The Girl Without Hands
Encyclopedia
The Girl Without Hands or The Handless Maiden or The Girl With Silver Hands or The Armless Maiden is a German fairy tale
collected by the Brothers Grimm
, tale number 31. It is Aarne-Thompson type 706.
if the miller gave him what stood behind the mill. Thinking that it was an apple tree, the miller agreed, but it was his daughter. When three years had passed, the devil appeared, but the girl had kept herself sinless and her hands clean, and the devil was unable to take her. The devil threatened to take the father if he did not chop off the girl's hands, and she let him do so, but she wept on her arms' stumps, and they were so clean that the devil could not take her, so he had to give her up.
She set out into the world, despite her father's wealth. She saw a royal garden and wanted to eat some pears she saw there. An angel helped her. The pears were missed the next day, and the gardener told how she appeared. The king awaited her the next day and, when she came again, married her and made her hands out of silver. She gave birth to a son, and his mother sent news to the king, who had gone off to battle, but the messenger stopped along the way, and the devil got at the letter, changing it to say that she had given birth to a changeling
. The king sent back that they should care for the queen nonetheless, but the devil got at that letter too, and once again changed it, saying that they should kill the queen and the child and keep the queen's heart as proof.
The king's servant despaired, and, to produce the heart, killed a hind and sent the queen and her son out into the world to hide. The queen went into a forest, and an angel brought her to a hut, and helped her nurse her son.
The king returned to his castle, and they discovered the letters had been tampered with. The king set out to find his wife and child. After seven years, he found the hut, and lay down to sleep with a handkerchief to cover his face. His wife came out, and when the handkerchief fell, directed her son to put it back on. The child grew angry, since he had been told that the Father in heaven was man's true father, but no one on earth. The king got up to ask who they were, and she told him. He said that his wife had silver hands, but she had natural ones, to which she replied that God had given them back to her. Then she went to retrieve her silver hands that had fallen off and returned to show the king.
, The Nixie of the Mill-Pond
, The Grateful Prince
, and King Kojata
), but not in the original version of this one. Indeed, one study of German folk tales found that of 16 variants collected after the publication of Grimms' Fairy Tales, only one followed the Grimms in this opening.
In starker versions of the tale found around the world, the maiden's dismemberment comes when she refuses the sexual advances of her father or her brother, as in the Xhosa version of the tale, "A Father Cuts Off His Daughter's Arms". In Basile's Penta of the Chopped-off Hands
, the heroine has her own hands cut off in order to repulse her brothers' advances. Other variants of this tale include The One-Handed Girl
, The Armless Maiden
, and Biancabella and the Snake
.
This is not the commonest form of fairy tale to contain the father who attempts to marry his daughter. Allerleirauh
, The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter
and others of Aarne-Thompson type 510B are found more frequently. However, this motif was taken up in chivalric romance exclusively in tales like The Girl Without Hands; no romance includes the Cinderella-like ending of three balls that are the characteristic conclusion of the persecuted heroine. The oldest such retelling appears in Vitae Duorum Offarum
, naming the king Offa; the king himself appears to be historical, but the details of his kingdom are inaccurate. Other romances that use the plotline of this fairy tale include Emaré
, Mai and Beaflor, and La Belle Helene de Constantinople.
Various attempts have been made to explain why her hands are the target of her father's -- or sometimes her brother's -- rage at being thwarted, but the motif, though widespread, has never been clear, and when motives are supplied, they vary greatly. In Penta of the Chopped-off Hands, Basile went to great lengths to provide a motif for his heroine's actions: her brother, exclaiming over her beauty, dwells with particular detail on the loveliness of her hands. In the chivalric romance La Manekine, the princess does it herself because by law the king can not marry any woman missing any part of her body.
The mother falsely accused of giving birth to strange children is in common between tales of this type and that of Aarne-Thompson 707, where the woman has married the king because she has said she would give birth to marvelous children, as in The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird
, Princess Belle-Etoile
, Ancilotto, King of Provino
, The Wicked Sisters
, and The Three Little Birds
. A related theme appears in Aarne-Thompson type 710, where the heroine's children are stolen from her at birth, leading to the slander that she killed them, as in Mary's Child
or The Lassie and Her Godmother
.
