The Crystal Ball (fairy tale)

The crystal ball is a fairy tale (ATU 552, 518, 302). It is in the Children's and Household Tales of the Brothers Grimm from the 6th edition of 1850 instead 197 (KHM 197). There, the title The Krystallkugel wrote. It comes from Friedmund von Arnim's collection hundred new tales collected in the mountains of 1815 (No. 14 From the castle of the golden sun).

Content

A sorceress who does not trust her three sons, the oldest transformed into an eagle, the middle into a whale, but the youngest decides to save himself by flight, enchanted him before the mother in a " bear or a wolf ."

The third son is on his way to the castle of the golden sun, where he wants to redeem the cursed king's daughter, a task in which 23 young men already perished.

On the way he meets two giants fighting over a wishing-. The young man offers himself as referee, sits on the hat and moves on. At his call the giants to run a race. However, he forgets the agreement of the giants and sighs: "Oh, were I but on the castle of the golden sun! " Prompt promoted him of wishing- your destination.

The cursed king's daughter suffers from a curse that makes them look for any age. Only those who look into a magic mirror, she sees in their full beauty. After the young man has looked at them, his willingness to redeem it solidifies. To this end, he must obtain the crystal ball and hold the evil wizard who cursed the king's daughter. But this can happen only after a whole series of dangerous tasks.

So the boy must defeat an aurochs, who wait at a source, then flies a " fiery bird " on that needs to be forced to lay an egg whose yolk is the crystal ball. This " egg " may bounce anywhere, because otherwise it triggers a fire, in which the crystal is destroyed.

The young man is victorious in battle with the aurochs. When the fire bird flies up, the eagle - brother chases him until he drops an egg. Although this ignited a wooden hut by the sea, but the whale - brother puts out the fire. The youngest brother brings the crystal into the castle, the wizard declares himself defeated and the king's daughter appears in its true beauty. The tale ends: " Then the youth hastened to the king's daughter, and when he entered her room, she was standing there in the full splendor of her beauty, and joyfully they exchanged the rings together. "

Origin

The tale is included in the Children 's and Household Tales since the 6th edition of 1850 as No. 197. It comes from Friedmund von Arnim's collection hundred new tales collected in the mountains of 1815 (No. 14 From the castle of the golden sun). In the original, the story goes even further: He brings his bride away against her wishes, to show them to others, but she leaves him alone with iron shoes, which he needs to run ( as KHM 92 The king of the golden mountain ). He comes to a robber hut where hidden him a helpful old man and he finds three miracles. He flies to the sun, moon and winds, whose last leads him to her castle. He eats her invisible the soup from the spoon that she goes outside, where he shows up and says that she has regained her old key ( as KHM 67 The twelve huntsmen ), as the new king goes away. The reproduced part of the story is but the spirit of exactly the same ( the stealing from the giant's original less spontaneously, there are no rooms mentioned in the castle, the dialogue with the princess is more detailed: "If I had known that your aussähet so terrible, so I would not have come here. "). Grimm Note compares yet Pröhles Children's Tales # 1, Musäus No. 1, the three sisters and in Pentamerone (4, 3) the three kings.

Interpretation

Eugen Drewermann holds in his work " Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair - Grimm's Fairy Tales deeply psychologically interpreted " ( dtv 35056 ) subjektale a fairy tale interpretation appropriate (p.8 and 107-164 ), according to which the three brothers three souls in the chest a person symbolize: the soaring intellect, feeling and blurred " the ego ", which is struggling with violent impulses, until it comes to integration, which is symbolized by the profits of the crystal ball. In the three tales brothers Drewermann recognizes an analogy to Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel characters in " The Brothers Karamazov ". Drewermann then interprets " The Crystal Ball " as a fairy tale with animal transformation and "Search hike of love."

In addition to Drewermann itself could also make a objektale fairy tale interpretation. It would be assumed by the family situation of a single mother whose claims, the sons should " be different" (parents always wish that the children change ), leading to their transformation: the eldest son who is an eagle, grown to someone who " stand out " in the intellect. The second son mutated into a personality that protects from the large claim by in the emotional world of " duck" or maybe even whale- like much fat accumulates to compensate its produced by the mother feeling of inferiority. The third son chooses the solution " run away ". He brings the wishing- in: The dispute between the giant to this symbol of femininity could indicate that it is the Son matter which of several candidates ( huge for a child men), the mother comes back under the hood. The mother image determined in the Son but further the image of women, so that he only can only rate as ugly the king's daughter, the coveted companion. Only when he has achieved his relations with his inner tensions and aggressions ( aurochs, Firebird ), the intellectual advice of Adler - brother and soulful advice of the whale- brother can ( emotional intelligence, warmth ) help the young man is capable of the woman his election in to see proper perspective. The tale suggests that on the part of the woman and family problems exist, the wizard who defeated would be understood as "Father of the Bride", who does not want to release the daughter and condemned to the fate of an " old maid ".

In the background of this Grimm's fairy tale certainly is an idea of cosmic harmony, if we do not succeed 23 men to save the woman in the palace of the sun and has only the 24th success. Which points to the 24 hours that are required to round one day.

The crystal ball as a symbol of the integrated, autonomous self is the golden ball of the princess in the fairy tale The Frog Prince, near ( cf. KHM 82 The Three Sisters ). The dispute between two giants to a magic item still happens in The King of the Golden Mountain, The Raven, The drummer.

Animated series

• The Stolen Face, animation (. GDR 1979, 34 min, directed by Lothar Barke )
• Gurimu Meisaku Gekijo, Japanese cartoon series 1987, Episode 26: The Crystal Ball
• SimsalaGrimm, German animated series 1999 Season 2, Episode 5: The Crystal Ball

Filming

• From the brave blacksmith or O Statecnem covariance by Bozena Němcovás fairy tale The intrepid Mikesch Czechoslovakia in 1983 with Pavel Kriz as a blacksmith Mikesch Jan Kroner as Köhler Ondra and Martina Gasparovicova as Mikesch princess; The topic of Gimme The crystal ball is here taken in the fight with the black king of the underworld and integrated into the filmed tale of Nemcova; also here the Princess wins her beauty back when the giant is defeated without a heart. Incidentally run Němcovás fairy tale and the film by the valiant Blacksmith similar to Grimm's Dat Erdmänneken.