The Juniper Tree (fairy tale): Difference between revisions
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==Synopsis== |
==Synopsis== |
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The story begins with a wealthy man and his beautiful wife. They love each other dearly. One day while pairing an apple the wife cuts herself and blood falls to the snow. It is this that leads her to wish for a child “as red as blood and as white as snow.” Several months later, her dream comes true. Overcome with joy, she dies. The husband remarries and has a daughter. The wife despises the boy, but cherishes Marlinchen. Coming home from school one day, the son asks for an apple. Reaching into the chest, the lid comes down and slices his head off. In an effort to cover up his death, the wife claims the boy has left to stay with relatives. In actuality, the boy has been chopped up into pieces and made into a black pudding. He is served for dinner without the father's knowledge. The son"s half sister, Marlinchen, feels responsible for her brother's death. She buries his bones under the [[juniper]] tree. Later, a bird is magically born from that same ground. The bird, a microcosm of the son, sings his songs of death to anyone who will listen and receives gifts from passers by. Eventually, he flies back to his former house. Marlinchen and her father are joyous. They are encapsulated by the birds beautiful music. The stepmother is not as thrilled. As the bird sings its third and final song, the mother walks outside and is fittingly killed by a millstone. In the end, the bird magically turns back into the son and they all live happily ever after (except for the stepmother). |
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Once upon a time, there lived a wealthy, pious yet childless couple who often prayed to [[God]] to grant them a child. One winter whilst the wife peeled apples with a knife under the juniper tree in their courtyard, her finger was accidentally cut by the blade of the knife as drops of blood fell onto the snow. The wife later wished that her child would be as white as snow and as red as blood. Seven months later, the wife grew sick from eating the juniper berries and asked her husband to bury her under the juniper tree if she died. A month later, the wife gave birth to a baby boy who was as white as snow and as red as blood and she grew so happy that she died. The husband later buried his deceased wife under the juniper tree as a promise and eventually remarried with a woman who had a daughter of her own named Marlinchen from a previous marriage (in other versions, Marlinchen was ''their'' child). Realising that her stepson would inherit all his father's wealth instead of Marlinchen, the new wife began to hate the young boy and abused him in every possible way, making the poor boy suffer whenever he returned home from school. |
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One afternoon, the stepmother went to a room upstairs, which contained a chest of apples, and Marlinchen asked her if she and her stepson could have an apple. The stepmother reluctantly agrees to do this and after her stepson returns home from school, she gracefully offers her daughter an apple but schemes a sinister plan when it was the young boy's turn to get the apple. Whilst reaching down to get an apple from the chest, the stepmother slams the lid of the chest onto the boy's neck, instantly decapitating him. The stepmother bandages his head with the rest of his body with a handkerchielf and props him in a chair with an apple in his lap. Later, Marlinchen becomes frigthened when she notices how deathly pale and silent her stepbrother is when she asks him to give her another apple. The stepmother however tells her to box him in the ear if he doesn't respond and after Marlinchen boxes the corpse's ear, she witnesses the head of her stepbrother falling off and rolling down onto the floor. Horrified, she calls the stepmother for help, where she feigns her empathy. The stepmother commands Marlinchen not to tell anyone about it, including her stepfather, as she plans to remove the evidence of the murder of her stepson by dismembering his body parts into tiny pieces. The stepson's father returns home that night and his second wife tells him that the stepson "stayed at his uncle's house for vacation", which he is upset to hear about since his son never "farewelled" him. The stepmother later [[cannibalism|cooks him a stew containing the body parts of his son]] and they eat it together for dinner, which the father remarks as being delicious. Meanwhile, Marlinchen gathers the bones from the gruesome dinner and buries it beneath the juniper tree in the coutryard outside, where she tearfully mourns over the death of her stepbrother. |
