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Context / Introductory Notes

The Finnish fairy tale THE THREE CHESTS: The Story of the Wicked Old Man of the Sea is part of a collection called MIGHTY MIKKO. A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, written by Parker Fillmore and illustrated by Jay Van Everen. This is an edition of the collection printed at Harcourt, Brace and Company, in 1922.

Parker Fillmore was known to be a collector and editor of fairy tales from Czechoslovak tales and Slavic folklore. He was a great lover of fairy tales, referring to them as charming little tales of sentiment; then, he considered some of them to be full of stark simplicity and grim humor ()

In Parker Fillmore’s Note in his edition of MIGHTY MIKKO. A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, he mentions the roots of evolution for Finnish fairy tales:

Elias Lönnrot spent a long and busy life collecting those ancient runos from which he succeeded in building up a national epic, the Kalevala. Beside the material for the Kalevala, Lönnrot made important collections of lyrics, proverbs and stories.
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Parker Fillmore also mentions the development of this artistic craft, starting from Lönnrot:

During his time and since other patriot scholars have made faithful records of the songs and tales which the old Finnish minstrels, the runolaulajat, chanted to the strains of the kantele. The mass of such material now gathered together in the archives of the Society of Finnish Literature at Helsingfors… ()

At the same time, we have the author’s declaration (to which he adds the reasons for his choice) regarding the difference between the original Finnish texts and his translated edition of them:

The stories as I offer them are not translations, but my own versions. Literal translations from the Finnish would make small appeal to the general reader. To English ears the Finnish is stiff, bald, and monotonous. One has only to read or attempt to read Kirby’s excellent translation of the Kalevala to realize the truth of this statement. So I make no apology for retelling these tales in a manner more likely to prove entertaining to the English reader, whether child or adult. ()

Summary

The fairy tale begins with the introduction to some of the main characters: an old farmer and his three daughters. One day, when he wanted to drink some water from the lake near his farm, Wetehinen rose from the bottom of the lake and clutched him by the beard. Wetehinen didn’t want to let him go unless the old farmer gave him one of his daughters. At first, he opposed the old wicked Wetehinen, but he began tormenting the old man by pulling his beard. Eventually, the old man gave in and decided to send his oldest daughter to Wetehinen. When the farmer got home, he told his oldest daughter to go near the lake and take a harness he had left there earlier. When she got there, Wetehinen took her to his house under the lake.

There, he made her the mistress of the house and handed her the keys to its rooms, but forbade her to enter one secret room. She obeyed him for some time, but temptation became unbearable. She entered the room and realised this was a storeroom. She noticed in the middle of the floor something red which she then realised it was blood. What made her even more curious about it was the ring that lay in the midst of the pool. She tried to get the ring without getting a stain on herself, but this was inevitable: she got a few drops of blood on her fingers. It was impossible for her to get off the blood from her hands, so she decided that she would tell Wetehinen that she cut her finger. Later, when he demanded her to scratch his head, he felt his ear burning when she touched him. Thus, he cut her head off and threw her in the secret room.

Wetehinen went back to the farmer. As the old farmer was fishing, Wetehinen caught the boat and threatened not to let it go until the old man gave in again and decided to give him his second daughter. When he went home, he tricked her and told her to go and bring his ax from the boat. Thus, Wetehinen seized her and took her to his house from the bottom of the lake and she had the same destiny as her elder sister.

