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Comment
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HenricusMedicus
Registered User
(8/8/05 8:11 pm)
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Villain selects own punishment
In the fairy tale "The Goose Girl", the wicked maidservant is asked by the King what punishment would befit a very bad person. She describes one, and is sentenced to suffer death in the way she has described.
In the Bible, Book of Esther, chapter 6, the villain Haman is asked by the King, "What shall be done for the man whom the King delighteth to honor?" Haman describes a splendid honor, and the King commands him to see that the virtuous Mordecai receives that honor (and Haman hates Mordecai).
Since old Europe was a Bible-reading land, I can't help thinking that "Goose Girl" drew on Esther as a source.
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Lamplighter
Registered User
(8/9/05 3:26 am)
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Re: Villain selects own punishment
That is an interesting observation. If, indeed, people learned to read via the bible at that time, then the themes and stories might have at least an indirect influence on their own work.
For a modern twist, recall the practice of having a naughty child "cut their own switch" with which to be punished. I think Richard Pryor included his memories of this in one of his routines. Too thick, and it would be punishing yourself, to thin and your parent would go outside and select a club... I seem to remeber that Pryor claimed that he would stop his car whenever he passed a switch bush sapling, leap out and up-root the plant so that it wouldn't be able to terrorise children in the future.
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(8/9/05 3:40 am)
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Re: Villain selects own punishment
Well, reading the Bible was a class-laden activity, given that it wasn't translated into the various venaculars until around the Reformation, I think, and most of the peasantry wouldn't have been reading Latin. The English Wycliffites translated it earlier and were declared heretics for their pains. So I guess it depends on whether or not those kinds of Old Testament stories were told orally, and whether or not local priests used them as bases for sermons.
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janeyolen
Registered User
(8/9/05 4:50 am)
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Depends
Well, it also depends how old a story "Goose Girl" is. It is very likely a post reformation tale.
Of course there is the Brer Rabbit story of "Don't throw me in the briar patch" variety. And while not a villain, he IS a trickster.
Jane
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