Kate Crackernuts

Katie Crackernuts or Kate Crackernuts is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Andrew Lang in the Orkneys and published it in "Longman's Magazine." Joseph Jacobs included in "English Fairy Tales". [Joseph Jacobs, "English Fairy Tales", [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/twelvedancing/stories/katiecrackernuts.html "Katie Crackernuts"] ]

Unlike many popular tales, which are known from reworked literary forms, this fairy tale is very close to the oral tradition. [Maria Tatar, p 229, The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales, ISBN 0-393-05163-3] It combines Aarne-Thompson types 306, the danced-out shoes, such as "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", and 711, the beautiful and the ugly twin, such as "Tatterhood".

ynopsis

A king had a daughter named Anne, and his queen had a daughter named Kate, who was less beautiful. (Jacobs' notes reveal that in the original story both girls were called Kate and that he had changed one's name to Anne.) The queen was jealous of Anne, but Kate loved her. The queen consulted with a hen-wife to ruin Anne's beauty, and after three tries, they enchanted Anne's head into a sheep's head. Kate wrapped Anne's head in a cloth, and they went out to seek their fortunes. They found a castle where the king had two sons, one of whom was sickening, and whoever watched him by night vanished. Kate asked for shelter for herself and her "sick" sister, and offered to watch.

At midnight, the sick prince rose and rode off. Kate sneaked onto his horse and collected nuts as they rode through the woods. He went into a green hill, where the fairies were dancing, and Kate added herself to the charm he used to get in. The second night, Kate found a fairy baby. It played with a wand, and she heard fairies say that three strokes of which would cure Anne. So she rolled nuts to distract the baby and get the wand, and cured her sister.

The third night, Kate said she would stay only if she could marry the prince, and that night, the baby played with a bird, three bites of which would cure the sick prince. She distracted the baby with the nuts again to get it. As soon as they returned to the castle, she cooked it, and the prince was cured by eating it.

Meanwhile his brother had seen Anne and fell in love with her, so they all married -- the sick brother to the well sister, and the well brother to the sick sister.

Commentary

The fairies' forcing young men and women to come to a revel every day and dance to exhaustion, and so waste away, was a common European belief. The actual disease involved appears to have been consumption (tuberculosis). [Katharine Briggs, "An Encyclopedia of Fairies" "Consumption " (Pantheon Books, 1976) p. 80. ISBN 0-394-73467-X]

This tale is the closest analogue to "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", but reverses the role, in that the heroine goes after the dancing prince, and also the tone: the princesses in "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" are always depicted as enjoying the dances, while in the much darker "Kate Crackernuts", the prince is forced by the fairies to dance to exhaustion, and is an invalid by day. [Maria Tatar, "The Annotated Brothers Grimm", p 330 W. W. Norton & company, London, New York, 2004 ISBN 0-393-05848-4]

Though the stepmother acts the usual part in a fairy tale, her part is unusually truncated, without the usual comeuppance served to evil-doers [Peta Andersen, [http://journal.petajinnathandersen.com/2008/01/kate-crackernuts-commentary.html "Kate Crackernuts, Commentary"] ] and the stepsisters show a solidarity that is uncommon even among full siblings in fairy tales. [Maria Tatar, p 230, "The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales", ISBN 0-393-05163-3]

Adaptations

Katherine Mary Briggs adapted the story for her children's novel "Kate Crackernuts".

The folktale was adapted for the stage by American playwright Sheila Callaghan as a contemporary rave fable.

References