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| Brother and Sister Annotations SurLaLune Fairy Tales Main Page |
Below you will find the annotations for the Brother and Sister fairy tale. Sources have been cited in parenthetical references, but I have not linked them directly to their full citations which appear on the Brother and Sister Bibliography page. However, I have provided links back to the Annotated Brother and Sister page to make referencing between the notes and the story easier and faster. I have included the Grimms' notes to the tale as translated by Margaret Hunt followed by SurLaLune's textual annotations. The Grimms' Notes For the Tale From two stories from the "Ah, little sister, save me! But the little sister had already been thrown out of the window by the stepmother and changed into a duck, and from the water a voice came to him, saying, "Patience, dear brother mine, Afterwards when the little sister goes into the kitchen to the cook, and makes herself known to him, she asks "What do my my maids do, do they
still spin? He replies, "Thy maids they spin no more, Here, as in the story of The Three Little Men in the Forest (No. 13), the mother comes out of her grave to suckle and attend to her child, so likewise in the old Danish Volkslied (Danske viser, 1.206-208. Altd. Blatter, 1. 186.) The Swedish story, which is otherwise identical, lacks this feature. (See further on.) Melusina, after her disappearance, comes to her little sons Dietrich and Raimund, warms them at the fire, and suckles them; the nurses watch her, but dare not speak (Volksbuch). The Servian song of the walled-up mother who hushes her child, may be compared with this, and also a story in Le Foyer Breton, of Souvestre, pp. 3, 4, where a mother comes from her grave at night to take care of her children, which are neglected by their stepmother. Although again very different, La biche au bois, D'Aulnoy, No. 18, has some affinity to this. Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Household
Tales. Margaret Hunt, translator. 1. Brother: At times, this tale has been confused with a more famous brother and sister tale, Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Gretel has been known as Little Brother and Little Sister which is also an alternate title for this tale. The Grimms selected Hansel and Gretel for the tale by that name and kept the Brother and Sister title for this tale. Some publications of the Hansel and Gretel tale still use the Little Brother and Little Sister title, causing confusion for readers. According to Bruno Bettelheim, the brother
"represents the endangered aspect of an essentially inseparable
unity" (Bettelheim 1975, 79). 2. Sister: The sister is the protagonist of this tale. Similar to the sister in Six Swans, this sister endures the enchantment of her sibling, marries, and continues to be the target of a malicious stepmother. While there are many tales in which a brother and sister work well together, such as this one and Hansel and Gretel, there are few tales in which two sisters or two brothers work closely together. Siblings of the same gender are often rivals. One exception is the tale of Snow White and Rose Red. There are also many tales in which the sister has several brothers whom she strives to rescue from an enchantment, such as Six Swans. According to Bruno Bettelheim, the sister
as a "symbol of motherly care once one has become alienated from
home, is the rescuer" (Bettelheim 1975, 79). 3. Stepmother: The image of the evil stepmother occurs frequently in fairy tales. She is associated with jealousy and cruelty (Olderr 1986). "In masculine psychology, the stepmother is a symbol of the unconscious in a destructive role" (von Franz 1970). The stepmother figure is actually two sided, in that while she has destructive intentions, her actions often lead the protagonist into situations that identify and strengthen his or her best qualities. In the most common Russian variant of
this tale, Sister Alionushka, Brother Ivanushka (also known as Alenoushka
and Her Brother), the siblings are orphans with no parents. They
are forced to fend for themselves since no one else is available to
care for them. In the Russian version by Afanasyev, the children are
identified as a prince and princess. 4. Beats us regularly every day: This is
probably not an exaggeration. Physical abuse was not uncommon in times
past and was more acceptable, or at least more tolerated
, than it is today. 5. Our own dear mother: In her commentary
on the mother and stepmother roles in the Grimms' tales, Maria Tatar
writes: "Although the evil mother or stepmother is very much alive
in the fairy tale, the good mother--protecting, loving and nurturing--is
always dead. Yet she does not abandon her child completely, for she
inevitably returns in the shape of benevolent natural powers" (Tatar
1987, 73). 6. Let us go forth into the wide world
together: This is a stark contrast from Hansel and
Gretel. Hansel and Gretel are purposely lost in the forest by their
parents. This brother and sister purposely leave to escape the abuse
and poverty in their home. The implication is that these siblings are
much older than Hansel and Gretel and capable of taking care of themselves. 7. They started through fields and meadows:
In a Russian variant of this tale, Alenoushka
and Her Brother, the brother and sister walk across a dry plain
with the grass burned by the sun and sandy terrain. There they encounter
the strange enchantment of the water when they are riddled with thirst.
