In a hut hidden deep in a forest, three beautiful maidens spend each waking moment weaving gold flax into yarn. A cruel Witch watches over them, collecting every finished thread. She leaves them only for short journeys - always leaving a full slate of work along with the warning to keep their eyes on their work, and to speak to no man; otherwise the gold will lose its shine and great misfortunes will follow.
During one of the Witch's absences, a Prince is separated from his hunting party, and wandering in the forest, comes across the hut. The elder maidens hide from him, but the youngest seeks out his company. Days later, when the King's search party finds the hut, the Prince and maiden sit before it lost in conversation. The Prince promises to return for the maiden, who sits to work her neglected wheel. Sure enough, the bright thread is dull now, just as the woman had predicted. Terrified, she is convinced that misfortunes will now come. Soon enough, the woman comes and with one glance at the tarnished thread knows everything. The youngest maiden manages to send a message to her Prince through a raven. The Prince comes to her and carries her off.
The Witch is enraged and promptly casts a spell to stop them. She conjures a magic ball, which flies by the maiden as she is held by the mounted Prince crossing a bridge. Whirlwinds cast her from the Prince's arms and into the river. Though he tries to dive in after her, he is restrained by his men. A year later, visiting the spot, he sees a yellow water lily in the river and hears a voice sing a forlorn song about being bewitched and forsaken. He goes on through the forest to the hut and consults the gold-spinners, who insist that the flower must be their sister. He sleeps the night in the hut, having a magic cake for his dinner secretly prepared by the eldest sister. In the morning, as he rides off, he understands the language of the birds. In this way he learns that the Wizard of Finland can help him, and through the birds, contacts him. The wizard, in the form of an eagle, instructs him to stand on the river bank, smeared with mud, and say "From a man into a crab". Once he becomes a crab, he is to swim to the flower, cut its roots, and rise with the lily to the surface. Drifting with the current, he is to ascend a large stone, say "From a crab into a man, from a water-lily into a maiden" and so save the maiden.
He does all of these things and the maiden is restored, more beautiful than ever and dressed in magnificent robes and jewels. Now, although to the Prince only hours had passed in fulfilling his mission, actually ten days had gone by and the King and Queen were at church, weeping for their dead son. The Prince and maiden arrive and are married on the spot. In their happiness, the Prince forgets his promise to the Wizard, to free the two maidens. A crow berates them, how could they forget the sisters. Chagrined, the Prince rescues the pair. The eldest then makes up a poisoned cake to get rid of the Witch, who eats on her return and dies. The Prince and his bride and her sisters live quite happily, recovering fifty wagonloads of the gold thread that had been hidden away by the Witch.
^Kreutzwald, Friedrich Reinhold. Ehstnische Märchen. Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1869. pp. 1-24.
^Ashliman, D. L. A Guide to Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, vol. 11. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987. p. 84. ISBN0-313-25961-5.
The Water-lily. The Gold-spinners as included by Andrew Lang
January 01, 1970
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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 spinners news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2022 Learn how and when to remove this message This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary Please help improve the article by adding more real world context June 2020 Learn how and when to remove this 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 spinners news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2020 Learn how and when to remove this message Learn how and when to remove this message The Gold spinners Estonian Kullaketrajad German Die Goldspinnerinnen 1 is an Estonian fairy tale collected by Dr Friedrich Kreutzwald in Eestirahwa Ennemuistesed jutud W F Kirby included it in The Hero of Esthonia and Andrew Lang under the title The Water lily The Gold Spinners in The Blue Fairy Book Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Analysis 3 References 4 External linksSynopsis editIn a hut hidden deep in a forest three beautiful maidens spend each waking moment weaving gold flax into yarn A cruel Witch watches over them collecting every finished thread She leaves them only for short journeys always leaving a full slate of work along with the warning to keep their eyes on their work and to speak to no man otherwise the gold will lose its shine and great misfortunes will follow During one of the Witch s absences a Prince is separated from his hunting party and wandering in the forest comes across the hut The elder maidens hide from him but the youngest seeks out his company Days later when the King s search party finds the hut the Prince and maiden sit before it lost in conversation The Prince promises to return for the maiden who sits to work her neglected wheel Sure enough the bright thread is dull now just as the woman had predicted Terrified she is convinced that misfortunes will now come Soon enough the woman comes and with one glance at the tarnished thread knows everything The youngest maiden manages to send a message to her Prince through a raven The Prince comes to her and carries her off The Witch is enraged and promptly casts a spell to stop them She conjures a magic ball which flies by the maiden as she is held by the mounted Prince crossing a bridge Whirlwinds cast her from the Prince s arms and into the river Though he tries to dive in after her he is restrained by his men A year later visiting the spot he sees a yellow water lily in the river and hears a voice sing a forlorn song about being bewitched and forsaken He goes on through the forest to the hut and consults the gold spinners who insist that the flower must be their sister He sleeps the night in the hut having a magic cake for his dinner secretly prepared by the eldest sister In the morning as he rides off he understands the language of the birds In this way he learns that the Wizard of Finland can help him and through the birds contacts him The wizard in the form of an eagle instructs him to stand on the river bank smeared with mud and say From a man into a crab Once he becomes a crab he is to swim to the flower cut its roots and rise with the lily to the surface Drifting with the current he is to ascend a large stone say From a crab into a man from a water lily into a maiden and so save the maiden He does all of these things and the maiden is restored more beautiful than ever and dressed in magnificent robes and jewels Now although to the Prince only hours had passed in fulfilling his mission actually ten days had gone by and the King and Queen were at church weeping for their dead son The Prince and maiden arrive and are married on the spot In their happiness the Prince forgets his promise to the Wizard to free the two maidens A crow berates them how could they forget the sisters Chagrined the Prince rescues the pair The eldest then makes up a poisoned cake to get rid of the Witch who eats on her return and dies The Prince and his bride and her sisters live quite happily recovering fifty wagonloads of the gold thread that had been hidden away by the Witch Analysis editAmerican folklorist D L Ashliman classified the tale in the Aarne Thompson Uther Index as type ATU 407 The Girl as a Flower 2 References edit Kreutzwald Friedrich Reinhold Ehstnische Marchen Halle Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses 1869 pp 1 24 Ashliman D L A Guide to Folktales in the English Language Based on the Aarne Thompson Classification System Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature vol 11 Westport Connecticut Greenwood Press 1987 p 84 ISBN 0 313 25961 5 External links edit nbsp Children s literature portal The Gold spinners as included by W F Kirby The Water lily The Gold spinners as included by Andrew Lang Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Gold spinners amp oldid 1122752903, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
