ATU 705A: Born of a Fruit (Fish) Analysis Comparative mythologist
Patrice Lajoye and folklorist
Stith Thompson both remarked on the similarity between the initial part of the tale type ATU 705A, "Born of a Fish", with tale type ATU 303, "
The Twins or Blood Brothers": a fisherman catches a fish in the sea and brings it home to his wife to eat. Through the ingestion of the fish, a miraculous gestation occurs and a child is born. Alternative, according to scholars Anna Angelopoulou and Aigle Broskou, editors of the Greek Folktale Catalogue, the heroine's father ingests a fruit that was to be eaten by his wife and gives birth to the heroine. Thompson described that the tale type involves a
male pregnancy caused by the ingestion of the fish. The pregnancy is carried on the father's thigh (knee). The child born of this unusual pregnancy, a girl, is carried off by birds and raised in a nest. The maiden, now an adult, is found by a prince in the woods. This sequence exists as its own type in the
Georgian Tale Index, numbered -407***, "The Forest Girl": the girl is born from the man's ankle, and is raised on top of an oak tree or poplar by the eagle or the raven. At the end of the tale, after the maiden is expelled from the palace, she is summoned to the king's presence and narrates her tale in the form of a riddle or a story-within-a-story, by which the king recognizes her. Scholar Anna Angelopoulos sees the storyline as a process of humanization for the heroine of the tale, albeit with participation of an evil female character (the king's stepmother). since most of the available variants at the time were collected in Denmark (10 tales) and Sweden (5 tales), apart from 6 tales recorded in Greece and some tales sparsely collected in other countries. However, Chilean folklorist collected a
Chilean tale with the initial episode of the male pregnancy with a fruit, and his daughter being taken by an eagle to a treetop. Saavedra supposed that, if a variant exists in Chile, then the tale type must exist in some form in Spain. Also, scholar , in his book
The Types of the Norwegian Folktale, reported 3
Norwegian variants of type 705,
Fiskebarnet ("The Fish-Child"). Further studies show a larger area of distribution of this tale type, including in the Arab-speaking regions. For example, professor Hasan M. El-Shamy, in
Enzyklopädie des Märchens, locates variants across the Mediterranean: in
North Africa, in
Asia Minor, in the
Middle East, in the
Near East, even into
Subsaharan Africa. In addition, Anna Angelopoulou and Aigle Broskou, editors of the Greek Folktale Catalogue, list 55 variants found all over Greece. Scholars
Ibrahim Muhawi and Sharif Kanaana remarked that the "complete type [with the episode of the ingestion of the fish] is more common" in
Palestine.
Mythological parallels The unusual circumstances of the heroine's birth from a male body part are noted to resemble the births of
Athena and
Dionysus of
Greek mythology.
ATU 706: The Maiden Without Hands This tale type is also known in folkloristics as belonging to the
Constance-cycle.
Origins The tale's origins, according to the historical-geographical study of
Alexander H. Krappe, point to Eastern Europe; On a similar note, scholar
Jack Zipes stated that motifs of
Helene de Constantinopla (including incest and bodily harm to the heroine) "stem from Byzantine and Greek tales and medieval legends". Professor Thomas Leek chronologically situates the birth of the story after the
Fourth Crusade and the
fragmentation of the then existent Byzantine Empire, and suggests an interaction between eastern and western sources to form the tale. Versions of the tale were also known in medieval European literature since the 13th century, such as
Manékine and
Roman de la belle Hèlene de Constantinople, from the 13th century. Another predecessor of the tale type is the
Life of King Offa, a European mediaeval tale that also shows that Offa's future wife has escaped an attempted incest by her father - a motif close to
Donkeyskin and variants. German scholar suggested that the
Normans mediated the transmission of the tale type between England and France.
