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Allerleirauh (All-kinds-of-Fur)
Tale of the Brothers Grimm translated by M. Hunt [1884]
(We had to change the translation here and then to fit our German version.)
Interpretation by Undine & Jens in green [2021]
There was once on a time a King who had a wife with golden hair, and she was so beautiful that her equal was not to be found on earth. They also had a daughter who was as beautiful as her mother, and her hair was golden as well. It came to pass, that the mother lay ill, and as she felt that she must soon die, she called the King and said, “If thou wishest to marry again after my death, take no one who is not quite as beautiful as I am, and who has not just such golden hair as I have: this thou must promise me.” And after the King had promised her this she closed her eyes and died.
We would like to base our interpretation of this wonderful fairy tale on the first edition published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. All other editions have been significantly changed in terms of plot and meaning. The reason is probably to be found in the external action, which touches on a very sensitive topic of society. However, it is precisely this tension that made us curious to examine the deeper levels of the spiritual message.
Therefore, we would first like to turn to this spiritual level and try to interpret the many symbols more closely. This fairy tale also begins with a king and queen, in which we can see spirit and nature. Her daughter would then be the embodied soul, which is of course as pure and beautiful as Mother Nature in essence. However, something is wrong, since Mother Nature gets sick and dies. Well, we know this problem very well these days. We sense that nature is sick and try to heal and save it, but it keeps dying. Perhaps the problem is not with nature, which is described here as the pure and perfect mother, but with the king, our spirit…?
Where to look for these spiritual causes of sickness? On the one hand, we have an insatiable desire for more and more: more products, more cars, more vacation flights, more technology, more clothing, more money, more luxury, more resources, more energy... more... more... more... Research and new technologies are supposed to fix it. Then we also cultivate a growing egoism in a dog-eat-dog society, where everyone thinks of himself first and foremost. And beyond that, we maintain a scientific world view that regards the basics of nature as completely calculable and technically controllable, i.e. without life. This degrades nature to a dead machine that can be controlled at will and mercilessly exploited. That means, by our world view we kill nature, our ancient mother, and then we lament when she grows sick and dies around us, as does the king in this fairy tale.
For a long time the King could not be comforted, and had no thought of taking another wife. At length his councillors said, “There is no help for it, the King must marry again, that we may have a Queen.” And now messengers were sent about far and wide, to seek a bride who equalled the late Queen in beauty. In the whole world, however, none was to be found, and even if one had been found, still there would have been no one who had such golden hair. So the messengers came home as they went. Now the King had a daughter, who was just as beautiful as her dead mother, and had the same golden hair. When she was grown up the King looked at her one day, and saw that in every respect she was like his late wife, and suddenly felt a violent love for her. Then he spake to his councillors, “I will marry my daughter, for she is the counterpart of my late wife, otherwise I can find no bride who resembles her.” When the councillors heard that, thy tried to talk him out of it, but it was in vain.
We feel the same way: nature is dying on this earth and we are looking all over space to see if there is perhaps a better planet like this. But alas! We can’t find one, and have promised nature not to take anything worse. One could even say; this promise is innate in the mind, it is in its nature to strive ever higher. Truly, our modern science also strives for the gold of truth, but it seeks happiness above all in external things. Marrying your own soul and harmoniously connecting with nature is really going too far, even if we feel a great love for life. Our inner advice, the rational mind, says loud and clear: No! That is why we prefer to marry ourselves to external things, people, parties, companies, money or fame. And along this path, our love very quickly turns into blind lust directed toward the outside.
The daughter was heartily shocked when she became aware of her father’s ungodly resolution. But she was wise and said to him, “Before I fulfil your wish, I must have three dresses, one as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one as bright as the stars. Besides this, I wish for a mantle of a thousand different kinds of fur and hair joined together, and one of every kind of animal in your kingdom must give a bit of his skin for it.” The King, however, was so vehement in his lust, that the cleverest maidens in his kingdom had to weave the three dresses, one as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one as bright as the stars. And his huntsmen had to catch one of every kind of animal in the whole of his kingdom, and take from it a piece of its skin, and out of these was made a mantle of a thousand different kinds of fur. At length, when all was ready, the King caused the mantle to be brought and spread it out before her.
