The Spinning-Woman by the Spring

The Spinning-Woman by the Spring or "The Kind and the Unkind Girls" is a widespread, traditional folk tale, known throughout Europe[1] and in certain regions of Asia, including Indonesia. The tale is cataloged as AT 480 in the international Folktale catalog.

Synopsis

Two stepsisters are, one after another, sent out to serve in the house of a witch, where they are assigned what appear to be difficult or impossible tasks. For instance, they are tasked to carry water with a sieve.

The kind girl, however, obeys requests from grateful animals and learns from the birds' song that she must line the sieve with clay to complete her task. Other chores they are assigned include washing black wool white, and gathering flowers at midwinter.

As payment for her household work she can choose one of three caskets, an attractive red, a common yellow or an ugly blue casket. Again she receives advice from the animals and makes the modest choice and becomes richly rewarded. Even though the unkind girl is also able to understand animal language, she refuses to follow the advice given by the birds and the help offered by other animals.

Analysis

In many variants, the witch-like character that presents the girls with the choice of casket is replaced by personifications of the twelve months of the year.[2]

It has been argued that the donor in these stories shows some connection to an underworld realm, or has an otherworldly description.[3]

International distribution

The tale type is recorded all over the world: a great number of versions were registered from Scandinavia and Russia, but tales also exist from Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, North and South America, India, China and Japan.[4]

Europe

At least 700 versions have been collected from all over Europe.[5]

Professor William Bernard McCarthy states that, in Hispanic tradition, the tale type ATU 480 "frequently" led to ATU 510A, "Cinderella".[6]

The tale type is said to be "the most widely collected" type in Estonia,[7] with 234 variants reported.[8]

According to Professor Bronislava Kerbelytė, the tale type is reported to register 363 Lithuanian variants, with and without contamination from other tale types.[9]

Middle East

Scholar Ulrich Marzolph remarked that the tale type AT 480 was one of "the most frequently encountered tales in Arab oral tradition", albeit missing from The Arabian Nights compilation.[10]

Africa

The tale type is also "largely known" in Africa.[11][12] Researcher Sigrid Schmidt claims that this tale type, among others, must belong to a very old and indigenous tradition of the continent.[13]

Americas

The tale type is also said to be "widespread" in U.S. tradition.[14]

In literature

A more direct appearance of the choice of casket motif occurs in Japanese folktale The Tongue-Cut Sparrow: a poor old man rescues a sparrow and is presented with the choice between a large casket and a small one; he chooses the small box. This tale is also a variant of the ATU 480 tale type.

Shakespeare

The same motif is used by William Shakespeare in the play The Merchant of Venice. Act 2, Scene VII where the Prince of Morocco has to solve the riddle and find out what casket hides Portia's portrait.

MOROCCO
The first, of gold, who this inscription bears,
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;'
The second, silver, which this promise carries,
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves;'
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt,
'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.'
How shall I know if I do choose the right?

References
  1. McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-57806-959-0
  2. Kropej, Monika. "Slovene midwinter: deities and personifications of days in the yearly, work, and life cycles". In: Mencej, Mirjam (ed.). Space and time in Europe: East and West, Past and Present. Ljubljana: Zbirka Zupaničeva knjižnica, št. 25. Ljubljana: Oddelek za etnologijo in kulturno antropologijo, Filozofska fakulteta [Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Arts], 2008. p. 181.
  3. Vaz da Silva, Francisco (2000). “Cinderella the Dragon Slayer". In: Studia Mythologica Slavica 3 (May). Ljubljana, Slovenija. pp. 193-194. https://doi.org/10.3986/sms.v3i0.1836.
  4. Dekker, Ton. "Vrouw Holle". In: Van Aladdin tot Zwaan kleef aan. Lexicon van sprookjes: ontstaan, ontwikkeling, variaties. 1ste druk. Ton Dekker & Jurjen van der Kooi & Theo Meder. Kritak: Sun. 1997. p. 394.
  5. Ross, R. M.; Greenhill, S. J.; Atkinson, Q. D. "Population structure and cultural geography of a folktale in Europe". Proceedings. Biological Sciences. 2013 Apr. 280 (1756): 20123065. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.3065.
  6. McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-57806-959-0
  7. Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the World. Second Edition. Volume I: A-F. Edited by Anne E. Duggan and Donald Haase, with Helen J. Callow. Greenwood Press. 2016. p. 307. ISBN 978-1-61069-253-3
  8. Järv, Risto; Kaasik, Mairi. "Estonian Fairy Tales Up the Beanstalk into Heaven and Coal Porridge: Two Tales of Growing Up". In: Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, [S.l.], v. 12, n. 1, p. 11, july 2018. ISSN 2228-0987. Available at: <https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/278>. doi: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2018-0002.
  9. Skabeikytė-Kazlauskienė, Gražina. Lithuanian Narrative Folklore: Didactical Guidelines. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University. 2013. p. 30. ISBN 978-9955-21-361-1
  10. Marzolph, Ulrich; van Leewen, Richard. The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia. Vol. I. California: ABC-Clio. 2004. p. 12. ISBN 1-85109-640-X (e-book)
  11. D’Huy, Julien; Dupanloup, Isabelle. "D’Afrique en Amérique: la bonne et la méchante fille (ATU 480)". In: Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée [New Comparative Mythology]. 2015, 2, pp. 1-13. <http://nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/archive/2015/02/19/julien-d-huy-etisabelle-dupanloup-d-afrique-en-amerique
  12. McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-57806-959-0
  13. Schmidt, Sigrid. Children Born from Eggs: African Magic Tales - Texts and Discussions. Afrika erzählt Band 9. Cologne, Germany: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. 2007. p. 311. ISBN 978-3-89645-192-7
  14. McCarthy, William Bernard. Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-57806-959-0

See also

Literature
  • Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. The Types of the Folktale. A Classification and Bibliography. The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC N. 184. Helsinki 1961. pp. 164-167. ISBN 951-41-0132-4.
  • Duggan, Anne E. and Stotter, Ruth. "The Kind and Unkind. Motif Q2". In: Jane Garry and Hasan El-Shamy (eds.). Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature. A Handbook. Armonk / London: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. pp. 371-377.
  • Erik Henning Edvardsen: An Oral Prose Motif from AT 480 used by William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. (Still unpublished).
  • Roberts, Warren E. "The Tale of the Kind and the Unkind Girls. Aa-Th 480 and Related Tales". Fabula: Journal of Folktale Studies. Supplement-Serie. B: Untersuchungen Heft 1. Walter de Gruyter & Co. Berlin 1958.
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