KidLit Forum

The Twelve Wild Ducks (A Norwegian Tale)

A. Context.
The Norwegian story ”The twelve wild ducks” was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) and Jørgen Moe (1813-1882). The two collectors published their first volume Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegian Folk Tales) in 1842-1843, the second volume in 1844 and a new collection in 1871. Many of the tales were translated into English by George Dasent in 1859.
The consulted volume was the third edition of George Webbe Dasent’s translation from 1888, entitled Popular Tales from the Norse and published by David Douglass in Edinburgh. The volume included 59 tales and was later illustrated by Kay Nielsen. Currently, it is known as East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon.
Asbjornsen was a zoologist and Moe was a bishop, but they were also scholars and collectors of Norwegian folklore and now they are as famous to Norwegians as the Brothers Grimm to Germans. They influenced the development of the literary Norwegian language and their work was considered very valuable for comparative mythology and literature.

B. Summary
The story begins with a queen bleeding from her nose on the white snow and wishing for a baby girl ”as white as snow and as red as blood”. The queen’s wish is fulfilled with the price of her twelve sons because she is overheard by the old witch of the Trolls who tells her she will have her daughter if she gives her the boys. After the christening of the baby the twelve princes turn into twelve wild ducks and fly away. The girl is named "Snow-white and Rosy-red".

After the girl grows up she is very sad because she does not have any brothers or sisters and feels alone, so her mother tells her about her twelve brothers. Feeling guilty for the loss of her brothers, the girl sets out on a journey to find them and keeps going for three years until she arrives at a hut in the woods where she finds twelve silver spoons on the table. She cleans the place and prepares dinner then hides under a bed when her brothers come back and turn back to their human form at the fall of the night. Seeing an additional spoon on the table they realise she is hiding somewhere and find her under the bed. They tell her she can save them by making twelve coats, shirts and neckerchiefs out of thistle, and she must ”neither talk, nor laugh, nor weep” until they are finished.

She begins her work, but at a certain moment the king of the kingdom finds her and marries her, while his wicked stepmother opposes the marriage and tries to make him kill her after throwing their three children in a pit full of snakes and accusing the young queen of having eaten her babies. Finally, the king has no choice but to burn her for her crimes. In the meantime, she has almost finished her work on her brothers’ clothes and before she is burnt the twelve ducks come and take their clothes. They return as princes, except for the youngest whose left arm remains a duck wing. The queen ca finally speak, the three babies are found unharmed in the snake-pit and the old queen is ”bound between twelve unbroken steeds”. The twelve brothers and their sister return to their parents to tell their story and there’s joy in the entire kingdom.

C. Position in the Aarne-Thomson-Uther Index.
The tale ”The twelve wild ducks” belongs to the broader category Tales of magic (300-749), sub-categories Supernatural or Enchanted Wife (Husband) or Other Relative (400-459), Brother or sister (450-459), ATU position 451-The Nurse looking for her Brothers.

D. The Characters of the Fairy Tale According to Vladimir Propp

The hero - Snow-white and Rosy-red leaves home in search of her brothers and makes sacrifices in order to transform them back from wild ducks into humans. Her ”battles” are mostly interior as she must sacrifice any kind of emotional expression-laughter, tears, speech. In addition to this she must work on her brothers’ clothes as quickly as possible because her life is threatened by the evil queen.

The villain – There are three villains in the story, although only the old queen is a typical villain who is also punished at the end. The first villain seems to be the mother who gives the witch the opportunity to take hold of her sons: "If I only had a daughter as white as snow and as red as blood, I shouldn't care what became of all my sons." The witch of the Trolls only fulfills the mother’s wish and transforms the boys into ducks. Finally the stepmother of the king acts like a true villain by stealing the three babies and accusing the young queen of murder.

The prize (12 Brothers ) – The hero is motivated by the wish to be reunited with her brothers and to re-establish the harmony in her family as she feels guilty for its separation. For this reason the brothers act as a collective character (with the only exception of the younger brother who is the only one showing compassion to his sister).

The Functions of the Fairy Tale According to Vladimir Propp

Absentation – the twelve brothers are forced to leave their home because the mother gave them up in exchange for a daughter; in order to find her brothers, the girl also leaves home

Villainy- the witch transforms the twelve brothers into twelve wild ducks forcing them to leave home and their normal lives; however, the real act of villainy seems to be the wish made by the mother who would give up twelve sons only to have one daughter

Lack- both the sister and the mother feel the absence of the twelve brothers, the sister’s emotional state is visibly changed

Departure- Snow-white and Rosy-red leaves home in search of her brothers

Guidance- The brothers show her a field full of thistle and tell her what to do to break the spell

Branding, marking - Snow-white and Rosy-red does not speak, laugh or cry during her work on her brothers’ clothes, an accepted sacrifice and a distinct sign of her struggle

Wedding – Snow-white and Rosy-red marries the king without having to say a word and enters a happy marriage as the king seems to trust her even if his mother accuses his wife of murdering her babies

Trickery – the step-mother of the king fakes the death of his babies accusing the queen of having eaten them

The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated – the clothes are almost finished before the sister’s execution and the twelve brothers return to their human form; Snow-white and Rosy-red can speak again and defend herself

Punishment – the evil old queen is killed by twelve horses; there is no reference to the witch of the Trolls who initially transformed the princes, or to the mother who gave them up.

Return – the sister and her twelve brothers return to their parents to tell their story

C. Similarities with other known tales
There is a slight similarity with Snow-White, especially at the beginning of the story when the queen has a nose-bleed on the white snow and wishes for a girl that would be as white as snow and as red as blood. For this reason, the girl is named Snow-white and Rosy-red.

There are many other stories that follow the pattern of The twelve wild ducks with brothers (six, seven or twelve) turned into animals or birds and rescued by their strong-willed sister.
Basa-Jauna
The Calf with the Golden Horns
The Children of Lir
The Curse of the Seven Children
The Girl Who Banished Seven Youths
The Magic Swan Geese
The Seven Brothers
The Seven Doves
The Seven Giant Brothers
The Seven Ravens (Germany)
The Seven Ravens (Greece)
Silent for Seven Years
The Sister and Her Seven Brothers
The Six Brothers
The Six Swans (Sweden)
The Six Swans (Germany, Grimms)
The Six Swans (Germany, Lang)
The Strigla
The Swan Knight
Three Shirts and a Golden Finger Ring
Truth's Triumph
The Twelve Brothers
The Twelve Oxen
Udea and Her Seven Brothers
The Wild Swans

One of the most well-known versions is The wild swans, by Christian Andersen, in which the brothers are turned into swans and the girl’s work is even more painful as she has to make clothes out of nettles.
There are also many similarities to the Romanian story “Povestea porcului” as there is also a female hero who goes through great sufferings in order to transform her husband from a pig back to his human form.

D. Modern-day editions in English and Romanian
The tale is still known today and two of the books which are inspired by it are:
Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier (2002), published by Tom Doherty Associates
Dearest (The Woodcutter Sisters) by Alethea Kontis (2015), published by HMH Books for Young Readers


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