Prince Crawfish (Belarusian folktale)

Prince Crawfish (Belarusian: "Рак Царэвіч") is a Belarusian folktale collected by Belarusian ethnographer and folklorist Evdokim Romanov. Folklorist Lev Barag later republished it in German as Der Krebs als Zarensohn ("The Crab as Son-in-Law").

The tale is related to the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom or The Seach for the Lost Husband: a human maiden marries an animal that is a prince in disguise, breaks a taboo and loses him, and she has to seek him out.

Summary

An old couple suffers for they have no son. One day, the old man captures a crawfish in a bucket and the animal tells him he wants to be his son. Some time later, the crab son asks his father to go to court and ask for the hand of the czar's daughter in marriage. The czar laughs at the silly proposition and orders the poor man three tasks for his crawfish son: to build a bridge encrusted with gold and silver between the palace and the old couple's hut; to plant a tree along the road that yields golden and silver fruits, and to have a marching band with fine garments and a fine horse. The crawfish prince tells his father not to worry, and goes to the lake where he was found; he takes off his crawfish shell and summons the fishes and crabs to provide him with the tasks.

After seeing the results of his orders, such was their impossibility, the czar admits his prospective son-in-law must be someone magical and marries one of his daughters to the crab. The princess discovers the crab prince becomes a handsome man at night and tells her sisters as rebuttal to their mockery, and her sisters say they will burn the shell. That night, while the crawfish prince and the princess are asleep, they burn the shell; the crawfish prince awakens, sensing something is afoot, and learns of the burnt shell. He admonishes his wife and tells her to find him after wearing down three pairs of iron boots, three iron canes and eating three iron loaves of bread. He summons his magical horse Sivko-Burko, his father's mount, and vanishes into the sky.

The princess follows through with his directions and walks a long road: she meets on the way her sisters-in-law, who shelter her and each give her an item (a cloth embroidered with gold and silver, a golden and silver haircomb, and a spinning wheel with a spindle). Her third sister-in-law advises her to reach the next town with a bazaar, open up shop and put the items on show, for a noblewoman will come to buy the objects, but she must refuse money and ask to sleep with her husband for three nights. Twice it happens, but the princess fails to awake her husband, because the noblewoman gave him a sleeping potion. He only awakens on her third attempt and recognizes her.

Analysis

Tale type

The tale is classified in the East Slavic Folktale Classification (Template:Lang-ru) as type SUS 440, Template:Lang-ru: the heroine marries a crab or water animal that fulfilled the king's tasks; he takes off the animal skin at night to become a handsome youth; the heroine burns the animal skin and has to seek him out.

Russian scholarship suggests that East Slavic types SUS 433B and SUS 440 are closely related. In type SUS 433B, Template:Lang-ru, a woman gives birth to a crab who marries the princess; the princess burns his animal skin and has to seek him out.

However, in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, the tale corresponds to type ATU 425A, "The Animal (Monster) as Bridegroom": the princess burns the husband's animal skin and she must seek him out, even paying a visit to the Sun, the Moon and the Wind and gaining their help. The heroine is given marvellous objects on the way to her husband by the personifications of the elements, or from her helpers, and she uses them to bribe the false bride for a night with him. Only on the third night the heroine manages to talk to her husband and he recognizes her.

Motifs

According to Hans-Jörg Uther, the main feature of tale type ATU 425A is "bribing the false bride for three nights with the husband". In fact, when he developed his revision of Aarne-Thompson's system, Uther remarked that an "essential" trait of the tale type ATU 425A was the "wife's quest and gifts" and "nights bought".

In his work on Cupid and Psyche and other Animal as Bridegroom tales, Swedish scholar Jan-Öjvind Swahn located in Eastern Europe variants wherein the animal bridegroom is in the shape of a lobster, shrimp, crayfish and crab, in regards to his type B, which involves the heroine bribing the false bride for three nights with her husband with the gifts she gained from her helpers.

Variants

Russia

According to Russian scholarship, East Slavic type SUS 433B has seven variants registered in Siberia.

