The Grimm brothers greatly appreciated the wealth of folk poetry. The Snow Maiden, a summary of which we will consider, was included in their first collection, Children's and Family Tales, published in 1812. A.S. Pushkin met him. The work “The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights” has direct parallels with what the brothers Grimm published. "Snow Maiden", the brief content of which we will consider, will confirm this with almost every line.
The beginning of a fairy tale
The queen, looking at the snowy landscape outside the window, sewed and pricked her finger to the blood and began to dream that the baby was born as snow, white as blood, rosy, and with black hair like tree trunks.
When her wish came true, and a pretty, white, ruddy brunette girl was born, the baby was called Snow White, or Snow Maiden. Mother soon died. A year later, the widower played a wedding with a proud and arrogant beauty.
She had a magic mirror, with which she often talked and always asked the same thing: “Who is the most beautiful in the world?” The answer was unchanged: "You are the most beautiful."
The grown princess
Once upon a favorite question, the mirror gave the queen a terrible answer that the Snow Maiden was more beautiful. So continue the story of the Brothers Grimm. Snegurochka (the summary of the tale becomes more dramatic) by the order of her mother was taken to the forest and should be killed. But she was pitied and left alive.
Gnomes
In the forest, the girl came across a small neat hut. She tried the food on the table. Tired, she fell asleep in the crib. The owners came - 7 gnomes - and noticed a sleeping girl. They did not wake her, and in the morning, having learned her terrible story, they offered to live with them and monitor the household.
This is a continuation of the fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Snegurochka (a summary of the fairy tale story continues) in the house of the gnomes easily kept everything in order. But the dwarves warned her to beware of the wiles of her stepmother.
What did the evil queen do
She learned from the mirror that her stepdaughter surpasses her beauty. Then the queen changed into a merchant and went with elegant belts and ribbons to the house of the gnomes. She persuaded the girl to buy a lace and tightened the corset on it so tight that the girl fell dead. When the dwarves returned, they cut the tight ribbons, and the girl came to her senses.
The stepmother did not calm down. She made a poisonous comb and came again. The comb was so beautiful that the Snow Maiden bought it, and the stepmother combed her hair. The girl fell again, dying. The stepmother left a comb in her hair. Dwarves, having seen this terrible picture, rescued the girl by removing the scallop from her head.
For the third time, the stepmother half poisoned the rosy apple and went to treat them to the girl in order to kill for sure. To prove that it was tasty and healthy, she cut it in half. She ate a barrel without poison, and the Snow Maiden bit off a poisonous piece and died.
The rescue
Dwarves could not revive the beauty, but she was as alive. They mourned the Snow Maiden for 3 days. Then they brought the crystal coffin with the girl to the top of the mountain and began to guard him. And then the prince appeared. He fell in love with a girl who seemed only to be fast asleep. The dwarves gave the coffin to the prince; his servants carried the girl. They stumbled, and a piece of poisonous apple fell out of the neck of the Snow Maiden. She came to life.
The end of the tale
The happy prince got married with the princess. The first beauty of the Universe was invited to her - stepmother. But from the mirror she learned that the young bride is prettier than she. The villain went to find out who surpassed her beauty, and saw the Snow Maiden. She was punished, and she died as cruelly as she had done all her life.
Characters
The heroes of the fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" are traditional. The Brothers Grimm relied on folk tales of kings and queens, mother and stepmother, daughter and stepdaughter, noble prince-savior and hardworking gnomes who are looking for copper and gold in the mountains. The storytellers processed a huge amount of material and collected all the best.
Brothers Grimm, "The Snow Maiden": theme, plot and symbolism
The theme of the tale is revealed through the plot and characters. The main engine - the stepmother - is the personified evil that actively acts.
Number 3 occurs repeatedly in the tale. 3 drops of blood fell from the finger of his mother, 3 visits to the evil queen, 3 objects of
Aphrodite (belt, scallop and apple), which the villain gave the Snow Maiden as gifts of Death. Number 3 goes back to the Holy Trinity. According to Jung, Satan was the 2nd son of God. Wasn't the stepmother his female incarnation? She is not by chance the 2nd wife of the king. The number 7 is related to time. 7 gnomes are metaphorical 7 days of the week.
Leaving aside another complex symbolism, we will return to what lies on the surface. From folk tales, the Grimm brothers (“The Snow Maiden”) transferred the ideal to their work. The main idea of the tale: good always conquers evil.