Even the soul is terrified at this ungodly intention. Why “godless”? Well, we suspected above that there was something wrong with this spirit. “Godless” is relatively apt, because it is not without reason that “God” is already considered a terrible term of abuse or a nonsensical superstition among the majority of our modern scientists. The mind becomes godless when it loses the holistic view. And the fairy tale says: The true soul neither wants nor can unite with such a spirit. On the contrary, she flees from this spirit. And where?
This is most wonderful: she flees into the diversity of nature. Here the soul wears the dress of the sun, the moon, the stars and all living beings. This tells of a world view that is very foreign to us today. Even in Christianity, animals were not given the same soul as humans, not to mention the sun, moon and stars. That this whole nature with all living beings is inspired by the same soul is an idea that one finds, for example, in Plato’s world soul. This world view of the universal soul is anchored even more clearly under the term “Atman” in Hinduism, where it is considered the basis of all nature and creation:
You are the mighty deity that accomplishes and witnesses everything, for your eyes are everywhere. You are the soul of everything, you see everything, you penetrate everything and you know everything. You create a body for yourself and you carry that body. Thus, you are every embodied being; the body delights you and is the basis of all physicality. You are the creator of the breath of life...
You are the moon, the sun with all the stars and planets, and the atmosphere that fills space. You are the North Star, the constellation of the seven Rishis and the seven worlds beginning with the earth. You are the sea of causes and the universal intelligence. You are the undeveloped and this whole world. You are the universe from Brahma to the smallest blade of grass. You are the beginning and the first cause of all beings... [Mahabharata 13.16]
Moreover, the fairy tale says even more astonishingly; it is the desire of the spirit that provides the pure soul with this manifold dress of the world. We also find this principle in the ancient Indian worldview, where it says that Brahma becomes the creator god through the natural quality of passion (rajas) and unfolds this entire creation.
So, the princess said, “The wedding shall be tomorrow.” But in the night whilst everyone was asleep, she got up, and took three different things from her treasures, gifts from her bridegroom, a golden ring, a golden spinning-wheel, and a golden reel. The three dresses of the sun, moon, and stars she put into a nutshell, put on her mantle of all kinds of fur, and blackened her face and hands with soot. Then she commended herself to God, went away, and walked the whole night until she reached a great forest. And as she was tired, she got into a hollow tree, and fell asleep.
So now, the soul withdraws into nature and awaits the dawn of the spirit to join with it. She promises him that. Of course, spirit and soul are never separate, but through the power of illusion, a separation usually appears between spirit and nature, subject and object, the knower and the knowable. As a sign of their connection, she adopts various properties that we will encounter later as symbols. She hides her three garments of sun, moon and stars in a nut, which probably means in her living and fertile core, whereby the big is also contained in the small and the small is reflected in the big. This view that the macrocosm is an image of the microcosm was very common in the past. That she blackens her face and hands with soot is reminiscent of the sin with which our souls are burdened through thought and deed. Finally, she slips into the cloak of the animals, goes through the spiritual night into the great forest of creation, where she sleeps inside a tree. That probably also means that this soul is asleep in all plants, at least not as active there as in the animals.
The idea that all of this creation comes into being so that the mind can awaken from its madness was not unfamiliar to ancient cultures. Because the spirit was regarded as the fundamental basis of nature, it was understandable that a spiritual meaning was also sought in this creation. Even today we are aware that we live in this world to learn. The only question is “What?” and whether we still feel the deeper meaning.
