KELLY BUTLER ON A THREE-NIGHTS TALE

Brief summaries of each tales follow. 

[···]
sadly, he must fly around the world for seven years, and the heroine must follow him to break the spell. She does so after defeating a dragon that was an enchanted princess. The princess steals the heroine‟s husband, so the heroine follows and bargains with the princess to regain her husband. They flee the kingdom and live happily ever after.


2.3 Chapter 3: All Heroines Must Confront Danger 

There must come a moment in which the heroines act; it may not necessarily be a fight or a battle but a moment in time which the heroine faces an obstacle that presents a personal threat to her life. This stage is much more difficult to compare due to the idea that the Grimms reveal the heroic struggle in very simplistic terms: characters resolve problems by following advice and acting in the moment, whereas Carter presents a much more complicated struggle resulting in a moment of realization. The Grimms characters are idealistically noble as they help rescue others while Carter‟s heroines are fighting a battle for their own lives: their bodies and sexuality are revealed to be the heroines‟ weapons. 
[···]
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.”36 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. 

36 “Let me sleep one night in the room where the groom sleeps.” Grimms, “Löweneckerchen.”


2.4 Chapter 4: All Heroines Experience a Resolution 

After confronting her dilemma, the resolution of each heroine is described. Since each conflict of the tales is so strikingly different, it is interesting how similar the final resolutions are. In every tale, the heroine is united with someone, either family or a new figure who is more suitable for a woman who has just experienced a quest. Fairy tales are famous for their happily ever The Grimms' heroine had to make the choice to continue her struggle, and this notion that heroines must make decisions affects the resolutions. after endings, but it is unclear whether this type of ending is seen in each tale. It appears that Carter gives in to the public's demand for a happy ending, but it is unclear. Her resolutions present significant variations of the definition of heroine when compared to the resolutions of the Brothers Grimm. 
The heroine of 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.” 47 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 heroines opportunity to prove herself worthy of marriage. She, a common girl, 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, where their families await them.

47 “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.”


Appendix: Story Summaries
A young maiden leaves home, betrothed to an enchanted son of a king, and during the day, he takes a beastly shape,  as do his people and servants, but at night they all return to their human form. The girl goes to the prince, and they are married at once. The girl is invited to attend the wedding of a sister or lady friend, and asks her husband to accompany her to the engagement. He says no, it would be too dangerous. Should one ray of burning sunlight hit him, he will be forced to fly through the air for seven years. She convinces him to come, but he is struck by sunlight (through a crack in the door),  and says that every seven steps he would let drops of blood and a white feather fall to the ground to show the girl his path. She must follow to help free from the spell. One day, after seven years have past, the blood and feathers cease to fall, but he disappears. The girl asks the Sun, Moon, and the southwinds if they have seen her fiancé/husband, and the southwinds tells her it saw him fly towards the seaside.  The girl travels there, and with the winds' advice she frees her husband from battle with a dragon (linden serpent, in the Grimm tale), who is actually an enchanted princess. Once they are transformed back into their human forms, the enchanted princess flees... taking the prince and deserting the girl, who sits down and cries but decides not to give up. She follows the couple, and she finds a dance ball being given in order to celebrate the prince and princess's engagement. She remembers the gifts that the Sun and Moon gave her. Opening the box from the sun, a dress as golden as the sun appears, and the girl enters the ball. The enchanted princess is envious of the dress and wants it for her wedding gown. The princess tells the girl this who agrees to give it to her, but in exchange the girl wants to spend that night with the prince. The princess only agrees after deciding to give the prince a sleeping potion. The girl tries in vain to tell him what has happened, but he sleeps in spite of her attempts. She gives up the dress but then opens the egg that the moon gave her, and it is full of twelve little golden cupcakes (chicken chicks in the original), and they were more beautiful than anything in the world. The enchanted princess wants them as well, and the same agreement is made: the girl wants another night with the prince. Meanwhile, back at the palace, the prince asks his valet what all the mumbling and noise was the night before. His valet explains what happened, and the prince tells the valet to pour the potion out and the prince waits for the girl, his wife. She comes, tells her story, and the prince is finally disenchanted. They steal away into the night, return home, and they lived until the end.