Among all the authors who rewrote folk tales and created their own stories based on them, the Grimm brothers are among the most famous. Many revered literary works came out from under their pen, and Grandma-Metelitsa (German folk tale), embodied in literary form, is no exception. Consider its summary, characteristics of the main characters, and also try to make a small analysis of the work.
"Grandmother-Snowstorm" (German folk tale): plot plot
So, as usual, one widow had two daughters: a native and a stepdaughter. It goes without saying that the first was an absolute idler, and the second was a working girl. "Grandma-Metelitsa" (German folk tale), including a brief summary, begins precisely with the opposition of two daughters. Incidentally, this approach is also observed in Russian folk tales, which will be discussed in the analysis section of the work.
The stepdaughter was engaged in the fact that for days on end she sat in the yard and spun yarn. Her fingers were completely punctured by a spindle, so much so that they constantly bleed. It so happened that once the poor thing noticed that the spindle was stained with blood. He had to be washed, and she went to the well in order to scoop up water. But then the unexpected happened - the spindle fell down.
This was followed by scolding from her stepmother, the girl decided to jump into the well to pull out the spindle. “Grandma-Metelitsa” (German fairy tale) continues the summary by the fact that it is from this moment that the adventures of the main positive heroine begin, which will lead to a logical result. But the girl still has many trials ahead, and quite serious ones, from which she will come out, as they say, with honor.
Folk tale "Grandmother-Blizzard": the adventures of a working girl
After jumping into the well, to her great amazement, the girl found herself not in the water, but in a green meadow. Her surprise knew no bounds when she went on.
Then she saw an oven in which there was a huge amount of baked bread. They heated up to such an extent that they could no longer be inside the brazier, and asked the girl to pull them out. Of course, she took a shovel and pulled them out.
Further, as the “Grandma-Blizzard” (German folk tale) narrates, she met an apple tree, bent under the weight of ripe fruits. They also asked the girl to shake them off, as they were fully ripe. And this is our heroine did.
Then she came to a small house, where an old woman with big teeth met her. At first the girl was a little scared, but when she saw a good attitude towards herself, she calmed down.
The old woman said that her name is Granny-Metelitsa, and when her feather bed is whipped, so that the fluff flew, then in the human world there is fluffy snow. She said that from now on, the girl should deal with this matter.
Grandma's reward
So our heroine decided to stay with the old woman, constantly doing household work. However, despite the fact that she lived much better here, she began to yearn for home and asked Metelitsa to let her go. Grandmother replied that the girl has a good heart, and, accordingly, the reward for her work will be impressive.
She brought the girl to the gate, and when she passed through them, a rain of gold fell upon her. The girl returned to her native places, and the cockerel who saw her shouted that the girl was all in gold.
Sloth
Having looked at it, the stepmother decided to send to the Metelitsa and the lazy dog, so that she would acquire gold. But along the way, the girl refused to help both the stove and the apple tree. Arriving at the house of Metelitsa, on the first and second day with a whipping of a feather-bed, she still somehow managed (she remembered the award), but on the third day she refused to get out of bed.
Logical result
Then the grandmother and she decided to "award". The sloth thought gold would also sprinkle on her, but instead got a bucket of black soot. The cockerel, seeing her return, shouted that the "blackie" was returning. No matter how she tried to launder herself from soot, nothing worked, and still remained a nerd.
Brief analysis of the plot
So we briefly and sorted the work. Probably, in the story, many will understand that "Grandma-Metelitsa" (German folk tale) very much resembles Russian folk tales, which, incidentally, were created much earlier. With all this, the work itself is as if cobbled together from two classic Russian plots, isn’t it?
Obviously, in the fairy tale “Grandma-Metelitsa”, the Brothers Grimm built a brief summary on such famous works of the Russian epic as “Geese-Swans” (meeting with a stove and an apple tree) and “Morozko” (jumping into a well, beating up the snowstorm of Metelitsa and an award) .
Of course, based on the foregoing, this could be called plagiarism, but there is one “but”. The fact is that most critics classify the Grimm brothers not so much as composers of fairy tales, but as retellers and distributors of classic plots related to the folk epic. Agree, and to call this fairy tale purely German is simply impossible. Not to mention Russian mythology and epics, such subjects can be found in many literary works of any nationality and in any culture.
However, as it is probably already clear, this does not make the work less interesting, especially since it is written in a simple language designed for a children's audience. But the conclusions here are clearly "adults." After all, this tale can be attributed precisely to those works that condemn laziness. And complaisance and hard work will always be rewarded, even if you do not expect this at all.
Naturally, laziness and unwillingness to help one's neighbor only lead to the fact that the reward will be appropriate (as is the case with a lazy girl). And this, I must say, for many children can be a visual lesson demonstrating how to relate to others and to work.