The sun rose, and she slept on, and she was still sleeping when it was full day. Then it happened that the King to whom this forest belonged, was hunting in it. When his dogs came to the tree, they snuffed, and ran barking round about it. The King said to the huntsmen, “Just see what kind of wild beast has hidden itself in there.” The huntsmen obeyed his order, and when they came back they said, “A wondrous beast is lying in the hollow tree; we have never before seen one like it. Its skin is fur of a thousand different kinds, but it is lying asleep.” Said the King, “See if you can catch it alive, and then fasten it on the carriage, and we will take it with us.” When the huntsmen laid hold of it, they saw it was a maiden.
Now, the soul sleeps into the worldly day and waits for the “great day”, the day of the mystical wedding, on the evening of which the mystical supper takes place, as is also described in the Bible. Until then, the king goes hunting. Who are the hunters of the mind? Here one could think of the five senses, because they hunt through the world in search of food. The king should be reason, making the decisions. This reason can be developed up to a high “insight” in order to finally recognize the true soul in all beings. Until then, the senses only look at the surface of things and cannot penetrate into the depths. At least, they recognize that it was not a wild animal, but a girl, but she too goes into the kitchen where the king’s food is prepared.
Then they said, “Allerleirauh, thou wilt be useful in the kitchen, come with us, and thou canst sweep up the ashes.” So they put her in the carriage, and took her home to the royal palace. There they pointed out to her a closet under the stairs, where no daylight entered, and said, “Hairy animal, there canst thou live and sleep.” Then she was sent into the kitchen, and there she carried wood and water, swept the hearth, plucked the fowls, picked the vegetables, raked the ashes, and did all the dirty work. Because she did everything so neatly, the cook was good to her and sometimes called Allerleirauh in the evening and gave her some of the leftovers to eat. But before the king went to bed she had to go upstairs and take off his boots, and when he had taken one off he always threw it at her head.
What does this kitchen symbolize? Usually our thinking prepares the food of the senses for reason and disposes of the waste. In this kitchen of thoughts, the soul now works and sleeps inside our body without us recognizing it. That means: we live, but don’t really know how.
The fact that she sleeps in the dark under the stairs could indicate that our soul is the basis for a development destined for human beings and all other beings, namely to rise from the darkness of illusion to the light of higher knowledge. At least that’s what people used to think.
The last sentence with the boots was already removed by the Brothers Grimm in the second edition. They must have been appalled at how the king treated this furry creature that served him so faithfully. Perhaps a good opportunity to think about how we deal with plants, animals and other people nowadays in a pathological lust for power. This already shows the big problem when one cannot recognize the pure soul in all beings.
Allerleirauh lived there for a long time in great wretchedness. Alas, fair princess, what is to become of thee now! It happened, however, that one day a feast was held in the palace, and she thought, “Now I could once again see my dear bridegroom.” So she said to the cook, “May I go up-stairs for a while, and look on? I will place myself outside the door.” The cook answered, “Yes, go, but you must be back here in half-an-hour to sweep the hearth.” Then she took her oil-lamp, went into her den, put off her fur-dress, and washed the soot off her face and hands, so that her full beauty once more came to light. And she opened the nut, and took out her dress which shone like the sun, and when she had done that she went up to the festival, and every one made way for her, for no one knew her, and thought no otherwise than that she was a king’s daughter. The King came to meet her, gave his hand to her, and danced with her, and thought in his heart, “My eyes have never yet seen any one so beautiful!” When the dance was over, she curtsied, and when the King looked round again she had vanished, and none knew whither. The guards who stood outside the palace were called and questioned, but no one had seen her leaving the house.
