Sunday, October 11, 2009

Three Tales for Halloween: The Cat in the Willow Tree



Three Tales for Halloween Tale 1, Grimm’s Saga 250: The Cat in the Willow Tree
There once lived a farm boy in Strassleben who told the following story: In his village there was a certain maid, who had lost her wits to dancing mania. Often no one knew where her dancing took her, she seemed to lose her senses completely and then vanish. She would only return home after some time had lapsed. Once, this same farm boy and other workers decided to follow the maid. When once again on Sunday the girl began to dance and amuse herself in the company of the workers, she suddenly departed. But they all crept after her in stealth. She left the inn and went out into the field and ran off without looking around, straight to a hollow willow tree, in which she hid herself. The workers followed, curious to see whether she would remain some time in the willow. They waited at a place where they could stand well-hidden. After a short time they noticed that a cat jumped out of the willow and crossed the field back to Langendorf. Now the fieldhands approached the willow; there they saw the maid, or better said her body, leaning against the tree completely rigid. They could not bring her back to life however fiercely they shook her body. They were overcome with terrible dread; they left her body standing and returned home. After some time they could see the cat creeping back through the field and then it slipped silently into the willow and vanished. Some moments later the maid emerged from the willow and returned to the village.


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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A German Fairy Tale about the Problem with Bread Shoes



(Another saga about Bread Sin. However gloomy these tales might appear to the modern reader, they do reflect a deep reverance for the food we eat. Perhaps these tales are most fitting to read in the autumn as we approach Thanksgiving, All Souls' Day and Halloween. It is also interesting to read this fairy tale alongside The Shroud, see link at right.)


Grimms’ Saga No. 238: Bread Shoes

A woman from a respectable family had a child who was the apple of her eye. When it died, she did not know how she could express the love and tenderness she felt before the babe was lowered into the earth and she would see it nevermore. And as she washed and dressed the child and placed it in its coffin, it struck her that its little shoes were not fine enough. She took the whitest flour that she had and made a dough and from this she baked soft bread shoes. The child was buried in these shoes. But the child would not give the mother any rest or peace but instead appeared looking mournful until its coffin was dug up again and the little shoes of bread were taken from its feet and replaced with proper shoes. From then on, the child was quiet and returned no more.

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Saturday, October 3, 2009

God is Bread in this German Legend



Although a rather bleak tale, this German legend illustrates the notion of a deity residing within the bread and thus its sacred nature. This belief caused quite a controversy during the Reformation but can actually be traced back to pre-Christian notions about the sanctity of grain. Read this alongside A Walk Through the Forest: a Recipe for Resilience  to explore how food is depicted in the Fairy Tale.

Grimms’ Legend No. 5: God’s Food

There once were two sisters; one of them was childless and rich, the other had five children and was a widow. The widow was so poor that she no longer had bread to feed herself or her children. In her dire need she approached her sister and said “My children and I suffer from the harshest hunger. You are rich, give me some bread.”

But the woman who was stone-rich spoke “But even I have nothing in my house!” And she drove the poor woman away with her evil words. After some time the husband of the rich sister came home and wanted to cut a piece of bread. But when he cut the first slice from the loaf, red blood flowed from within. When the woman saw this, she was terrified and told her husband what had happened. He rushed to the poor sister and wanted to help. But when he entered the chamber of the poor widow, he found her praying. She held the two youngest children in her arms. The three oldest lay on the floor and were dead. He offered her food but she replied “We no longer long for earthly food; God has already satisfied three. He will also hear our pleas.”

The widow had hardly spoken these words, when the two little ones took their last breath. This broke the woman’s heart and she sank to floor dead.

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Translation
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