog) sitting on the doorstep and she would have been punished in some monstrous way for her deception. The King’s influence was critical in the movement of the plot and ultimately led to the resolution being possible.

Knowing the Grimms’ lost their father early in life[1], it could be they sought to make the King (a father) a hero. Especially due to the fact of the daughter being the youngest. In fairy tales, the youngest is typically disadvantaged and despite her grand beauty, she lacked understanding and wisdom and her struggle with this ethical dilemma might not have been overcome without intervention from the father. She needed a hero and the King served that function. It could also be that the King serves as a divine force or hero for the Prince, in addition to his influence over his daughter. The Prince overcomes his frog state because of the daughter learning about integrity and setting aside her own discomfort to repay a good deed. 

The King’s influence corresponds to the influence the Cat held in Perrault’s The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots. The youngest son would not have been able to overcome his misfortune without the cleverness of the Cat to manipulate others and help the youngest son achieve a higher status in society. However, there is an obvious difference here. In The Frog Prince, the King was intervening to prevent deception and in The Master Cat, the Cat was intervening to assert deception. The Brothers Grimm seem to be more meticulous in ensuring that their tales taught values, while Perrault’s emphasis might have been more directed on the art of storytelling. However, I do prefer the Grimms’ stories and the language is very much a cause of that. 

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[1] http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/about.html

*Picture citation: https://www.google.com/search?q=frog+prince&client=firefox-a&hs=icy&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=77efUcrFEYLcqwGmwoHQAQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=638#facrc=_&imgrc=IZLU7SZKDkvcfM%3A%3BtxjtBsrkscogMM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.artsycraftsy.com%252Fgoble%252Fwg_frog_prince.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.artsycraftsy.com%252Fgoble%252Fgoble_frogprince.html%3B600%3B417

*2nd Picture Citation:  https://www.google.com/search?q=frog+prince&client=firefox-a&hs=icy&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=77efUcrFEYLcqwGmwoHQAQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=638#facrc=_&imgrc=IZLU7SZKDkvcfM%3A%3BtxjtBsrkscogMM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.artsycraftsy.com%252Fgoble%252Fwg_frog_prince.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.artsycraftsy.com%252Fgoble%252Fgoble_frogprince.html%3B600%3B417

The Girl Who Spun Gold

Hamilton, Virginia. (2000.) The Girl Who Spun Gold. L. and D. Dillon. New York: The Blue Sky Press.

Literary Genre: Traditional Literature (Picture Book) 

Quashiba is a beautiful girl who finds herself in a seemingly impossible predicament because of her mother’s lie. Quashiba is married to the young Big King who demands her to weave him three rooms of golden things or stay looked in a room forever. A magical tiny shadow man with a wooden leg and long tail offers to help Quashiba but she only has three days to guess his whole name or she will be turned tiny. The art brings this golden tale to life with its metallic and acrylic paints and gold leaf borders.

I enjoyed this West Indian variant of German’s “Rumpelstiltskin” because it offers a special twist that portrays Quashiba as a strong woman. Many traditional tales portray women as only beautiful and not smart or strong, so finding books like this to counteract the stories with stereotypes is nice. The dialect might scare some readers but I find that it helps to develop the characters and provides cultural authenticity and lends itself to a fun read-aloud. Additionally, the Author’s Note in the end shares the origin of the tale and its connections across cultures, this is an artifact that is expected in a quality traditional tale picture book.

The Firebird

Yolen, Jane. (2002). The Firebird. V. Vagin. Hong Kong: HarpersCollinsPublishers.

Literary Genre: Traditional Literature (Picture Book) 

“In a certain land, in a certain kingdom—as they say in old Russia—on the far side of a certain tangled wood” was a garden ruled by an evil wizard, Kostchei the Deathless. Kostchei holds the princess and her nine maidens captive in his garden, anyone who attempts to rescue them is turned to stone. Prince Ivan is out hunting and follows the magical firebird to this garden. The red firebird bestows one of his magical feathers to Prince Ivan, but will that be enough to help him conquer Kostchei and free the princess and her maidens. Vagin’s exceptional illustrations display the folktale as well as depict scenes from the famous ballet.

I loved this book! The language flows naturally making this book ideal for a read aloud; this is an essential element of traditional literature. The Firebird also exhibits other features of quality traditional literature, for instance, the simple story structure, the struggle between good and evil, references the oral tradition, has an indistinct setting, and succinct language. The illustrations are so entrancing that I had to go through and look at all the illustrations on every page before I read the story. Yolen includes an author’s note at the end that provides the reader with some insight into Russian folktales. The Firebird is a reoccurring character in many Russian tales and sometimes dwells in a golden cage. My four-year-old son actually introduced me to this folktale via Disney’s “Little Einsteins - Rocket's Firebird Rescue” (a movie made for preschoolers), and we were both ecstatic to learn that the hero in the traditional version is Prince Ivan because Ivan is my son’s middle name :). I am very excited to start reading other variants and versions of this magical tale!