In folkloristics, "The Animal as Bridegroom" refers to a group of folk and fairy tales about a human woman marrying or being betrothed to an animal. The animal is revealed to be a human prince in disguise or under a curse. Most of these tales are grouped in the international system of Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index under type ATU 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband". Some subtypes exist in the international classification as independent stories, but they sometimes do not adhere to a fixed typing.
Overview
As consequence of the surge in folktale collecting and the beginnings of folkloristics as a discipline in the 19th century, scholars and folktale collectors compared many versions of "The Animal as Bridegroom" to the tale of Cupid and Psyche.Friedländer, Ludwig. Roman life and manners under the early Empire. Vol. IV. London: Routledge. 1913. pp. 88-123.Zinzow, Adolf. Psyche und Eros: ein milesisches märchen in der darstellung und auffassung des Apulejus beleuchtet und auf seinen mythologischen zusammenhang, gehalt und ursprung zurückgeführt. Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses. 1888.Bolte, Johannes; Polívka, Jiri. Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- u. hausmärchen der brüder Grimm. Zweiter Band (NR. 61-120). Germany, Leipzig: Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. 1913. pp. 259-260.
Folklore scholar Stith Thompson clarified that the animal bridegroom may have been born due to its parents' wishes, or alternates between human and animal shapes. Some tales have the animal son court a princess, but her father demands a brideprice for her.
In some versions, the father surrenders his daughter as his ransom. In others, it is the mother who delivers or promises her daughter(s) to the monster, and it is also by the mother's insistence that the heroine breaks the taboo on her husband: the human heroine must not see him at night, or she must not reveal his true nature to her relatives.
Interpretations The theme invites all sorts of scholarly and literary interpretations.Silver, Carole G. "Animal Brides and Grooms: Marriage of Person to Animal Motif B600, and Animal Paramour, Motif B610". In: Jane Garry and Hasan El-Shamy (eds.). Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature. A Handbook. Armonk / London: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. p. 94.
Scholar Jack Zipes describes these tale types as a mate selection wherein the human maiden is forced to marry an animal bridegroom as per the insistence of her family or due to her fate.Zipes, Jack. The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films. London and New York: Routledge. 2011. pp. 224-226. . In another work, Zipes writes that, in these tales, the supernatural husband (in animal form) goes through a process of civilizing himself, whereas to the human spouse it represents an initiatory journey.
Researcher Barbara Fass Leavy cited that these tales are interpreted under a feminist reading, which "applauds" the will of the main heroine, in contrast to passive heroines like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Leavy, as well as scholar Wendy Doniger, also stated that the "Animal Bridegroom" is the male counterpart of the "Swan Maiden" - both types referring to a marriage between a human person and a mythical being.
Richard MacGillivray Dawkins suggested that its endurance as a myth and a folktale was due to the story "reflect[ing] ... much of the relations of man and wife."Dawkins, Richard McGillivray. Modern Greek folktales. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1953. p. 55.
To Donald Ward, type 425 is, on the one hand, an erotic story, the union between divine male sexuality and mortal female virginity, but, on the other hand, also a tale of "love, devotion, and willingness to sacrifice". Similarly, Wendy Doniger sees, in this cycle of tales, a contrast or a "tension" between "the human and the superhuman" (since the animal bridegroom may possess great powers), and between "the animal and the divine".
James M. Taggart stated that these tales underlie a "metaphorical [...] gender division of labor in courtship and marriage": while men take the active role in courtship, and women assume a more passive role, the latter are slotted into a role with "more responsibility" in maintaining the marital status (represented by the trials and ordeals they suffer in these tales).
In her book Off With Their Heads! Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood, in the chapter about animal husbands and the human women who marry them, scholar Maria Tatar concludes that the heroine of these tales is part of a complex set of actions and emotions. For instance, Tatar interprets the episode of Psyche's betrayal of Cupid identity (and, by extension, all other heroines and their animal husbands) as a contrast between the heroine's seeking greater intimacy and knowledge of her husband, and her existent attachments to her family - which causes the separation episode.
A line of scholarship (e.g., , Boria Sax, James Frazer, Viera Gašparíková) associates human-animal marriages to ancient totem ancestry.Coxwell, C. F. Siberian And Other Folk Tales. London: The C. W. Daniel Company, 1925. p. 252.. "Identificarea episodului despre Cupidon şi Psyche, din romanul "Metamorphoses" al lui Apuleius, cu un basm autentic popular" [Identification of the Episode on Cupidon and Psyche, in the Novel Metamorphoses by Appuleius, with An Authentic Folk Fairy Tale]. In: Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei 9 (2009): 36–38, 41.
Another line of scholarship describes these tales as an initiatory journey for both parties: the husband becomes an animal or wears an animal skin as part of his marriage initiation, while the human wife burns his animal skin and begins her own quest to find her husband as part of hers.Chelariu, Ana R. "Metamorphosis amid myths, initiation rites and Romanian folk tales". In: Nouvelle Mythologie Comparee [New Comparative Mythology] N. 3. Lingva, 2017. .
ATU tale types Note: the following sections are based on the descriptions of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index. Some information may differ in regional and national folktale indexes.
