The vain queen
Context
The vain queen is a portuguese tale which first appeared in the United States, New York, in 1882. It was collected by Consiglieri Pedroso, and it is part of the collection called ,,Portuguese Folk-tales. Folk Lore Society Publications'', vol 9. The tale was translated by Henrietta Monteiro in 1969 and reprinted.
Summary
As the title says, it is a tale about a vain queen who considered herself extremely beautiful. She was always asking her maids and employees if there was another woman as beautiful as her. Her maids have always replied that she had the most beautiful face from all the land, but one day, she asked the same question to the chamberlain. The queen felt horrible when the chamberlain replied that her daughter was much more beautiful than her.
Hearing that, the queen ordered her servants to take the girl far away, cut her head off mand bring her back the girl's tongue. The servants took the girl away but they could not commit such a cruel thing, so they cheated on the queen, bringing back to the castle another tongue. Her daughter walked miles away through the most scary and wild places when she finally found a house where a man was living. That man accepted the girl as her daughter and took care of her. As the girl was walking around, a prince saw her and fell love sick. His mother tried her best to bring the girl to their palace so the prince can heal. In the end, the two marry, but before that, the girl becomes a stunning princess, the man becomes a powerful emperor and their pigs became dukes.
Characters and functions according to Vladimir Propp
The function of Dramatis personae is present in the tale, as it begins with a certain type of situation, the main character is introduced and we can already classify the characters; we already know who is the villain and who fullfils the role of the hero or the protagonist. There is another function which is very important, the villain causes harm to a member of the family, as the queen wants to behead her daughter, and cut the tongue off, according to the fairy tale. Such a cruelty has got great importance in the fairy tale, because all the movement and the chaos of the tale starts from it. Furthermore, the hero and the villain have o competition whcih is not so common; they fight for beauty, although the daughter does not realize her mather's struggle with her.
Similarities with other known tales
The Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs, a german fairy tale, is almost identical with The Vain Queen, the plot is very similar; we may find the same themes: a curel mother envious of her daughter's beauty, the girl who finds a home where to live, the fact that the servants do not want to kill the girl and lie to their queen, she being found by a prince who falls in love with her. Even the queen's words are similar, she says: ,,Is there a more beautiful face than mine?''. It is also similar to ,,The beautiful stepdaughter''- spanish tale, ,,Bella Venezia''- italian fary tale, ,,The mirror'', ,,The stepmother'', ,,Blanca Rosa and the forty thieves''- spanish tale.
Modern-day editions in English and Romanian
The fairy tale is still known today and it is very popular among children and adults as well. Although there are several film versions, the topic and the themes are the same. Illustrations of The Vain Queen are not very popular as it is alomst like the tale of The Snow-White, and the illustrations of the latter suggest the main idea of The Vain Queen too.
Sources:
http://surlalunefairytales.blogspot.com/https://archive.org/stream/MorphologyOf ... 7/mode/2up
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