Distribution Scholar Jack Haney stated that the tale type is "widely distributed throughout Europe". According to Barbara Hillers, tale type 706 also appears in
Ireland and
Scotland: "over a hundred [variants]" are reported in the Irish Catalogue (among them, 46 from
Kerry and 23 from
Galway), whereas nine are reported from Scotland (as per an unpublished Catalogue of Scottish Folktales). The tale type is also present in "the Russian tale corpus", with the name "Безручка" ("[The Girl] Without Hands"). A preliminary analysis by scholar Jack Haney points to 44 variants in Russia. She concluded that the Franco-Canadian versions were derived from oral versions of
Brittany. Romanian folklorist Corneliu Barbulescu tabulated 21 Romanian variants (9 from
Transylvania, 5 from
Western Moldavia, and 7 from
Wallachia), and 4 Macedo-Romanian (
Aromanian or
Megleno-Romanian) variants. Japanese scholar
Kunio Yanagita listed some variants of
The Girl Without Hands (手なし娘;
Tenashi musume) found in
Japan, which
Seki Keigo amount to 33 variants. According to Yanagita and Seki, the story is among some tales that are speculated to have been imported into Japan: Yanagita remarked that "everything" of the Japanese variant "[can be] found in foreign lands", and Seki suggested a recent entry of the type into the country, since he found no ancient literary version. Korean scholarship reports variants of the tale type in
Korea, with the name
손 없는 색시 ("Bride With no Hands"). One variant of the tale type, with the title
The Girl with No Hands, was collected from a
Daghur source. Professor
Charles R. Bawden provided the summary of a
Mongolian variant titled
The Orphan Girl: a man remarries a rich woman, who gives birth to a son and becomes jealous of her step-daughter. So she lies to her husband that she has given birth to a litter of mice. He orders two servants to kill his daughter and bring him her right hand, but they cut off her hand and let her live. The girl is found by a boy, who marries her in secret. She gives birth to his son while he is away, but her step-mother strikes again: she falsifies a letter to tell the boy she has given birth to a monster. The girl escapes with her son; her hand is miraculously returned and she finds shelter with a beggar. At the end of the tale, her husband finds her and the family reunites. Variants have also been found in Africa. For instance,
Africanist Sigrid Schmidt asserted that the tale type 706, as well as types 707,
Three Golden Children, and 510,
Cinderella, "found a home in Southern Africa for many generations". A line of scholarship argues for the existence of the tale type among Arctic peoples (i.e.,
Inuit), related to a legend about the origin of marine animal life.
Analysis Professor
Jack Zipes states that the motif of the mutilation of a woman harks back to Antiquity, and the mutilation of a daughter by a father occurs in tales about incest. As such, remark scholars Anne Duggan and
D. L. Ashliman, in many variants of type ATU 706 the heroine is mutilated because she refuses her father's sexual advances. The female protagonist may lose her hands at the beginning of the story, but regains them due to the
divine intervention of a holy character, such as the
Virgin Mary, God, or a saint the heroine prays to. After the handless maiden is found by the prince/king and marries him, she is pregnant with child or with twins, but her wicked mother-in-law writes her son his wife gave birth to a monster or to animals. She is then banished to the forest with her sons, which is the heroine's double or reduplicated banishment. According to scholar Denise Paulme, European versions of the tale type deal with the motif of the mother accused of giving birth to a monster; in African variants, the main theme involves the wrongdoings of a jealous co-wife. This view is also supported by S. Ruelland, who published a study of 19 African variants of the tale type, most of which contained the rivalry between cowives.
Motifs A motif that appears in some variants of the tale type is a thorn embedded in the body of the heroine's persecutor. Hélène Bernier's study on the tale type located the motif in Irish, Breton and Canadian variants. Tales with the same motif were collected in the United States, Algeria, Argentina, and Chile. The incident has been traced to Breton variants and is thought to derive ultimately from a Celtic source.
