CHAPTER VII
Some Special Sexual Fairy-Tale Motives
Fairy tales have a predilection to deal with various sexual motives, having a tendency to the pathological, although with a normal root, which latter is constantly emphasized by Freud.
These motives follow from the psychological sexual inclination, especially manifested in dreams, between father and daughter, son and mother (Œdipus Saga!), Further of cruelty (sadistic root) and the correspondingly developed resistance in women.
"Drudge-of-all-Work" (Grimm, 65).—There was a king who had a wife with golden hair who was beautiful beyond compare. Before her death she made him promise that he would not take another wife who was not as beautiful as she and did not have golden hair like hers. After the king had mourned for a long time he sought a second wife, but none could be found who had the desired characteristics. Then his eyes fell on his daughter who resembled her dead mother in beauty; he was consumed with love for her and wished to make her his wife. In order to put him off the daughter desired wonderful dresses, difficult to make, and a mantle made of a thousand furs to which every animal in the kingdom must contribute a piece of its skin. The king was not deterred and brought it about that these conditions were fulfilled. When there was no more hope the princess fled with her mantle into the forest. Here she was discovered by the hunting attendants of a young king. She was then employed at menial work in his castle, and by secret contrivances accomplished it that the king recognized her in her true character and married her.
The persecution through the father is here a special form of sexual rivalry with the wish prince; the whole is a very apparent dream-like wish structure with Drudge-of-all-Work as heroine and the introductory special motive.[1]
- ↑ The death of the mother is probably an infantile wish-thought of the daughter; the father is the first sweetheart and comes later to be rival and persecutor.
