The Three Spinners facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Three Spinners |
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1912 illustration by Robert Anning Bell
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| Folk tale | |
| Name | The Three Spinners |
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| Data | |
| Aarne-Thompson grouping |
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| Country | Germany Italy |
| Published in | Grimm's Fairy Tales Italian Folktales |
The Three Spinners is a famous German fairy tale. The Brothers Grimm collected it in their book Grimms' Fairy Tales. It's also known as The Three Spinning Women. This type of story, called Aarne-Thompson type 501, is very popular across Europe.
This tale is often compared to other well-known stories like Rumpelstiltskin and Frau Holle. They share some similarities but also have clear differences.
An Italian version, The Seven Little Pork Rinds, was written by Giambattista Basile in 1634. Another Italian story, And Seven!, is found in Italo Calvino's Italian Folktales.
The first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales had a shorter version called Hateful Flax Spinning. However, "The Three Spinners" became the most famous one.
Contents
How the Story Began
The Brothers Grimm first published "The Three Spinners" in 1819. It appeared in the second edition of their book, Kinder- und Hausmärchen. They got the story from several people. Their main source was Paul Wigand. Jeanette Hassenpflug and Johannes Praetorius also shared versions.
The very first edition of the book in 1812 had a shorter tale. It was called "Hateful Flax Spinning" (German: Von dem bösen Flachsspinnen). This earlier version came from Jeanette Hassenpflug.
The Main Story
Once, there was a beautiful girl who was very lazy. She hated to spin flax. One day, her mother was scolding her for not working. The Queen happened to be passing by and heard the noise. She stopped to ask why the mother was punishing her daughter.
The mother felt ashamed to say her daughter was lazy. So, she told the Queen a lie. She said her daughter spun so much that they couldn't buy enough flax to keep her busy. The Queen was very impressed by this. She offered to take the girl to her castle.
A Royal Challenge
At the castle, the Queen led the girl to a room. It was completely full of flax. The Queen told the girl she had three days to spin it all. If she finished, she would marry the Queen's oldest son, the Prince.
Two days later, the Queen returned. She was surprised to see the flax untouched. The girl tried to make an excuse. She said she was homesick and couldn't spin. But she knew this excuse wouldn't work again.
Mysterious Helpers Arrive
That night, three strange women appeared in the room. Each had a very unusual body part. One had a huge, swollen foot. The second had a giant, overgrown thumb. The third had a long, hanging lip.
They offered to spin all the flax for the girl. But they had a condition. The girl had to invite them to her wedding. She also had to introduce them as her aunts. And she had to seat them at the main table. The girl quickly agreed to their terms. The three women then started spinning and finished all the flax.
A Happy Ending
In the morning, the Queen was very happy. All the flax was spun. She quickly arranged the wedding between the girl and her son. The girl then asked to invite her "aunts" to the wedding.
When the three women arrived, the King saw their strange features. He asked how they got such deformities. The three women explained that their bodies changed from years of spinning. Hearing this, the King made a rule. He forbade his new daughter-in-law, the beautiful girl, from ever spinning again.
Other Versions of the Story
Many different versions of "The Three Spinners" exist around the world. They often have similar ideas but with unique twists.
The Hateful Flax Spinning
In an older, shorter version by the Grimms, a king made his queen and daughters spin all the time. One day, he gave them a huge box of flax. The daughters were very upset. The queen invited three ugly old women to the castle to spin. The king saw them and asked about their deformities. They said it was from spinning. Because of this, the king told his wife and daughters they never had to spin again.
Italian Versions
The Seven Little Pork Rinds
In this Italian tale, a girl ate seven pieces of bacon. She left none for her mother. Her mother was beating her for being greedy. A merchant passed by and asked what was happening. The mother lied, saying her daughter was working too hard. The merchant decided right away to marry this "hard-working" girl.
After they married, the merchant went on a trip. He left his wife to spin. She tried to spin but accidentally splashed water on some fairies. The fairies found this funny. They offered to do all her spinning for her. Even with their help, the wife pretended the spinning made her sick. The merchant then decided she didn't have to spin anymore.
And Seven!
This version also features a merchant instead of a king. The mother scolds her daughter for eating "seven" bowls of soup. But she tells the merchant that "seven" means seven spindles of hemp the girl spun.
The helper women in this story are also deformed from spinning. They tell the girl to invite them to her wedding by calling their names. They warn her that if she forgets, things will be worse for her. The girl forgets their names and delays the wedding. The merchant sees the three women playing in the forest. He hears them call out their names, just like in the Rumpelstiltskin story. He tells his bride about it to cheer her up. This helps her remember the names. She invites her helpers, and the story ends happily.
Versions Without Magic
Some stories similar to "The Three Spinners" don't have magical helpers.
The Resourceful Spinner
In an Uzbek version called The Resourceful Spinner, there are no fairy spinners. Instead, the wife tries to eat and spin at the same time. A prince passes by, suffering from a bone stuck in his throat. Seeing the wife's funny actions makes him laugh so hard the bone comes out. His father, the ruler, is so thankful. He sends many weavers to spin all the flax.
Later, the wife bows to a beetle passing by. She tells her surprised husband it's actually her aunt, shriveled from weaving. Her husband then forbids her from ever weaving again. A similar Armenian tale has the wife lose the flax but find a gold nugget. She tells her husband it was a reward for her excellent work. Her mother later claims a black beetle is her aunt. The husband again forbids his wife from working.
