Folklore

One great thing about folklore is how it weaves fantasy into the stories. Cinderella and Rapunzel both are stories that feature some fantastic elements but that end with happy endings. There is some conflict in each, and there is also a prince involved in each. The idea of a prince rescuing a maiden is a popular one in folklore. The prince is a hero figure, while the maiden is the figure that the reader sympathizes with. It is the way in which the maiden and the prince interact to overcome some obstacle that usually makes the story interesting. However, in Cinderella and Rapunzel, there is not much that the characters can really do for themselves. They are supported by some fantastic power outside themselves. This fantasy element contrasts sharply with the realism of a story like The Robber Bridegroom. Here is a horrific story that is full of murder and deception. The violence is not hinted at but is actually described in detail, including the cutting up into pieces of a young girl who is abducted by a gang of robbers. The story seems to be about evil doings being punished. Yet it, too, can be contrasted with a story like Cat and Mouse in Partnership, wherein the cat eats the mouse and is not punished for its lies and selfishness; instead the reader is warned to beware the way of the world, which the cat represents. So in all these folklore tales there are many different elementsfantasy elements, realism, and warnings. Taken together they indicate something grand about life, which is that the powers of good and evil are all around and one must not stop watching or hoping or praying.

To explain how these themes of good and evil occur in the folklore tales described above, it is helpful to take a look at the one by one to see what is in each one. First, there is Rapunzel, who is locked away in a tower because of a deal made between her father and an enchantress. The father had snuck into the enchantresss garden to get some rampion for his wife who was eaten up with greed for it. Instead of convincing his wife to give up this desire for rampion, the father gave into itbut in the end he instead gave up his daughter to the enchantress because he was afraid the enchantress might kill him otherwise. So the lesson here is that greed gets one into trouble. But of course there is much more to this story. It flashes forward and the enchantress takes the daughter and she grows into a beautiful woman with long hair. A prince discovers Rapunzel in her tower, attracted by her singing. He climbs in and asks her to marry him. Rapunzel agrees but then tells the enchantress that the prince has been coming to see her. The enchantress is jealous and banishes Rapunzel to the desert where the princess gives birth to twins. The prince meanwhile is blinded by thorns in an attempt to get away from the enchantress. However, there is a happy ending because after wandering around blind for years, he hears the singing of Rapunzel once more. She recognizes him and weeps tears of happiness, and the tears open the eyes of the blinded prince. Now that he can see, he leads his long lost family back home to his fathers kingdom where they live happily ever after.

The story of Rapunzel is full of pain and suffering. It is also full of desire. There is bad desire that gets the father into trouble in the first place because his wife is...

…The idea that the house is deep in the woods is the first clue that he is up to no good. But she goes and discovers that the house is a place where murder takes place. The bridegroom has deceived everyone. But it is even worse than that: he is not just a robber but a person he cuts up people and then eats their flesh. It is a house of cannibals. This is quite a shocking twist for a childrens story and it is very frightening. Plus, the finger of the murdered woman is said to end up in the bosom of the girl when it is hacked off the murdered girls dead hand. This finger becomes the proof of what the bridegroom has done to his victim, and the whole town later sets upon him and his friends and they are executed. But this is a story that combines realism with fantasy. Cinderella is similar in that there is great cruelty on the part of Cinderellas family toward her, but the prince is kind and sees great beauty in her. It is fantasy and realism.

Folklore thus suggests that there is some fantastic element to real life, and we should see this as true. We cannot understand how there is this great good and great evil in the world or even in ourselves. But we recognize it, and sometimes we overcome the bad with good, and sometimes we are overcome by the bad. Folklore helps to show us that in the fight between the good and the bad, one should not be nave or lack virtue. Virtue is the greatest armor against the bad, but so too is common sense. And if one is lucky one will have a guardian or some grace looking out over one to protect one from great…