The Sharp Grey Sheep

The Sharp Grey Sheep

The Sharp Grey Sheep or The Sharp-Horned Grey Sheep is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in "Popular Tales of the West Highlands", listing his informant as John Dewar, labourer, from Glendaruail, Cowal.

It is Aarne-Thompson type 510A.

ynopsis

A queen died, and the king remarried. The stepmother was cruel to the princess and sent her to watch the sheep while not sending her enough food to survive. A sharp (horned) grey sheep helped her by bringing her food. The stepmother, knowing she was not getting enough food from her, went to a henwife, and the henwife set her daughter to spy. The princess told the henwife's daughter to set her head on her knee, and she would dress her hair; the henwife's daughter slept, and the sheep came to help her. The henwife's daughter had an eye on the back of her head that was not asleep; she watched through it and told her mother.

On learning that the sheep was helping her, the stepmother ordered the sheep killed. The sheep told the princess to gather her bones and hooves in the hide and it would come back; the princess did, but she forgot the little hooves, so the sheep was lame, but it still kept her fed.

A prince saw her and asked after her. The henwife's daughter saw it, and the henwife warned the queen. The queen brought back her stepdaughter to work about the house and sent out her own daughter to tend the sheep.

One day, when the stepdaughter walked outside, the prince gave her a pair of golden boots. He wanted to see her at the sermon. Her stepmother would not let her go, so she went after, and sat where the prince could see her, and left before her stepmother could see her there. The third time, she lost her shoe in the mud, and the prince declared that he would marry whoever the shoe fit.

The queen got her daughter's foot to fit by cutting off her toes, but a bird pointed out the blood to the prince. The prince went back, found the princess, and married her.

ee also

*One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes
*Rushen Coatie
*Katie Woodencloak
*Cinderella

External links

* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt2/pt235.htm "The Sharp Grey Sheep"]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Story of Tam and Cam — The Story of Tấm and Cám ( vi. Tấm Cám) is a Vietnamese fairy tale collected by L. T. Bach Lan in Vietnamese Legends . [D. L. Ashliman, [http://www.pitt.edu/ dash/tam.html A Cinderella Tale from Vietnam ] ] It is Aarne Thompson type 510A. Others… …   Wikipedia

  • The True Bride — or The True Sweetheart is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm s Fairy Tales as tale 186. [Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, Household Tales , [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/186truesweetheart.html The True… …   Wikipedia

  • Popular Tales of the West Highlands — is a four volume collection of fairy tales, collected and published by John Francis Campbell, and often translated from Gaelic as well. Alexander Carmichael was one of the main contributors.Volume IV contained Ossian .Fairy talesVolume I*The… …   Wikipedia

  • Demons in the Marvel Universe — The Marvel Comics universe hosts a number of demons, many of whom are at times at conflict with gods and angels. All possess varying degrees of mystical power, feed upon souls for self sustenance, and are inclined towards dark or “black” magic… …   Wikipedia

  • The Life of Mammals — Infobox nature documentary bgcolour = show name = The Life of Mammals caption = The Life of Mammals DVD cover picture format = 16:9 audio format = Stereo runtime = 50 minutes creator = developer = producer = executive producer = Mike Salisbury… …   Wikipedia

  • Bighorn sheep — For other uses, see Big Horn (disambiguation). Bighorn sheep Male (ram) …   Wikipedia

  • List of animals of the Edge Chronicles — This article lists the vast array of fictional animals found in the Edge Chronicles, a series of young adult books set in a fantasy world created by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. For more information about the fictional world of the Edge,… …   Wikipedia

  • Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep — Father Ted episode Episode no. Season 3 Episode 2 Directed by Andy DeEmmony Written by …   Wikipedia

  • List of The Keys to the Kingdom characters — The Keys to the Kingdom is a fantasy adventure book series, written by Garth Nix, started in 2003 with Mister Monday. The series follows the story of Arthur Penhaligon and his charge as the Rightful Heir of the Architect to claim the Seven Keys… …   Wikipedia

  • Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas — encompasses the visual artistic traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America, Mesoamerica, North America including Greenland, as well as Siberian Yup ik peoples who …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”