ATU 425: The Search for the Lost Husband Folklorist D. L. Ashliman associated this general type with stories wherein the heroine crafts an artificial husband out of raw materials, who becomes a real man and a foreign queen falls in love with him. However, he noted that, among the tales he listed under this classification, some may also fall under type 425A, "Animal as Bridegroom".Ashliman, D. L. A Guide to Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, vol. 11. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987. pp. 86-87. . Folklorist Christine Goldberg named this narrative The Artificial Husband. She also took notice that the heroine, in the "Artificial Husband" tales, is the more active part and initiates the action, unlike the heroines of the other subtypes. Pintosmalto Master Semolina Fairer-than-a-Fairy The Ram (fairy tale)
ATU 425A: The Animal (Monster) as Bridegroom
In folktales classified as tale type ATU 425A, "The Animal as Bridegroom", the maiden breaks a taboo or burns the husband's animal skin and, to atone, she must wear down a numbered pair of metal shoes. On her way to her husband, she asks for the help of the Sun, the Moon and the Wind,Thompson, Stith (1977). The Folktale. University of California Press. pp. 97-98. . a sequence that appears in Northern Europe,Storie di Amore e Psiche. A cura di Annamaria Zesi. Roma: L'Asino d'Oro Edizioni. 2010. p. 223. . Germany, Portugal, in the Slavonic languages and in the Balkans. In other European tales, the heroine's helpers may be three old crones, or her husband's relatives.Bamford, Karen. "Quest for the Vanished Husband/Lover, Motifs H1385.4 and H1385.5". In: Jane Garry and Hasan El-Shamy (eds.). Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature. A Handbook. Armonk / London: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. p. 254.
During her journey, the heroine is given three nuts (alternatively, almonds and chestnuts) that contain objects inside, objects that are related to weaving (such as a loom or a spindle), or beautiful dresses representing the Sun, the Moon and stars, or the sea, the land and the skies.Angelopoulou, Anna; Brouskou, Aígle. "ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΙΩΝ". Vol. 3: ΕΠΕΞΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΤΥΠΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΑΛΛΑΓΩΝ AT 300-499. Tome B. Athens: ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΝΕΟΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ Ε.Ι.Ε, 1999. p. 769 (footnote nr. 9). .
At the end of her journey, the heroine finds her husband at the mercy of a second wife. She bribes the false bride with items she acquired on the way (given by the personifications of the elements, or from her helpers) to spend a night with him, or breaks the nuts which contain gifts. Only on the third night the heroine manages to talk to her husband and he recognizes her.Crane, Thomas Frederick. Italian Popular Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company. 1885. p. 322.
In Celtic and Germanic variants of the subtype, before the separation from her husband, the heroine's children are taken from her and hidden elsewhere. Another recurring motif of the subtype involves the heroine washing three drops of her husband's blood that fell on his clothes - a motif that is located in French variants from Brittany.
According to Hans-Jörg Uther, the main feature of tale type ATU 425A is "bribing the false bride for three nights with the husband". In fact, when he developed his revision of Aarne-Thompson's system, Uther remarked that an "essential" trait of the tale type ATU 425A was the "wife's quest and gifts" and "nights bought". About the astonishing husband Hora Again, The Snake Bridegroom The Calf's Skin (ATU 440 and ATU 425A) Enchanted Balaur The Enchanted Pig (ATU 441 and ATU 425A) The Enchanted Prince Who was a Hedgehog (ATU 441 and ATU 425A) The Lizard With the Seven Skins (ATU 433B and ATU 425A) Black Bull of Norroway The Brown Bear of Norway The Daughter of the Skies East of the Sun and West of the Moon The Enchanted Snake The Frog Queen (ATU 440 and ATU 425A) King Crin (Italian fairy tale) Prince Crawfish Prince Hat under the Ground Prince Whitebear The Iron Stove The Serpent Prince Sigurd, the King's Son (Icelandic fairy tale) The Sprig of Rosemary The Story of King Pig The Tale of the Hoodie The Tale of the Little Dog The Three Daughters of King O'Hara Trandafiru White-Bear-King-Valemon Whitebear Whittington The White Hound of the Mountain The White Wolf
ATU 425B: Son of the Witch (The Witch's Tasks)
This category of tales involves the heroine performing difficult tasks for her husband's family (more specifically, her mother-in-law).The Collected Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales of Giuseppe Pitrè. Edited and translated by Jack Zipes and Joseph Russo. Illustrated by Carmelo Lettere. New York: Routledge: 2009. p. 823. In this type, the heroine reaches the house of a witch (sometimes, her mother-in-law; sometimes, another female relative of her husband), where she works as her servant. One of the tasks is to go to another witch's house (identified as a female relative of the first one), and fetch from there a box, a casket, a bag, a sack of something that her husband warns not to open, but she does.
Richard MacGillivray Dawkins also noted that, in some tales, the mother-in-law, to further humiliate the heroine, betrothes her son to another bride and sends her on errands to get materials for the upcoming wedding.Dawkins, Richard McGillivray. Modern Greek folktales. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1953. p. 61. Jack Zipes emphasizes that the heroine must perform the tasks before she has a chance to free her husband.Pitrè, Giuseppe; Zipes, Jack David; Russo, Joseph. The collected Sicilian folk and fairy tales of Giuseppe Pitrè. New York: Routledge, 2013 . p. 823. .