Combinations Professor
Linda Dégh stated that, due to the proximity of the tales, some versions of ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children", merge with episodes of type ATU 706, "The Maiden Without Hands". In the same vein, scholar Andreas John stated that type 706, in the East Slavic classification, was "clearly related" to type 707, since the maiden loses her arm up to the elbow, and the wonderful children show golden color in their arms up to the elbow. According to Hungarian ethnographer Ákos Dömötor, tale type 706, "A kalapvári kisasszony", and 510B, "Csonkakezű lány", are a "well-known" combination in the Hungarian tale corpus. •
The Girl Without Hands •
Penta of the Chopped-off Hands •
The One-Handed Girl •
The Armless Maiden ===ATU 707:
The Three Golden Children=== Ethnologist
Verrier Elwin commented that the motif of jealous queens, instead of jealous sisters, is present in a
polygamous context: the queens replace the youngest queen's child (children) with animals or objects and accuse the woman of infidelity. The queen is then banished and forced to work in a humiliating job. As for the fate of the children, they are either buried and become trees or are cast in the water (river, stream). In the same vein, French ethnologue Paul Ottino (
fr) noted that the motif of casting the children in the water vaguely resembles the Biblical story of
Moses, but, in these stories, the children are cast in a box in order to perish in the dangerous waters. In addition, by analysing similar tales from
Madagascar, he concluded that the jealousy of the older co-wives of the polygamous marriage motivate their attempt on the children, and, after the children are restored, the co-wives are duly punished, paving the way for a monogamous family unit with the expelled queen. According to Daniel Aranda, the tale type develops the narrative in two eras: the tale of the calumniated wife as the first; and the adventures of the children as the second, wherein the mother becomes the
object of their quest. •
The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird •
Ancilotto, King of Provino •
Princess Belle-Étoile and Prince Chéri •
The Three Little Birds •
The Bird of Truth •
The Water of Life (Spanish fairy tale) •
The Wicked Sisters •
The Tale of Tsar Saltan •
The Boys with the Golden Stars •
A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers •
The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead •
The Hedgehog, the Merchant, the King and the Poor Man •
Silver Hair and Golden Curls •
Sun, Moon and Morning Star •
The Golden-Haired Children •
The Sisters Envious of Their Cadette •
Les Princes et la Princesse de Marinca •
Two Pieces of Nuts •
The Children with the Golden Locks •
The Pretty Little Calf •
The Rich Khan Badma •
The Story of Arab-Zandiq •
The Bird that Spoke the Truth •
The Story of The Farmer's Three Daughters •
The Golden Fish, The Wonder-working Tree and the Golden Bird •
King Ravohimena and the Magic Grains •
Zarlik and Munglik (Uzbek folktale) •
The Child with a Moon on his Chest (Sotho) •
Dog, and His Human Speech •
The Story of Lalpila (Indian folktale) •
Saat Bhai Champa •
The Youth and the Maiden with Stars on their Foreheads and Crescents on their Breasts •
Little Nightingale the Crier •
Maria (Philippine fairy tale) •
Molla Badji •
Kiranmala •
The Real Mother (Indian folktale) •
The Crown Prince Replaced by a Cat •
Mielikki and Her Nine Sons •
The Bird from the Land of Gabour •
The Golden Bird (Berber folktale) •
La planta de albahaca •
A Tale of a King •
Story of Python ATU 708: The Wonder-Child In this tale type, the heroine's evil stepmother curses her to give birth to a monster child (the titular "Wonder-Child"). The son does possess magical powers, and helps his mother when she is banished to the world at large. Finally, the heroine manages to find a human mate, and her monstrous son changes into human form. The tale type is also attested in Norway with the title
Vidunderbarnet, according to 's
The Types of the Norwegian Folktale, with 14 variants recorded. In addition, in his study, Swedish scholar located it "from Italy to Scandinavia", and from Western Europe ("in Brittany, Ireland and Scotland"), to Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. • Hans Wunderlich (
de)
ATU 709: Snow White Distribution This tale type is widespread in Europe, in America, in Africa and "in some Turkic traditions". In regards to the Turkic distribution of the tale, parallels are also said to exist in Central Asia and Eastern Siberia, among the Mongolians and Tungusian peoples. Studies by Sigrid Schmidt and Hasan El-Shamy point to the presence of the tale type across the African continent (North, West, Central, East and Southeast), often combined with other tale types.
