Bearskin is the name of a tale set down by the brothers Grimm in their book Kinder- und Hausmärchen (click here for the complete text). It was not the first story if its type to be written down (in fact, a varient included in this paper: "The First of the Bearskins" was one of the sources of the Grimms), however, as the Grimm's work was by far one of the most famous collectsion of the genre to be printed, those familiar with the tale tended to have the Grimm's version in mind when speaking of the story. The Aarne-Thompson structural classification system used the Grimm's version as its basis in determining similar tales and thereby constructing tale type 361, of which "Bearskin" is the representative story and, as such, there are a wide number of "variants" of "Bearskin" throught the world today.

The Grimm's version of the tale deals with a soldier who, having been discharged, is without a means to earn a living. While traveling through the forest lamenting his fate, this soldier meets the devil who offers to make a deal with him. The devil will give him a jacket with pockets that are always full of gold. In return, the soldier must wear the skin of a bear and never wash, groom himself, or pray for the length of seven years. The soldier accepts and follows the devil's instructions. After a number of years (during which his appearance has become monstrous) he assists an old man who is in dire financial straits. The old man, relieved by Bearskin's offer to pay his debts, offers one of his three daughters to him in marriage. The elder two refuse to marry such a horrible figure, but the youngest consents. Bearskin offers her a token (half a ring) and then leaves to live out the remainder of the devil's sentence. When the time is over, the devil cleans bearskin and makis him up to look like a rich noble. Bearskin returns to the house of his bride unrecognized and the eldest daughters immediatly fall in love with him. When they discover that he is the same man who they had rejected years before they are so overcome by jealousy that they kill themselves. The devil then arrives pointing out that he got two souls in exchange for the soldier's one.

The tale is unique among the Grimm's tales for a number of reasons not the least of which is the oddly amoral ending. (The Grimms preferred tales with a moral.)More than that, the tale never addresses the ramifications of the soldier for his deal with the devil after the end of the tale (although this aspect is shared by other tales in the Grimms' collection.)

Despite the interesting nature of the tale, very little analysis of it has been done. In comparison to popular tales such as "Cinderella" and "Little Red Riding Hood", "Bearskin" has been practically untouched by folk tale scholars. In an attempt to rectify this lack, we, the authors of this web page, present a number of differnt varients of the tale (according to the Aarne-Thompson tale type index), and a number of analysises of the Grimm's version (realizing that it is not the original) from diverse perspectives.