Once more, Wetehinen went back to the old man and put a spell on his brogues. He was almost drowning when he gave in again and decided to give Wetehinen his last daughter. He went home and tricked Lisa to go and bring him the brogues left near the lake. She went to the lake and Wetehinen took her to his house. There, she was forbidden the same thing and she did exactly like her two sisters. However, when she entered the room, she was not tempted by taking the ring from the pool of blood, but she wanted to bring her sisters back to life. She found two pitchers, one marked Water of Life and the other Water of Death. Thus, she set the heads of her sisters in place and put magic water on them and they came back to life. Lisa filled the pitcher marked Water of Life with Water of Death and told her sisters to hide themselves in two chests. When Wetehinen came home, he demanded Lisa to scratch his head. He was fooled and thought she hadn't disobeyed him. As he was pleased by this, Lisa demanded him to take some things to her father, so he took the two chests near the lake. At last, she demanded that he should take one last chest for her father and Wetehinen agreed. This was the chest in which she hid herself. She planned her escape: before hiding in the chest, she took a churn and dressed it in some of her clothes. Then, she took it to the roof and put it before a spinning wheel. Wetehinen thought she was on the roof and while he was talking to her, she was answering him from the chest. While he was taking the last chest up to the shore, he tried to peep in several times in the chest, to which Lisa kept saying No! No! You promised not to look inside! After delivering the last chest, he returned home and, as he tried talking to Lisa, he got angrier when he saw that she was not answering. He climbed up to the roof and seized Lisa’s skirt and jerked it. At that moment, the churn hit him in the head. This knocked him off the roof and he fell and cracked his head. He crawled to the secret room and took the Water of Life only to find out that this was the Water of Death. Thus, Lisa and her sisters were never again troubled by the old wicked witch.

Position in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index

THE THREE CHESTS: The Story of the Wicked Old Man of the Sea belongs to the category of Tales of Magic (300-745), to the Bluebeard (312). However, regarding our tale, we don’t have the exact variant. The most appropriate variant proposed by Aarne-Thompson-Uther is 312B: Two Sisters Carried off by a Diabolic Being (Two Sisters Carried off by a Diabolic Being and condemned to perish, are rescued through the intervention of divine beings). However, the divine being that saves the two sisters is actually the third sister who ends up a victim, as well.

Characters and Functions According to Vladimir Propp

The Characters of the Fairy Tale According to Vladimir Propp

The Hero – Lisa; she also is a victim to the villain who kidnaps her and whom she eventually defeats.

The Villain – Wetehinen, the old wicked man of the lake who takes the three daughters of the old farmer. He also torments the old man. Later, the villain ends up becoming the victim of his own victim.

Her Father – the old farmer. Unlike in other fairy tales, where the princess’s father takes care of the daughter’s status, here, the father (he is not a king as in other fairy tales) struggles to live and the torment of the instance causes him to give the daughters to the villain.

The sisters’ roles are essential in the fairy tale. Even if they do not perfectly belong to a certain category, their behaviors become ‘tools’ in fighting the evil and struggling for the victory of the ones who have been wronged.

The Functions of the Fairy Tale According to Vladimir Propp

Initial situation – We have a brief presentation about who our main characters are and the place where they live: There was once an honest old farmer who has three daughters. His farm ran down to the shores of a deep lake.

Villainy and Lack – Wetehinen starts the old farmer’s torment. Consecutively, he comes and takes away his three daughters and he threatens him with causing various injuries on him. At first, as the old farmer doesn’t want his girls to end up being orphans, he decides to give away his first daughter, without thinking that they will ever be bothered by Wetehinen again. The next two times end up bringing a harder fight for life and he seems to have no other choice left.

Absentation – a member of a family leaves home (by force here). The eldest sister is taken by Wetehinen to his house from the bottom of the lake.

An Interdiction – Wetehinen hands her the keys for each room in the house, but forbids her one particular room.

Violation of Interdiction – out of curiosity, she cannot resist the temptation. She opens the door, sees a ring in a blood pool and decides to take it. She tries to act carefully, but she gets blood on her hands. Wetehinen finds out and cuts her head off, then takes her to the forbidden room.

The same four steps (Villainy and Lack, Abstentation, an Interdiction, Violation of Interdiction) are part of the other two daughters' destinies. However, in Lisa’s case – the youngest –, the violation of interdiction ends up in a different manner: she manages to see the room and fool Wetehinen that she hasn't disobeyed him, she brings her two dead sisters back to life and she also manages to save them by hiding them in two chests and demanding Wetehinen to take the two chests to the shore for her father.

Task – Lisa thinks of a way of escaping Wetehinen’s house.

Solution – Eventually, she makes up the plan: she demands Wetehinen to take one more chest to her father, making him promise he will not look into the chest. Then, she dresses up a churn with her clothes, takes it to the roof and puts it in front of a spinning wheel.

