miércoles, 27 de enero de 2016

THREE NIGHTS TALES: BOHEMIAN ANALOGUES

Mary Bisby, on "The Singing, Skipping Skylark":

The girl finds her husband locked in battle, but when she lifts the spell on him the dragon, now transformed into a princess, seizes him and flies away on a griffin to make him her husband. The girl, bereaved again, journeys around the world until she finds them, and she trades the bride her sun and moon gifts in exchange for two nights in the prince’s bedroom. The first night she sobs out her story to him, but the princess drugs him so that he does not wake and hear her. The second night he does not take the drugs, hears his wife’s voice, and returns home with her on the back of the griffin.

The heroine's misfortunes (her husband being taken away by a dragon-princess) are not of her own making, but due to chance or ill-luck. How she deals with these trials is the strongest sign of her character.

a story that often suggests a theme of liberty and imprisonment.

Due to the nature of her husband's enchantment, coupled with her travels around the world and the isolation of her location, the heroine is aware that she is alone and that no one can help her during her quest. The isolation forces her to confront her circumstances, which reveals that in order to be successful in disenchanting her husband, she must rely on herself; she must use her knowledge to the best of her ability.

In “Das singende, springende Löweneckerchen,” the heroine must face her husbands adversary to rescue him. In order for her husband to be released from the spell, the girl must follow certain steps of advice given to her by the southwinds. She never questions their advice and never second guesses her own actions. This obedience allows her to successfully carry out the task of freeing her husband from battle with the dragon; however, she must bargain with the evil princess in order for her husband to be restored to her, and to do so, she uses the gifts she received from the sun and moon. In strategically giving up these treasures, she tells the evil princess that in exchange for the golden dress and magic cupcakes what she wants: “Laßt mich eine Nacht in der Kammer schlafen, wo der Bräutigam schläft.” Negotiating shows the capability and determination of the heroine while giving her the advantage in the situation -- she knows that the evil princess cannot refuse because her desire for the gifts is so great. The gifts received by the heroine help her gain control of the situation and allow for her to have the power in bargaining.
The heroine in the Grimms' lark tale continues to bargain with the evil princess and is ushered one last time into the room in which her husband sleeps. The prince pretends to sleep, and once he hears the story of his wife, he jumps up: the spell is broken. “Jetzt bin ich erst recht erlöst, mir ist gewesen wie in einem Traum, denn die fremde Königstochter hatte mich bezaubert daß ich dich vergessen mußte.” The heroine's husband was enchanted---there was no possibility of him escaping or aiding the heroine throughout her quest. She had to remove the spells herself. The determination of the heroine releases her husband not only from his curse but also from his entrapment but the evil princess. There was one moment in which the heroine believed she could not save her husband, but her persistence is eventually rewarded. The Grimms seem to portray that a woman cannot simply marry a husband. In this tale, the quest is not the marriage, but the heroine's opportunity to prove herself worthy of marriage. She must show that she is amiable and deserving of a prince for a husband. The quest ends after they flee the kingdom of the evil princess and arrive home.

(“Now I am truly free. It was like I was in a dream, for the foreign princess bewitched me so that I would forget about you.” Grimms, “Löweneckerchen.”)

She discovers that he has become engaged again to another princess, and only by gaining access to hs bedroom does she regain him. He tells her at the end of the tale, "'Now I am truly redeemed, it was like a dream, because the strange princess had enchanted me that I must forget you, but G*d has just at the right hour taken the bewitchment from me." He is not at any fault for his infidelity, but his wife's devotion proves the sacred bond of love which unites them.


ON A BOHEMIAN FOLKTALE VS. THE DUKE OF NORROWAY
MICHAELA DRAZKOVÁ

In terms of motifs, fairy tales share the following analogies:
(1) The motif of the number three which is a stable feature of composition of traditional fairy tales. In the text itself, the author works with the number three while composing motifs thus we can mention a motif of three obstacles, tasks or visits in “The White Snake” where the main character Běla tries to make her husband remember her but she has only three attempts during three nights and eventually she succeeds for the third time. In “The Black Bull of Norroway” we can also find three obstacles, tasks or visits till the female protagonist gains her lover. Both of the noble men are tricked into marriage with selfish, dishonest and proud as a peacock women. The girls use three things they received before from supernatural beings to win over the two evil women. What is more, in Jacobs’ tale there are depicted three sisters and then three visits of three brothers of the bull.

Like Běla, even the main heroine of Jacobs’ tale overcomes intrigues and deception because the dishonest woman would do almost anything in order to manage to marry her daughter to the prince. But love, purity of a soul and thoughts, seems to be stronger than anything else. The motif of love is obvious in acts of both heroines who are dying for love and suffer.