As long as we do not recognize the true soul, we live poorly. All material riches and the most magnificent festivals are of no use to us. However, there is another way in which the spirit dances with nature, and that is the search for knowledge. In this cosmic dance, people used to try not to dance so much with dead particles, formulas and machines, but with the living soul in nature. Thus, the spirit had the opportunity to recognize the true soul, life itself, and could rediscover what it had lost through its delusion. Because, as the fairy tale describes, in this dance the soul can show herself to him, cleansed of sin and in a cosmic dress. The spirit remembers and already feels a deeper connection, but cannot yet hold the pure soul. The outer guards don’t help him here either, because the living soul can only be found in the inner being. It does not come in from the outside, but lives inside, where it usually hides:
She had, however, run into her little den, had quickly taken off her dress, made her face and hands black again, put on the fur-mantle, and again was Allerleirauh. And now, when she went into the kitchen, and was about to get to her work and sweep up the ashes, the cook said, “Leave that alone till morning, and make me the soup for the King. I, too, will go upstairs awhile, and take a look.But let no hairs fall in, or in future thou shalt have nothing to eat.” So, the cook went away, and Allerleirauh made the soup for the King, and made bread soup and the best she could, and when it was ready she fetched her golden ring from her little den, and put it in the bowl in which the soup was served. When the dancing was over, the King had his soup brought and ate it, and he liked it so much that it seemed to him he had never tasted better. But when he came to the bottom of the bowl, he saw a golden ring lying. When he looked at it closely, it was his wedding ring and he could not conceive how it could have got there. Then he ordered the cook to appear before him. The cook was terrified when he heard the order, and said to Allerleirauh, “Thou hast certainly let a hair fall into the soup, and if thou hast, thou shalt be beaten for it.” When he came before the King the latter asked who had made the soup? The cook replied, “I made it.” But the King said, “That is not true, for it was much better than usual, and cooked differently.” He answered, “I must acknowledge that I did not make it, it was made by the rough animal.” The King said, “Go and bid it come up here.” When Allerleirauh came, the King said, “Who art thou?” “I am a poor girl who no longer has any father or mother.” He asked further, “Of what use art thou in my palace?” She answered, “I am good for nothing but to have boots thrown at my head.” He continued, “Where didst thou get the ring which was in the soup?” She answered, “I know nothing about the ring.” So the King could learn nothing, and had to send her away again.
Now it is said again clearly how the soul helps the cook in the thought kitchen of our body to prepare the food for the reason. The more the pure soul cooks, the less our thoughts work and the more true the food is. The sundress and the wedding ring could indicate a first level of knowledge, for example the knowledge of the spiritual unity in nature, in which the universal intelligence connects everything. This great intelligence shines like the sun, gives the light of knowledge and makes the things of the world visible.
After a while, there was another festival, and then, as before, Allerleirauh begged the cook for leave to go and look on. He answered, “Yes, but come back again in half-an-hour, and make the King the bread soup which he likes so much.” Then she ran into her den, washed herself quickly, and took out of the nut the dress which was as silvery as the moon, and put it on. Then she went up and was like a princess, and the King stepped forward to meet her, and rejoiced to see her once more, and as the dance was just beginning they danced it together. He no longer doubted that this was his bride, for no one else in the world had such golden hair but her. But when the dance was at end, she again disappeared so quickly that the King could not observe where she went. She, however, sprang into her den, and once more made herself a hairy animal, and went into the kitchen to prepare the bread soup. When the cook had gone up-stairs, she fetched the little golden spinning- wheel, and put it in the bowl so that the soup covered it. Then it was taken to the King, who ate it, and liked it as much as before, and had the cook brought, who this time likewise was forced to confess that Allerleirauh had prepared the soup. Allerleirauh again came before the King, but she answered that she was good for nothing else but to have boots thrown at her head, and that she knew nothing at all about the little golden spinning- wheel.
This could mean a second level of knowledge, with which the spiritual doubts are slowly resolved. Of course, the bread soup reminds us of the famous Last Supper and the body of God, as the Bible says:
I am the living bread, coming down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. And the bread I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. [Bible, John 6:51]
The moondress here could symbolize female fertility, which was often associated with the moon. Similarly, the spinning- wheel is reminiscent of spinning the thread of life. Slowly the spirit of the king becomes aware that he himself gave the soul these qualities, because without the spirit there would of course be no fertility and no thread of life. Yet the soul still does not reveal herself, serving humbly and awakening in the king the conscience of how arrogant he is acting.
