The Tale of the Hoodie
Encyclopedia
The Tale of the Hoodie is a Scottish
fairy tale
, collected by John Francis Campbell
in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands
. Andrew Lang
included it, as The Hoodie-Crow, in The Lilac Fairy Book.
It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband. Others of this type include The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway
, The Daughter of the Skies
, East of the Sun and West of the Moon
, The Enchanted Pig
, The King of Love
, Master Semolina, The Enchanted Snake
,The Sprig of Rosemary
, and White-Bear-King-Valemon
.
. The older two repulse it because it is ugly, but the youngest accepts it, saying it is a pretty creature. After they marry, the crow asks whether she would rather have it be a crow by day and a man by night, or the other way around. She chooses a man by day, and during the day, he becomes a handsome man.
She has a son. One night, after music puts everyone to sleep, the baby is stolen. The next two years, it happens again, with two more babies. The hoodie crow takes her, with her sisters, to another house. He asks if she has forgotten anything. She has forgotten her coarse comb. The coach becomes a bundle of faggots, and her husband becomes a crow again. He flies off, but his wife chases him. Every night, she finds a house to stay in, in which a woman and a little boy live; the third
night, the woman advises her that if the crow flies into her room in the night, she should catch him. She tries, but falls asleep. The crow drops a ring on her hand. It wakes her, but she is only able to grab one feather.
The woman tells her that the crow flew over the hill of poison and she will need horseshoes to follow him, but if she dresses as a man and goes to a smithy, she will learn how to make them. She does so and with the shoes, crosses the hill.
She arrives at a town to find that her husband is to marry a daughter of a great gentleman
. A cook asks her to cook the wedding feast, so that he can see a race, and she agrees. She puts the ring and the feather in the broth. He finds them and demands to see the cook, and then declares he will marry her.
They go back and retrieve their three sons from the houses where she had stayed.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
fairy tale
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 John Francis Campbell
John Francis Campbell
John Francis Campbell , Celtic scholar, educated at Eton and Edinburgh, was afterwards Secretary to the Lighthouse Commission...
in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands
Popular Tales of the West Highlands
Popular Tales of the West Highlands is a four-volume collection of fairy tales, collected and published by John Francis Campbell, and often translated from Gaelic as well. Alexander Carmichael was one of the main contributors...
. Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...
included it, as The Hoodie-Crow, in The Lilac Fairy Book.
It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband. Others of this type include The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway
The Brown Bear of Norway
The Brown Bear of Norway is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Fitzroy MacLean in West Highland Tales. Andrew Lang included it in The Lilac Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband...
, The Daughter of the Skies
The Daughter of the Skies
The Daughter of the Skies is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as James MacLauchlan, a servant from Islay.It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A...
, East of the Sun and West of the Moon
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a Norwegian folk tale.East of the Sun and West of the Moon was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe...
, The Enchanted Pig
The Enchanted Pig
The Enchanted Pig is a Romanian fairy tale, collected in Rumanische Märchen and also by Petre Ispirescu in Legende sau basmele românilor. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband...
, The King of Love
The King of Love
The King of Love is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales.It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A. Others of this type include The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway, The Daughter of the Skies, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Enchanted...
, Master Semolina, The Enchanted Snake
The Enchanted Snake
The Enchanted Snake or The Snake is an Italian fairy tale. Giambattista Basile wrote a variant in the Pentamerone. Andrew Lang drew upon this variant, for inclusion in The Green Fairy Book....
,The Sprig of Rosemary
The Sprig of Rosemary
The Sprig of Rosemary is a Spanish fairy tale collected by Dr. D. Francisco de S. Maspons y Labros in Cuentos Populars Catalans. Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband....
, and White-Bear-King-Valemon
White-Bear-King-Valemon
White-Bear-King-Valemon is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by the artist August Schneider in 1870, after a peasant woman, Thore Aslaksdotter , in Setesdal. The tale was for the first time retold and published in Peter Christen Asbjørnsen's Norske Folke-Eventyr. Ny Samling...
.
Plot summary
A farmer's three daughters are each wooed in turn by a hoodie crowHooded Crow
The Hooded Crow is a Eurasian bird species in the crow genus. Widely distributed, it is also known locally as Scotch Crow, Danish Crow, and Corbie or Grey Crow in Ireland, which is what its Welsh name, Brân Lwyd, translates as...
. The older two repulse it because it is ugly, but the youngest accepts it, saying it is a pretty creature. After they marry, the crow asks whether she would rather have it be a crow by day and a man by night, or the other way around. She chooses a man by day, and during the day, he becomes a handsome man.
She has a son. One night, after music puts everyone to sleep, the baby is stolen. The next two years, it happens again, with two more babies. The hoodie crow takes her, with her sisters, to another house. He asks if she has forgotten anything. She has forgotten her coarse comb. The coach becomes a bundle of faggots, and her husband becomes a crow again. He flies off, but his wife chases him. Every night, she finds a house to stay in, in which a woman and a little boy live; the third
Rule of three (writing)
The "rule of three" is a principle in writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things. The reader/audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of...
night, the woman advises her that if the crow flies into her room in the night, she should catch him. She tries, but falls asleep. The crow drops a ring on her hand. It wakes her, but she is only able to grab one feather.
The woman tells her that the crow flew over the hill of poison and she will need horseshoes to follow him, but if she dresses as a man and goes to a smithy, she will learn how to make them. She does so and with the shoes, crosses the hill.
She arrives at a town to find that her husband is to marry a daughter of a great gentleman
False hero
The false hero is a stock character in fairy tales, and sometimes also in ballads. The character appears near the end of a story in order to claim to be the hero or heroine and is, therefore, always of the same sex as the hero or heroine. The false hero presents some claim to the position. By...
. A cook asks her to cook the wedding feast, so that he can see a race, and she agrees. She puts the ring and the feather in the broth. He finds them and demands to see the cook, and then declares he will marry her.
They go back and retrieve their three sons from the houses where she had stayed.
See also
- The Three Daughters of King O'HaraThe Three Daughters of King O'HaraThe Three Daughters of King O'Hara is an Irish fairy tale collected by Jeremiah Curtin in Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland.-Synopsis:A king had three daughters. One day, when he was away, his oldest daughter wished to marry. She got his cloak of darkness, and wished for the handsomest man in the...
- The Marriage of Sir GawainThe Marriage of Sir Gawain"The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is an English Arthurian ballad, collected as Child Ballad 31. Found in the Percy Folio, it is a fragmented account of the story of Sir Gawain and the loathly lady, which has been preserved in fuller form in the medieval poem The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle...
- DonkeyskinDonkeyskinDonkeyskin is a French fairy tale told by Charles Perrault.Andrew Lang included it, somewhat euphemized, in The Grey Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 510B, unnatural love...
- Cap O' RushesCap O' Rushes"Cap-o'-Rushes" is an English fairy tale published by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales.Jacobs gives his source as "Contributed by Mrs. Walter-Thomas to "Suffolk Notes and Queries" of the Ipswich Journal, published by Mr. Lang in Longman's Magazine, vol. xiii., also in Folk-Lore September, 1890"...