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East of the Sun and West of the Moon
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East of the Sun and West of the Moon is the Norwegian version of an old Scandinavian fairy tale. The Swedish version is called Prince Hat under the Ground.
The Norwegian version East of the Sun and West of the Moon was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, and it is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband. The themes of marriage to the monstrous or mysterious husband, of curiosity inspired by the mother, and even the drops of spilled tallow are very similar to the Hellenistic romance of Eros and Psyche.
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Encyclopedia
East of the Sun and West of the Moon is the Norwegian version of an old Scandinavian fairy tale. The Swedish version is called Prince Hat under the Ground.
The Norwegian version East of the Sun and West of the Moon was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, and it is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband. The themes of marriage to the monstrous or mysterious husband, of curiosity inspired by the mother, and even the drops of spilled tallow are very similar to the Hellenistic romance of Eros and Psyche. Others of this type include The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway, The Daughter of the Skies, The King of Love, The Enchanted Pig, The Tale of the Hoodie, Master Semolina, The Sprig of Rosemary, The Enchanted Snake, and White-Bear-King-Valemon.
It was included by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book.
Synopsis
The White Bear approaches a poor peasant and asks if he will give him his youngest daughter; in return, he will make the man rich. The girl is reluctant, so the peasant asks the bear to return, and persuades her in the meantime. The White Bear takes her off to a rich and enchanted castle. At night, he takes off his bear form in order to come to her bed as a man, although the lack of light means that she never sees him.
When she grows homesick, the bear agrees that she might go home as long as she agrees that she will never speak with her mother alone, but only when other people are about. At home, they welcome her, and her mother makes persistent attempts to speak with her alone, finally succeeding and persuading her to tell the whole tale. Hearing it, her mother insists that the White Bear must really be a troll, gives her some candles, and tells her to light them at night, to see what is sharing her bed.
She obeys, and finds he is a highly attractive prince, but she spills three drops of the melted tallow on him, waking him. He tells her that if she held out a year, he would have been free, but now he must go to his wicked stepmother, who enchanted him into this shape and lives in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon, and marry her hideous daughter.
In the morning, she finds that the palace has vanished. She sets out in search of him. Coming to a great mountain, she finds an old woman playing with a golden apple. She asks if she knows the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. The old woman can not, but lends her a horse to reach a neighbor who might know, and gives her the apple. The neighbor is sitting outside another mountain, with a golden carding-comb. She, also, does not know the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon, but lends her a horse to reach a neighbor who might know, and gives her the carding-comb. The third neighbor has a golden spinning wheel. She, also, does not know the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon, but lends her a horse to reach — not a neighbor but the East Wind. She also gives her the spinning wheel.
The East Wind has never been to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon, but his brother the West Wind might have, being stronger. He takes her to the West Wind. The West Wind does the same, bringing her to the South Wind; the South Wind does the same, bringing her to the North Wind.
The North Wind reports that he once blew an aspen leaf there, and was exhausted after, but he will take her if she really wants to go. She does, and so he does.
The next morning, she takes out the golden apple. The daughter who was to marry the prince sees it and wants to buy it. The girl agrees, if she can spend the night with the prince. The daughter agrees but gives the prince a sleeping drink, so that the girl can not wake him, and does the same the next night, when it was the price of the carding comb.
But trying to wake the prince, she had wept and called on him, and some captive Christian-folk in the castle told the prince of it, and the third night, in return for the golden spinning wheel, the princess brings the drink, but the prince does not drink it, and so is awake. He tells her that she can save him: he will declare that he will not marry anyone who can not wash the tallow drops from his shirt, but trolls, such as his stepmother and her daughter, can not do it, only one born of Christian-folk, and so he will call her in, and she will be able to do it, so she will marry him.
The plan works, and the trolls, in a rage, burst. So the prince and his bride freed the Christian-folk captive there, and took the gold and silver, and left the castle east of the sun and west of the moon.
Commentary
The transformation of the man into a beast has often been interpreted to signify a young woman's revulsion from sexual activity. The element of being changed by his stepmother, giving a motive for his transformation, is unusual.
The urging of her father to marry the beast because of the financial benefits for the family represents a factor clearly present in arranged marriages. This tale has been interpreted as symbolically representing an arranged marriage; the bride's revulsion to marrying a stranger being symbolized by his bestial form.
Retellings
Film Adaptations
- The European film The Polar Bear King (Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon)
- In the early 1980s Don Bluth Productions began work on an animated feature film entitled "East of the Sun and West of the Moon". Ultimately, the film was never made due to a loss of financial backing, even though the film was heavily into production at the time of its cancellation.
See also
External links
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