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Suddenly, a [[mist]] emerged from the tree and a beautiful bird flew out, making Marlinchen no longer sad. The next day, the bird flew into a nearby town and sang about its horrific fate of being killed by its stepmother, eaten by its father and its bones buried by little Marlinchen. The haunting lullaby captivated the attention of many townspeople, especially the goldsmith, the shoemaker and the miller. As a reward, the goldsmith, shoemaker and the miller offer the bird a gold chain, a pair of red shoes and a millstone respectively which the bird carries whilst flying home to the juniper tree it initially emerged from. Meanwhile, Marlinchen and the rest of the family sat in the dining room, where it was ultimately revealed that the stepmother had been complaining of horrid fires in her veins all this time. The stepmother later begins to tear the [[bodice]] her dress in a violent fit as Marlinchen cowers in the corner and sobs. Moments later, the father and Marclichen go outside where the bird gives them a gold chain and a pair of red shoes respectively, which Marlinchen dances upon. Hoping for relief, the stepmother goes outside but the bird drops the remaining millstone on her head, crushing and killing her. The father and Marlichen investigate the source of the loud crash but they see nothing except smoke and flames coming out of the millstone. The boy, who was in the form of the bird the entire time, emerges from the smoke and they reunite together as a family. They go inside the house to each lunch where they all lived happily ever after. |
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==Characters== |
==Characters== |
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Revision as of 18:05, 2 December 2016
"The Juniper Tree" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.[1] In some editions the story is called The Almond Tree. The text in the Grimm collection is in Low German.
It is tale number 47 and Aarne-Thompson type 720: "my mother slew me, my father ate me". Another such tale is the English The Rose-Tree, although it reverses the sexes from The Juniper Tree; The Juniper Tree follows the more common pattern of having the dead child be the boy.[2]
Synopsis
The story begins with a wealthy man and his beautiful wife. They love each other dearly. One day while pairing an apple the wife cuts herself and blood falls to the snow. It is this that leads her to wish for a child “as red as blood and as white as snow.” Several months later, her dream comes true. Overcome with joy, she dies. The husband remarries and has a daughter. The wife despises the boy, but cherishes Marlinchen. Coming home from school one day, the son asks for an apple. Reaching into the chest, the lid comes down and slices his head off. In an effort to cover up his death, the wife claims the boy has left to stay with relatives. In actuality, the boy has been chopped up into pieces and made into a black pudding. He is served for dinner without the father's knowledge. The son"s half sister, Marlinchen, feels responsible for her brother's death. She buries his bones under the juniper tree. Later, a bird is magically born from that same ground. The bird, a microcosm of the son, sings his songs of death to anyone who will listen and receives gifts from passers by. Eventually, he flies back to his former house. Marlinchen and her father are joyous. They are encapsulated by the birds beautiful music. The stepmother is not as thrilled. As the bird sings its third and final song, the mother walks outside and is fittingly killed by a millstone. In the end, the bird magically turns back into the son and they all live happily ever after (except for the stepmother).
Characters
None of the characters in The Juniper Tree have names except for Marlinchen. Instead, they are referred to by their relationship to one another or by their occupation.
The Son
The child of the father and the father's first wife who is also Marlinchen's stepbrother (or in other versions, her half-brother). He was often afraid to return home from school since he would be abused by his stepmother every night, making him cry to sleep every night. Eventually, he is decapitated by his stepmother and is made into a stew. The boy eventually reincarnates into a beautiful bird and kills the stepmother in revenge and reverts to his normal form by the end of the story.
The Stepmother
The second wife of her stepson's father and the mother of Marlinchen. She is a disturbed and abusive woman whose motivation for being evil is unclear although she attempts to rationalise it by claiming that she is only mistreating her stepson since she believes that he would inherit all his father's wealth. However, many variants of the story mention that evil spirits or the Evil One (presumed to be Satan himself) has either influenced or possessed her into committing her evil deeds and it was most likely that her soul was damned since she often complained of "horrid fires in her veins" since the beginning of the story.
