Showing posts with label Godmother Death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Godmother Death. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Reading the Doomed Prince: The Hathors





In the puzzling tale of the Doomed Prince  we encounter a prince who never really grows to adulthood. His fate is foretold by the Hathors, beautiful women of ancient Egyptian mythology whose primary function was to provide food and protection for the dead. But in his 1906 collection of fairy tales Altaegyptische Sagen und Maerchen, the Egyptologist Alfred Wiedemann describes another function of these goddesses. Like the Norns revered by ancient Germanic tribes, the Hathors appear at the birth of a child, bestowing gifts and foretelling the infant’s destiny. Seven Hathors are depicted in a wall relief in the Temple of Dendera, the primary location of their cult. They are probably later forms of the goddess Hathor, who was originally the Egyptian goddess of the heavens. Her name means the “House of Horus”. Hathor was revered in the most ancient traditions as the mother of the sun god Horus until Isis superseded her. Based on a notion that likened the sky to a giant cow , the goddess herself was often depicted in cow form. Hathor, the sky-cow, often appears alongside the sky-bull. Frequently bearing horns on her head, the goddess uses them to lift the sun-child to heaven or to carry the red disk of the sun. She is also associated with an older tree cult and referred to as “Mistress of Date Palm Trees” or “Mistress of Sycamore Trees”. In addition to foretelling a person’s fate, the Hathors were called upon for protection from evil spirits. They used red ribbons to bind these malignant forces, a color often associated with ancient goddesses, the sun, light and heaven itself.

To read the fairy tale The Doomed Prince, click on the link:

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2009/01/enchanted-prince-egyptian-fairy-tale.html


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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Reading the Lithuanian Fairy Tale, Godmother Death


In the Lithuanian fairy tale Godmother Death (full text below), neither man nor god reign supreme. Rather, both characters engage in a life-and-death struggle for power, influence and survival. This tale is best read along with Godfather Death and the Possessed Princess (for full text, hit links at right) to gain some understanding of recurring notions of life and death, healing and infirmity and the status of humans alongside deities. I like this story for its rich detail and forceful characters. Even the children are no shrinking violets and are drawn to discover the source of underground moaning instead of being repelled by it. Contrasted with the story Godfather Death from the Brothers Grimm, we encounter attitudes toward life and death that are both strangely similar yet unique. Most tellingly, death here comes in the form of an earthy goddess, not a skeletal male messenger. In fact this goddess was quite comely at one time, before she experienced her own sort of death and was imprisoned beneath the soil for seven years. Like a seed lying dormant, she miraculously returns to life, suggesting that death is only one part of a mysterious cycle of life, death and rebirth. Another noteworthy feature of this story is that death is an eager killer and not merely a passive harbinger of one’s demise. Remarkably, the godmother is not reluctant to finish off her godson once he has riled her. We also see the ancient idea of healing being tied to supernatural forces. Like other gifts of prestige or riches, the power to heal is conferred or taken away by the gods. Godmother Death plays a role very similar to a Norn in this story, appearing at the birth of a child, granting gifts which fundamentally shape the quality of the child’s life and in that regard being a real presence or even spiritual guide throughout life (perhaps in fact suggesting that each person carries his own death with him throughout life). Because this fairy tale includes older notions of Norns and earth goddesses, I am inclined to believe it is an earlier version of the story we find in the Brothers Grimm collection.


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Saturday, January 24, 2009

A Princess is Healed and Evades Godmother Death in this Fairy Tale



Godmother Death

A man and a woman were living in abject poverty when God gave them a gift of a small child. They thought to themselves: “Whatever shall we do! We are so poor, we can't even afford to baptize this child?” When they invited people to the baptism, everyone declined the invitation. 

One morning the husband rose early and when he left his house he thought to himself: “The first man I meet, he shall be the godfather of my child!” And so it was! He met a man, asked him to be godfather and told him of his dire need. The man accepted. The husband heartily thanked him and continued on his way to find a godmother. He met a young and pretty wife. He wished her “Good Morning!” and asked her to be the godmother. She also did not refuse. 

When the godparents had assembled and brought their gifts, they held a huge feast and baptized the child. When they had all left the celebration, only the godmother remained behind. She thanked the parents for asking her to be the godmother and inviting her to the baptism and said “How shall I reward you? No one except you has ever invited me to a baptism. Do you know who I am? I am the Goddess of Death. I shall make this child a doctor. As soon as a person is sick, take it upon yourself to heal him! When you approach the sick person and see me standing at his feet, he will recover and become healthy again. Then you must promise to heal him! But if you see me standing at his head, don’t make the effort, for I will kill him. If you do as I say, you shall become a famous doctor and you will become enormously wealthy!” 

When the poor child grew to be a man he healed many people. No one saw the Goddess of Death except him. If he saw her standing near the sick person’s head, then he said that further help was futile. Everyone soon loved him very much. He became a famous doctor and was very rich. 

But one day the daughter of a king became deathly ill and the king called the doctor. When he arrived, he saw the Goddess of Death standing by the head of the princess. He pleaded with her to be beneficent and remove herself and let him heal the sick maid for then he would receive a handsome reward from the king. But the Goddess replied that he should move away because she intended to kill the princess. The doctor became angry at his godmother and fitted the bed so that it could be turned. Then he placed the princess in the bed. When the Goddess of Death stood at her head, the doctor simply turned the bed around and the Goddess found herself standing at her feet. When she walked around to stand at the princess’s head once more, he turned the bed around so that she stood by her feet. 

He tormented the Goddess in this way for some time until she left the sick maid enraged. The doctor healed the princess, was highly honored and received a good reward. But when he went home, the Goddess of Death, his godmother, approached him and said: “You did not listen to me. Lay down, I shall kill you now.” “But dear godmother,” the doctor replied, “Give me three days time! I want to make my own coffin and lie down inside. Then you can kill me.” She consented. 

The doctor had a very strong coffin made and strong clasps forged. When three days were up, the Goddess of Death returned and asked “Well! Have you prepared yourself for death?” The doctor lay face down in the coffin. She could not kill him and ordered him to lie on his back. When he rolled onto his back, he raised his knees so that the Goddess of Death could not close the coffin. “You don’t even know how to lie down!” the Goddess said. “Let me show you!” He jumped up. The Goddess of Death lay down inside and stretched out as straight as a reed. The doctor seized the lid of the coffin and slammed it shut, locking the Goddess of Death inside. Then he took it into the forest, dug a deep hole and buried the Goddess of Death inside. 

She lay there almost seven years. No one found her the entire time. He remained a very famous doctor because no one was dying anymore. One day children were tending their flock in the forest and heard sighing below the earth. They all decided to dig and see who was there. They dug up the coffin, opened the lid and found a living woman inside, who was now completely desiccated. Since that time she has been a terrible sight to behold. She thanked the children for freeing her, sat down on a stone near the path and waited for the doctor to come by. She sat as if she were a beggar woman, concealing her face. The doctor came by, stopped in front of the woman and commanded her to say an “Our Father”. When the prayer was over, she said “Amen,” killed the doctor where he stood and took him home. I know this because I was also in attendance at his funeral and enjoyed the wonderful food spread out on the table for all his guests.


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