The Juniper Tree (fairy tale)

Marlinchen mourning the loss over her stepbrother whilst a bird emerges from the juniper tree.

"The Juniper Tree" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. 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.

Synopsis

A wealthy and pious man and his beautiful wife long for a child and pray to God to grant them one. One winter, the wife peels apples with a knife under the juniper tree in their courtyard and accidentally cuts her finger with the blade, leaving drops of blood to fall on the snow. Fascinated by the colour combination, the wife wishes for a child to be as white as snow and as red as blood. Seven months later, the wife becomes sick from eating the berries from the juniper tree and asks her husband to bury her under the juniper tree if she dies. A month later, she gives birth to a baby boy as white as snow and as red as blood and dies of happiness. The husband then buries his wife beneath the juniper tree and many years later, he remarries with a woman who has a daughter of her own named Marlinchen. The second wife loves Marlinchen but cruelly despises and abuses her husband's son since she assumes that he would be the one to inherit his father's wealth instead of Marlinchen. One afternoon, the stepmother goes upstairs in a room containing a chest of apples and Marlinchen asks for an apple, which her mother gracefully offers to her. When the son arrives home from school and asks for an apple, his stepmother slams the lid of the chest onto his neck, decapitating him. The stepmother later bandages his head to the rest of his body with a handkerchief and props it onto a chair. Under the instructions of her mother, Marlinchen, who is completely unaware of what just happened, boxes her stepbrother in the ear after he doesn't give her another apple and accidentally causes his head to fall off. Horrified, Marlinchen cries for help but her mother covers up her murder of her stepson by cooking him into a stew (in some versions into black pudding or sausages). His father returns home and the stepmother tells him that he went to his "uncle's house for vacation" which he is upset to hear about since "he never farewelled him". The stepmother and the father proceed to eat the stew containing the flesh of the young boy whilst Marlinchen gathers the bones and buries it beneath the juniper tree. Suddenly, a mist emerges from the tree and a beautiful bird flies out. It sings about its cruel fate in the hand of its stepmother to the local townspeople, captivating the attention of a goldsmith, shoemaker and a miller. In return, they offer it a gold chain, a pair of red shoes and a millstone in return. Meanwhile, it is revealed that the stepmother had been complaining about "raging fires in her veins" the entire time. The bird returns home and gives the father and Marlinchen the gold chain and a pair of red shoes respectively. The stepmother goes outside for relief but the bird drops the remaining millstone on her head, crushing and killing her. Smoke and flames emerge from the millstone, which the boy emerges out from. It is then revealed that the bird was actually a reincarnation of the boy. Returning to his human self, the boy reunites with his father and Marlinchen where they all live happily ever after.

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. They are listed below in order of importance.

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 routinely be cruelly abused and beaten by his stepmother, making him cry to sleep every night. Eventually, he is decapitated by his stepmother and his flesh is dismembered and cooked into a stew. The boy eventually reincarnates into a beautiful bird and kills the stepmother in revenge and reverts to his original human self by the end of the story.

The Stepmother

The second wife of the father and the mother of Marlinchen. She is a disturbed and insane individual who is often clouded with evil thoughts and she often blames this on the "raging fires in her veins". However, she attempts to rationalise her evil nature by stating that her stepson would inherit his father's wealth instead of Marlinchen. In some versions, it is mentioned that evil spirits often influenced the stepmother in committing evil deeds against her stepson and she is often thought to be possessed by the Devil himself.

Marlinchen

In some versions she is called Marlene or Ann Marie. She is the son's stepsister. She is treated kindly by the stepmother in comparison to her stepbrother. She often cares for her stepbrother in spite of the abuse. When she discovers her stepbrother's corpse, Marlinchen initially presumes that he is ignoring her requests of giving her an apple and under the instruction of her stepmother, she boxes him in the ear. She becomes horrified of causing her stepbrother's head to fall off and cries frantically many times throughout the story, especially when the stepmother cooks the stepson into a stew. Sh eventually buries the bones of her stepbrother beneath the juniper tree.

The Father

The son's father, the stepmother's husband, the husband of the first wife 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. He was also unaware that the stew he consumed was actually made from his son's dead body.

The Goldsmith, the Shoemaker and the Miller

Three residents of an unnamed town that is located near the house where the main characters reside. 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 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 ecstatic 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]. The husband then eats the stew, saying how “delicious [the] food is," and even asks for the wife to "give [him] some more.”

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." 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?” 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 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."

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 millestone, 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 allude to freedom.

Song

The song sung by the beautiful bird is a symbolic motif in that it served as a vessel to expose the wrongful death of the stepson.

Lyrics

"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!"

Child Abuse

The stepmother in the "Juniper Tree" is often seen abusing her stepson and eventually murdering him. This theme, along with cruel oppression, is seen in other Brothers Grimm's work such as The Frog King and Repunzel. Critic, Jack Zipes, suggests that the theme of child abuse leads to a more adult centered story. This veers away from the more accepted thought that fairy tales are meant for children.

Commentary

Academic discourse is an important part of understanding any sort of text. The Brothers Grimm's "Juniper Tree" is no different. Listed below, in alphabetical order, are some examples of commentary done b academics regarding this fairy tale. This represents their individual opinions regarding the "Juniper Tree" fairy tale.

Alfred 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. 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".

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.

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. 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.

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.

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".
• 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.
• In the story "The Crabapple Tree", by Robert Coover, appearing in the January 12, 2015, issue of The New Yorker.
• 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.

References

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.