Saint Severus and The Three Languages

Any Liberal Arts major can identify with the fairy tale The Three Languages (full text below). At first glance, the story seems to be a simple and slightly humorous account of generational conflict with happy resolution. The theme of a parent’s objection to a child’s career choice is a common one, but rarely does a parent threaten murder. The oddity of this story is perhaps that the newly married protagonist takes an unexpected trip to Rome with young wife in tow. Strange, we might think, for a young man who speaks fluent barking, croaking and chirping to become pope. After all, he is married. It might be a surprise to learn that this fairy tale is probably based on a true life history, that of Saint Severus. *

According to legend, a new bishop was to be elected in Ravenna at Pentecost in the year 342 A.D. There was some uncertainty about who should be elected. When the wool weaver Severus appeared on the scene, a dove circled overhead three times and landed on his shoulder. The church community interpreted this as a sign from God and elected him bishop. Severus was buried near the harbor of Ravenna, which today no longer exists. In the year 836 the German Archbishop had his remains transferred from Ravenna to Mainz and ultimately they were moved to Erfurt. The stone sarcophagus of Saint Severus can still be seen in the Erfurt Church and it includes both wife and daughter of the saint (Vincentia and Innocentia). The story of Saint Severus’ divine selection would have been circulated at the time his relics were moved and used to promote Christianity among the pagan population.

The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and according to Christian tradition has inspired church elders to expound the doctrines of Christian faith. In addition to Saint Serverus, Pope Gregory, Thomas Aquinas and Augustine are commonly associated with the dove. They are often depicted with a dove sitting on their shoulders or hovering overhead. The dove flies down from heaven, announcing God's will and provides concrete instructions to humans, which it whispers in their ears.

* (Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, an account of his life history that was circulated at the time and is impossible to verify. In other words, a legend.)

May Fairy Tale: The Three Languages

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A count once lived in Switzerland and he had only one child, a son. But this child was a very simple lad who would learn nothing. One day the father said to him “Listen, my son, try as I may, I can’t get anything to stay in your head. Now you shall go forth into the world and let a famous master try his luck with you.” The youth was sent to a foreign city and remained with the master an entire year. At the end of this time, he returned home and his father asked him “Now my son, what have you learned?” “Father, I have learned to understand the barking of dogs.” “God be merciful!” the father cried, “is that all that you have learned? I will send you to another city and to another master.” The youth was brought to this new city and stayed with a new master another entire year. When he returned, the father asked him again “My son, what have you learned?” He replied, “Father, I have learned to understand the chirping of birds.” The father was filled with rage and replied angrily “O, you lost and forsaken boy, you have wasted your valuable time and not learned anything at all. Aren’t you ashamed to appear before me? I will send you to a third master, but this time if you don’t learn anything, I will no longer be your father.” So the son stayed with the third master another entire year and when he returned home, the father asked “My son, what have you learned?” He replied “Dear father, this year I have learned to understand the croaking of frogs.” The father was seized by such rage, he jumped up and called his servants. “This man is no longer my son. I am now washing my hands of him and ask that you take him into the forest and kill him.” They seized him and led him out, but when they were about to kill him, they could not for they pitied him, so they let him go. They cut out the eyes and tongue of a doe and this is what they brought the old man as proof of their act.

The youth wandered forth and after some time he came to a castle, where he requested lodgings for the night. “Yes,” the master of the castle replied, “If you want to spend the night down below, in the old tower, go ahead. But I must warn you, it is a most dangerous place for it is filled with wild dogs that bark and howl without end. At certain hours they demand that a human being be thrown to them, whom they devour immediately.” The entire region was filled with alarm, but no one was able to help. The youth, who was not afraid said “Let me go down to the barking dogs and give me some food I can throw to them. They won’t do anything to me.” Because he insisted on going, they gave him some food for the wild animals and brought him down to the tower. When he entered, the hounds did not bellow at him, they wagged their tails in a friendly manner and ran around him, ate what he placed before them and did not harm a single hair on his head. The next morning to everyone’s surprise he returned healthy and whole. He said to the master of the castle “The hounds have revealed to me in their language why they rage and romp and bring harm to the countryside. A curse has been placed on them and they must guard a magnificent treasure in the tower until the treasure has been raised. Only then will they be allowed to rest. Their speech has also revealed to me the way the treasure must be uncovered.” Everyone who heard this rejoiced and the count promised his daughter to the youth, if he would raise the treasure. He happily complied, the wild dogs disappeared and the country was free of the nuisance. The beautiful maiden was given to the young man as wife and they lived happily together for some time.
It was not long after that the young count sat down happily beside his wife in a wagon and began a trip to Rome. On the way they passed a marsh where frogs sat and croaked. The young count listened and when he heard what they said, he became thoughtful and sad. At first, he would not tell his wife the reason. Finally, they arrived in Rome and found the pope had just died. Among the cardinals there was doubt about who should be elected successor. They at last agreed that the man would be revealed by a divine sign from God and this divinely designated man would then be voted pope. Right at the very moment it was decided, the young count entered the church and suddenly two snow-white doves flew down and landed on his shoulders. And there they remained seated. The priest recognized the sign from God and asked the young count immediately whether he wanted to become pope. He hesitated for he did not know if he was worthy of the job. But the doves murmured to him that he should do it and he responded “Yes”. He was anointed and blessed and thus, what the frogs had foretold before en route to Rome came true. The frogs had croaked he would become the blessed pope, which initially disturbed him. He was soon asked to sing mass and didn’t know a single word. But two doves perched on his shoulders and they whispered everything into his ear.

