A woman and her daughter lived in a cabbage garden. A rabbit kept eating up all the cabbages, till the woman sent her daughter to drive out the rabbit from their property.
The rabbit asks the maiden to "sit on my tail and go with me to my rabbit-hutch." to which the maiden refuses.
Observation: 'Sit on my tail' in a post freudian world would represent the male phallus, and hence a sexual advance on the part of a rabbit.
The rabbit destroys the cabbage patch two more times before the maiden agrees and sits on the rabbit's tail and goes to his hutch.
O: There is a lot of use of the number three in these stories. Every thing needs to be done three times for a different result. What reference did the Grimm brothers take? Also, there is a hint of a woman succumbing to temptation. Eve reference, maybe.
The rabbit asks the maiden to cook while he bids the guests - other hares, a crow to conduct the ceremony and a fox to act as the clerk. The girl is sad because she feels alone.
O: Reference to a social ceremony with altars and clerks and the families arriving. Also the girl realises that she is alone - lack of love/affection from the rabbit, perhaps?
The rabbit comes to call her but she doesn't respond and he goes away. He comes a second time, but again gets no response, so goes away. She makes a straw figure, dresses her up, and leaves it in her place and goes back to her mother. The rabbit comes a third time to call her, and hits the straw figurine when it doesn't respond. The head of the figure rolls off, and the rabbit is sad that his bride is no more.
O: Again with the third time being the charm. Also, there is a familiarity to this trope used, where an innocent maiden is taken by a baser male, often shown as animalistic and ugly. Then the maiden tricks him and returns to her earlier life.
Analysis
It is shown in this story that the woman gets tempted the third time the rabbit and goes with him of his own free will. But when she realises she has to cook/marry him, she feels lonely/sad? In the end she tricks him and returns to her own mother. There is an element of pseudofeminism that is being hinted at here, but not sure how much sense that makes from the era when these stories were written, let alone translated.
This obsession with the number 3 is something I am going to be looking out for and researching on, since it seems too big a coincidence across the different stories in this book.
The animalistic representation of the male in this story is subtle, given that there are other versions of this story where it is a tiger, not a rabbit that takes the maiden. However, the point that she gave consent and went with him willingly casts doubts if this is the trope that the story is aiming at.
I am not completely certain what the moral of this story is supposed to be right now. Perhaps it is that kidnapping only leads to pain for all parties - yes, I realise the consent issue contradicts this point, but that is the best I am coming up with at the moment.
Illustration watch
Walter Crane is now my hero. I am in love with his illustrations. Just note how he has the maiden look down to show that she is sad, and the crow and the fox wearing glasses, because they need to read. I also like the fan and the cane, very European touch, that.
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