Essay #1 Grimm: Children's and Household Tales

I was immediately drawn to writing my essay on The Golden Bird, which is another telling of Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf; one of my favourite fairytales largely because of Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin's wonderful illustrations. In this essay especially I was disappointed by being unable to upload accompanying illustrations... I feel always, that I am far more articulate with pictures than words.

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The Role of Organic Gold as a Catalyst in The Golden Bird and Rumplestiltskin.

Gold is a valuable but finite resource, inorganically formed as a mineral (ThinkQuest 2000). Organically formed gold is a recurring plot device in fairytales, as it is a catalyst to quickly transform a character's fortune through the potential for an infinite supply of gold through organic reproduction. In The Golden Bird (Open Library n.d., 237) there exists a tree that bears golden apples, the golden bird, and golden horse; the titular character in Rumplestiltskin spun straw into gold for the miller's daughter (Open Library n.d., 228), and even in Jack and the Beanstalk a hen laid golden eggs (Marshall 2007).

The youngest Prince's fortune in The Golden Bird is dependent on securing organic forms of gold; he won't prove his worth to his father unless he can retrieve the golden bird, and the bird's owner will execute him unless he steals the golden horse. Securing these earthly golden riches is allegorical (Limouze n.d.) for the young prince proving his innate worthiness.

The King in Rumplestiltskin is drawn to marry the miller's daughter upon hearing her remarkable talent for spinning; alleged to include the ability to spin straw into gold. Her survival, like that of the young prince in The Golden Bird; is dependant on her ability to add to the King's fortune with organically produced gold “as he could never have enough of gold” (Open Library n.d., 229). Once she apparently accomplishes this feat through a deal made with the magical Rumplestiltskin, the King marries her, securing her future as a Queen.

In The Golden Bird the princess's testimony ultimately proves the young prince's accomplishments and worth, and in Rumplestiltskin the Queen defeats Rumplestiltskin by learning his true name; however in both tales the catalyst allowing these characters to prove their worth is organic gold.

References

Limouze, H. n.d. Rhetorical Figures of Style. http://www.wright.edu/cola/Dept/eng/limouze/STYLE711.HTM#allegory (accessed February 5, 2013).

Marshall, L. 2007. The Project Gutenberg EBook of Favorite Fairy Tales, by Logan Marshall. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20748/20748-h/20748-h.htm#beanstalk (accessed February 4, 2013).

Open Library. n.d. Household Stories. http://www.archive.org/stream/householdstories00grimrich (accessed February 4, 2013).

ThinkQuest. 2000. What is a Mineral? http://library.thinkquest.org/J002289/minerals.html (accessed February 5, 2013).