In both fairy tales there always occurs a kind of fight between two women, one of which is good and the other evil. The evil one wants all the treasure for herself - (5) the motif of rapacity - thus she is easily corruptible. The heroine girls offer presents, which were given to them by supernatural beings, to the greedy women in order to spend some time with their lovers.

But for the coincidence these two couples would not be together - (7) the motif of coincidence. After two nights full of girls’ moaning to which their lovers do not respond, both noble men are asked whether they know who cries in their chambers. So the men realize they were tricked and do not drink their sleeping drinks anymore. 


Eine andere Art von Zwangsschlaf findet ihren Ausdruck regelmäßig durch einen Schlaftrunk, der verabreicht wird, und zwar in dem Motivzusammenhang der vergessenen Ehefrau des Typs 425 A. Dort hat die junge Frau ein Verbot übertreten, infolgedessen wird der Mann ihr entrückt, und er hat sie vergessen. Am Ende sucht sie sich dem Schlafenden wieder ins Gedächtnis zu rufen durch die nächtliche Schilderung ihrer Suchwanderung oder durch die Anrufung des gemeinsam Erlebten. In den ersten beiden Nächten vernimmt der Mann nichts; denn seine jetzige Braut reicht ihm, nachdem sie der ersten Frau gegen eine Kostbarkeit die Nacht verkauft hat, abends einen Schlaftrunk. Nur die Diener tragen ihm am Morgen eine verworrene Kunde zu von der nächtlich klagenden Frau. Am dritten Abend meidet er den Trunk, vernimmt selbst die Klage, die Erinnerung kehrt ihm zurück, und das Paar hat sich damit wiedergefunden.

Schläferische Taubheit, vernehmendes Wachsein gegenüber den Erinnerungsworten sind in dieser Weise ganz sachlich verknüpft - der Sinn dieses Ablaufs aber scheint doch verborgener zu sein. Mit unwiederbringlichen Kostbarkeiten erkauft sich das junge Weib die Nächte von der zweiten Braut - statt auf eine praktische Weise entweder selbst dem Manne aufzulauern oder ihm in Gestalt von Worten oder Zeichen Kunde von sich zu übermitteln, ein Dienst, den sie ja ebenfalls leicht hätte erkaufen können. Auch sollen es ohnehin die Diener gewesen sein, die ihm den Hinweis auf die Klagende gegeben haben. lhre absonderliche, dem Anscheine nach umständliche oder unzweckmäßige Verfahrensweise muß auch einen sachlichen Grund haben, und der liegt eben darin, daß der Appell an den gemeinen Tagesverstand des Mannes sein Ziel nicht erreichen würde, was in der oben Seite zitierten irischen Fassung auch klar zu Tage liegt. Die Frau muß versuchen, durch die Nacht den Zugang zu seinem auf jeden Fall, ob mit oder ohne Trunk, schlummernden Gedächtnis zu finden, muß suchen, die in umnachtete Tiefe abgesunkene Gemeinsamkeit der Erinnerung wieder ins Tagesbewußtsein zu heben. Indem die zweite Braut, die dämonische Gefährtin in der Entrückung, den Mann absichtlich in Tiefschlaf versenkt, verhilft sie sogar dazu, den sinnvollen Vorsatz der ersten Frau zu verwirklichen. Auch die horchenden Diener könnte man als eine Teilkraft im Helden selbst auffassen, als ein Bild für sein Ahnungsvermögen, insofern sie dem im Tiefschlaf scheinbar gehörlos Versunkenen eine erste ferne Witterung vermltteln von dem, was in ihm aufdämmern will. - In dieser Szenerie wäre daher der durch den Trunk hervorgerufene Zwangsschlaf alles andere als ein Verschluß für das Miterleben, sondern vielmehr ein Zauberschlaf, der gerade zum Aufschließen der verkapselten Erinnerung verhilft.

Sehen wir uns veranlaßt zu behaupten, daß die Suchwanderin notwendigerweise die Verbindung zum Nachtbewußtsein ihres Mannes herzustellen sucht, dann erinnern wir uns daran, daß die Nacht für das Märchengeschehen uberhaupt eine bedeutsame Rolle spielt. Gewiß geht in den Märchen vieles auch unterm Tageshimmel vor, und wir haben schon gesehen, daß dies nicht etwa bedeutet, es verliefe das Geschehen in leibhaft-nüchterner, alltäglicher Weise. Auch im Sonnenschein, gerade auch am hohen Mittag vermag das Geschehen unter den Spiegel des Bewußtseins hinabzutauchen. Aber symbolisch für diese Nachtseite der Natur ist eben auch die Erdennacht, in die das märchenhafte Erzählen manches höchst Wichtige hineinlegt.


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