In the second part of the tale, the Brothers Grimm also departed from the commonest folklore themes. Typically, the girl is the victim of her mother-in-law, as in The Twelve Wild Ducks
, The Six Swans
, Perrault's Sleeping Beauty
, and The Twelve Brothers
. This motif, where the (male) villain stems from an earlier grudge, also appears in the French literary tale Bearskin
.
's short story "The Armless Maiden," and poems by Anne Sexton
("The Maiden without Hands"--in her book Transformations), Margaret Atwood
("Girl Without Hands"), Elline Lipkin ("Conversations With My Father"), Vicki Fever ("The Handless Maiden"), Nan Fry
("Pear"), Rigoberto Gonzalez
("The Girl With No Hands"). Andrea L. Peterson's No Rest for the Wicked
has a character named Clare, the girl from this story.
where at the end the girl takes revenge on her father with the use of her husband's army. In 2011, the story was also the basis for a production by Kneehigh Theatre
called The Wild Bride.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
collected by the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
, tale number 31. It is Aarne-Thompson type 706.
Synopsis
A poor miller was offered wealth by the devilPact with the Devil
A deal with the Devil, pact with the Devil, or Faustian bargain is a cultural motif widespread in the West, best exemplified by the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, but elemental to many Christian folktales...
if the miller gave him what stood behind the mill. Thinking that it was an apple tree, the miller agreed, but it was his daughter. When three years had passed, the devil appeared, but the girl had kept herself sinless and her hands clean, and the devil was unable to take her. The devil threatened to take the father if he did not chop off the girl's hands, and she let him do so, but she wept on her arms' stumps, and they were so clean that the devil could not take her, so he had to give her up.
She set out into the world, despite her father's wealth. She saw a royal garden and wanted to eat some pears she saw there. An angel helped her. The pears were missed the next day, and the gardener told how she appeared. The king awaited her the next day and, when she came again, married her and made her hands out of silver. She gave birth to a son, and his mother sent news to the king, who had gone off to battle, but the messenger stopped along the way, and the devil got at the letter, changing it to say that she had given birth to a changeling
Changeling
A changeling is a creature found in Western European folklore and folk religion. It is typically described as being the offspring of a fairy, troll, elf or other legendary creature that has been secretly left in the place of a human child. Sometimes the term is also used to refer to the child who...
. The king sent back that they should care for the queen nonetheless, but the devil got at that letter too, and once again changed it, saying that they should kill the queen and the child and keep the queen's heart as proof.
The king's servant despaired, and, to produce the heart, killed a hind and sent the queen and her son out into the world to hide. The queen went into a forest, and an angel brought her to a hut, and helped her nurse her son.
The king returned to his castle, and they discovered the letters had been tampered with. The king set out to find his wife and child. After seven years, he found the hut, and lay down to sleep with a handkerchief to cover his face. His wife came out, and when the handkerchief fell, directed her son to put it back on. The child grew angry, since he had been told that the Father in heaven was man's true father, but no one on earth. The king got up to ask who they were, and she told him. He said that his wife had silver hands, but she had natural ones, to which she replied that God had given them back to her. Then she went to retrieve her silver hands that had fallen off and returned to show the king.
Variants
The Brothers Grimm altered the tale they had collected, incorporating a motif found in other fairy tales, of a child unwittingly promised (a motif found in Nix Nought NothingNix Nought Nothing
Nix Nought Nothing is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his English Fairy Tales. A similar tale was collected by Andrew Lang in Scotland...
, The Nixie of the Mill-Pond
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond is a German fairy tale. The Brothers Grimm collected in their Grimm's Fairy Tales, as tale number 181. Andrew Lang included a version in The Yellow Fairy Book, citing his source Hermann Kletke and titling it The Nixy....
, The Grateful Prince
The Grateful Prince
The Grateful Prince is an Estonian fairy tale, collected by Dr. Friedrich Kreutzwald in Eestirahwa Ennemuistesed jutud. W. F. Kirby included in The Hero of Esthonia. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book; he listed his source as Ehstnische Märchen, which was the German translation of...
, and King Kojata
King Kojata
King Kojata or The Unlooked for Prince or Prince Unexpected is a Slavonic fairy tale. Andrew Lang included the Russian version King Kojata, in The Green Fairy Book. A. H. Wratislaw collected a Polish variant Prince Unexpected in his Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources, number 17...
