For the extra reading diary for this week, I wanted to do the reading for Celtic Fairy Tales.
The story that made me want to do it is the Celtic version of Snow White, called Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree. In it, a king has a beautiful wife and daughter, Silver-Tree and Gold-Tree, respectively. One day, the queen asks a trout if she is the fairest in the land, to which he replies that she is not, but her daughter is. From this moment on the queen vowed to eat her daughter's heart and liver, which seems a bit extreme all things considered.
Now one day, the queen is sick and tells the king that she will be well if he brings her the heart and liver of Gold-Tree. Gold-Tree was arranged to marry a very rich prince from another kingdom, so of course the king couldn't let that happen! He went and had his lads (as the story put it) find a male goat and gave its heart and liver to the queen. She rose from bed and was fine again. One day she was walking by the brook, and asked the trout again if she was the fairest in the land. The trout again said no, Gold-Tree is. This is when the queen learns her daughter is alive and well. So she asks the king to arrange for a ship to take her to visit Gold-Tree.
When Gold-Tree sees that her mother's ship is coming, she tells the prince that surely she will die at her mother's hand. So the prince hides her in a room and locks it. Silver-Tree asks that her daughter come see her, but Gold-Tree says no. So Silver-Tree asks her to put her finger through the door so she could kiss it, but instead puts a poison spike in it and kills her.
This is where it gets kind of weird. Rather than bury her, the prince keeps her body locked in a room and keeps the key with him. Eventually he remarries and his new wife accidentally finds it. She removes the spike from Gold-Tree's hand, and she comes back to life. The new wife offers to leave, but the prince says he's happy with both of them. Silver-Tree finds out, and again sails to the land to try to kill her daughter. When she gets there -- she brought a poisoned drink this time -- the second wife says they'll go meet her.
Once the queen offers Gold-Tree some of her drink, the second wife says its custom for the person bringing wine to drink it first. When the queen goes to drink it, the second wife hits her hand so she drinks all of it, and she dies. The three lived a happy life after that together. The story ends "I left them there," which is the Celtic way of saying they lived happily ever after.
The story that made me want to do it is the Celtic version of Snow White, called Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree. In it, a king has a beautiful wife and daughter, Silver-Tree and Gold-Tree, respectively. One day, the queen asks a trout if she is the fairest in the land, to which he replies that she is not, but her daughter is. From this moment on the queen vowed to eat her daughter's heart and liver, which seems a bit extreme all things considered.
Silver-Tree and Gold-Tree
Credit: DeviantArt - Degare
Now one day, the queen is sick and tells the king that she will be well if he brings her the heart and liver of Gold-Tree. Gold-Tree was arranged to marry a very rich prince from another kingdom, so of course the king couldn't let that happen! He went and had his lads (as the story put it) find a male goat and gave its heart and liver to the queen. She rose from bed and was fine again. One day she was walking by the brook, and asked the trout again if she was the fairest in the land. The trout again said no, Gold-Tree is. This is when the queen learns her daughter is alive and well. So she asks the king to arrange for a ship to take her to visit Gold-Tree.
When Gold-Tree sees that her mother's ship is coming, she tells the prince that surely she will die at her mother's hand. So the prince hides her in a room and locks it. Silver-Tree asks that her daughter come see her, but Gold-Tree says no. So Silver-Tree asks her to put her finger through the door so she could kiss it, but instead puts a poison spike in it and kills her.
This is where it gets kind of weird. Rather than bury her, the prince keeps her body locked in a room and keeps the key with him. Eventually he remarries and his new wife accidentally finds it. She removes the spike from Gold-Tree's hand, and she comes back to life. The new wife offers to leave, but the prince says he's happy with both of them. Silver-Tree finds out, and again sails to the land to try to kill her daughter. When she gets there -- she brought a poisoned drink this time -- the second wife says they'll go meet her.
Once the queen offers Gold-Tree some of her drink, the second wife says its custom for the person bringing wine to drink it first. When the queen goes to drink it, the second wife hits her hand so she drinks all of it, and she dies. The three lived a happy life after that together. The story ends "I left them there," which is the Celtic way of saying they lived happily ever after.
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