Marlinchen
The son's stepsister (or in other versions, his half-sister). She is treated kindly by the stepmother in comparison to her stepbrother although it was heavily presumed that this was only a coverup to hide her real sinister intentions. She often cares for her stepbrother in spite of the abuse and buries his bones beneath the juniper tree.
The Goldsmith, the Shoemaker and the Miller
Three residents of an unnamed town that is located near the house where the main characters reside in. They are captivated by the bird's lullaby who sings about a horrific fate similar to the one suffered by the son. As a reward, they offer the bird a gold chain, a pair of red shoes and a millstone respectively in return.
The Father
The son's father, the stepmother's husband, the husband of the first wife in the beginning of the story and Marlinchen's stepfather. He is a wealthy and pious man but he is often absent at home, which probably explains why the stepmother could get away with her abuse towards his son.
The First Wife
The son's biological mother and the original wife of the father. Like her husband, she is wealthy and pious and often prays in hopes of getting a child. She dies at the beginning of the story after being extremely estatic over the sight of her newborn son and is buried beneath the juniper tree.
Motifs
The themes of cannibalism, death, food, and song play an important role in the short story, The Juniper Tree.
Cannibalism
Some argue that The Juniper Tree draws cues from the short story Hansel and Gretel. Following the death of the main character, the mother (in an attempt to cover up his death) literally "chopped him in pieces, put him into the pan and... [cooked him up in a stew].[1] The husband then eats the stew, saying how “delicious [the] food is," and even asks for the wife to "give [him] some more.” [1]
The Parallel Between Food and Death
It is quite clear by the end of the novel that food is associated with death. At the beginning of the short story, the girl is cutting an apple when she cuts her fingers and "blood [falls to] the snow."[1] An apple later is even referred to as ushering in the Devil when the little boy comes home and the Devil figuratively makes the mother say to him, "My son, wilt thou have an apple?”[1] You could even look to the son as a source of death when he is turned into stew. Finally, a milestone is used to kill the mother. A millstone[3] is a tool typically used to grind corn.
Guardianship
Critics suggest that the character of the mother in "The Juniper Tree" is used to represent a guardian spirit. This theme of guardianship is shown throughout other Grimm fairy tales such as Cinderella, Briar Rose, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. In all of these stories, there is some object (normally represented through nature) that watches after the main character. In the case of "Briar Rose," "the briar hedge is the symbol of nature guarding her rose: the princess who sleeps inside the castle." [4]
Gift Giving
When the son becomes a bird, he offers gifts such as a gold chain to his father and a pair of shoes to his sister. In addition, he offers the wife a milestone, which he drops on her head leading to her swift death. Critics argue that while the chain may represent power (to leave the wife), the shoes may also alludes to freedom.
Song
Song is a symbolic motif in that it served as a vessel to expose his wrongful death. The song went like this.
"My mother she killed me,
My father he ate me,
My sister, little Marlinchen,
Gathered together all my bones,
Tied them in a silken handkerchief,
Laid them beneath the juniper-tree,
Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!"[1]
Commentary
Maria Tatar
Many folklorists interpret evil stepmothers as stemming from actual competition between a woman and her stepchildren for resources. In this tale, the motive is made explicit: the stepmother wants her daughter to inherit everything.[5]
The millstone in the story would have had biblical connotations for the readers of the Grimms' days, especially as the verse Luke 17:2 says that anyone who causes a child to sin would be better off being thrown into the sea with a millstone about his neck; both refer to a millstone as a punishment for those who harm the young and innocent.[6] Another biblical connotation could be the offering of the apple from the stepmother, possessed by the devil, to the son, which parallels the devil, disguised as a serpent, offering the forbidden fruit (traditionally an apple) to Eve.
Alfred David and Mary Elizabeth David
In Alfred and Elizabeth David's essay, they interpret "The Juniper Tree" as "folk literature for inspiration." They believe that the nature and native culture presented in most Grimm fairy tale inspires other artists in their literary endeavors.[7] In "The Juniper Tree," this theme of nature is present. The Grimm Brothers use the juniper tree as a life source for the mother and the son. The use of nature as a life source inspired other literary work such as "Briar Rose".