), but not in the original version of this one. Indeed, one study of German folk tales found that of 16 variants collected after the publication of Grimms' Fairy Tales, only one followed the Grimms in this opening.
In starker versions of the tale found around the world, the maiden's dismemberment comes when she refuses the sexual advances of her father or her brother, as in the Xhosa version of the tale, "A Father Cuts Off His Daughter's Arms". In Basile's Penta of the Chopped-off Hands
Penta of the Chopped-off Hands
Penta of the Chopped-off Hands or The Girl With the Maimed Hands is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone....
, the heroine has her own hands cut off in order to repulse her brothers' advances. Other variants of this tale include The One-Handed Girl
The One-Handed Girl
The One-Handed Girl is a Swahili fairy tale, collected by Edward Steere in Swahili Tales. Andrew Lang included it in The Lilac Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 706...
, The Armless Maiden
The Armless Maiden
The Armless Maiden is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.It is Aarne-Thompson type 706, the girl without hands...
, and Biancabella and the Snake
Biancabella and the Snake
Biancabella and the Snake is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in The Facetious Nights of Straparola....
.
This is not the commonest form of fairy tale to contain the father who attempts to marry his daughter. Allerleirauh
Allerleirauh
Allerleirauh is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no. 65. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book....
, The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter
The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter
"The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter" is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as Ann Darroch from Islay.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love...
and others of Aarne-Thompson type 510B are found more frequently. However, this motif was taken up in chivalric romance exclusively in tales like The Girl Without Hands; no romance includes the Cinderella-like ending of three balls that are the characteristic conclusion of the persecuted heroine. The oldest such retelling appears in Vitae Duorum Offarum
Vitae duorum Offarum
The Vitae duorum Offarum "The lives of the two Offas" is a literary history written in the mid-thirteenth century, apparently by the St Albans monk Matthew Paris.-Account:...
, naming the king Offa; the king himself appears to be historical, but the details of his kingdom are inaccurate. Other romances that use the plotline of this fairy tale include Emaré
Emaré
Emaré is a middle English Breton lai, a form of Mediaeval Romance poem, told in 1035 lines. The author of Emaré is unknown and exists in only one manuscript, the Cotton Caligula A. ii, which contains ten metrical narratives. Emaré seems to date from the late fourteenth century, possibly written in...
, Mai and Beaflor, and La Belle Helene de Constantinople.
Various attempts have been made to explain why her hands are the target of her father's -- or sometimes her brother's -- rage at being thwarted, but the motif, though widespread, has never been clear, and when motives are supplied, they vary greatly. In Penta of the Chopped-off Hands, Basile went to great lengths to provide a motif for his heroine's actions: her brother, exclaiming over her beauty, dwells with particular detail on the loveliness of her hands. In the chivalric romance La Manekine, the princess does it herself because by law the king can not marry any woman missing any part of her body.
The mother falsely accused of giving birth to strange children is in common between tales of this type and that of Aarne-Thompson 707, where the woman has married the king because she has said she would give birth to marvelous children, as in The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird
The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird
The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales...
, Princess Belle-Etoile
Princess Belle-Etoile
Princess Belle-Etoile is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. Her source for the tale was Ancilotto, King of Provino, by Giovanni Francesco Straparola....
, Ancilotto, King of Provino
Ancilotto, King of Provino
Ancilotto, King of Provino is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in The Facetious Nights of Straparola....
, The Wicked Sisters
The Wicked Sisters
The Wicked Sisters is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.Ruth Manning-Sanders included it, as "The Queen's Children", in A Book of Kings and Queens.-Synopsis:...
, and The Three Little Birds
The Three Little Birds
The Three Little Birds is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 96. The story is originally written in Low German.It is Aarne-Thompson type 707, the dancing water, the singing apple, and the speaking bird....
. A related theme appears in Aarne-Thompson type 710, where the heroine's children are stolen from her at birth, leading to the slander that she killed them, as in Mary's Child
Mary's Child
Mary's Child or Our Lady's Child is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as tale number 3.The Brothers Grimm noted its similarity to the Italian The Goat-faced Girl and the Norwegian The Lassie and Her Godmother...
or The Lassie and Her Godmother
The Lassie and Her Godmother
The Lassie and Her Godmother is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr....
.
