The German folktale "Silver Fir Cones" takes place in the Harz Mountains, Germany. The folktale is about a miner and his wife and their seven children who are a very poor family. The miner became very sick that he could't get out of bed. Even worse, they had run out of food. So the miner's wife said she would go out into the woods and gather fir cones for making a fire and possibly selling the cones for food. When she was out in the woods, she was thinking about the situation they were in and started to cry. Then she heard a voice that asked why she was crying and why she was taking his fir cones. It was a dwarf who was talking to her and he comforted her and told her she couldn't take the cones but had to go to the next forest to get them. She gathered many and they kept getting heavier and heavier and by the time she got home they had turned into silver. She realized the dwarf was Gubich, king of the dwarfs and helper of the poor. They sold the silver cones and got everything they needed. She went back and thanked the dwarf and he gave her a plant to heal her husband. She thanked him and that was the last time she ever saw him.
There are many examples of archetypes found in this folktale. First of all the forest is one where she finds the fir cones. The dwarf is a hero becasue he helps the poor family and the miner recover. The wife is somewhat a heroine because she goes out to help her husband. There is a light-dark archetype becasue of the darkness of the forest. The wife goes on a journey/quest to find the fir cones.
This folktale is specifically German because it takes place in the Harz Mountains located in Germany. Many German folktales have a dwarf or elf in them and Gubich was the king of the dwarfs in this folktale. Another way you can tell this folktale takes place in Germany is because of its thick forests, which is 30 percent of Germany's land use.
There are many examples of archetypes found in this folktale. First of all the forest is one where she finds the fir cones. The dwarf is a hero becasue he helps the poor family and the miner recover. The wife is somewhat a heroine because she goes out to help her husband. There is a light-dark archetype becasue of the darkness of the forest. The wife goes on a journey/quest to find the fir cones.
This folktale is specifically German because it takes place in the Harz Mountains located in Germany. Many German folktales have a dwarf or elf in them and Gubich was the king of the dwarfs in this folktale. Another way you can tell this folktale takes place in Germany is because of its thick forests, which is 30 percent of Germany's land use.
1 comment:
The wife would be the hero, for she is the one who follows the monomyth. Perhaps the elf was a wise old man... often wise old men are magical! Great German selection.
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