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Fairy Tales from Folk Lore – Yellow Lily
Herschel Williams
A) Context
Country of the tale: Ireland
Language: accurate English, easy to be understood
This tale is the first in the collection. This collection was published in New York Moffat, Yard and Company 1908 and was dedicated to Herschel Carney, the author`s God-Child.
At the beginning of the book we can see, besides the contents, a list of illustrations, each one of them with a phrase from the tale. For example at page 11 we have an illustration of “an old woman”. The illustrations were made by M.H. Squire.
B) Summary
There was a King and a Queen who lived long ago, not even the writers of history could remember their name. They ruled over a place called Erin, a place in Ireland, “hundreds and hundreds of years ago.” They had a son known as the Prince of Erin, he was handsome but he only cared of having a good time playing games and making bets.
One day he went to hunt and he met the Giant of Loch Lein. This Giant is known for his cruelty. The Prince was frightened by him, but at his mercy, the Giant propose him to play games betting their properties, castles and even heads. The Prince won two times, but even if he was told by the old Galic to be careful because something bad would happen to him, the Prince was sure that he will win again, but this time for him it was a lost that cost him his freedom. The Giant let him alive one year and one day under the condition of him to return. The Prince didn’t go home but he wondered not carrying where he went.
He is lost in the woods but he saw a hut where a good witch lived in. she gave him food, a pace to sleep and also a magical ball of thread which would help him to find his way to her sister`s hut.
This witch has another two sisters. The last one will give to the Prince a ball of thread and an advice of how he could escape of the Giant`s punishment. She sent him near a lake where the Giant`s daughters will appear. Their mother is a Fairy. The witch taught him how to talk and behave with the younger one named the Yellow Lily. She is the kindest of them all. The Prince stole her clothes and in change for clothes the princess agreed to save him. The princess took him to the Giant`s castle, she hide him behind a curtain but the Giant knew he was there. He threw him into a tank to sleep, but the Prince was scared.
Next day the Giant gave him some work. In order to spare his head he will have to clean the stables. They contain five hundreds horses and they have not been cleaned for seven hundred years. He is asked to find the Giant`s great grandmother’s slumber pin which was lost. The Prince chose a new shovel and begins to clean but every time the Prince throw out a shovelful two came flying in that place. Yellow Lily had the pin and gave it to the Prince. The Giant took the Prince and send him back to his tank.
The next day the Giant gave him another request: to thatch his stables with feathers and no two of them must be alike. The Yellow Lily help him this to finish his work. On the next day the Giant ordered him to climb into a tree which has only one branch and on the top of it there is a crow`s nest with one egg. The Giant wanted the egg for his supper. The problem was that no one could climb in that tree. The Yellow Lily came and told the prince that in order to take the egg he must kill her with a magic phrase, but to not be afraid because using another magic phrase she will came back to life. When she is dead he will use her bones to make a ladder but in the end to not forget any of her bones. The Prince succeeded this time too, but he forgot one little toe in the tree.
The Giant let him free to return at home. After some time the Prince prepared to get married. He invited the Giant and his daughters too. The Yellow Lily came with two pigeons, a female and a male. The birds would play a role and divulged the truth of how the Prince managed to complete the tasks. The Prince was ashamed and promise to marry the Yellow Lily.
C) Position in the Aarne –Themson-Uther Index
Contest between man and giant; The Hanging game.
“Do not be frightened. As you are a son of the Ruler Erin, I will give you a chance to escape. I understand that you can play fine games, and that you are fond of betting. Let us play a game on this hillside. If you win, I will set you free; but if you lose, I will take you to my castle, never to return to your home.”
D) Vladimir Propp
1. One of the members of a family absents himself from home: the Price going to hunt. “ One day the Prince went out in the wood to hunt for deer. He tramped about all day long, carrying his bow and arrows, but no deer could he find.”
2. Interdiction: from the father.” The Kind commanded his son to stay inside the palace all day; but when no one was looking, the Prince stole away to the hillside near the forest.”
3. The villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his belongings: in this tale the Giant is using a game as a modality of persuasion. “ I have two fine estates, each containing a castle, said the Giant. They are yours, if you beat me at the game.” “I will wager five hundred bullocks with gold horns and silver hoofs, said the Giant”.
4. The victim submits to deception: the Prince accepts the Giant`s offer. “The Prince was so fond of playing games that, even in his fright, he agreed to do as the Giant wished.”
5. The hero acquires the use of a magical agent: (the three witches who gave him a ball of thread, the princess who helps him to solve the tasks using magic). “I know what is bothering you, son of the King of Erin, she said. If you do as I bid you, you will have no cause for regret. Here is a ball of thread. Hold to one end of the thread and throw the ball before you. When you start on your journey the ball will roll; but you must keep following it and winding the thread all the time or you will be lost again. You were with me last night; you will be with my sister to-night.”
6. The hero and the villain join in a direct combat. The Giant gave the Prince three impossible missions to complete, but with Yellow Lily`s help he succeed. The Giant let him free.
7. The hero returns. The Prince returned home without any magical help. “So he hastened home as fast as he could. When he reached the Palace of Erin, the King, the Queen, old Galic, and all the court ran out to greet him.”
8. The hero is married and ascends throne. “Great was the astonishment of both royal families and their guests when the Prince took Yellow Lily by the hand and led her to a seat beside him. But when the musicians began to play a brilliant air, the palace re-echoed from tower to dungeon with joyous shouts of “Long live the Price of Erin and his future bride, Yellow Lily of Loch Lein!”
E) Similarities
There is a similarity with a Romanian tale “Harap Alb”
- Three missions to complete
- The hero is being helped by friends
- Receive magical objects
- The help of the witches, in Harap Alb Sfanta Duminica
- The hero marries with a princess and has received the throne.
F) Modern day edition
I think that this tale is not as known today, only by the people who are interested in fairy tales, although in Romania people haven’t heard of this tale.
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