The enchantment does not happen in a forest as it does here. 8. A large forest: The forest is a recurrent image in German fairy tales, in part because over a quarter of the country is comprised of forest land. In the Grimms' tales, the forest is a supernatural world, a place where anything can happen and often does. According to Jungian psychology, the
forest is a representation of the feminine principle and is identified
with the unconscious. The foliage blocks the sun's rays, the sun being
associated with the male principle. The forest symbolizes the dangerous
side of the unconscious, its ability to destroy reason (Cirlot 1962)
and (Matthews 1986). 9. I'm so thirsty: According to Bruno
Bettelheim, as well as many other psychological critics, the brother's
thirst represents his "instinctual pressures" which we all
must learn to control (Bettelheim 1975, 80). 10. A witch: A witch and stepmother are the two villains in Hansel and Gretel. Many critics believe the two characters in that tale to be the same villain, both destroyed at the same time. This tale blatantly makes the stepmother the evil witch who persecutes the children. There is no differentiation between the stepmother and the witch. Another tale in which a stepmother witch persecutes her stepchildren is The Six Swans. Belief in witches exists in nearly every
culture worldwide (Leach 1949). In Jungian psychology, the witch is
a personification of evil which eventually consumes itself. The witch
symbolizes the destructive power of the unconscious (Luthi 1976). 11. Cast her spells over all the streams
in the forest: In some Russian variants of the tale, such as Afanasyev's
Sister Alionushka, Brother Ivanushkam and Ransome's Alenoushka
and Her Brother, no spell is described as being cast. In Sister
Alionushka, Brother Ivanushkam, the siblings encounter bodies of water
which are the watering places of various animals, each time the type
of animal the brother will become if he drinks at the same place as
the animals. In Alenoushka
and Her Brother, the siblings encounter hoofmarks of various animals
filled with sitting water. The brother is warned he will turn into the
shape of whichever animal's hoofmark he drinks from. The implication
of these variations tends to support Bettelheim's theories of the tale
being about controling our animal instincts. 12. Heard it murmuring: In Bettelheim's
analysis, "the sister, representing ego and superego [the higher
mental functions], recognizes the danger of seeking immediate satisfaction
and persuades the brother to resist his thirst" (Bettelheim 1975,
80). Other analysts interpret the murmuring as being protection from
the dead mother that the sister is able to hear, perhaps due to her
maturity and/or gender. 13. Who drinks of me will be a tiger!: The brother is "ready to permit himself to be carried away by his wish for immediate gratification (of his thirst), no matter what the cost of doing so. But should the brother give into the pressure of the id, he would become asocial, as violent as a tiger" (Bettelheim 1975, 80). If he turns into a tiger, he will destroy both himself and his sister since he would tear her to pieces in such a form. In the Russian variants, the animals
gradually reduce in size, but none of them are a physical threat to
the sister. In one version, the first animal transformation threatens
to be a horse. 14. A tiger: A tiger can symbolize "wrath,
cruelty, bloodthirstiness, ferocity, courage, brutality, jealousy, violent
desires, and treachery" (Olderr 1986). 15. A wolf: A tiger can symbolize "rapacity, rapine, hunger, hypocrisy, lust, cruelty, fraud, deceit, cunning, corruption, darkness, untamed nature, avarice, greed, and the lesser instincts taking control of more human instincts" (Olderr 1986). Note that a wolf, while a dangerous
animal, is still smaller than the preceding tiger. The wolf has become
a popular image in fairy tales thanks to Little Red Riding
Hood and The Tale of the
Three Little Pigs. The wolf is a common predator in the forest and
thus is a natural choice for the story. The wolf is often a metaphor
for a sexually predatory man. 16. You'll be turned into a wolf and eat me up: The
brother is still at risk of transforming into a dangerous beast if he
obeys his thirst and drinks the water. 17. Third: The number and/or pattern of three often appears in fairy tales to provide rhythm and suspense. The pattern adds drama and suspense while making the story easy to remember and follow. The third event often signals a change and/or ending for the listener/reader. The reasons and theories
behind three's popularity are numerous and diverse. The number has been
considered powerful across history in different cultures and religions,
but not all of them. Christians have the Trinity, the Chinese have the
Great Triad (man, heaven, earth), and the Buddhists have the Triple
Jewel (Buddha, Dharma, Sanga). The Greeks had the Three Fates. Pythagoras
considered three to be the perfect number because it represented everything:
the beginning, middle, and end. Some cultures have different powerful
numbers, often favoring seven, four and twelve. 18. A roe: A roe deer is "a small European and Asiatic deer having erect, cylindrical, branched antlers, forked at the summit. This, the smallest European deer, is very nimble and graceful. It always prefers a mountainous country, or high grounds" (Webster's 1990). In some of the Russian variants, the
brother is transformed into a lamb and a kid (baby goat). All of these
are playful, relatively benign animals, like the deer. In an Italian
tale, The
Stepmother, the brother becomes a calf with golden horns. 19. Run away from me: Note that if the brother drinks here, he will become a "much tamer animal. So much does delay--a partial obedience to the restraining aspects of our mental apparatus--achieve. But as the pressure of id (brother's thirst) increases, it overpowers the restraints of ego and superego: the sister's admonitions lose the power to control" (Bettelheim 1975, 80). Bettelheim also notes: "Even a limited degree of control achieves a high measure of humanization, as the reducation of animal ferocity from tiger to wolf to deer symbolizes" (Bettelheim 1975, 80). The brother will be hard to control
as a deer, but he will not pose a physical threat to his sister in his
beastly form. 20. Roebuck: A roebuck is a male roe
deer (Webster's 1990). 21. Dear little fawn: A fawn is "a
young deer; a buck or doe of the first year" (Webster's 1990).
