KidLit Forum

The Wishing Skin( A varázsbőr)

The Wishing Skin is a Hungarian fairy tale, written and translated in English by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, illustrated by Montagu Barstow and Baroness Orczy. It is the story no.83 from the Collection Old Hungarian Fairy Tales. The first edition appeared in England in 1895.
The action of the tale is set in a nice cottage, where humbly but contentedly lives a childless couple,Jack the woodcutter and his wife Joan. One day a pedlar stops at the cottage, and when he leaves, dropps a book of tales on the road. Jack picks up the book and reads the stories to his wife. The book was full with fairies and magicians and Jack all night was wishing with them. The next day a rabbit comes to him and telling about the wishing skin. Anyone is wearing the skin a wish will be fulfilled,but every time a wish is granted, the skin becomes smaller. Jack puts on the skin and the first thing he wishes is for the skin to be his and for him to never have to give it up. The woodcutter tells his wife , but she doesn`t belive him until he wished for a supper. After that they keep wishing for bigger and better positions and ranks, when they become Empress and Emperor, but Jack becomes smaller and smaller until he is only 6 inches tall. The stature of woodcutter was the source of intense amusement to all his retainers and servants, because he was carried on a cushion before his wife. Occasionally , when Joan was tiresome from Jack, banishes him to a doll house in the garden, and sometimes takes him out to play with. One day Jack got tired of all this gilded misery and said :”Oh, how I wish I were a full –grown man , a woodcutter again, with my wife in my own little cottage, not dreaming even of such things and emperors”. Everything immediately goes back to the way it was before , and Jack and Joan lived humbly in their little cottage contented and happy ever after.
I think this fairy tale could be part of the 400-459 “Supernatural of Enchanted Husband or other Relative” category of ATU system.

According to Vladimir Propp’s morphology the tale is divided into 31 functions as follows:
INITIAL SITUATION: The story starts dirrectly telling that there was an old couple who did not have chilren .
ABSENTATION: Jack leaves home and goes to chopped the wood.
INTERDICTION: -
VIOLATION OF INTERDICTION: -
RECONAISSANCE: -
DELIVERY: -
TRICKERY: The woodcutter scam the rabbit and stole the wishing skin
COMPLICITY: -
VILLAINY: The woodcutter take from rabbit the wishing skin and takes it his home.
MEDIATION: -
BEGINNING COUNTER- ACTION: -
DEPARTURE: -
TESTING: -
HERO’S REACTION: - The woodcutter tell his wifes about the wishing skin and show her how it works
ACQIUSITION: The woodcutter use the skin to become rich
GIUDANCE: -
STRUGGLE: -

BRANDING: -
VICTORY:-
RESOLUTION: the woodcutter and his wife become Empress and Empreror
RETURN: -
PURSUIT: -
RESCUE: -
ARRIVAL: -
UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: -
DIFFICULT TASK: The woodcutter`s wife banishes him to a doll house and occasionally takes him out play with
SOLUTION: the last wish of woodcutter to become again a simple man
RECOGNITION: -
EXPOSURE: -
TRANSFIGURATION: the woodcutter`s feet tuch the ground
PUNISHMENT: -
MARRIAGE:-

Characters:
The hero of the story is Jack the woodcutter
The villain: putting the skin by Jack and wishing to never give it up
The magical helper: the rabbit.
The false hero: -

Morality of the tale:
This story teach us that is better to work hard rather than use magic. I think this tale was written for children and for adults too, because it helps people to understand priorities of their life.

Similarities to other stories:
This story it looks like` Alice`s Adventures in Wonderland` by Lewis Carroll. In both stories exists rabbits, heroes which becomes smaller and bigger ,and in the end everything goes back to the way it was before.