Return – unaware of the fact that Lisa is in the chest, Wetehinen takes this to the shore and returns home.

Punishment – after returning home, he tries talking to Lisa. Because she doesn’t answer, he climbs up to the roof, seizes Lisa’s skirt and jerks it. At that moment, the churn hits him in the head. He falls from the roof and cracks his head. Then, he crawls to the secret room and takes the Water of Life, but this is actually the Water of Death.

Similarities With Other Tales

This fairy tale could be considered another version of the well-known BlueBeard. According to the fairy tale written by Charles Perrault, BlueBeard was a rich gentleman who possessed a blue beard which gave him a frightening look. Near him, there lived a lady who had two daughters. BlueBeard asked the lady to agree and let him marry one of her daughters. Eventually, the youngest daughter considered his wish and married him. BlueBeard offered her everything and gave her the keys to the house and told her that she can open every door except the door of a closet. When he left, she was way too curious and opened the door just to see the corpses of his former wives. Because of the shock, she dropped the key and this got stained with blood that wouldn’t come off. When BlueBeard discovered it, he was ready to decapitate her, too, but eventually, she was saved by her brothers.
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The origin of Bluebeard is debated by critics. Thus, this might be based on the legend of Gilles de Rais. He was a Marshal of France and he was believed to practice black magic. At the same time, he was believed to enjoy killing young boys. Some believe the story of Bluebeard was made popular by the peasantry in order to warn their children to stay away from the dangerous baron whom they had no other protection against due to his political and financial stature. ()

Other critics believe that the story was actually created in order to show women’s curious character and how curiosity might not be advised in a relationship. But the theories go further: some believe that this story might encapsulate the consequences of marriage:

In the time when childbirth was a main cause of death for women, mothers warned their daughters that marriage could be deadly since you could be killed by your husband with the simple act of becoming pregnant by him. In this way, the tale loses its sadistic killer and becomes a tale of normal life. ()

This variant of Bluebeard's story could also be regarded as a motivating story for women. There is a feminist implication here. Lisa no longer needs a man (prince/brother/father) to save her because she has the power and the mental capacity to fight her way out of a misfortune.

There are a great number of stories based on Bluebeard’s tale. For instance, in the collection of fairy tales entitled In Chimney Corners. Merry Tales of Irish Folk Lore, by Seumas MacManus, there is a version of Bluebeard called The Black Bull of the Castle of Blood. Unlike in THE THREE CHESTS: The Story of the Wicked Old Man of the Sea, here, we have the story of a prince that goes to the castle of a queen who has three daughters. As he fails to win one of the daughters’ hand in marriage, he returns one day transformed in a bull. The oldest daughter tries to chase it away, but she gets dragged by the bull. When they reach his castle, the bull transforms itself into the prince. He makes her the mistress of his castle and hands her a number of keys, forbidding her to enter one single room. When he leaves, she enters the room, sees his former wives dead, hung by their hair, and stamps into a pool of blood. She cannot get off the blood from her foot. Unlike in our story, here we have, as characters, the magical helpers: a cat and a robin. They offer to help her get rid of the blood stain, but she refuses. The prince finds out that she entered the room and kills her. The same destiny awaits the second daughter. The last daughter enters the room, she notices her two dead sisters and also stamps in the blood. She cannot get rid of the blood at first, but she accepts the help from the animals. She manages to trick the prince and he gives her a rod with which he tells her to go and strike the dead bodies, so they can come back to life. Eventually, they got married and live together happily ever after.

Modern-day editions

Besides a multitude of variants scattered in various cultures (), this fairy tale has been reused and retold. Kurt Vonnegut uses the name of Bluebeard to entitle his novel written in 1987. Here, the tale is already transformed and it gets a Postmodern echo. Some of the narratives that retell the story of Bluebeard are:

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher

Bluebeard’s Egg by Margaret Atwood

Barbe Bleue by Amélie Nothomb ()

The tale was also adapted and used in cinematography for the movie with the same title, which was released in 2010.

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