The animal's youth represents the brother's own youth and immaturity. 22. I will never forsake you: Jack Zipes
theorizes that tales like this one and The Six Swans
were important to the Grimms for their messages about family fidelity
through adversity and separation (Zipes 1988, 40). 23. Golden garter: A garter is "a band worn around the leg to hold up
a stocking (or around the arm to hold up a sleeve)" (WordNet). 24. Rushes and plaited a soft cord of them:
Rushes are "grasslike plants growing in wet places and having
cylindrical often hollow stems" (WordNet). They are handy for
creating ropes and baskets. 25. Fastened to the collar: The brother,
in his transformed state, literally becomes the sister's pet. She, as
the more responsible adult, becomes the keeper of the animal with lower
instincts. 26. A little house: Many fairy tales include huts or little houses hidden in
a forest for various reasons, such as in Hansel and
Gretel, Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs, and Goldilocks and
the Three Bears. The hut may be a place of danger or a safety zone
for the heroine. This hut is a haven, not the place of danger found
in Hansel and Gretel. 27. If brother had but kept his natural
form, really it would have been a most delightful kind of life: Despite
the quaint picture of domestic tranquility portrayed in this interlude,
we know this is not the happy ending to the story since the brother
has not been disenchanted. More change, and possibly adversity, is on
the horizon. Note that the sister is the adult figure, parenting herself
and her enchanted brother, by providing food and shelter. The brother
simply plays and frolics all day. 28. King: In romantic fairy tales, the
heroine's husband is usually royalty, either a king or prince, at least
a nobleman. In some variants, the sister is also of royal birth and
must therefore marry at her same station. 29. A great hunt through the woods:
In times past, hunting was a popular activity among the
nobility, used for sport and necessity. The game was often used for
food, but for trophies as well. 30. Little Roe heard it and longed to join
in too: Bettelheim considers the Roe's experience to be his "ordeal
which could become his initiation to a higher from of existence"
(Bettelheim 1975, 81). I find his interpretation problematic. The Roe
appears to be eager to put himself into more danger, underestimating
his ability to flee danger, in fact flirting with it for the thrill
of the chase. He forgets that as a deer, he is the prey, not the predator. 31. The loveliest maiden he had ever seen:
Hyperbole is frequently used to describe beauty
in fairy tales. Each beautiful woman has "no equal" or is
"the most beautiful" or similar. Beauty often represents goodness,
worthiness, privilege, and wealth in fairy tales. Princesses are especially
expected to be beautiful. Physical beauty is often considered to represent
inner beauty in folklore, except for when it is a magical disguise. 32. The girl was much startled: This
scene is reminiscent of Rapunzel's
surprise when the prince, her future spouse, enters her tower instead
of the expected Mother Gothel. 33. Will you come with me to my castle and
be my dear wife?: Note that marriage is
not the ultimate goal of this tale as it is in many romantic fairy tales.
The marriage comes before the end of the story. The tale is one of family
unity. The brother and sister struggle to find happiness together as
a family unit as adults. 34. You must let my Roe come too. I could
not possibly forsake it: Bettelheim observes that "during most
of the story the two do not part; they represent the animal and spiritual
sides of our personality, which become separated but must be integrated
for human happiness" (Bettelheim 1975, 146). 35. Her heart was filled with envy and hatred:
The stepmother's animosity of reminiscent of the evil stepmother in
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Although the children are no longer
a burden, their mere existence, and a happy one at that, is enough reason
for her to plot their deaths. 36. Her own daughter: Fairy tales are filled with mothers--both witches and regular
mothers--trying to marry off their daughters in favorable circumstances.