Well, for the third time, the King held a festival. And he was hoping his bride would come again, and he was sure he wanted to hold her tight. Allerleirauh asked the cook again if she might not go upstairs. The cook said, “Faith, rough-skin, thou art a witch, and always puttest something in the soup which makes it so good that the King likes it better than that which I cook,” but as she begged so hard, he let her go up at the appointed time. And now she put on the dress which shone like the stars, and thus entered the hall. Again the King danced with the beautiful maiden, and thought that she never yet had been so beautiful. And whilst she was dancing, he contrived, without her noticing it, to slip a golden ring on her finger, and he had given orders that the dance should last a very long time. When it was ended, he wanted to hold her fast by her hands, but she tore herself loose, and sprang away so quickly through the crowd that she vanished from his sight. She ran as fast as she could into her den beneath the stairs, but as she had been too long, and had stayed more than half-an-hour she could not take off her pretty dress, but only threw over it her fur- mantle, and in her haste she did not make herself quite black, but one finger remained white. Then Allerleirauh ran into the kitchen, and cooked the bread soup for the King, and as the cook was away, put her golden reel into it. The king found it, like the ring and the golden spinning- wheel, and now he knew for certain that his bride was near, for no one else could have the presents. Allerleirauh was summoned and wanted to help herself through again and jump away, but as she jumped away the king saw a white finger on her hand and grabbed her by it.
And because all good things come in threes, there is a third level of knowledge. The cook is now starting to get jealous that the living soul can prepare the food for the senses much better than rational thoughts, but fortunately, he is reassured. The stardress reminds us of the eternal sea of causes, from which the living waves of all creatures rise with the countless lights of life. The reel could be a symbol of the soul carrying the thread of life, winding and unwinding it in a long chain of cause and effect. Ring, spinning- wheel and reel are now united in a similar way like the holy trinity of Father, Holy Spirit and Son. Well, there really is probably no other way to hold the soul than to put the Ring of Unity on her finger. That could be the great realization that the spirit and the acting nature are always connected with the soul of life. This living soul can only be found in the whole. This is probably also the reason why our modern science, which breaks everything down into particles and measured data, has never been able to find the soul that makes everything alive, even with the best measuring devices.
Then he found the ring he had put on her and tore off the smoke cloak. Then the golden hair flowed out, and it was his dearest bride. The cook was richly rewarded, and then they married, and they lived happily ever after.
Yes, this is what the ancient cultures have known for a long time, that with the view of unity, with the ring that connects everything, you can see through the surface of physical things to the bottom and can recognize the pure soul or true self. The golden hair could symbolize the true realization that then flows out of the head after the thoughts have worked hard in the kitchen and are now richly rewarded. Thus, at last, the mystical marriage of spirit and soul is celebrated, the goal of bliss is attained, and as long as this unity is alive, there can be no death. In this way is also overcome the disease of the mind mentioned at the beginning, which is so harmful to Mother Nature and causes her death. This means that the morbid egoism, which was nourished by the intellectually discerning mind and raised to the rank of king, is healed and defeated by holistic reason, so that pure reason now rules again as a spiritual king united with nature and soul.
