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The Spring of Rosemary is a Spanish fairy tale collected by a Catalan folklorist called D. Francisco de Sales Maspons y Labros and included in Cuentos Populars Catalans (1885). The fairy tale was also included in The Pink Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang.
Plotline:
The fairytale is about a father who had only one daughter and he put her to very hard work every day. One day, when she went to gather some woods for a fire, she saw a spring of rosemary and wanted to take it for herself. Then a young prince appeared and accused the girl for stealing his firewood. She explains that she was sent by her father. There is no talk between the two, the prince only demands the girl to fallow him at his beautiful palace and merry him.
An old dame who looked after his luxurious and bright house handed the newly wife a bunch of keys that she could use, but one. There was one key that she would do well never to use, for if she did, the whole palace would fall to the ground. As expected, after a while, the curiosity overcomes her and she opens the door with the forbidden key. She found in that room nothing but a skin snake that her husband would use to change shapes. It was unknown to her that her husband was a magician. The castle then fell into pieces and she found herself alone in the middle of a field, not knowing what to do or where to go. She has in her hands just the spring of rosemary that she hold when she came to the castle. Then she goes to search for her missing husband. An old woman sends her to the Sun, the Moon, and the Wind, to ask for help. The Sun could not help her find her husband, but he gave her a nut, to crack it in harsh times. Then she went to find the Moon, that couldn’t help her either, but gave her an almond to crack it in need. Then she went to find the Wind who gave her a walnut and also made a quick trip through the world and find out where her husband was: kept prisoner in a castle and enchanted by an evil and ugly princess that was to marry him the next day. The girl then asks the Wind to help her postpone the wedding a few hours. The wind blows on the tailor sewing for the wedding dress and destroys their work. After she arrived at the palace, she cracked the nut and from it drew out a very sophisticated dress, that was immediately bought by the greedy ugly princess in exchange for many pieces of gold. The same happened when the girl cracked the almond. For the third dress that came out from the walnut, the girl didn't want money anymore, but asked for a moment in private with the princess' groom. When the maiden meets her husband, she touches him with the spring of rosemary and the spell is broken. They live happily ever after.
Similarities with others fairy tales:
• A common type of hero that appears in this fairy tale is the father. Even if he's mentioned just once, in the beginning, we find out that he is an offender. The offender father is a central figure also in other fairy tales like The Beauty and the Beast, the original version.
• The husband that can change shape using a snakeskin might recall for fairytales like The Frog Prince or The Enchanted Prince.
• An element of intertextuality is also the forbidden chamber, which recalls for the Bluebeard's wife that didn't resist the curiosity to find out what was there, curiosity that has critical consequences.
• The quest for a husband, or of the husband is typical to many fairy tales.
• Other specific motifs are the Sun, the Moon and the Wind that become donners and give to the heroine magical helpers.
ATU index - the fairy tale is type 2, Tales of Magic, subtype 425A, The Search of the Lost Husband.
In Propp’s Morphology of folktale are mentioned eight characters types : the hero/ the seeker, the villain, the princess/ the prize, the father, the dispatcher, the donor, the magical helper and the false hero. In the Spring of Rosemary, I found 6 of this character types.
• There is the hero, un uncommon type of hero, who is actually a heroine – the wife that seeks her lost husband.
• The villain of the story is the ugly princess-witch who enchants the man and tries to marry him in a rush.
• The third type is the prize the might be the man, the lost husband after he is found by her wife.
• In the story we can also find the father character, who is not the typical father of a princess or a girl who tests the future husband, but he is an offender type of father, a negative character.
• There are also 4 characters in the story that might function as donors as related to the heroine: the old woman that gives her the keys, the Sun, the Moon, and the Wind.
• Each of them gives the girl a magical helper: a nut, a walnut and an almond. As for the keys that are given to the girl by the old woman, their function as a magical helper, I think is debatable. The forbidden key doesn’t help the girl in her quest, or when she is in need, but triggers the problem. Another important magical helper, that is not given to her, but she takes it herself, is the rosemary that helps her to regain her amnesiac enchanted husband. The rosemary (the rose of Virgin Mary) is considered a magical herb since ancient times wich strengthening the memory and helping the brain. Eventually, it also become associated with fidelity of lovers, that explains its presence in this fairy tale.
From the 31 functions given by Propp, I could identify 10:
• Initial situation – the family: the oppressive father and her daughter.
• Lack that causes a positive situation: the girl leaves home to gather firewood and meets her future husband
• Testing – the girl is given the keys, but she is warned not to use one on them.
• Reaction – the girl fails the test by using the forbidden key.
• Departure – the girl goes to seek for her lost husband.
• Acquisition – the girls acquires the magical helpers from the donors.
• Guidance – the girls reaches destination- the palace where her husband is kept prisoner.
• Struggle – the girl meets the usurper, they don’t fight, but the girls tries to convince her to buy the dresses and then to see her husband.
• Resolution- Initial misfortune is resolved.
• Return and arrival – the two spouses return home and live happily ever after.
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