The Spinning-Woman by the Spring
Encyclopedia
The Spinning-Woman by the Spring or "The Kind and the Unkind Girls" is a widespread, traditional folk tale, known all over Europe, in large parts of Asia, and in Indonesia too. The tale is catalogued as AT 480 in the international Folktale catalogue
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, e.g. to carry water in a sieve.
The kind girl however obeys requests from grateful animals, and learns from the birds' songs that she has to line the sieve with clay. Other tasks are mentioned too: washing black wool white, gathering flowers at midwinter, etc..
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.
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.
Aarne-Thompson classification system
The Aarne–Thompson classification system is a system for classifying folktales. First developed by Antti Aarne and published in 1910, it was translated and enlarged by Stith Thompson...
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Synopsis
Two stepsisters are one after another sent out to serve in the house of a witch. They are both assigned with difficult or impossible tasksAdynaton
Adynaton is a figure of speech in the form of hyperbole taken to such extreme lengths as to suggest a complete impossibility:...
, e.g. to carry water in a sieve.
The kind girl however obeys requests from grateful animals, and learns from the birds' songs that she has to line the sieve with clay. Other tasks are mentioned too: washing black wool white, gathering flowers at midwinter, etc..
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
Animal language
Animal language is the modeling of human language in non human animal systems. While the term is widely used, researchers agree that animal languages are not as complex or expressive as human language....
, she refuses to follow the advice given by the birds and the help offered by other animals.
The same motif with the three caskets used by William Shakespeare
The same motif is used by William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
in the play The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
. 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?
Literature
- Antti AarneAntti AarneAntti Amatus Aarne was a Finnish folklorist.-Background:Aarne was the student of Julius Krohn and his son Kaarle Krohn...
and Stith ThompsonStith ThompsonStith Thompson was an American scholar of folklore. He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne-Thompson classification system.- Biography :...
: The Types of the Folktale. A Classification and Bibliography. The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.FF Communications N:o 184. Helsinki 1961, s. 164-167. ISBN 951-41-0132-4. - Erik Henning Edvardsen: An Oral Prose Motif from AT 480 used by William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. (Still unpublished).
- Warren E. Roberts: 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.