“And now a great fire was lighted in the courtyard in which she was to be burnt, and the King stood above at the window and looked on with tearful eyes, because he still loved her so much. And when she was bound fast so the stake, and the fire was licking at her clothes with its red tongue, the last instant of the seven years expired. Then a whirring sound was heard in the air, and twelve ravens came flying towards the place, and sank downwards, and when they touched the earth they were her twelve brothers, whom she had saved. They tore the fire asunder, extinguished the flames, set their dear sister free, and kissed and embraced her. And now as she dared to open her mouth and speak, she told the King why she had been dumb, and had never laughed. The King rejoiced when he heard that she was innocent, and they all lived in great unity until their death. The wicked stepmother was taken before the judge, and put into a barrel filled with boiling, oil and venomous snakes, and died an evil death.
~Brothers Grimm
I’ve noticed an ongoing theme and I believe it will continue throughout many of these fables – blood is thicker than water. Those who are family by blood are trustworthy. Perhaps, the trope with the stepmother being a villain began at this point, maybe, it was forged into our societies collective consciousness by this single short story. For, this entire short story you see the brothers and their sister work together to survive and make sacrifices for one another – their love is pure and based on an invisible bond (even the quote above calls this out: “The King rejoiced when he heard that she was innocent.” because she could have talked at any point and saved herself by dooming her brothers). Even though the king married her out of love decided to kill her at the stepmother’s behest (not sure if the stepmother is the king’s mom or not, but if she is, then the king chose blood over love). In the end, she gets her comeuppance (see the last line of the quote above). But, while this over arching theme/moral is great, I need to analyze it from a hero/villain moral standpoint. [Click “Read More” to see the more detailed analysis]
Just a quickie on these, the quote is much more interesting for me. In terms of the moral from the good folks side, blood is thicker than water. If you believe in your family, they will save your life. Regarding the villain, the stepmother, don’t try and get in between love. Love is stronger than everything and it could lead to your death. Now, onto the quote analysis!
The quote above was a surprise. These Grimm stories have been pretty lackluster when it comes to pizzazz and gruesomeness. Then I read the last line in The Twelve Brothers and am impressed immediately. Yet, the grammar kind of threw me for a loop. So while I love the idea of a barrel full of boiling oil and venomous snakes, I can’t help but break down the sentence structure. Now, before I begin, realize I don’t have formal grammar training – I have experience with practical grammar usage and can read/decipher grammar based on my experience not fancy book learnin’. As such, I really hate the structure (I think it works but not well). If I was going to write it, I would go with: In a barrel full of boiling oil and venomous snakes, the wicked stepmother met her end by an evil death. Yet, in the end, I don’t understand how the venomous snakes were effective… since the snakes were also in a boiling barrel of oil and obviously had already suffered a evil death. So, going forward, make sure you throw the person into the barrel with the venomous snakes and then add the boiling oil later. Otherwise, you’re just wasting snakes.