The Gold-Children is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 85. It is Aarne-Thompson type 555, the fisherman and his wife, followed by type 303, blood brothers.
A fisherman caught a golden fish, who gave him and his wife a rich castle on the condition that he will not tell anyone how he had gotten it. His wife badgered the knowledge from him, but he caught the fish again and regained the castle, and when she badgered the truth out of him again, he caught the fish a third time. The fish saw it was fated to fall into the fisherman's hand and told him to take it home and cut it into six pieces, giving two to his wife and two to his horse. He had to bury the last two pieces in the ground. When he did, his wife gave birth to twins of gold, the horse gave birth to two foals of gold, and two golden lilies sprouted from the earth.
When they were grown, the gold children left home, telling their father that the lilies would wither if they were ill and die if they were dead. People mocked them because of their golden appearance, and one child went back to his father, but the other went on, through a forest filled with robbers. He covered himself with bearskins to hide the gold from the thieves, and wooed a maiden. They fell in love and soon married. Her father then came home and believed his son-in-law was a beggar because he was covered with bearskins. However, the next morning, he was relieved when he saw the gold skin of the young man who was no longer wearing the skins.
The gold man went out to hunt a stag and asked an old witch about it. The witch told him that she knew of the stag, but her dog barked at him. When he threatened to shoot it, the witch transformed him into stone. Back home, his brother saw that the lily had withered and realized his brother was in trouble. He went to help him, but did not approach the witch closely enough to be transformed. Then he threatened to shoot her if she did not restore his brother. The witch did so, and one brother went back to his bride and the other returned to their father.
AnalysisEdit
The Brothers Grimm themselves, in the annotations to their tales, noted the similarity of "The Golden Children" to "The Two Brothers", specially in regards to the miraculous birth of the twins and their later adventures.[1]
^Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Kinder Und Hausmärchen: Gesammelt Durch Die Brüder Grimm. 3. aufl. Göttingen: Dieterich, 1856. pp. 102-106 and 144.
External linksEdit
SurLaLune Fairy Tale site "The Gold-Children"
October 15, 2023
gold, children, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding,. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources The Gold Children news newspapers books scholar JSTOR May 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary It should be expanded to provide more balanced coverage that includes real world context Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot June 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia s general notability guideline Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention If notability cannot be shown the article is likely to be merged redirected or deleted Find sources The Gold Children news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message The Gold Children is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm tale number 85 It is Aarne Thompson type 555 the fisherman and his wife followed by type 303 blood brothers The Gold ChildrenFolk taleNameThe Gold ChildrenAarne Thompson groupingATU 555 ATU 303CountryGermanyPublished inGrimms Fairy Tales Contents 1 Summary 2 Analysis 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksSummary EditA fisherman caught a golden fish who gave him and his wife a rich castle on the condition that he will not tell anyone how he had gotten it His wife badgered the knowledge from him but he caught the fish again and regained the castle and when she badgered the truth out of him again he caught the fish a third time The fish saw it was fated to fall into the fisherman s hand and told him to take it home and cut it into six pieces giving two to his wife and two to his horse He had to bury the last two pieces in the ground When he did his wife gave birth to twins of gold the horse gave birth to two foals of gold and two golden lilies sprouted from the earth When they were grown the gold children left home telling their father that the lilies would wither if they were ill and die if they were dead People mocked them because of their golden appearance and one child went back to his father but the other went on through a forest filled with robbers He covered himself with bearskins to hide the gold from the thieves and wooed a maiden They fell in love and soon married Her father then came home and believed his son in law was a beggar because he was covered with bearskins However the next morning he was relieved when he saw the gold skin of the young man who was no longer wearing the skins The gold man went out to hunt a stag and asked an old witch about it The witch told him that she knew of the stag but her dog barked at him When he threatened to shoot it the witch transformed him into stone Back home his brother saw that the lily had withered and realized his brother was in trouble He went to help him but did not approach the witch closely enough to be transformed Then he threatened to shoot her if she did not restore his brother The witch did so and one brother went back to his bride and the other returned to their father Analysis EditThe Brothers Grimm themselves in the annotations to their tales noted the similarity of The Golden Children to The Two Brothers specially in regards to the miraculous birth of the twins and their later adventures 1 See also Edit nbsp Children s literature portalThe Enchanted Doe The Fisherman and His Wife The Knights of the Fish The Three Princes and their Beasts The Two BrothersReferences Edit Grimm Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Kinder Und Hausmarchen Gesammelt Durch Die Bruder Grimm 3 aufl Gottingen Dieterich 1856 pp 102 106 and 144 External links EditSurLaLune Fairy Tale site The Gold Children Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Gold Children amp oldid 1085006804, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
