Bushy Bride
Bushy Bride is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. The tale is classified as Aarne–Thompson–Uther type 403, "The Black and the White Bride". It was included in Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book. According to Brynjulf Alver, Moe shaped Buskebrura from Telemark variants, publishing it in the first edition of Norske Folkeeventyr. Archival manuscripts confirm an earlier version recorded by Moe in the 1840s titled Om Kalledatter og Kjærringdatter. A later Telemark variant was collected by Moltke Moe from storyteller Kari Staffsholt in 1878–80.
Synopsis
A widower with a son and daughter marries a widow with a daughter. The stepmother maltreats the children until the son leaves home. One day she sends the stepdaughter to a stream, where three heads rise and demand that she wash, brush, and kiss them. She obeys, and they reward her with beauty: gold falls from her hair when brushed, and from her mouth when she speaks. The stepsister tries the same but insults the heads, and they curse her with deformity: a long nose, a pine-bush sprouting from her forehead, and ashes falling from her mouth.Meanwhile, the brother becomes a groom at the king’s court and keeps a portrait of his sister. The king, upon seeing it, vows to marry her. During the sea journey to the palace, the stepmother forces the girl to discard her jewels, dog, and finally herself overboard. The stepsister takes her place as the "Bushy Bride". The king is horrified but marries her and throws the brother into a snake pit.
At night, the true bride appears in the kitchen, brushing out gold from her hair and singing of the false bride’s deceit. Twice she is ignored, but the third night the king recognises her. She is restored, the brother is freed unharmed, and the stepmother and false bride are cast into the pit. The king then marries the true bride.