Billy Ray Blog #7

I would have to say I enjoyed the Brothers Grimm version of the tale of Bluebeard the most out of the five that we read, which was called Fitcher’s Bird. I think that this was because this version is straight forward and easy to understand since it was similar to some of the tales we have already read. The tale slightly reminded me of The Pig King and Little Red Riding Hood, which we read earlier this semester. It reminded me of The Pig King because of the use and repetition of the sisters. The first two sisters die at the hand of the man they marry, but the third sister manages to disrupt the cycle of chaos by obeying the man or deceiving the man into thinking that she would obey him. The tale reminded me of Little Red Riding Hood because of the deception used by the third sister at the end, much like LRRH deceives the wolf at the end of some of the LRRH tales we have read.  
 
In the Brothers Grimm tale, Bluebeard is a sorcerer who disguises himself as a beggar in order to steal pretty girls. As soon as the girls touch the sorcerer, they end up in his basket on their way back to his home. The first two sisters are killed when the sorcerer sees that the egg is blood-stained, but the third sister was clever. She hides the egg and manages to reassemble her decapitated sisters in the forbidden chamber, but this was only the beginning of her plan. The sister knows the sorcerer will now do anything she asks because of her loyalty to him, so she asks him to walk a basket of gold over to her mother and father after he says he will make her his bride. The sister deceives the sorcerer by putting her sisters in the bag, and she tells him to not stop and look as she will be watching him from the tower. Every time the sorcerer would rest, the sisters would act as if they were the sister in the tower, yelling at the sorcerer to get a move on. 
 
Once the sorcerer gets closer to her home, the deceptive sister uses a skull to make it seem as if she is still watching out of the tower. Then, she covers herself in feathers and honey to make it seem as if she’s a strange type of bird, which is something we have seen done in many fairytales (women using a disguise to get away from someone). When she makes her escape, she sees the sorcerer slowly walking back (while he thinks he is about to go back home and get married) and he is not suspicious of the bird to be his bridegroom. The sorcerer gets back to his castle, where the brothers of the girls are waiting for him and burn his castle to the ground, killing the sorcerer and his crew. I also enjoyed the power of the female in this tale. The third sister shows no fear and even tells the sorcerer “pick up the basket and go. But don’t you dare stop to rest along the way.” No women would talk to a man like that, especially when you know he has already killed women before. So, I thought it was very brave and selfless of the sister to risk her life for her sisters. 
 

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