Beauty and Pock Face

Beauty and Pock Face

Beauty and Pock Face is a Chinese fairy tale collected by Wolfram Eberhard in "Chinese Fairy Tales and Folk Tales". [Angela Carter, "The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book", p 200, Pantheon Books, New York, 1990 ISBN 0-679-74037-6 ]

It is classfied as "Cinderella", Aarne-Thompson type 510A, the persecuted heroine; others of this type include "The Sharp Grey Sheep"; "The Golden Slipper"; "The Story of Tam and Cam"; "Rushen Coatie"; "The Wonderful Birch"; "Fair, Brown and Trembling" and "Katie Woodencloak". [Heidi Anne Heiner, " [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/other.html Tales Similar to Cinderella] "] Indeed, it is sometimes titled "Cinderella" in English translation. [Wolfram Eberhard, p 235 "Folktales of China." Desmond Parsons, translator. Folktales of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965.]

ynopsis

The older of two sisters, the child of the first wife, was beautiful and called Beauty, but her younger sister, the child of the second wife, had a pocked face and was called Pock Face. The first wife had died when her child was young and come back as a yellow cow. The wicked stepmother abused Beauty and set her tasks. The yellow cow did them for her, but the stepmother found out and had the cow killed. Beauty collected the bones and put them in a pot. One day, her stepmother did not take her to the theater, so Beauty broke everything at home, including the pot; when she did that, a horse, a dress, and a pair of shoes come out. She put on the clothing and rode the horse, but she lost one shoe in the ditch. Men came by, she asked them to get her the shoe, and each one agreed if she would marry him. She refused a fishmonger for smelling of fish, a rich merchant for being covered with dust, and an oil merchant for being greasy, but agreed to marry a scholar.

Three days after the wedding, Beauty went to pay her respects to her parents. Pock Face lured her to the well, pushed her in, and sent word to the scholar that she had contracted small pox. After a time, she went herself and explained her looks by the illness. Beauty, however, had become a sparrow and came to taunt Pock Face while she was combing her hair; Pock Face taunted her back. The scholar heard and asked her to come to a cage if she were his wife; she came. Pock Face killed the sparrow and buried it. Bamboo shot up on the grave. The shoots tasted delicious to the scholar but gave Pock Face ulcers on her tongue. Pock Face cut the bamboo down and had a bed made from it, but though the scholar found it comfortable, it poked Pock Face with needles, so she threw it out. An old woman took it home. She found that dinner was cooked for her whenever she came home. In time, she caught Beauty, who had her give her some cooking things, which enabled her to appear.

Beauty gave the old woman a bag to sell by her husband's house. When she did so, the scholar questioned her and brought her back home. Pock Face proposed tests to determine who was the genuine wife. First they walked on eggs; Beauty did not break any, and Pock Face broke them all, but she would not admit it. Then they climbed a ladder of knives; Beauty did not cut her feet, and Pock Face did, but she would not admit it. Finally, they jumped into boiling oil; Beauty emerged alive, but Pock Face died. Beauty sent her body back to her stepmother, but her stepmother thought it was carp. When she saw it was her daughter, she fell down dead.

Motifs

The series of transformations can not only be found in the similar "The Story of Tam and Cam", but in other fairy tales, such as "A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers" and "The Boys with the Golden Stars"; "Sweetheart Roland" includes fewer transformations, but also has the heroine appearing secretly to do housework for a benefactor.

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

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

  • Shapeshifting — For other uses, see Shapeshifting (disambiguation). Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children s literature, Shakespearean… …   Wikipedia

  • List of fairy tales — This is a list of fairy tales, the dates of their earliest known printed version, the author and, if known, the collection of tales in which it was published. It should be noted, however, that not all stories listed below would be categorized as… …   Wikipedia

  • Sweetheart Roland — is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 56. It combines several Aarne Thompson types: type 1119, Ogres Kill Their Own Children; type 313C, the girl helps the hero flee; and type 884, the forgotten fiancée. Others of the… …   Wikipedia

  • The Boys with the Golden Stars — is a Romanian fairy tale collected in Rumanische Märchen . Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book .ynopsisA herdsman had three daughters, and the youngest was the most beautiful. One day, the emperor rode by with attendants. The oldest… …   Wikipedia

  • Nancy Kwan — (關家蒨) Nancy Kwan at Grauman s Egyptian Theatre on August 11, 2011 Born May 19, 1939 (1939 05 19) (age 72) Hong Kong …   Wikipedia

  • Diane Arbus — Photograph of Diane Arbus by Allan Arbus (a film test), c. 1949[1]:137 Birth name …   Wikipedia

  • Dr. Seuss bibliography — Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, published over 60 children s books over the course of his long career. Though most were published under his well known pseudonym, Dr. Seuss, he also authored over a dozen books as Theo. LeSieg and… …   Wikipedia

  • The Lorax — This article is about the children s book by Dr. Seuss. For the animated television special, see The Lorax (TV special). For the animated feature film, see The Lorax (film). For the robotics project, see LORAX (robot). The Lorax   …   Wikipedia

  • Nana (novel) — Nana   Édouard Manet, Nana, 1877 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

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