From a soulish and psychological point of view
We have tried to shed some light on this very wonderful and demanding fairy tale from a spiritual perspective. One could now try the same thing from the point of view of the soul on a psychological level. This is about a soul that withdraws from the spirit because he is no longer pure but is ruled by illusion and desire. This is neither a true king nor a true father to wish to follow. Just as this problem is solved spiritually through true knowledge, so it is solved psychologically through true humility. Knowledge and humility should always be developed together on the way to the mystical marriage in order to overcome the inner separation. Why didn’t Allerleirauh hate the king when he threw his boots at her head? There is an instructive story about this that Goethe told in his “Tour of Italy”:
Philippus Neri (1515-1595) was near the Pope when he was told that a nun with all sorts of strange spiritual gifts was making a name for herself near Rome. Neri is given the task of investigating the truthfulness of these stories. He immediately gets on his mule and, in spite of bad weather and bad road, he soon reaches the monastery. Introduced, he converses with the abbess, who gives him the most precise information about all these signs of grace with complete approval. The requested nun enters, and without greeting her further, he hands her his muddy boot, with the suggestion that she should take it off. The holy, clean Virgin steps back, frightened, and expresses her indignation at this impertinence in violent words. Calmly, Neri rises, mounts his mule, and finds himself in front of the Pope before he could even suspect it; for, in examining such gifts of the Spirit, great precautions are most strictly prescribed to Catholic confessors, for the Church, while acknowledging the possibility of such heavenly favours, does not concede their actuality without the most careful examination. Neri recently revealed the result to the astonished pope: “She is not a saint,” he exclaims, “she does no miracles! Because she lacks the main quality, humility.”
Yes, without true humility one cannot overcome egoism to walk the path to spiritual truth. That is why the following is often recommended here: “Live low and think high.” The fairy tale also shows that this path of humility is not easy, but full of suffering, which of course brings about a process of mental and spiritual purification.
From a physical and social point of view
Finally, we would like to look briefly at the social level. As long as you depict the plot of the fairy tale in the interior of a person, you can still understand the message relatively well. It becomes much more difficult when you look at the external, human or physical relationship, because the marriage of father and daughter is of course a very sensitive topic, practically a social taboo. Young children don’t have a problem with the thought of marrying their parents, but as soon as the sexual relationship is involved, the worst kind of thoughts about incest come up immediately. That was probably the reason why this fairy tale was revised so extremely by the Brothers Grimm. The one king became two different kings, which meant that the context of the plot and the deeper message had to suffer greatly.
In view of the sensitive topic and the fact that the father ends up marrying his own daughter, one could argue about whether the fairy tale in its original form is still suitable for our children today. We like to try to protect our children from facing such problems, especially if we haven’t solved them by ourselves. In this regard, it may be primarily a story for adults, who can learn more about the problem of lust and inner division by reading or telling it. Perhaps it can also help to prevent or even heal such problems in a family through the portrayed path of suffering and the forgiving end, if one is mentally burdened with it.
From a family perspective, here we can see a man whose wife had died. Therefore, he lived with his daughter and, despite his best efforts, could not find a new wife. This fundamentally disrupted the natural function of a healthy family. There was no longer a mother to protect the daughter, and the man had no wife to direct his natural love to. So “he looked on her one day.” Since it is very unlikely that he has never looked at his daughter before, this expression could be ambiguous and already speak of sexual passion. Now the big question about the difference between true love, unbridled desire and sexual passion arises. And that is really a very difficult question, one that we are hardly aware of today in a society whose foundation is insatiable desire. Usually we try to protect ourselves from such “forbidden” feelings with rational taboo boundaries and rely on incest laws with harsh penalties and hateful social rejection. In many cases, this may help as a deterrent, and outward punishment for the perpetrators is truly appropriate, but is it sufficient? Probably not, because the cases of abuse of children, whether they are of a purely mental or also physical nature, have been increasing steadily for years, especially in the family environment. The fairy tale also says; “The councillors wanted to talk him out of it, but it was in vain.”