Combinations According to scholarship, the tale type ATU 709, "Snow White", appears combined or contaminated with closely related tales ATU 706, "The Maiden Without Hands" and ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children", and even ATU 451, "
The Maiden who Seeks her Brothers" (or "The Seven Ravens") and ATU 480, "
The Kind and Unkind Girls". The tale also merges with other tales of the "Persecuted Heroine" genre, a subcategory of tales postulated by scholar Steve Swann Jones. •
Snow White •
Bella Venezia •
Myrsina •
Nourie Hadig •
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree •
The Young Slave •
La petite Toute-Belle ATU 710: Our Lady's Child In this tale type, a poor peasant couple give their daughter to the
Virgin Mary (in more religious variants) or to a kind fairy. When the girl is under the tutelage of the magical or religious character, the girl's curiosity impels her to take a gander inside a forbidden chamber, against her benefactor's wishes. Her godmother discovers the child's disobedience and expels her to the forest, where she is found by a king. In the second part of the tale, when the girl is found by the prince or king, she cannot utter a single word, either because she has made a
vow of silence or because the shock of her experience with her caretaker has left her
mute. Under this lens, the tale type shares similarities with ATU 451, "The Maiden Who Seeks her Brothers" (e.g.,
The Six Swans), wherein the heroine must promise to not say a word for a specific period of time as part of a spell to save her transformed brothers.
Analysis Scholarship suggests that the ambivalent character of the Virgin Mary, "both as a guardian and a merciless punisher of a girl", may be due to
Christian influence, which superimposed Christian imagery onto the role previously held by fairies and other supernatural beings. In the same vein, Stith Thompson mentioned that the heroine's benefactor/pursuer may be the Virgin Mary, a witch or even a man, and this variation is reflected in defining the nature of the tale type: a pious legend about the Virgin Mary or the story about a witch. Similarly, Swedish scholar noted two cycles: one involving the Virgin Mary, and another, involving a woman in
Melusine form or a "dark lady", and he questioned the internal logic of the story, since it would be uncharacteristic for the Virgin Mary to submit a child to such tribulations. Also, he recognized a third tradition, which exists in Sweden, wherein the heroine's pursuer is a man named
Grau-mantel ("Gray Cloak"). •
Mary's Child •
The Lassie and Her Godmother •
The Goat-Faced Girl ATU 711: The Beautiful and the Ugly Twin Sisters •
Tatterhood •
Kate Crackernuts ATU 712: Crescentia Origins The story shows an Eastern origin, with ancient literature attesting the episode, such as the
Book of Daniel and the
Ramayana. The theme has also inspired tales and novellas about women's fidelity and chastity in the
Middle Ages, in highly fictionalized accounts of historical personages, such as
Bertrada, Charlemagne's mother. Other tales involve fictional queens and empresses.
Analysis In this tale type, the king's wife (or the wife of a sovereign, in Western tales; a merchant's in Eastern ones) is accused of infidelity (often by her brother-in-law) and abandoned in the woods (with her sons, in some variants). Later, she gains the ability to heal people (either she receives a magical plant or gift from the Virgin Mary, in Western variants, or her prayers and virtue grant her this ability, in Eastern variants). Her goodwill spreads, which leads to her persecutor and her husband to meet her again, and the couple finally reconciles. In addition, the tale type is also connected to tale ATU 883A, "The Innocent Slandered Maiden", being also found in Greece, Turkestan, Palestine, Egypt and the Balkans. •
Crescentia (romance) ==Related tales==