Analysis of Cultural

Variants

Both the Russian and the Scandinavian tale use a frog princess rather than a prince. But this is a minor difference between the tales. There are many more significant differnces between the tales.

To understand these differences a short summary of the tales is in order.

Summaries:

This tale is much like the Grimm version. More time is spent on the actions of the daughter, such as her make-up techniques. She turns hime into a prince by physical means as in the Grimm version. Yet, she tries numerous times to hurt and kill the frog before his enchantment ends. She is also described in more detail ,in respect nto her emotions. She is a very spoiled child.

This tale has a theme of the daughter promising the frog what he wants in return for her lost object. The princess loses her shwal in the pond and the frog retrieves it on the condition that she "become his friend." Just like her counterparts she is repulsed by his apperence and refuses to be seen with him; and just like the father's counterparts he forces her to uphold her promise. However, the forg in this tale has magical powers. He saves the kingdom from great drought and famine which wins the princess's love which releases the curse that had been placed upon him.

This tale is very similar to tale type 441, Hans My Hedgehog. A peasent couple is childless until an enchanted frog enters their lives. the wife raises him like their own child while the father treats him kwith indifference. One day the frog declares his wish to be married. He asks his mother to go to the neighboring noble and ask for one of his daughters. The noble thinks it is an absurd idea and beats the frog's mother. The frog tricks the noble into thinking his home is cursed because he refused the frog's offer. The father pressures the youngest daughter for the sake of her family. Yet, she enters the marriage willingly. The frog reveals his true identity to his wife by having her remove his skin. In the end he proves his worth as a frog and shows everyone his true self. The story ends with the prince carrying his wife into the heavens.

This tale follows the tale type ,425, the search for a lost husband very closely. The two Russian versions of this tale differ mostly in detail of the story. The major plot lines and actions are the same, so one summary should be sufficent. The story begins by three brothers each shooting an arrow into the sky with their father provicising that they will find their future wifes where ever the arrow lands. The youngest brother finds a frog in place of a woman. In one version, his father forces him to marry the frog and in the other version he decided to marry the frog on his own accord. The father proceeds to test the three wives. Each time the frog out does the other two by calling upon her magical powers. One evening her husband finds her frog skin on the bedroom floor and burns it. Unfortunately, he acted a day too soon and she his take away to her father, Koschey the Deathless. Her husband sets out to find his wife. Along the way he befriends animals by sparing their lives. Eventually he meets Baba Yaga and she tells him how to defeat Koschey. The rest of the story contains motifs from type 425 not the frog prince. But, in the end he defeats the villian and finds his wife.

This tale has very little similarity to the original Grimm version. The youngest son who is tortured by his older brothers wanders around the country side until he finds an empty castle. Inside the castle he finds a black toad on a chair. The toad invites him to stay if he will work for her. He was given the task of cutting branches, one a day, of a bush in the yard. After a year the branches are completely removed. The toad give him a reward, although he asks for none. She gives him what he set out for, on object his father asked all three to make, the most beautiful.Yule-tide cloth. On his way home he finds his brothers and they steal his cloth. The scenario repeats and they steal a goblet. Finally he returns to the empty castle for a third time and fulfills the services for the taod and she turns into a beautiful princess and the castle is filled with people who had all been encahanted. They return to his father and the truth about the older brothers came out. The youngest brother and the princess lived happily ever after.

Tale	Gender of Frog	Inclusion of Lost Objects	Method of Lifting the Enchantment
German	Male	Golden Ball	Thrown against a wall
Cajun	Male	Golden Ball	Kicked over a railing
Balinese	Male	Yellow Scarf	Love of a princess after the frog saved the village from drought and famine
Korean	Male	Inability to catch fish	Marriage to a princess and cutting the skin off.
Russian I	Female	------	Burning of skin and quest against the villian win the wife back
Russian II	Female	------	Burning of skin and quest against the villian win the wife back
Scandinavian	Female	------	Burinng of wood and saving the princess from the flames

Tale	Promise	Role of the Father	Character of non-frog partner
German	Marriage to the frog in return for retrival of lost object.	Forces daughter to marry the frog	Uncoroperative with the frog but obedient to her father
Cajun	Marriage to the frog in return for retrival of lost object.	Forces daughter to marry the frog	Spoiled and uncoropertive but obedient to father, also a little more physical
Balinese	Friendship in return for lost object	Forces the daughter to remain friends with the frog	Uncoroperative with frog but obedient to father, falls in love with frog by his actions and never tries to harm him.
Korean	-----	Pressures daughter into marriage	Enters marriage on own free will.
Russian I	-----	Forces son into marriage with the frog	Doubts frog's abilities but obedient to father.
Russian II	-----	Sends the brothers on a quest and tests wives	Sees no other choice and decides for himself.
Scandinavian	-----	Sends brothers on a quest	Quiet and good

Analysis:

One of the main differences between the tales is the role of the father. The Grimm version uses power over the daughter to force her to marry the frog, since she did make a promise. The father in the Cajun and Balinese tale does the same. The father in the Korean tale does not have a promise made by the daughter to use as power, he simply pressures her to marry the frog in order to save her family. Korean culture has strong family bonds and the family ALWAYS comes first. No promise was needed. But, she does not complain or fight she accepts the marriage willingly, unlike her older sisters. Interestingly, one version of the Russian tale has the father forcing the son to marry the frog while the other version has the son see no other option and chose the marriage himself. In most societies, forced marriages are placed on the daughters. Finally the Scandinavian tale lacks both the male frog and the promise therefore the role of the father is placed in the background.

The inclusion of a promise and the type of promise is also different from tale to tale. The Grimm version has a promise of marriage along with the Cajun tale. The Balinese tale has a promise of friendship and the other tales lack promises all together. The reason for the promise of friendship might be contributed to Asian culture. Contact between men and women was mostly arranged by the parents, especially in noble families. Therefore it would be improper for the daughter to promise herself in marriage, if only in jest, without the consent of her parents.

The Grimm version also lacks many magical powers for the frog while many non-Grimm versions contain them. The Balinese tale contains magical powers along with the Korean tale, the two most Easternly countries. The Historical -Geographical method would explain this phenonmenon quite well. Unfortunately, the Balinese tale is the closest variation to the original Grimm tale, which means the Historical -Geographical method contradicts the evidence. Maybe the tale did not originate in Germany with the Grimms or maybe the Historical -Geographical method is an incorrect method.

As far as the kiss is concerned, we have not found any tales that include this motif. In all cases the princess either physically harms the frog to lift the enchantment or she accepts his hand in marriage willingly and he reveals his true form,. In the Scandinavian tale the prince pulls his bride from a fire, just like the skin of the frog is burned in so many other tales. The kiss probably came from the original tale and how the frog sleeps with the princess and in the morning she awakes to a handsome prince. A kiss is more innocent.

Link to the Frog's Well

Link to Directory of Other Tales

Link to Tale Type Motifs

This page produced by Kristin Portle for Once Upon A Time: the Frog Prince