King Lindworm facts for kids
Quick facts for kids King Lindworm |
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The maiden amidst the Lindorm's shed skins. Illustration by Henry Justice Ford for Andrew Lang's The Pink Fairy Book (1897).
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| Folk tale | |
| Name | King Lindworm |
| Also known as | Prince Lindworm |
| Data | |
| Aarne–Thompson grouping | ATU 433B (Prince Lindworm) |
| Region | Denmark |
| Published in | Gamle danske minder i folkemunde, by Svend Grundtvig (1854) |
King Lindworm or Prince Lindworm (Danish: Kong Lindorm) is a Danish fairy tale published in the 19th century by Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig.
It is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 433B, a type that deals with maidens disenchanting serpentine husbands.
Summary
In this tale from Scandinavian folklore, a "half-man, half-snake" lindworm is born, as one of twins, to a queen, who, in an effort to overcome her childless situation, has followed the advice of an old crone, who tells her to eat two onions. She did not peel the first onion, causing the first twin to be a lindworm. The second twin is perfect in every way. When he grows up and sets off to find a bride, the lindworm insists that a bride be found for him before his younger brother can marry.
Because none of the chosen maidens are pleased by him, he eats each until a shepherd's daughter who spoke to the same crone is brought to marry him, wearing every dress she owns. The lindworm tells her to take off her dress, but she insists he shed a skin for each dress she removes. Eventually his human form is revealed beneath the last skin. Some versions of the story omit the lindworm's twin, and the gender of the soothsayer varies.
Translations
The tale was published in a compilation of tales "from the North" with illustrations by artist Kay Nielsen, with the title Prince Lindworm.
Variants
A geographical analysis of variants by folklorist Stith Thompson led him to believe its origin lay in the East, since variants are found in India, in the Near East and in Scandinavia (in Denmark and in southern Sweden).
Sweden
Folklorist Andrew Lang translated and published a Swedish variant in his Pink Fairy Book with the title King Lindorm. The first part of story follows the tale type very closely, with the birth of the serpent boy and the marriage with the human maiden. In the second part of the story, the (now human) King Lindorm goes to war and leaves his expecting wife in her stepmother's care. His wife gives birth to twin boys, but the evil stepmother writes to her stepson-in-law that the queen gave birth to whelps. A faithful servant of King Lindorm hides the queen and her sons in the castle, but she moves out to a hut in the forest where a man named Peter lives. By living with him, the queen discovers Peter made a pact wih "The Evil One" and is supposed to meet him in a dense forest. The queen decides to rescue his contract with the help of three nuts that sprouted in her mother's grave. Stith Thompson remarked that this sort of narrative, with the tale type continuing with the adventures of the bride/wife, may have originally formed in the Near East.
Germany
In a tale from South Germany collected by Ignaz and Joseph Zingerle, titled Die Schlange ("The Snake"), a count's wife gives birth to a serpent son who lives in his own chamber. When the snake is twenty years old, it requests his mother to find him a wife. On her wedding night, the maiden wears seven layers of clothing, as she was instructed to do, and to dispose of each layer as her husband sheds his own layers of snakeskin.
Ludwig Bechstein published the tale Siebenhaut (de) ("Sevenskins"), wherein a count's wife, being insulted by her husband and called "a snake", gives birth to a snake. When the snake is twenty years old, it asks his mother to procure him a wife. A maiden, instructed by an angel in a dream, dresses in seven layers of clothing in order to redeem her husband and break his enchantment.
Greece
A Greek variant has been collected by Richard M. Dawkins with the name The Girl With Two Husbands. In this variant, as the snake prince lays off each layer of snakeskin, his bride throws it in the fire.
Turkey
Turkologist Ignác Kúnos collected a Turkish tale titled Der Drachenprinz und die Stiefmutter ("The Dragon-Prince and the Stepmother"). In this story, a padishah wants to have a child, so he prays to Allah for a son after seeing a dragon stroll along with its children. His wife becomes pregnant but, by the time of the baby's delivery, every midwife dies of shock. A mean stepmother sends her stepdaughter to suffer the same fate, but the maiden cries on her mother's grave and her spirit counsels the daughter. The maiden successfully helps the padishah's son: a dragon. Later, the dragon wants to be educated, so the stepmother tries the same trick, but the maiden goes unscathed. The dragon, finally, wants to be married, but every maiden is devoured every night, a fate the stemother wishes on her stepdaughter. The maiden is once again helped by her mother's spirit and is instructed to wear seven layers of clothing on her wedding night to disenchant the dragon. At last, the stepmother is triumphant: she succeeds in expelling the newly crowned princess after the Drachenprinz (now human) goes to war. The Dragon-Prince's wife has further adventures until she is finally reunited with her husband.