Terek Cossacks

In a tale from the Terek Cossacks with the title "Рак-царевич" ("Crawfish Prince"), an old couple lives by the sea and lament the fact that they have no children. The man goes to the sea to catch some fish, and a giant crawfish crawls out of the sea and asks the old man to take him in as their son. The man takes the crustacean home to his wife and they live like parents and son. One day, a letter is sent to the old man that the king shall marry his daughter, the princess, to anyone who can build overnight a palace on the other side of the river, with a silver bridge with golden nails and crystal trees alongside the path. The crustacean asks the old man to go and tell the king he can do it. The king threatens the old man that he shall lose his head if he does not fulfill the request. While the old couple sleeps, the crustacean takes off its shell, becomes a youth and commands his servants to build the palace. The next day, the king sees the palace built according to his wishes, and sends another letters: this time, he shall marry the princess to anyone who can erect a stone church with silver and golden domes. The crustacen also fulfills the second task. The king marries the princess to the crawfish, and she resigns to her fate. One day, at night, she notices a man eating some food and goes to sleep again. She then begins to realize her husband becomes human only at night, but returns to the crustacean shell in the morning, and an idea begins to formulate at her mind to keep him human forever. Some time later, the king invites his daughter and her husband for a feast: she leaves home early and mingles with the guests, when she notices her husband - in human form - among the guests. She then pretends to be ill and goes home early, so she can burn the shell in an oven. The human crawfish comes soon after, and explains his story: his stepmother, the queen, placed a crustacean skin on him so he became an animal, and, if the princess would have just waited a little longer, he would regain human form. Disappointed in his wife, he tells her she will only find him if she wears out three iron dresses, and vanishes. After his disappearance, the princess commissions three irons dresses and begins her quest; she passes by three Baba Yagas in their huts in the forest, and each of them gives her a gift: the first a self-moving needle; the second a валёчек ('rolling pin') that washes and irons the clothes by itself, and the third a self-moving loom. After passing by the Baba Yagas, the three dresses break apart, and the princess reaches a castle where she finds work as a seamstress. One day, the other seamstresses comment they have to weave a new dress for the mistress of the castle that is to marry her fiancé (the human crawfish). The princess sews the dress with the magic needle. Next, they are ordered to wash and iron the prince's clothes. The princess uses the rolling pin to fulfill this task. Lastly, they are ordered to weave a silk carpet, which the princess does by using the self-moving loom. One day, the human crawfish pays a visit to the new seamstress in her hut and recognizes his wife. He explains to her his cruel stepmother married him to another woman. However, now that he found his true wife, he expels his stepmother and dismisses his second fiancée, and lives with the princess, his first wife.

Ukraine

In a Ukrainian tale from Podolia published by Ukrainian literary critic Mikola Z. Levchenko as a variation ("ТЕЖ") of a tale titled "Зачарований королевич-рачок стає за приймака дідові і сватає королівну" ("The enchanted Prince-Crawfish cares for his grandfather and woos the Queen"), a fisherman catches a crawfish and brings it home for he and his wife to eat. However, while the man's wife is preparing the cauldron to cook the crawfish, the animal hides away in a corner. The next day, the crawfish begins to talk and asks the old man to go to the king's court and woo the princess on his behalf. The old fisherman goes to the king's presence and tells of the crawfish's proposition. The king says he will marry the princess as long as the crawfish builds a golden bridge between the fisherman's house and the castle. The fisherman returns home and tells the crawfish the king's terms. The animal tells the fisherman not to worry and, the next day, a golden bridge appears between both houses. The king then consents to their marriage, and weds his daughter to the crawfish, which is brought on a plate to the princess on the wedding night. Suddenly, while the princess is asleep, the crawfish takes off his shell and becomes a handsome youth, and sleeps by the princess's side. The next morning, the human crawfish tells the princess he is the crawfish and she must not tell anyone the secret. However, the princess blurbs the secret to her mother, the queen, who advises her to cook the shell in a pot. The next night, while the human crawfish is asleep, the princess takes the shell and cooks it in a pot. The human crawfish wakes up and warns his wife she should not have done that, and curses her to wear an iron outfit, before he disappears. The next day, the princess puts on an iron outfit and begins a quest for her husband. She passes by an old woman in the forest and works for her for a year, and is given a golden branch and a golden lingot. She wanders a bit more and finds another old woman, whom she works for and is paid with a golden hen with chicks. She lastly finds a third woman, works for her and is given a golden yarn. At last, the princess reaches a castle where she finds work as a goose-herder. The princess asks around for her crawfish husband and discovers he has married the mistress of the castle. The princess then uses the three golden objects to bribe the mistress of the castle for a night with the human crawfish. She fails on the first two nights, since the mistress of the castle gives a sleeping draught to the human crawfish, but she succeeds on the third night. The human crawfish wakes up and the princess's iron garments fall off her body. The crawfish then stays with the princess.

