The Green Knight (fairy tale) facts for kids

The Green Knight (in Danish: Den grønne Ridder) is a Danish fairy tale. It was collected by two famous Danish storytellers, Svend Grundtvig (who lived from 1824 to 1883) and Evald Tang Kristensen (who lived from 1843 to 1929).

Later, a writer named Andrew Lang translated a version of this story into English. He included it in his book The Olive Fairy Book in 1907. This tale is a mix of different story types. It has parts that are like Cinderella, where a kind character is treated badly. It also has elements of stories where a prince can turn into a bird.

The Story of the Green Knight

A New Stepmother

The story begins with a king and his daughter, a princess. The queen, the princess's mother, became very ill. Before she passed away, she asked her husband, the king, to promise he would always do what their daughter asked. The king agreed to this promise.

After some time, a count's widow and her daughter came to the castle. They were very clever and tried hard to become friends with the princess. They wanted the princess to like them a lot.

The widow then told the princess that she and her daughter could not stay at the castle unless the king married her. The princess, wanting her new friends to stay, asked her father to marry the widow. Even though the king had some doubts, he kept his promise to his late wife and married the woman.

Life with the Stepmother

As soon as she became the princess's stepmother, the new queen started treating the princess very unkindly. The king noticed this and felt sad for his daughter. To protect her, he sent the princess to live in a beautiful summer palace. Sometimes, he even had a new palace built just for her.

One day, the king visited the princess at her summer palace. He was going on a long journey to a big tournament and wanted to say goodbye. The princess asked him to give her greetings to someone called the Green Knight.

Meeting the Green Knight

At the tournament, the king looked for the Green Knight but couldn't find anyone by that name. On his way home, he rode through a deep forest. There, he met a swineherd (someone who looks after pigs). The king asked whose pigs they were. The swineherd replied that they belonged to the Green Knight.

The king continued his journey and soon found a wonderful castle. This was where the Green Knight lived. He was a handsome young man. The king gave him his daughter's greetings. The Green Knight was surprised because he had never heard of the princess before. He welcomed the king warmly and gave him a special gift. This gift was either a green book or a small box with his picture inside.

Secret Visits

The king returned home and gave the gift to his daughter. If it was the green book, the princess didn't know why she had asked about the Green Knight. But when she looked through the book's pages, the Green Knight would fly in as a bird and visit her. If it was the box with his picture, she recognized him as the man she had dreamed about, and he would come to visit her.

In all versions of the story, the Green Knight visited the princess in secret. They wanted to keep their meetings hidden from her stepmother. However, the stepmother eventually found out about their secret visits.

A Dangerous Plan

The stepmother then made a dangerous plan. In the versions where the Green Knight visited as a bird, she put a pair of poisoned scissors in the window. In other versions, she put a poisoned nail in the oar he used to row to the palace. In every story, the Green Knight was hurt during his visit to the princess. Because of his injury, he stopped coming to see her.

The Princess's Journey

The princess didn't know why the Green Knight had stopped visiting. One day, a bird told her, or she overheard two birds talking, that the Green Knight was very ill. They also said that a special snake, with nine young snakes, living in her father's stables, could cure him.

The princess bravely went to her father's stables and found the snakes. She then traveled to the Green Knight's castle. There, she got a job working in the kitchen. She convinced the kitchen staff to let her prepare soup for the Green Knight. For three days, she fed him soup made from three of the young snakes. Slowly, the Green Knight began to recover.

A Happy Ending

In some versions of the story, the Green Knight came to the kitchen and recognized the princess right away. In other versions, the princess asked to marry him, but he refused because he had already promised to marry someone else. Then, she cleaned herself up, and he finally recognized her. In all versions, the princess and the Green Knight eventually married and lived happily ever after.