They include the mother in Cinderella
and the troll-hag in East of
the Sun and West of the Moon. 37. Hideous as night and had only one eye:
Physical ugliness and deformity (although a politically incorrect term
by today's standards) has long been considered a sign of internal ugliness,
sometimes in fairy tales. Just as beauty represents inner goodness,
physical ugliness is used to stereotype inner ugliness, especially in
the literature of previous centuries. 38. Queen gave birth to a beautiful little
boy: The Queen's ability to give birth to a son is important not
only to her husband, but to her kingdom. A
first born son would be the crown prince and possibly averts disaster
for a kingdom that relies on progeny to avoid strife in the royal lineage. 39. Lady in waiting: A lady in waiting
is "a lady appointed to attend to a queen or princess" (WordNet). A lady in waiting
was usually from the upper classes in a higher level of honorable servitude. 40. The bath: Water in various forms
often plays a part in the young sister's death. In other variants, she
is drowned by being thrown into a lake or river with a millstone about
her neck. In the versions in which she is killed, water is usually involved
in her cause of death. 41. Might be suffocated: Suffocation
might occur from the fire's smoke under the bath. Suffocation is usually
the cause of death by fire in enclosed rooms. However, this would not
be a gentle death, essentially boiling the sister to death in her own
bathwater. 42. A false Queen: False identities are common plot devices in literature and fairy tales. Another well-known tale with an imposter queen is The Goose Girl, also annotated on this site. The false bride plot device "provides
the dominant frame story of Basile's firecracker of a collection of
fairy tales, Lo cunto de li cunti [also known as Il Pentamerone],
in the seventeenth century. His group of female storytellers exchange
many tales of substituted brides and false queens, and at the end actually
unmask a similar wicked usurper prospering in their midst (Warner 1994,
127). 43. 44. The real Queen: Do not be confused
here--the real Queen is dead, having been murdered by her stepmother
and stepsister. Here she appears as a ghost, haunting the halls and
drawn to her most precious baby and enchanted brother. 45. Nursed it for some time: Here we
have a dead good mother trying to nurture her motherless child. The
cycle of the tale is threatening to start again since this child is
also cursed with a wicked stepmother. Since it is a baby, it is at greater
risk than its own mother was. The natural mother is trying to show it
love and protection in the only means left to her. 46. She did not forget the little Roe: The
roe is just as important to the sister as her son, for she has essentially
parented it, too. She is attempting to fulfill her responsibilities
as a parent and sister to her family, even beyond the grave. 47. Sentries: A sentry is "a soldier
placed on guard" (Webster's 1990). 48. Is my child well? Is my Roe well?/ I'll come back twice and then farewell: Note another
pattern of three here. The ghostly queen only has three visits before
she must assumably move onto another plain of existence. We know she
must be rescued by the third night or she will disappear forever. 49. I am your dear wife!: Note that
while wife has not apparently been as important a role to the sister
as that of mother and sister, it is still important enough to bring
her back from the dead. She recognizes and responds to this identity. 50. She was restored to life, and was as
fresh and well and rosy as ever: Many translations often leave out
the phrase "by the grace of God" in this sentence as was included
in the Grimms' version and maintained by the more reliable translation
offered by Jack Zipes (Zipes 1987, 46). Many translations imply that
true love or her innate goodness restore the sister to life. 51. The daughter was led into the forest, where the wild
beasts tore her to pieces: The
daughter is exiled--cast out into the wild forest--for her treasonous
behavior, but she is not burned at the stake for witchcraft like her
mother. 52. Burnt at the stake: Burning occurs often in fairy tales. It is symbolic of purification (Matthews 1986). The witch being burnt can also represent evil destroying itself (Luthi 1976). Gerhard Mueller, who has studied the
criminological aspects of several tales, considers the death by fire
to be suitable for the witch. In the Middle Ages, the charge of witchcraft
was punished by fire. In other words, the witch's demise supports the
due process of law in real life during the time of the tale (Mueller
1986). 53. He was restored to his natural shape: In folklore, witch's spells are often deactivated by the witch's demise. Unlike the sister in Six Swans, this sister did not have to endure a described test to achieve her brother's disenchantment. In Afanasyev's Russian variant of the
tale, the brother is never disenchanted. He continues to live as a kid
with his sister and her husband happily ever after, however. It is the
most unsatisfying ending of all the variants. 54. Brother and sister lived happily ever after: As their tale, it is important that the brother and
sister live happily ever after. They achieve this in the new family
unit they have created, however. In some versions of the tale, the brother
is described as marrying a sister to the King, thus expanding the happy
family even more. |
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