Frouwa: Portrait of a Witch as a Young Woman

Diminutive Ancient Wagon, Pergamon Museum, Berlin

The Germanic goddess Frouwa was the sister of the sun god Fro. Because of this solar connection, she is associated with things that shine and glisten, such as brilliant gems and the perfect sunshine of a cloudless spring day. As goddess of love, fertility and beauty, she was held in high esteem by Germanic tribes. But by the Middle Ages she had become associated with witches, devils and other demonic beings.

Frouwa had endured hardship as a young goddess. The source of her trial lay in the fact that she was not married to a god, but rather a human, who in stealth abandoned her. Full of longing, she searched the world over for her lost love. She had barely caught up with him, when he vanished again. The tears that fell from her eyelashes reached the ground as pearls or droplets of gold. That is why the pearl often represents a tear in German mythology.

The greatest hope of a Germanic woman was to become part of Frouwa’s sacred realm after death. The heavenly palace where Frouwa received these departed women was called Freistatt.

Like other gods, Frouwa also held a procession that lasted twelve nights. On these nights she often appeared riding a boar with golden bristles (witches were also known to ride boars on Walpurgis Night). But usually she traveled in a wagon that was pulled by cats. The cat was sacred to Frouwa and that is why her realm was filled with a large number of these animals. Carefully tended and revered, no one was allowed to touch them.

The ladybug (or ladybird) was given a special place of honor by Frouwa. It was said that the number of black spots on its back foretold the number of Talers a bushel of corn would cost in the coming year. Later Christian priests renamed this insect after the Virgin Mary, because it was thought the Virgin was most similar to the goddess in regard to purity, goodness and beneficence. The ladybug in German is therefore often called Marienkaefer. Likewise, the church transformed Frouwa’s cats into witches or devils and these became known as the fearful creatures accompanying her on her night flight.

As leader of the Valkyries she also had a swan-feather shirt, which gave her the power to take on the shape of swan and travel through both air and water, doing the gods’ bidding. By some accounts she could also transform herself into a falcon or bird of prey. However, her actions were always honorable and she was therefore considered to be the model of feminine virtue.
By the time of the poet Snorri (12th century AD), Frouwa was the only pagan goddess that was still venerated in Iceland.

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Walpurgisnacht

Walpurgisnacht: in Germanic countries, the night of April 30 to May 1st. On this night witches fly from all directions on broomsticks to dance, drive away the last remnants of snow and herald the beginning of spring. According to folk tradition, the devil presides at the witches’ Sabbath until the May Queen appears at midnight, signifying the end of winter. The witches must report all their misdeeds of the past year at this gathering. Those who have not done their fair share receive a beating as punishment. By all accounts, it is a night of boisterous obscenity and indecency.

In times past, farmers were advised to bore three holes over the door of their cowshed and place special roots and herbs in these cavities on Walpurgisnacht. The time and manner for digging up the roots was precisely defined for it was believed that such herbs had power over witches and could prevent them from entering the cowshed and doing harm to the cattle. The name Walpurgisnacht is taken from St. Walpurga, who was the daughter of Richard of England. According to tradition, her bones were taken to the Eichstatt Church on May 1, 870 and the church used her feast day in an attempt to Christianize these pagan practices.

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Ideas of Good and Evil in Jorinda and Joringel

The old woman in Jorinda and Joringel (full text provided by clicking here) is no ordinary sorceress. In fact she is a magician of the highest order, an arch-sorceress or Erzzauberin. She has gruesome physical characteristics and other unusual attributes, including red eyes and yellow skin, the ability to spit poison and bile and the power to transform herself and others into birds. She is also able to cast spells, which transfix people. Clearly she is aligned with a malignant force. But curiously she is also aligned with Zachiel, who has the power to break her spells and does so at her request. Zachiel in this fairy tale is probably a reference to the archangel Zadkiel, the Biblical angel of mercy (alternative spellings: Zachiel, Zadkiel or Zachariel). Zadkiel is the Patron Angel of all who forgive and according to Judaic tradition, it was Zadkiel who prevented Abraham from sacrificing Isaac.