In a Ukrainian tale titled "Рак-неборак і його вірна жінка" ("The Poor Crawfish and his Faithful Wife"), an old couple have three daughters. One day, the old woman sends his elder daughter to fetch water from a well. The eldest daughter takes a bucket and fills it with water, but a crawfish grabs the bucket and stops the girl, and is only willing to let her go if she marries him. The girl refuses and the crawfish pushes her into the well. The same fate befalls the middle sister. The youngest daughters goes to the well and the crawfish stops her to propose. The youngest daughter accepts his proposal and the crustacean shows her the sisters, still alive. The girl returns home and tells her parents to prepare for a wedding with the crawfish. On the wedding day, the crawfish does not appear; instead, a handsome youth on a white horse and his retinue appear. The youth marries the girl and whispers at her ear he is the crawfish, but she has to wait for a year and three months for his curse to fade. They marry, and the youth assumes the crustacean shape. Near the end of the time of the curse, the human youth tells his wife to wake him up at night when she hears three whistles by the window. However, the girl is sound asleep and cannot wake him up. The next morning, the youth places the crawfish shell on himself, tells his wife to look for him, and dives into the water. The girl goes back to her mother and asks her to make provisions for the road. She departs and meets an old man on the road, who directs her to the Blue Mountains, where the Moon lives with his mother. The girl walks to the house of the Moon and asks the Moon and his mother where she can find her husband. The Moon does not know, and direct her to the house of the Wind, who might know something. The Wind knows where the crawfish is, and agrees to take the girl to the golden castle where he is being kept in crustacean shape inside a fence. The girl sees him and goes to embrace him, which turns him human forever. The mistress of the castle, an "old snake", sees the heartwarming reunion and, in a fit of rage, breaks in many pieces.

In a Ukrainian tale collected by Ukrainian poet Ivan Manzhura with the title "Дід та рак" and translated as "ДЕД И РАК" ("Old Man and Crab"), an old man lives near the sea with his wife, and complains he has no children, and there are no fishes in the sea to catch. One day, he manages to catch a crayfish in the sea, but the animal tells him to dip his arm in the water and grab a certain thing in the water. The old man grabs a bag of money, which he spends. Later, he goes to catch the crayfish again, but the animal asks him to go into the water. He does and gets another bag of money. Some time later, the crayfish asks the old man to ask for the hand of the princess in marriage. The old man goes to the king and makes a proposition on the crayfish's behalf. The king orders the crayfish to build a palace and a bridge between their palaces, with gold and silver, and to have trees with ripened fruits alongside the path. The old man reports back to the crayfish, and, the next morning, there is a palace and a bridge connecting to the king's castle. The princess is wed to the crayfish, who lives by the stove in the morning and takes off the shell at night to become a human youth. One day, the princess takes the crayfish shell and burns it. The human crayfish then appears to her and complains that she should have waited until the end of the curse, but now she has to wear iron laces on her body which may one day come off if he returns. He vanishes, and the princess keeps waiting, until he finally comes back.

Ethnographer Antoni Jaksa-Marcinkowski published a Ukrainian tale titled Raka ("Crayfish"). In this tale, an old man complains he has no son, and prays to God to have a son. His wife then gives birth to a crayfish, which he loves like a human son. Years later, the crayfish begins to talk and asks his father to go to the king and make a bid for the princess's hand. The old man cries over the idea, but his goes to talk to the king. The king asks the man to bring his crayfish son to court, which he does. The king sees the little animal and orders him to built overnight a palace grander that the king's, in both silver and gold. The old man goes back home in tears, but the crayfish tells his father not to worry. During the night, the crayfish summons reptiles, snakes and frogs and commands them to build him a palace following the king's specifications. The next day, the crayfish goes to the king's palace and marries the princess. During the night, the princess waits for her crayfish husband, but sees a handsome youth entering the nuptial chambers. SHe lives with him, who alternates between human shape at night and a crayfish shape during the day. The princess's mother and sisters despise the crayfish husband, and she tells them he does becomes a human at times. Her family then tells her to get rid of the crayfish shell. The princess decides to burn the shell the next time her husband takes it off: while he lies asleep in bed, the princess takes the crayfish shell and throws it in the fire. The human crayfish's body begins to contort in pain, and dies in the princess's arms.

