A fairy tale is a magical lullaby that every child sang before going to bed. And the Grimm brothers became the most outstanding authors - masters in this field. They gave rise to wonderful stories about Cinderella, the King of the Thrushbeard and the Sleeping Beauty. Also, the Brothers Grimm are those who wrote "Clever Peasant Daughter", "Little Finger Boy", "Little Red Riding Hood" and more.
The storytellers life
Today it’s hard to meet a person who is not familiar with the work of these two linguists, folklorists and researchers of German literature. But it is precisely the stories that Jacob and Wilhelm collected that became world heritage. Their tales of Snow White, Cinderella and the Bremen Town Musicians have been filmed many times. Also, the Brothers Grimm are those who wrote "The Smart Peasant Daughter" - a fairy tale that impresses with its wisdom and simplicity.
The Grimm brothers were born on January 4 in 1786 in the city of Hanau. They lived in the city of Igre for a very long time. In very narrow circles of scientists, the brothers are known as researchers of German folk culture and creators of the first German dictionary. Until now, their work is valuable to science. At first they were going to study law, but later they became interested in folk wisdom. So, they traveled around the country and carefully collected all the stories, legends and myths. Together with Karl Lahmann and Georg Beneke, the brothers are considered the founders of German philology and German studies. It is very important that the main purpose of their work was to keep the primary story exactly as the people knew it.
Such is the fairy tale "Clever peasant daughter." The Brothers Grimm noted that the idea of ​​this work, like many others, is found among different peoples of the world.
The beginning of an extraordinary story
It is not known exactly who and in what year told the writers about the wise and poor girl. But for the first time, fiction appeared in the second volume of The Tales of the Brothers Grimm, published in 1815.
The main characters are the king, the peasant and his wise daughter. The peasant was poor, and all he had was a small house. His only daughter started a conversation with his father that they should ask the king for land. The latter found out about their poverty and allocated a share.
From such a gift the legend “Smart Peasant Daughter” began. The author, or rather, the authors, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, further says that the small family worked hard on the land. Once they plowed and found a gold mortar. The man decided to give it to the king in gratitude for the allotment. But the daughter did not like this idea. She said that the king will accuse them of appropriating a pestle. And so it happened.
Tasks and answer
The king did not believe the peasant and put him in jail. The poor father always regretted that he did not listen to a rational daughter. The king found out about this and summoned the peasant to himself. He told everything as it was. To make sure that the girl is really so smart, the nobleman gave her difficult tasks. It is in this scene for the first time that the heroine’s cunning appears, which the author of the fairy tale “Clever Peasant Daughter” put into it. The girl did not come and did not come, not naked and not dressed. The girl performed everything correctly, and the king, who had earlier promised to marry her if she coped with the task, married her.
They lived happily until the young queen cheated. The main character of the fairy tale “Clever peasant daughter” was unable to stay away from someone else’s misfortune. The Grimm brothers gave her a new task.
Queen's Handwriting
Once the peasant turned to the queen, who heard about her wisdom. He told how the king had dishonored him. Her husband unjustly resolved a dispute between people on the street. The girl gave good advice to the offended man, but on the condition that he should in no case tell who gave him instructions.
The argument was that the king, who belonged to an honest peasant, gave the other person just because he was closer to him. Thus, it turned out that the foal was born from oxen.
The one who wrote “The Clever Peasant Daughter” practically repeated the trial, which was once administered by the wise Solomon. But in a fairy tale, events took a different turn. So, on the girl’s advice, the poor man spread his nets on the road and pretended to be fishing. When the king asked how it is possible to fish on land, the man said: "As easy as a foal from oxen."
Eternal wisdom
The king immediately realized that his wise wife intervened in the matter. He tortured the peasant until he confessed. Then the ruler told his beloved that he could no longer trust her and did not want to see her next to him. It could be the finale. But the one who wrote The Clever Peasant Daughter decided to finish the story happily.
The cunning woman seemed to submit to his will and asked to spend the last night in the castle. The king agreed, and in parting, he allowed her to take whatever she wished. She poured a sleepy potion into his drink and, when her husband fell asleep, wrapped him in sheets and took him out of the palace. The king woke up in her poor hut. The fairy tale “Clever peasant daughter” ended with the girl explaining that she had taken from the castle what she liked best. And the sweetest thing is her own husband.
The "sister" of a sensible girl
Often there is a story about a wise girl in fairy tales of other peoples of the world. There is such a story on Slavic lands. The motive in it is the same. Poor parents have a wise daughter who helps them out of trouble and defeats an arrogant ruler who loves to have fun with puzzles.
Repeatedly echoes the Slavic plot with the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm "Clever peasant daughter." The heroine shows cunning during the task that the master set for her. Like her German "sister", she does not go, and does not go, and not naked, and not dressed. For the correct answer, the rich man, as promised earlier, took the girl as his wife.
Still, for example, the Slav woman resolves the same dispute between peasants, but in a different way. The girl gives the foal to whom he will go, that is, for oxen or for horses. For such insolence, the pan kicked her out of the house, but allowed him to take anything with him. She, like her distant relative, watered the man with sleeping pills and took him with her. In the Slavic version, there are other details of the dispute between the master and the beggar.
Mentions about a smart beauty are not only among the Slavs. Such a character is present in the tales of Asia.
The Life of the Grimm Brothers Tales Today
Many times the works of brothers-storytellers appeared on the screens. Cartoons and films based on them have become a favorite pastime for millions of people. Recently, in 2009, “Smart Peasant Daughter” came to life on the screens. The author of the work is director Wolfgang Eisler. The country that made the fairy-tale film is the birthplace of famous brothers, Germany. Eisler acted not only as a director, but also as a screenwriter of an interesting story. He also worked on other tales of the Brothers Grimm.
So, today you learned who the author of the fairy tale "Clever Peasant Daughter" is. Since childhood, everyone has known the story of a smart girl who won the king’s heart, invented by the Grimm brothers - a wise and instructive work.