"The Seven Ravens" (German: Die sieben Raben) is a German fairy talecollected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 25). It is of Aarne–Thompson type 451 ("The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers"), commonly found throughout Europe.[1]
The 1937 animated feature film The Seven Ravens adapts the fairy tale.
Origin
The tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1812, under the name "Die drei Raben" (The Three Ravens). In the second edition, in 1819, the name was retitled Die sieben Raben and substantially rewritten. Their source was the Hassenpflug family, and others.[3]
Synopsis
She reaches the stars
A peasant has seven sons and no daughter. Finally a daughter is born, but is sickly. The father sends his sons to fetch water for her to be baptized. In their haste, they drop the jug in the well. When they do not return, their father thinks that they have gone off to play and curses them and so they turn into ravens.
When the sister is grown, she sets out in search of her brothers. She attempts to get help first from the sun, which is too hot, then the moon, which craves human flesh, and then the morning star. The star helps her by giving her a chickenbone and tells her she will need it to save her brothers. She finds them on the Glass Mountain but has lost the bone, and chops off a finger to use as a key. She goes into the mountain, where a dwarf tells her that her brothers will return. She takes some of their food and drink and leaves, in the last cup, a ring from home.
When her brothers return, she hides. They turn back into human form and ask who has been at their food. The youngest brother finds the ring, and hopes it is their sister, in which case they are saved. She emerges, and they return home.
Analysis
The father curses his sons
This tale, like The Twelve Brothers, The Six Swans, and Brother and Sister, features a woman rescuing her brothers. In the era and region in which it was collected, many men were drafted by kings for soldiers, to be sent as mercenaries. As a consequence, many men made their daughters their heirs; however, they also exerted more control over them and their marriages. The stories have been interpreted as a wish by women for the return of their brothers, freeing them from this control.[4] However, the issues of when the stories were collected are unclear, and stories of this type have been found in many other cultures, where this issue can not have inspired them.[5]
Some folklorists connect this tale to the more general practice of ultimogeniture, in which the youngest child would inherit.[6]
In the original oral version, there were three, not seven ravens; one study of German folk tales found that of 31 variants collected after the publication of Grimms' Fairy Tales, only two followed the Grimms in having seven ravens.[7]
Variants
A variant from Silesia has a boy searching for his lost sister after she's transformed into a dove.[8]
A Polish variant exists with the name The Seven Raven Brothers, collected from the Płock region.[9]
Two Slovakian versions exist: one named O sklenenom zámku ("About the glass keyhole"), archived in the Slovak collection named Codexy Revúcke ("Codices of Revúca"), and published version Traja zhavranení bratia ("Three Raven Brothers").[10]
The LiechtensteincomposerJosef Rheinberger based an opera on the tale, which was premiered in 1867. Ludwig Englander wrote a romantic fairy tale in four acts called The Seven Ravens, combining drama, pantomime, opera and ballet. The libretto was by C. Lehnhardt and based on the original German play by Emil Pohl. It was translated by G.P. Lathorp and ran at Niblo's Gardens, New York, from 8 November 1884 for a total of 96 performances.[13] A competing spectacle by the Kiralfy Brothers, Sieba and the Seven Ravens, was presented at the Star Theatre.[14][15]
The German pagan folk band Faun released in 2019 a song called Sieben Raben (from the album
Märchen & Mythen), inspired by this fairy tale.
Modern interpretations
Black Feather by K. Tempest Bradford (published in the Interfictions anthology, 2007) references commonalities between The Six Swans, The Seven Ravens, and The Twelve Brothers while building a new narrative for the sister character found in all three versions.
A musical version of The Seven Ravens, written by Wolfgang Adenberg and Alexander S. Bermange was presented at the Amphitheater Park Schloss Philippsruhe, Hanau, Germany as part of the Brothers Grimm Festival in 2007.
A fantasy webcomic named Raven Saga [1], created by Chiriro Howe and published by Webtoon.
^Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: Animal tales, tales of magic, religious tales, and realistic tales, with an introduction. FF Communications. p. 267 - 268.
^Jack Zipes, The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World, p 75, ISBN0-312-29380-1
^Jack Zipes, The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, p 641, ISBN0-393-97636-X
^Linda Degh, "What Did the Grimm Brothers Give To and Take From the Folk?" p 76 James M. McGlathery, ed, The Brothers Grimm and Folktale, ISBN0-252-01549-5
^Coleman, Marion Moore. Lechitica: In Honor of Charlotte Bielawski-Yess (1917-1957) On the Occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary of Her Work On the Polish Land. Cambridge Springs, Pa.: Alliance College Publications, 1958. p. 30.
^Pacalová, Jana. "Slovenské povesti Jána Francisciho (metóda, tvar, koncepcia)". In: Slovenská literatúra 55, 2008 p. 11.
^Ocasio, Rafael (2021). Folk stories from the hills of Puerto Rico = Cuentos folklóricos de las montañas de Puerto Rico. New Brunswick. pp. 82–84. ISBN978-1978823013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Soula Mitakidou and Anthony L. Manna, with Melpomeni Kanatsouli, Folktales from Greece: A Treasury of Delights, p 42 ISBN1-56308-908-4
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