The Clever Little Tailor
The cunning little tailor is a farce (ATU 850, 1061, 1159 ). He stands in the Children's and Household Tales of the Brothers Grimm in place 114 (KHM 114).
Content
A proud princess gives her suitors a mystery. Three Schneider, of which hold the two older very clever, but the third for stupid should advise which color have the two hairs on her head. The first advises black and white, brown and red, the second, but the third right then silver and gold. But you do not want him and asks him to spend one more night at a bear in the barn. The tailor offers him nuts and crack them with your teeth, but gives him stones that not applying the bear. Then he plays the violin in front of him that he must dance. Under the pretext of teaching him the violin, he clamped his paws to claw cutting in a vice and then sleep in peace. Now the princess has to go with him to church, but the two jealous companions free the bear comes afterwards. The tailor stretches his naturally lean legs out of the carriage window and calls out to him that it was the vice. The bear lets go. The Schneider gets the princess.
Style
The final movement of the storyteller Wers not believe paid a dollar matches the facing liar represents the tailor.
Origin
Grimm's Fairy Tales include the farce from the second part of the first edition of 1815 ( there No. 28) in place 114 Comment recorded from the Schwalm district of Hesse and compares KHM 20 The Brave Little Tailor. The rates of gold and silver hair come else before. You still call Pröhles fairy tale for the youth (No. 28) and the gypsy and the Bear in Wolf's magazine for German mythology 1, 360
See also: KHM 22 The Riddle, KHM 134 The six servants, KHM 191 The sea-hare. See The beads Queen in Ludwig Bechstein's Deutsches storybook from 1845.
Interpretation
The tale combines two motifs, showing that it mitträgt alien culture features for Central Europe. These are (1 ) the matrilocality of marriage, that is, sons-in- drag to the bride's parents (and not daughters to the groom parents), and (2) - somewhat hidden - the Ultimogenitur, that is, inherit the youngest sons and not the oldest. Since these ancient customs were unusual in Germany, they had to be made plausible by the configuration of personalities. The first feature is explained by the special list of least suitor ( it need not always be a despised Wanderschneiderlein, similar tales use a swineherd or errant prince through the world - see Sleeping Beauty ); that not everyone is welcome suitor, is often associated with the cruelty of the Princess ( Turandot motif) or otherwise with the hardness of the bride's father founded (see The devil with the three golden hairs ). The second feature has the unbrotherly envy emphasize.