The Three Spinners
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales
Fairy tales
Books-A-Million
2012
Hardcover
977
For almost two centuries, the stories of magic and myth gathered by the Brothers Grimm have been part of the way children—and adults—learn about the vagaries of the real world. Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow-White, Hänsel and Gretel, Little Red-Cap (a.k.a. Little Red Riding Hood), and Briar-Rose (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) are only a few of more than 200 enchanting characters included here. Lyrically translated and beautifully illustrated, the tales are presented just as Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm originally set them down: bold, primal, just frightening enough, and endlessly engaging.
WrensReads Review:
I have the complete set of the Grimm Fairy-Tales, and there are so many that I haven’t read! They are very short, as one would know, so I have decided to read each one and give them a review. Some are very vulgar, some are very cute and some don’t even make sense. Some of them are well known fairy-tales and some have never been told. Some are fairy-tales we know but are not the same because they have been downplayed for the children.
This story is actually very funny. I’m going to paraphrase the whole thing so if you don’t want it to be spoiled, move on!
There is a woman and her daughter. The girl would not spin and the mother got so frustrated that she started beating her! The queen, who happened to be going by, was alarmed and asked at once that she explain herself. She explained that she didn’t have the money to have such a lazy daughter. The queen then took the girl to her castle and placed her in one of three rooms filled with the finest flax. She told the girl that if she spun all the flax in the three rooms, she can have her son as a bridegroom. The girl didn’t know how to do it and wept profusely.
Three women stopped at the girl’s window: the first with a broad foot, the second with a fallen lip and the third with a broad thumb. They agreed to do all her spinning if she invited them to the girls wedding, not be ashamed of them, call them aunts, and will place them at her table they will spin all the flax for her! She obviously agreed.
The time came for the wedding and the prince asked the first ‘aunt’ how she got such a broad foot. She said by treading. He asked the second ‘aunt’ how she got such a fallen lip. She said by licking. He asked the third ‘aunt’ how she got such a broad thumb. She said by twisting the thread.
The prince became very alarmed and said “neither now nor ever shall my beautiful bride touch a spinning-wheel.”
The girl never had to spin anything in her life. Her mother would be so steamed!
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