Thursday, March 6, 2008

The Lambkin and the Little Fish

Many of the Grimm Brother’s fairy tales end in a horrifying death or a lesson well learned but not in all. In the story it is a little different because there is no death or violence. Although what this story does have like many others is an evil step mother who’s jealousy like most take over and react on feelings.
There was once a brother and sister who were very close and had a step mother who envied them like many. She knew a few spells and when the kids where outside playing she turned the brother into a lamb, who wandered around the meadow and the sister into a fish, who swam in the pond next to their home.
After a long time the step mother had company and thought that this would be a good time for the children to die. She ordered the cook to go and kill the fish in the pond and the lamb in the meadow. He later noticed as he was going to kill the lamb that the fish was speaking such beautiful words about the lamb and then realized that both animals where once human. The cook brought the brother and sister to a ‘wise woman’ who bewitched them back to their original human forms. The children moved far away and never seen the step mother again.
Now like most Grimm Brother stories there was not much violence and no death. From this story I didn’t see much of a moral either that would make kids learn much from this story. This is very different from the normal deep stories that are usually told.

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