The relationship between arch-sorceress and archangel is an interesting one. The witch seems to have authority over the archangel Zadkiel for it is at her request that Zadkiel releases Joringel from the spell. It seems they are working together in some capacity. Or, are they merely representatives of the two forces acting in creation, light and darkness or good and evil? In the Middle Ages these powers were frequently described as angelic or demonic beings. The Biblical portrayal in the New Testament (Pauline Epistles, Colossians, Romans and Corinthians) emphasizes that God has created these powers and they are under his dominion. Some religions claim that there is no omnipotent good power, but rather good and evil are equal forces acting in the world and the human being and creation itself are seen as their battleground.

To read about the fairy tale Jorinda and Joringel, click on the link:

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Ideas of Good and Evil / Vorstellungen von Gut und Boese

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Vielen Dank fuer Ihre Bemuehungen! Besonders interessant waeren Ihre Vorstellungen von Gut und Boese bezueglich des Maerchens Jorinde und Joringel. (Siehe unten fuer vollen Text)

Grimm's Fairy Tale No. 69: Jorinda and Joringel

As Walpurgisnacht is approaching (evening of April 30th to May 1st), it might be appropriate to read a fairy tale about a witch. This tale is remarkable for many reasons, also because it contains both archangel and arch-witch, personifications of ultimate mercy and ultimate evil. The link between the two is especially interesting in this tale.





There was once an old castle in a deep and impenetrable forest. An old woman lived alone there and she was an arch-sorceress. During the day she took the shape of cat or night owl, but at night she took the form of an ordinary human. She would lure wild animals and birds into her snare and when she caught one, it was cooked or roasted. The wanderer who came within one-hundred feet of the castle was brought under the sorceress’s spell. With feet frozen to the ground, the person could not move from the spot until the enchantress released him. When a chaste maiden entered the castle perimeter, the old witch turned the girl into a bird, which she immediately snatched up and locked in a basket. She carried the basket to a chamber deep inside the castle. The sorceress probably had seven-thousand baskets containing such rare birds in her castle.

Now there was once a maid called Jorinda; she was more beautiful than all other maidens. She had promised herself to a handsome young man by the name of Joringel. Each took enormous pleasure in the company of the other for they were still celebrating their engagement. They loved to walk by themselves and whisper softly to each other so that no one else heard while they spoke. And so it was that one day they took a walk in the forest. “Be careful,” Joringel warned “that you don’t come too close to the castle.” It was a beautiful evening and the sun shone between the tall trunks of the majestic trees and the bright yellow light pierced the shadows of the deep green wood. Overhead a turtledove sang a mournful song among the last May buds of the beech tree.

Before long Jorinda began to cry, sat down in the sunshine and was inconsolable; Joringel did the same. They were deeply distressed and cried like one going to die. They looked around and were lost and did not know the way home. The sun could still be seen illuminating half the mountain, but the other half was already in shadow. When Joringel peered through some underbrush, he saw the old wall of the castle and became deathly afraid. Jorinda began to sing:

“My little bird, with ring so red
Sing of sorrow sorrow sorrow:
For the dove sings of her death
On the morrow morrow morrow – zickuth, zickuth, zickuth.”

Joringel turned to Jorinda but Jorinda had been turned into a nightingale who sang Zickuth, Zickuth, Zickuth. Suddenly an enormous owl with glowing eyes swooped out of the bush. It circled her three times and cried out three times “Schu, hu, hu, hu.” Joringel could not speak: he stood as still as stone, he could not cry out, he could not talk, he could not move hand or foot. Now the sun was sinking: the owl flew into the bush and an old and crooked woman, yellow and lean emerged. She had enormous red eyes and a crooked nose that extended to the tip of her chin. She murmured and caught the nightingale and carried it away in her hand. Joringel could say nothing and could not move from the spot; the nightingale was gone. Finally, the old woman appeared again and spoke in a muffled tone “Greetings to you Zachiel, when the moon shines in the basket then unbind, Zachiel, in good time.” Joringel was released from the spell and fell to his knees before the old woman. He pled for the return of his Jorinda, but in vain. The sorceress replied that he would never ever see her again and walked away. He called, he cried, he lamented but all for naught. “Uu, what shall happen to me?” he cried.

