The King Searches for a Bride
2009; Wayne State University Press; Volume: 23; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1536-1802
AutoresAntonio de Trueba, Robert M. Fedorchek,
Tópico(s)Gender Studies in Language
ResumoTranslator's Introduction Antonio de Trueba (1819-1889), a nineteenth-century Spanish storyteller, did much to give wnttenform to the oral tradition in Spain, and his Adventures of a Tailor and King's Son-in-Law have appeared in Marvels & Tales (for biographical data and information on his work and books, see my introduction to the former tale in volume 12 [1998]: 351-54). A number of his fairy tales, like a number of those of his contemporary Cecilia Bohl de Faber (Fernan Caballero), offer parallels to tales of the Brothers Grimm, which is the case with King Searches for a Bude (Fl rey en busca de novia), a vanation on their Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle (ATU 585). The woman of the house, the good woman of the house, exhibited traits and skills that redounded to the benefit of a man, a good man, and none of the skills was more basic, more vital than spinning, perhaps more than weaving, sewing, and cooking, for the gave rise to the metonym distaff side to refer to women, just as the used by hunters and fishermen gave use to the spear side to refer to men. And the serves Rosa, Trueba's fifteen-year-old orphaned heroine, as well as it does the maiden of the Gnmms' tale. The premise of both stories is the same: a young male royal goes in search of a bride who is to be both the and nchest he canfina - the poorest in material wealth and richest in spiritual munificence. There are differences: in Grimm the royal is a prince, in Trueba a king; there are marvelous happenings in Grimm (a spindle that jumps out of the maiden's hand and dances across the fields; a shuttle that jumps out of her hand and weaves a carpet; a needle that jumps out of her hand and in a trice covers chairs with velvet and walls with silk curtains), none in Trueba; the Grimms' prince does not suffer cosmetic and gastronomic disasters, Trueba's king does; the Grimms' fair maiden marries her prince in his royal castle, Trueba's Rosa marnes her king in a church. But it is the similarities that intrigue us, these tales that transcend cultures and leapfrog geographical boundaries and maintain a core story line. In Gnmm: the prince] came to the village where the maiden lived, he asked, as he always did, who was the richest and who the poorest in the (The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, trans. Jack Zipes [New York: Bantam Books, 1992], 592). In Trueba: king went from town to town searching for a bride, and in every one he asked who was the poorest and the richest girl there. (The emphasis in both quotes is mine.) In the end, that bride will be found by both prince and king in the materially poor maiden who is rich in virtue, humility, and skill - skill symbolized by the distaff. The text used for the translation is Cuentos y cantares, ed. Alfonso M. Fscudero (Madrid: Aguilar, 1959), 325-29. I Once upon a time there was a very beautiful and very good girl named Rosa. When she was still very small her father died, but her mother raised her with much love, teaching her to be a fine young woman, and above all to spin, weave, and sew, which was how the mother earned a living for the two of them. When Rosa turned fifteen, her mother fell gravely ill and, realizing that she was going to die, summoned her daughter and said to her: My dear, I'm going to heaven and I'm leaving you alone in this world. I don't have many possessions to pass on to you, but they will be enough for you to live happily if you make good use of them. The possessions I'm leaving you are this small house to live in, a distaff, a shuttle, and a few needles to earn a living, as I have, by spinning, weaving, and sewing. Having said this, Rosa's mother blessed her daughter and flew straight up to heaven, which is the resting place of all those who have walked a straight path on Earth. Rosa wept and prayed a great deal for her mother, and then started spinning, weaving, and sewing with so much energy that it seemed as though she did not have a heavy heart, except that instead of singing while she worked, she wept and prayed. …
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