In the second part of the tale, the Brothers Grimm also departed from the commonest folklore themes. Typically, the girl is the victim of her mother-in-law, as in The Twelve Wild Ducks
The Twelve Wild Ducks
The Twelve Wild Ducks is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr.It is Aarne-Thompson type 451, the brothers who were turned into birds.-Plot summary:...
, The Six Swans
The Six Swans
The Six Swans is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is tale number 49. Andrew Lang included a variant in The Yellow Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 451: the brothers who were turned into birds...
, Perrault's Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince...
, and The Twelve Brothers
The Twelve Brothers
The Twelve Brothers is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 9. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 451, the brothers who were turned into birds...
. This motif, where the (male) villain stems from an earlier grudge, also appears in the French literary tale Bearskin
Bearskin (French fairy tale)
Bearskin is a French literary fairy tale attributed to Henriette-Julie de Murat.-Synopsis:A king and queen had lost all their children except a daughter, whom they were in no hurry to marry off. The king of the ogres, Rhinoceros, heard of her and decided to marry her; when he threatened the...
.
Fiction
Many contemporary fiction writers and poets have found inspiration in this fairy tale. Examples include Loranne Brown's novel The Handless Maiden, Midori SnyderMidori Snyder
Midori Snyder is an American writer of fantasy, mythic fiction, and nonfiction on myth and folklore. She has published eight novels for children and adults, winning the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati...
's short story "The Armless Maiden," and poems by Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
("The Maiden without Hands"--in her book Transformations), Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
("Girl Without Hands"), Elline Lipkin ("Conversations With My Father"), Vicki Fever ("The Handless Maiden"), Nan Fry
Nan Fry
Nan Fry is an American poet who lives in Washington, DC. Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and journals. Fry is the author of several books of poetry, including Relearning The Dark, published by Washington Writers Publishing House...
("Pear"), Rigoberto Gonzalez
Rigoberto González
Rigoberto González is an American writer and book critic. He is an editor and author of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and bilingual children's books, and self-identifies in his writing as a gay Chicano...
("The Girl With No Hands"). Andrea L. Peterson's No Rest for the Wicked
No Rest for the Wicked (webcomic)
No Rest for the Wicked is a fantasy webcomic by Andrea L. Peterson. The characters are loosely based on characters from traditional fairy tales, including those by Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm. The plot revolves around a princess who has been an insomniac since...
has a character named Clare, the girl from this story.
Theatre
It has recently become adapted to an episode of American McGee's GrimmAmerican McGee's Grimm
American McGee's Grimm is a 23-part episodic video game series based upon Grimm's Fairy Tales, designed by American McGee, developed by Spicy Horse and distributed online initially by GameTap starting July 31, 2008...
where at the end the girl takes revenge on her father with the use of her husband's army. In 2011, the story was also the basis for a production by Kneehigh Theatre
Kneehigh Theatre
Kneehigh Theatre is an international theatre company based in Cornwall, England.Kneehigh was started in 1980 by Mike Shepherd. Early productions were performed in village halls, marquees, cliff-tops and quarries...
called The Wild Bride.
See also
- The King of the Gold MountainThe King of the Gold MountainThe King of the Gold Mountain is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales.It is Aarne-Thompson type 401A, the enchanted princess in her castle...
- Nix Nought NothingNix Nought NothingNix Nought Nothing is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his English Fairy Tales. A similar tale was collected by Andrew Lang in Scotland...
- The Battle of the BirdsThe Battle of the BirdsThe Battle of the Birds is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands. He recorded it from a fisherman near Inverary, John Mackenzie...
- The Three Little BirdsThe Three Little BirdsThe Three Little Birds is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 96. The story is originally written in Low German.It is Aarne-Thompson type 707, the dancing water, the singing apple, and the speaking bird....
- Snow WhiteSnow White"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
- Gold-Tree and Silver-TreeGold-Tree and Silver-TreeGold-Tree and Silver-Tree is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his Celtic Fairy Tales. It is Aarne-Thompson type 709, Snow White. Others of this type include Bella Venezia, Nourie Hadig, and Myrsina.-Synopsis:...
- No Rest for the WickedNo Rest for the Wicked (webcomic)No Rest for the Wicked is a fantasy webcomic by Andrea L. Peterson. The characters are loosely based on characters from traditional fairy tales, including those by Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm. The plot revolves around a princess who has been an insomniac since...