KidLit Forum

Danish Folk Tales
Title: Princess Rosamund

A. Context
— country and language: Denmark, Danish
— original collector: Jens Christian Bay, Svend Hersleb Grundtvig and others, translated by Jens Christian Bay
— title of collection, year: Danish Folk Tales (Danske folkeæventyr), 1889
— position among other collectors: second after Svend Grundtvig, but before Ingvor Bondesen and I. Budde
— number of tales in that collection: 46
— English translation: translator’s name, year, publisher: Jens Christian Bay, 1899, Harper & Brothers Publishers
— Volume: XIX

B. Summary
This fairy tales tells the story of a princess who possessed three wonderful gifts: Whenever she wept, pearls rolled out from the corners of her eyes; when she smiled, roses dropped from her cheeks; and with every step she made barefooted, a gold piece was left in the dust under her heels.The fame of Princess Rosamund spread far and wide, and no sooner had it reached Prince Hermes, a son of the king, than he asked his father's permission to go and win her hand. The king consented; but when every thing was ready for his son's departure, a war broke out, and the young prince was called away by other duties. While he fought gallantly against the enemies, the queen's first lady of honor proposed to the Royal couple that the beautiful princess be invited to visit them, so that the brave prince would, on his return from the battle-fields, find her there already.The lady of honor who was selected as a worthy messenger was, however, a witch, who had planned to deceive the royal family. She had a daughter whom she wished the prince to marry, but who was neither good nor pretty. When they had travelled a long distance, the witch made a fearful storm gather around them. It became as dark as the darkest night around the place; the escort was scattered, and the daughter of the evil woman emerged from the depths of a black cloud. She and her mother seized Rosamund, who cried torrents of pearls, and robbed her of her beautiful eyes, which they threw into a ditch at one side of the road. Now the daughter of the witch seated herself in the carriage with her mother, and away they drove to the home of Prince Hermes.The unfortunate princess was in the mean time lying in the ditch, bewailing her cruel fate. Two bad men forced the princess to walk all day to gather the pearls and they let her almost dying. In a little while a gardener happened to pass the place where the princess had been left. He lifted the poor girl into his carriage and took her to his home. She was sick a very long time, but finally she began to recover and regain her health and strength. One day she happened to hear the gardener tell his wife of Prince Hermes's and Princess Rosamund's marriage, the wedding having just been celebrated with great pomp and splendor. People had assembled from all over the country to catch a glimpse of the princess who left gold coin in her footprints and shed roses by her smiles. None of these wonders had occurred, however; the princess was not at all what had been expected, and no one had proved able to make her smile or weep. She was disagreeable to all, even to the prince, her husband, who did his best to make her happy. She beat all her maids with a broomstick, so at length no one could be induced to serve her.The gardener's wife said the poor girl looks so gentle and good she might serve the princess. They tried to find a pair of eyes for her from a woman. She gave them a beautiful pair of blue eyes, found in a ditch.
The girl tried them, and found them to be her own. Although Rosamund tried her best to please her, it was very difficult, and the poor girl suffered much from bad mistress.
Rosamund was so moved by seeing the prince that she dropped a silver coffee-pot which she was holding in her hands upon the white silk carpet. The princess arose furious, rushed at her, and began to box her ears. The tears started in Rosamund's eyes, and soon a stream of pearls rolled across the floor towards the place where Prince Hermes was standing. He
recognized the real princess.Rosamund wiped her eyes and smiled, but at the same moment two beautiful roses fell from her cheeks. The prince called his parents, and when they had heard of her sufferings he pulled out his sword and killed the witch and her daughter. Afterwards he married the right Rosamund, and then people were no longer deceived, for she smiled so often and so willingly at every one that the whole land was happy.

C. Morphological analysis

According to Vladimir Propp’s morphology the tale is divided into 31 functions.
In this tale, I identified the following functions:

INITIAL SITUATION: The story begins with a beautiful princess with special gifts.
ABSENTATION: The princess is invited to the castle with her lady of honour to meet the prince
LACK: The princess wants to marry the prince if he proves his good qualities.
BEGINNING COUNTERACTION: Princess Rosamund agrees to visit the prince royal family.
DEPARTURE: The princess begins her journey.
TESTING: The princess is abandonned in a ditch where she loses her eyesight.
HERO’S REACTION: Princess Rosamund remains kind and humble despite the trials.
RE-ACQUISITION: Because of ther kindness, she regains her beatiful blue eyes.
GUIDANCE: The princess is guided to go to the castle to serve the false princess.
STRUGGLE: She struggles to serve the bad princess very well but nothing please the witch’s daughter.
VICTORY: The prince recognise the real princess, the true Princess Rosamund.
PUNISHMENT: The prince kills the witch and her evil daughter.
MARRIAGE: The prince marries princess Rosamund.

D. Characters and functions according to Vladimir Propp.

Taking into account Vladimir Propp's classification of characters, I identified in this tale 3 dramatis personae:
1.The Hero or the Seeker: Princess Rosamund
2.The Villain: the witch and her daugher
3.The Princess or the Prize: Princess Rosamund with her special gifts
E. Similarities with other known tales
The story is somehow similar to Cinderella, because she is replaced with a false princess.

F. Sources
Svend Grundtvig, E. T. Kristensen, Ingvor Bondesen and I. Budde, Danish Folk Tales, Translated by J. Christian Bay, 1899, by Harper & Brothers, pp. 220-226
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Danish_F ... s_Rosamund
STUDENT: Hădărău ( Buia) Loredana