Joringel walked until he arrived in a strange village: there he took on the job of sheep herder for many years. Often, he walked around the castle but never came too close. Finally he dreamt one night that he found a blood-red flower and in the center was a beautiful large pearl. He broke the flower, and walked toward the castle. Everything that he touched with the flower was released from the spell. He also dreamt that Jorinda returned to him in this way. In the morning when he awoke, he began to search hill and dale for the flower. He searched and searched until the ninth day, when he found the blood-red flower in the early morning. In the center was a large dewdrop, as large as the most beautiful pearl. He carried this flower day and night until he arrived at the castle. As he came within one-hundred steps of the castle, he did not become frozen fast in his tracks as last time but instead could continue walking to the castle door. Joringel was overjoyed, touched the gate with the flower and it fell open. He went inside, through the courtyard and listened for the warbling of many birds. Finally he heard the trilling sound. He followed it and found the hall and the enchantress feeding birds in seven-thousand baskets. When she saw Joringel she became very angry, so angry that she scolded and spat poison and bile at him, but she could not come within two feet of him. He did not turn back at the sight of the sorceress but walked around, peering into each basket with a bird. But there where many hundreds of nightingales, how could he find his Jorinda again? As he looked he noticed that the old woman secretly took away a basket with a bird and was walking to the door. Quickly he jumped toward her, touched the basket with the flower and also brushed against the old woman. Now the sorceress could no longer cast spells and in the same moment Jorinda stood before him, her arms fell round his neck, and she was as she had always been. Joringel now returned all the other birds to their prior maidenly form. He then returned home with his Jorinda where they lived happily together for many years.

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Reading and Understanding Folk Tales & Fairy Tales

Fairy Tale Factum:

Hooting Ursula is a wonderful illustration of elements commonly encountered in German folk tales. At first glance, the narrative offers a confusing combination of Christian images and pagan beliefs. Despite a complex story line and a rather dark sub-text, the tale remains witty and fun.
What we modern readers take from the story is probably quite different from what the earliest audience would have understood. If we accept the premise that such tales, based on an oral tradition, reflect values and attitudes of a time long past, we come a step closer toward deciphering the original meaning.
In 12th century Europe pagan sentiments still persisted: demons and other malevolent spirits took nightly flights through the woods. In some traditions, these apparitions were said to be the wild huntsman led by a hooting owl; in others, an entire army of ghosts and spirits assembled and rampaged through the forest. Frouwa was the Norse goddess of war, love and magic. She had numerous powers including the ability to change into a hawk or owl and the cat was her sacred animal. As patroness of witches, it was likely Frouwa who initiated the annual assembly on Walpurgisnacht, the night of April 30 to May 1st. On this night witches flew from all directions on broomsticks to dance, drive away the last remnants of snow and herald the beginning of spring.
This story starts with the ancient pagan notion of witches and devils taking flight through the air but gives it a Christian explanation: Hooting Ursula was originally a nun gone bad. In fact it was the church that exorcised and banished such spirits and in the end it is the Christian God that is shown to have power over life, demons and creation.

More fairy tale factum:

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2008/03/vernal-equinox.html

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2008/03/fairy-grotto-and-palm-sunday-fairy.html

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2008/03/saga-123-woman-in-white.html

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2008/02/fairy-tale-factum_22.html

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2008/01/more-than-fashion-faux-pas-white-dress.html

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Grimm's Saga 312. Hooting Ursula

At midnight in storm and rain the Hackelnberg Huntsman races through the Thuringia Wood. His wagon, horse and hounds make a crackling and creaking noise as he breaks through the brush of his favorite haunt: the Hackel Forest. A night owl flies ahead of him and folk call it Hooting Ursula. Wanderers who happen to meet this terrible pair fall down flat on their stomachs and let the wild huntsman pass by. Soon they hear the barking of hounds and the call: Uh-hu!

Many years ago in a remote cloister in Thuringia there lived a nun named Ursula. During her lifetime she always disturbed the choir with her shriek-like singing. For that reason they called her Hooting Ursula. But things only got worse after her death. Each night starting at eleven o’clock she stuck her head through a hole in the church tower and hooted wretchedly. Every morning at four she came uncalled and sang with the sisters. They could endure it for only a few days; on the third morning one nun said softly and full of terror to the nun singing next to her “That is most certainly Ursula!” Suddenly everyone fell silent, their hair stood on end and the nuns ran screaming from the church crying: “Hooting Ursula, Hooting Ursula!” No punishment would induce the nuns to enter the church again until a famous exorcist was called from a Capuchin monastery on the Danube. He banished Hooting Ursula in the form of an owl to the Dummburg region of the Harz Mountains. It was there that Ursula met the Huntsman Hackelnberg. She became charmed by his Uh-hu and he in turn was charmed with her Uh-hu! And now they both go out together, flying through the air on the wild hunt.

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