Archetypal characters
The characters are royalty. The main character is a daughter of a king. She is hated by her stepmother "who then had the girl shut up in a castle in the heart of a forest". Still love finds its way. Her love interest is a prince, a son of a king. He notices that the castle is now occupied by a beautiful maiden, as he sees her at one of the upper windows.
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| Picture from Alchetron. |
This couple is helped by a witch. She gives the princess a magic book that can turn the prince into a canary then back into a human by turning the pages.
Obstacles or tasks
Unfortunately, this relationship is not approved by the evil stepmother. She hurts the prince by concealing her hairpins--with the sharp points sticking straight up--in the pillow where the canary form of him lands. The wounds are so severe that they refuse to heal over and constantly hurt. No doctors know what to do, until the princess flees from the castle then eavesdrops a witch telling other witches about the remedy for the sick prince.
Happily ever after
In short, the princess reconciles with the prince and he insists on marrying her. For the wedding, the prince's father invites all the kings and queens in the vicinity, including the princess's royal father. The princess's father recognizes her, but the princess denies him as he lets the stepmother imprisons her. He has the wicked wife seized, and the marriage is celebrated to the satisfaction and joy of all, with the exception of that wretch.
Moral lesson
From this fairy tale, we can take some moral lessons, such as:
- The wicked would eventually be punished.
- Love is a strong power. It drives the princess to break free from imprisonment and find her lost love.
- Can you think of anything else?
As a fairy tale, in this story there are things that can not happen in real life, for example the magic book that can turn a man into a bird. But there are also some other things that are relevant in real life, such as abusive/neglectful parents, a child's anger towards parents, and love between young couple. The forms of relationships in this tale can be adapted to real life context. In the news to this day we still hear stories about abused/neglected children, family conflicts, and young couples doing foolish things.
Apparently the princess's actions are somewhat peculiar, or that just shows that she's a girl with pride. When the king offers the princess disguised as a doctor whatever she likes, she doesn't reveal her identity and ask for the prince's hand in marriage straightaway, rather only asks for the prince's shield bearing the family coat-of-arms, his standard, and his yellow vest that was rent and bloodied. Why not? Why doesn't she make it easy? Does she already have something in mind as to giving the prince a lesson when they meet again? Or, is she just an oldschool maiden that feels hesitate to propose to a man, as it's not the custom in that time and place? Then, the princess disowns her father. This attitude isn't very proper but understandable. The princess might feel that she is thrown away, while the father supposedly has authority to keep her close and defends her, but he prefers the new wife over his own daughter. And he's the one who tells the queen to send the girl away, regardless of the place being comfortable and no mistreatment allowed. No wonder the princess grows to resent his father as well.
It doesn't matter whether Italo Calvino as the writer of this fairy tale believes in witches and magic books. According to Wikipedia page on him, Calvino compiled the Italian folktales--in which "The Canary Prince" is included--on the basis of question "is there an Italian equivalent of the Brothers Grimm?"
Label "The Heath Guide to Literature" mulanya dimulai di blog satunya, tapi karena sudah malas meneruskan di sana, jadi di sini.
Saduran pengantar untuk bab pertama: [The Heath Guide to Literature] Ikhtisar 1. Dunia Fiksi.
