The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs
Encyclopedia
The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs is a German fairy tale
collected by the Brothers Grimm
, tale number 29. It falls under Aarne-Thompson classification types 461, "three hairs from the devil", and 930, "prophecy that a poor boy will marry a rich girl."
The story was first translated into English as "The Giant and the Three Golden Hairs", to avoid offense, but the devil in the story does indeed act like a folklore giant.
Ruth Manning-Sanders
included it, as "The Three Golden Hairs of the King of the Cave Giants", in A Book of Giants
.
, which was predicted to mean that he would marry the king's daughter. The king, hearing of it, persuaded his parents to give him the child to raise. He put the boy in a box and threw the box into the water. It drifted down to a mill, where the miller and his wife thought that God had sent them this child, and raised him as their own.
One day the king visited the mill and, hearing how they had gained their son, sent him with a letter to the queen, which said that the bearer of the letter should be killed at once. He fell among robbers, who read the letter, had pity on him, and substituted one that said he should be married to the king's daughter. The queen received it and obeyed, much to the shock of the king.
The king dispatched the boy to get the devil's three golden hairs. On the way, the boy is asked why a fountain that used to give wine no longer gives even water; a tree that used to bear golden apple
s no longer has even leaves; and a ferryman is bound to ferry people back and forth. After promising to provide the answers upon his return, the boy got to the devil's house, and his grandmother was there. She changed him into an ant to hide him.
When the devil got home and went to sleep, his grandmother pulled out his three golden hairs. Each time, she woke him, and told him that she had dreamed of the dry fountain, the leafless tree, and the ferryman. He told that a toad in the well had caused it to go dry, that a mouse nibbling at the roots had stopped the apples, and that if the ferryman stuck his oar into someone else's hand, that man would be the new ferryman, and he could go free.
The grandmother gave the boy the hairs. As he went back, he answered the questions; the ferryman got his answer only after he had ferried the boy across. The two towns, with the well and tree, both gave him two donkeys laden with gold. The king was pleased with the gold and asked where it came from, whereupon the boy sent him to the ferryman. The king went off to get more, and the ferryman stuck the oar in his hand, leaving the king to row the ferry as a punishment for his wickedness.
's The Tale of Beren and Luthien
, in which the elf-king Thingol
sets an impossible task for his daughter's mortal suitor: to obtain one of the three Silmarils from the Iron Crown of Morgoth
.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
collected by the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
, tale number 29. It falls under Aarne-Thompson classification types 461, "three hairs from the devil", and 930, "prophecy that a poor boy will marry a rich girl."
The story was first translated into English as "The Giant and the Three Golden Hairs", to avoid offense, but the devil in the story does indeed act like a folklore giant.
Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders was a prolific British poet and author who was perhaps best known for her series of children's books in which she collected and retold fairy tales from all over the world. All told, she published more than 90 books during her lifetime. The dust jacket for A Book of Giants...
included it, as "The Three Golden Hairs of the King of the Cave Giants", in A Book of Giants
A Book of Giants
A Book of Giants is a 1963 anthology of 13 fairy tales from Europe that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It is one in a long series of such anthologies by Manning-Sanders...
.
Synopsis
A poor woman gave birth to a son with a caulCaul
A caul is a thin, filmy membrane, the amnion, that can cover a newborn's head and face immediately after birth.-Obstetrics:A child "born with the caul" has a portion of the amniotic sac or membrane remaining on the head. There are two types of cauls. The most common caul is adhered to the head...
, which was predicted to mean that he would marry the king's daughter. The king, hearing of it, persuaded his parents to give him the child to raise. He put the boy in a box and threw the box into the water. It drifted down to a mill, where the miller and his wife thought that God had sent them this child, and raised him as their own.
One day the king visited the mill and, hearing how they had gained their son, sent him with a letter to the queen, which said that the bearer of the letter should be killed at once. He fell among robbers, who read the letter, had pity on him, and substituted one that said he should be married to the king's daughter. The queen received it and obeyed, much to the shock of the king.
The king dispatched the boy to get the devil's three golden hairs. On the way, the boy is asked why a fountain that used to give wine no longer gives even water; a tree that used to bear golden apple
Golden apple
The golden apple is an element that appears in various national and ethnic folk legends or fairy tales. Recurring themes depict a hero retrieving the golden apples hidden or stolen by a monstrous antagonist...
s no longer has even leaves; and a ferryman is bound to ferry people back and forth. After promising to provide the answers upon his return, the boy got to the devil's house, and his grandmother was there. She changed him into an ant to hide him.
When the devil got home and went to sleep, his grandmother pulled out his three golden hairs. Each time, she woke him, and told him that she had dreamed of the dry fountain, the leafless tree, and the ferryman. He told that a toad in the well had caused it to go dry, that a mouse nibbling at the roots had stopped the apples, and that if the ferryman stuck his oar into someone else's hand, that man would be the new ferryman, and he could go free.
The grandmother gave the boy the hairs. As he went back, he answered the questions; the ferryman got his answer only after he had ferried the boy across. The two towns, with the well and tree, both gave him two donkeys laden with gold. The king was pleased with the gold and asked where it came from, whereupon the boy sent him to the ferryman. The king went off to get more, and the ferryman stuck the oar in his hand, leaving the king to row the ferry as a punishment for his wickedness.
Influence
"The Devil with The Three Golden Hairs" is noted to have influenced J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Tale of Beren and Luthien
The Tale of Beren and Lúthien
The Tale of Beren and Lúthien is the story of the love and adventures of the mortal Man Beren and the immortal Elf-maiden Lúthien, as told in several works of J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place during the First Age of Middle-earth, about 6500 years before the events of his most famous book, The Lord...
, in which the elf-king Thingol
Thingol
Elu Thingol is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in The Silmarillion, The Lays of Beleriand and Children of Húrin as well as in numerous stories in the many volumes of The History of Middle-earth...
sets an impossible task for his daughter's mortal suitor: to obtain one of the three Silmarils from the Iron Crown of Morgoth
Morgoth
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. He is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion, figures in The Children of Húrin, and is mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings.Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, but turned to darkness and became...
.
See also
- The Dragon and his GrandmotherThe Dragon and his GrandmotherThe Dragon and his Grandmother or The Devil and His Grandmother is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 125.Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book....
- The King Who Would Be Stronger Than FateThe King Who Would Be Stronger Than FateThe King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate is an Indian fairy tale, included by Andrew Lang in The Brown Fairy Book.-Synopsis:A king with a daughter once was lost while hunting and met a hermit, who prophesied that his daughter would marry a slave woman's son, who belonged to the king of the north...
- The Story of Three Wonderful BeggarsThe Story of Three Wonderful BeggarsThe Story of Three Wonderful Beggars is a Serbian fairy tale. It is also known as Vasilii the Unlucky its Russian form, collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki....
- The Fish and the RingThe Fish and the RingThe Fish and the Ring is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales. This tale has several parallels in the literature and folklore of various cultures.-Synopsis:...