The daughter, of course, was shocked by this decision and requested four extraordinary dresses. Here one might initially think of an impossible demand for wealth, but maybe, the fairy tale means the natural demand for diversity. Because a lack of diversity is the root cause of the incest problems in nature. Mankind has known this problem for a very long time and knows that there is a great danger to future generations. Nature has developed various strategies for this not only in humans but also in animals. Sigmund Freud’s thesis that inbreeding is widespread in the animal kingdom has now been refuted by science. The anthropologist Edward Westermarck recognized 100 years ago: “People who have lived close together from an early age develop a sexual aversion towards one another.” Today we know that smell, for example, plays an important role here. The big problem of our modern society is that we like to disregard all natural limits and hardly develop a feeling for the commandments of nature. The sex drive is also commercialized, mercilessly exploited and, in order to achieve maximum pleasure, all barriers should be overcome, which is what children and families in particular have to suffer from. Many people today believe that unbridled or perverse sex is an expression of personal freedom. Oh well...
But our fairy tale says that the demand for natural diversity alone is not the solution to the basic problem, because the father fulfills the daughter’s wish. The much deeper problem here seems to be a mental or emotional disturbance of the natural order in society. And nature reacts accordingly: the daughter flees and hides deep in the forest, which could suggest a deep psychological crisis with severe depression. Such an escape may perhaps eliminate the physical problems, but the psychological ones always catch up with the girl, just as the hunting dogs find their victims here. It is not uncommon for such people to drop out of society completely, because our society can hardly deal with these problems in a healing way. The perpetrator meets with abysmal hatred and the victim with helpless pity.
The girl in our fairy tale feels the same way. How can you help here? This inner turmoil and severe disappointment from the father has to be healed somehow. In the long run, neither hatred nor repression will help. People used to know that such unresolved problems haunt us even after death. Even if we believe today that our accumulated problems disappear with death, in any case the environment and the following generations are burdened with it. It has been known in psychology for years that children, who have been abused and have not been able to truly resolve the trauma mentally, inflict similar abuse on their own children as adults far too often. That is why the Bible also says that one should not carry such problems around with oneself, but should solve them as quickly as possible: “Be not angry and sin not! Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. [Bible, Eph. 4.26]”
The virtue of forgiveness was seen as a great help here, because forgiveness can heal all wounds. However, for true and healing forgiveness, one must first conquer one’s pride. The girl in our fairy tale practices humility for this. Of course, this struggle takes place primarily within us, even if external means are used. In the past, for example, a penitential robe made of rough fabrics or animal skins, such as the “Allerleirauh” fur mantle (“rauh” = rough), were worn with it. The robes of the monks and nuns served a similar purpose, covering their bodies, humiliating worldly pride and expressing their sexual abstinence. In this way, one can penetrate to the spiritual level of this fairy tale, see through the nature of selfish desire, find true love again and overcome the separation of spirit and soul. Then this conflict between father and daughter could be resolved on a much higher level of love than is physically possible. And truly, only on this level can such conflicts be digested and resolved in the long term. This is the ancient way of salvation, big and small. And in this light one should probably also see the happy ending of this fairy tale.
• ... Table of contents of all fairy tale interpretations ...
• The emperor's new clothes - (topic: MONEY-MAKES-BLIND - Memorial 2020)
• Rat King Birlibi - (topic: Money, Enmity, Addiction, Poverty)
• The Ditmarsh Tale of Wonders - (topic: Lies, Thoughts and Reason)
• The Robber Bridegroom - (topic: dead soul, spiritual murder)
• The Poor Boy in the Grave - (topic: Education, Ego, Fear and Reason)
• Simeli Mountain - (topic: material and spiritual world)
• Strong Hans - (topic: Ego, robbers and ultimate gain)
• The Old Man and his Grandson - (topic: social division, disgusting impermanence)
• Allerleirauh (All-kinds-of-Fur) (topic: sick mind, dying nature and healing)
• The Origin of Stories - (topic: material and spiritual world)
• The Okerlo "I-Man" - (topic: soul, body and ego)
 |
[1884] Grimm's Household Tales. Translated from the German and edited by Margaret Hunt. With an introduction by Andrew Lang, 1884, Vol. 1/2, London: George Bell and Sons |