Mythology and Folklore Blog

Snow White: Source This is the story of snow white and how she left her home because of her stepmother, the queen. When Snow White was born, her mother died. Her father soon remarried to an evil Queen. The Queen had a mirror and everyday she would look at it and ask who the fairest of them all was. The mirror would always answer back that she was the fairest of them all, but one day it said Snow White was. The Queen became incredibly jealous and sent a huntsman to hunt Snow White down and kill her. The Huntsman saw Snow White in the woods and spared her life after seeing she was innocent. He brought back the heart of an animal to trick the Queen into thinking he killed Snow White. Snow White then found herself entering a home in the woods and fell asleep.  Bibliography: Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886).

The fisherman and the flounder prince.  Source In this story, the fisherman catches a flounder who claims to be a prince. The prince begs the fisherman to let him go, and so he does. The flounder swims away and a trail of blood follows him. The fisherman goes back home to his wife and tells her about the prince. She tells him that he must go back and ask the flounder to give them a new cottage. It is a mystery how the wife knows that the prince will grant her wish. The fisherman goes back to the flounder and asks for his wish, and he grants it! The wife shortly becomes unhappy with the cottage and wants a bigger house. The fisherman thinks that his wife is being greedy and does not want to ask the prince, but he goes anyway.  Bibliography: Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886).