Grimm Brothers: The Three Spinsters

For the story, click here. For summary and analysis, read on.

Summary

There was once a girl who was too lazy and would not spin at all, even though her mother asked her to again and again. Finally her mother lost patience, and beat her. Her cries caught the attention of the Queen of the land, who happened to be passing by the way. Upon inquiry, the mother, to hide her shame, lied to the queen that the girl wouldn't stop spinning, even though she didn't have any flax to give her.

The queen is impressed and suggests that the girl come with her to the castle and spin for her, as she had enough flax to keep the girl happy. Happy to be rid of her insolent daughter, the mother agrees.

O: So essentially not to face shame, the mother ensured that her daughter will be shamed when the queen figures out she can't spin to save her life? Moving on, the use of spinning as the plot driver is important, given that the eighteen hundreds is a time where industry among women was a novel concept and spinning was the pioneer for the same. Every home had a spinning wheel and women spun their own clothes and mended theirs and their family's. To get a girl who can spin all day would definitely be a treasure for the queen.

The queen shows the girl three rooms full of flax to spin yarns from. She tells her to spin away to her glory, and if she were to spin all the yarn successfully, then she would marry the queen's firstborn son, for industry was the biggest dowry she could wish for. The girl realizes that even in a hundred years she would not be able to spin all the flax she was given, and cries for three days straight out of fear. When the queen comes in to find no work done, she explains it away by saying she missed home and her mother terribly. The queen is placated but demands that she begin work the next day.

O: Three rooms of flax to spin. Three days of crying. The obsession with three as a number continues.

Because she has no idea how to get out of a tough situation, the girl looks out the window in perplexity. She sees three women - one with a large flat foot, one with a thick lower lip and one with an unusually large thumb. They ask her about her problem, and she tells them. They promise to help her but ask her to invite them to her wedding as her cousins. She promises, and they get to work. The girl hid the spinsters from the queen whenever she came, and only showed her the heap of yarn that was being made. The queen is duly impressed, and soon all three rooms are emptied of flax. The spinsters then leave, reminding the girl of her promise.

The prince is overjoyed at getting such an industrious and enthusiastic wife and wedding preparations are made. The girl requests her future family to allow her three cousins to sit with them at the same table, to which they agree. When the three spinsters arrive, the prince is aghast at their grotesqueness, and asks them why:

And then he went up to the first spinster and said,

"How is it that you have such a broad flat foot?"

"With treading," answered she, "with treading."

Then he went up to the second and said,

"How is it that you have such a great hanging lip?"

"With licking," answered she, "with licking."

Then he asked the third,

"How is it that you have such a broad thumb?"

"With twisting thread," answered she, "with twisting thread."

And at that moment, the prince decides that his wife will never ever again touch the spinning apparatus again, thus ensuring that the girl got away with marrying a prince without ever spinning even once.

Analysis

The obvious parallel here is with the story of Rumpelstiltskin, except with the opposite ending. Here a cheat gets away with the cheating in the end. The implied moral then becomes that keeping one's promises brings good tidings to one. I am sure if the girl had not invited them to her wedding, the prince would have asked her to spin after marriage, and that would have resulted in much bigger humiliation.

Some research also teaches me that a spinster was a woman who was financially independent, and thus often seen as a threat by men. This essentially is another way of saying that they ended up saying single their entire lives, and subject of great rumors. Which also explains where the present day colloquial connotation to the word spinster comes from.

Illustration Watch

The headpiece showing the three spinsters working in tandem is a treat, but the show stealer is the tail piece, which shows the girl, running and hence turning the wheel that ensures the spinning takes place. It is a very abstract representation of the story, and is one of those rare illustrations that allows for Walter Crane to talk to us through his art.