J.R.R Tolkien
In his essay "On Fairy-Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien cited The Juniper Tree as an example of the evils of censorship for children; many versions in his day omitted the stew, and Tolkien thought children should not be spared it, unless they were spared the whole fairy tale.[8]
Adaptations
Throughout the centuries, the Grimm Brothers fairy tales have been retold and adapted by an abundance of sources. The story was adapted:
- For the comic book Grimm Fairy Tales as issue 17. The story goes: a woman kills her stepson in order to prevent him from eloping with her daughter, then buries his body underneath the juniper tree in their yard. The next day, a bird on the branch of the tree tells the daughter the truth, and out of grief, she hangs herself from the tree. The story is told to a woman named Patricia, who was contemplating having her drug-addict stepson Bryan killed because of the horrible example he set for her daughter, Carolyn. But, in a sense of twisted irony, her daughter dies anyway from a drug overdose.
- By Barbara Comyns Carr in her novel, The Juniper Tree, published by Methuen in 1985. In Comyns Carr's adaptation the stepmother is a sympathetic character and the son's death an accident. Whereas in Grimm's fairy tale it is Marlene (the daughter) who buries the bones of the son, Comyns Carr makes Marlene ignorant of the death and has the stepmother, desperate to prevent her husband from finding out and in the throes of a nervous breakdown, bury the little boy under the juniper tree. At the end of the adaptation, the stepmother does not die but is treated and begins a new life. The Juniper Tree was Barbara Comyns Carr's first novel after an 18-year hiatus in her work and was described in The Financial Times, at the time of publication, as "delicate, tough, quick-moving .... haunting".[9]
- As The Juniper Tree, an opera in two acts by Philip Glass & Robert Moran, (1985); libretto by Arthur Yorinks.
- As the 1990 Icelandic film The Juniper Tree, based on the Grimm Brothers' tale, starring Björk as a visionary young girl whose mother has been put to death as a witch.[10]
- In the story "The Crabapple Tree", by Robert Coover, appearing in the January 12, 2015, issue of The New Yorker.[11]
- English Folk singer Emily Portman sings a version of the story called "Stick Stock"
- The book 'The Grimm Conclusion' (by Adam Gidwitz) was based on this fairy tale
- For a collection of fairy tales created by Lore Segal and Maurice Sendak.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, "The Juniper-Tree", Household Tales
- ^ Maria Tatar, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, p 209 W. W. Norton & company, London, New York, 2004 ISBN 0-393-05848-4
- ^ "millstone - definition of millstone in English | Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries | English. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
- ^ David, Alfred, and Mary Elizabeth David. “A Literary Approach to the Brothers Grimm.” Journal of the Folklore Institute, vol. 1, no. 3, 1964, pp. 186. www.jstor.org/stable/3813902
- ^ Maria Tatar, p 161, The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales, ISBN 0-393-05163-3
- ^ Maria Tatar, Off with Their Heads! p. 213 ISBN 0-691-06943-3
- ^ David, Alfred, and Mary Elizabeth David. “A Literary Approach to the Brothers Grimm.” Journal of the Folklore Institute, vol. 1, no. 3, 1964, pp. 187. www.jstor.org/stable/3813902
- ^ J. R. R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories", The Tolkien Reader, p 31
- ^ Comyns Carr, Barbara: The Juniper Tree, Adapted from a children's fairy story of the same name by the Brother's Grimm, which is far too macabre for adult reading. Published by Methuen, 1985. ISBN 0-413-59180-8
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138545/
- ^ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/12/crabapple-tree
- ^ The Contamination of the Fairy Tale, or The Changing Nature of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, p 84
Oliver Loo. The Original 1812 Grimm Fairy Tales. A New Translation of the 1812 First Edition Kinder- und Hausmärchen Collected through the Brothers Grimm. Volume I. 200 Year Anniversary Edition 2014. ISBN 9781312419049.