I know people who collect trifles on a particular theme. Some collect elephants, ducks, or cows. Others Star Wars or Lord of the Rings memorabilia. The feeling this book inspires is that of finding a new, previously unimagined item that fits right in with the thing you were already collecting. The tropes are so familiar, and the stories so new, that I even set about to categorize them a bit.
Trope
|
Stories
|
Princess prisoner of a creature
|
2, 3, 6
|
Taking the place of the rightful heir/beloved
|
2, 3, 12, 16, 32
|
Prepare three unlikely bribes
|
3,11, 38
|
Three impossible tasks
|
3, 5, 27
|
Water/grass of life
|
3, 48
|
Tricked into suicide
|
3, 24, 29, 37
|
Three sisters
|
4, 9, 12, 19, 24, 26, 29, 35, 50
|
Omnipotent ring
|
4, 42
|
Stave off assault with
clever delay
|
4, 24
|
Youngest child
bravest/cleverest
|
4,9, 12, 19, 24, 26, 31, 45, 47
|
Young man sets off to seek
his fortune
|
1, 6, 13, 27, 43
|
Jealous courtiers’ plot
backfires
|
6, 11, 15
|
Smuggled into the maiden’s
presence
|
7, 33 45
|
Ugly, jealous servant/stepmother
etc.
|
8, 18, 31
|
Jealous older siblings’
treachery
|
12, 50
|
Giving birth to an animal
|
12, 19, 31
|
Regional characteristics
|
10, 21
|
Love beneath its station
|
13, 22, 31
|
Three brothers
|
14, 46, 47
|
Nuts filled with treasure
|
14, 19
|
The frog/snake/parrot etc.
prince/ss
|
14, 15, 18, 19, 30
|
Sequestered beauty
|
15, 18, 33, 36
|
Treacherous old woman
intermediary enables insidious royalty
|
15, 50
|
Reward for curing the the
prince/princess
|
15, 18, 39, 41
|
“my son/husband/daughter
will eat you if he finds you!”
|
19, 45
|
The boy is clever, but the
girl is more clever and has her revenge!
|
21, 36
|
The comb becomes an
obstacle
|
8, 22
|
Servants don’t have the
heart to kill
|
23, 31
|
Maybe unique?
|
25, 40, 44, 49
|
Failing to fulfill a
simple requirement
|
27, 35, 45, 50
|
Laughter is rewarded
|
29, 38
|
Maiden dressed as a man
|
18, 21, 31
|
Stealing from thieves
|
13, 31
|
Seemingly abandoned, enchanted palace
|
32, 35, 43, 48
|
Hollow animal that plays music
|
7, 33
|
I only went through the first 50 in this way, but one can see the pattern. What a joy, one that I have already recommended to others.
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