Baltic Region

Estonia

Tale type ATU 433B is also reported in Estonia with the title Vähk väimeheks ("The Crawfish as Son-in-Law"). In the Estonian variants, the crawfish is adopted by a man, performs the king's tasks and marries the princess. After the marriage, the princess burns the crawfish's shell; he disappears, and the heroine must search for him.

Latvia

According to the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, a similar story is found in Latvia, indexed as its own Latvian type *441, Vēzis-dēls ("The Crayfish as a Son"): a poor couple adopts a crayfish as their son; later, the crayfish wants to marry the princess, and asks his adoptive father to woo her on his behalf; the king, the princess's father, orders the crayfish to fulfill some suitor's tasks, which he does; the crayfish marries the princess, who betrays the crayfish's secret by burning his shell and she has to seek him out; during her journey, she obtains miraculous things (tale type ATU 425A).

Komi people

In a Komi tale collected by literary critic Kallistrat F. Zhakov with the title "Рак-Молодец" ("Teh Brave Crab"), an old fisherman and his wife suffer for they have no child, nether a son nor a daughter, so the wife asks the fisherman to bring them a child, either a son or a daugther. The fisherman goes to the river margin to fetch some firewood, when a crab apears to him. The crustacean asks him about his problem; the fisherman tells him about his lack of a child, and the crab asks the man to adopt him. The fisherman brings the crab home, and, despite his wife's doubts, they both raise it as their son. The crab also shows them his human form, when he leaves his shell, to the couple's relief. Later, the crab asks the fisherman to go to the king and woo the princess on his behalf. The fisherman goes and tells the king his son wants to marry the princess; the king agrees, but sets the crab son three tasks (at separate times): to build overnight an iron bridge with copper railings; to erect a temple without foundations on the ground nor tied to the heavens, and lastly for him to dig out a lake in a meadow, fill it with fishes and plant a garden near the lake. The crab son comes out of the shell, summons his "aunts, mothers" and his servants to fulfill the king's requests. As a last minute request, the king asks the crab to come to the wedding on a horseless carriage. Again, the crab son fulfills it and comes to his own wedding, and is introduced to his bride on a silver plate. They marry and enter the bridal chamber. The princess questions her husband that he is not a mere crustacean, and comes out of his shell as a handsome youth. The next morning, the youth wears the shell again. Meanwhile, the princess tells her mother, the queen, about her husband's situation, and the queen suggests she ought to burn the shell in an oven. The next night, the youth takes off its shell and suspects the princess intents to burn it, but lets it be. However, after he falls sleep, the princess burns his shell. The youth wakes up, gives her a silk ball, which she can use to look for him, and disappears. The princess laments with her mother about her mistake, but decides to seek him out. She casts the silk ball and follows it to the sea; she enters it and reaches a hut. An old man lives inside, who tells her the crab was to soon lose his shell and become human, but he has moved to another kingdom and found himself another bride. Before the princess (called Marfida by the old man) leaves, she is given a comb that can gild her hair and which she can use to bribe the second bride. The princess then continues her journey until she reaches a second old man, who gifts her with a magical blindfold that allows her to see the wonders of the world, and her husband's godmother, who gives her a magical tablecloth that provides food and a pair of copper shoes to cross through a river of fire. After passing the river of fire, Marfida arrives at a castle where she uses the items she gained to bribe the false bride for a night with her husband. She tries to wake him up on the first two nights, but fails, and only manages it on the third. The pair go back to Marfida's parents and live together.

See also

• King Lindworm
• The Golden Crab
• The Fisher-Girl and the Crab