The Enchanted Pig
The Enchanted Pig is a Romanian fairy tale, collected in Rumanische Märchen and also by Petre Ispirescu in Legende sau basmele românilor. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.
The tale is related to the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom or "The Search for the Lost Husband", wherein a human maiden marries a husband in animal form, breaks a prohibition and has to search for him. According to scholarship, the pig form of the enchanted husband is popular in Romania.
Synopsis
A king goes to war and tells his daughters they may go anywhere in the castle except one room. One day, they disobey and find a book open in it. It says that the oldest shall marry a prince from the east, the second a prince from the west, and the youngest a pig from the north. The youngest is horror-struck, but her sisters manage to convince her that it is impossible.The king returns and discovers, from the youngest's unhappiness, what they had done. He resolves to face it as best they can. A prince from the east marries the oldest, and a prince from the west the second, and the youngest becomes distressed. A pig comes to woo her, and when the king refuses his consent, the city fills with pigs. The king tells his daughter that he is certain there is something strange about this pig, and that he believes magic has been at work. If she were to marry the pig, it might be broken.
She marries the pig and goes off with him. At his home, he becomes a man every night, and is so kind that he wins her heart. She asks a witch what happened to her husband. The witch tells her to tie a thread to his foot to free him. When the young wife does so, her husband wakes and tells her that the spell would have fallen from him in three days, but now he must remain in this shape, and she will not find him without wearing out three pairs of iron shoes and blunting a steel staff.
She sets out as soon as she gets herself three pairs of iron shoes and a steel staff. She wanders far, until she comes to the house of the Moon. The Moon's mother lets her in, and while she is there, she gives birth to a son. The Moon's mother tells her that the Moon could not tell her where to find her husband, but she can go on, to the Sun. She also gives her a chicken and tells her to keep every one of the bones. The princess thanks her, throws away one pair of shoes, which was worn out, and puts on another.
She finally finds her way to the Sun's house, and the Sun's mother lets her in. She hides her, because the Sun is always ill-tempered when he returns. He is, but his mother soothes him, and asked about her husband. He cannot tell her, so his mother sends her on, to the Wind. Also, she gives her a chicken and tells her to take care of the bones. Here, she throws out the second pair of shoes.
At the Wind's house, his mother discovers that her husband lives in a wood no axe could cut through. She sends her to it, with a chicken and instructions to keep every bone. The princess goes on, although her third pair of shoes wears through, on the Milky Way. She finds the castle where her husband lives, and the bones stick together to form her a ladder to let her in. She is one bone short, and cuts off her little finger to complete the ladder. Her husband returns, and the spell on him is broken.
He reveals that he is a prince, who had killed a dragon, and the dragon's mother, a witch, had turned him to that shape and then advised her to tie the string to keep him in it. They set out to his father's kingdom, and then return to her father's kingdom.
Translations
The tale was also translated and published in the compilation The Foundling Prince & Other Tales. The tale was also translated as The Enchanted Hog by Robert Nisbet Bain and published as a part of a supplement in his translation of Ignáz Kunós's book of Turkish fairy tales. The tale was also translated as The Enchanted Prince by Jacob Bernard Segall.Analysis
Tale type
The first part of the tale corresponds to Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as ATU 441, "In an Enchanted Skin". Others of this type include The Pig King. This tale type is characterized by a childless couple wishing for a child, "even if it was a hedgehog".The second part of the tale follows Aarne-Thompson tale type 425A, "The Search for the Lost Husband": the maiden breaks a taboo or burns the husband's animal skin and, to atone, she must wear down a numbered pair of metal shoes. On her way to her husband, she asks for the help of the Sun, the Moon and the Wind. According to Hans-Jörg Uther, the main feature of tale type ATU 425A is "bribing the false bride for three nights with the husband". Others of this type include The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway, The Daughter of the Skies, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Tale of the Hoodie, Master Semolina, The Sprig of Rosemary, The Enchanted Snake, and White-Bear-King-Valemon. In Balkanic variants of the tale type, the husband curses his wife not to give birth to their child until she has sought him out.
Motifs
The heroine's helpers
In a study published posthumously, Romanian folklorist noted that, in Romanian and in some South Slavic variants, instead of meeting the Sun, the Moon and the Wind on the way to her husband, the heroine finds incarnations of the days of the week, like Holy Wednesday and Holy Friday. They function the same as the elements and gift the heroine with golden objects. French philologist Jean Boutière, in his doctoral thesis, analysed the variants available at the time and concluded that the heroine seeks the help of Holy Wednesday, Holy Friday and Holy Sunday, and, rarely, of the Moon, the Sun and the Wind.Additionally, researcher Vitalii Sîrf noted that, in some Gagauz tales, the heroine goes in search of her lost husband, and meets Baba-Vineri, Baba Miercuri, Duminica-mamă. These characters gift the heroine with golden objects she will use to bribe the false bride.
The pig husband
Polish philologist Mark Lidzbarski noted that the pig prince usually appears in Romance language tales, while the hedgehog as the animal husband occurs in Germanic and Slavic tales. Also, according to Swedish folklorist and Christine Shojaei Kawan, in type ATU 441 the animal husband may be a hedgehog, a wild boar or a porcupine.Scholarship recognized the popularity of the character of the pig-husband in Romania: Romanian scholar, in his 1928 index of Romanian tale types, identified that the bridegroom appeared as a pig in most of the available variants at the time, followed by a serpent. In that regard, ethnologue noted that the enchanted husband in Romanian variants "usually" appears under a snakeskin or a pigskin: per his 1966 study, the enchanted husband is a snake in 25 variants and pig in 17, assuming other forms in other texts, like a hedgehog, a crayfish, a frog and even a pumpkin. According to Romanian scholarship, Porcul cel fermecat, by Ispirescu, is the oldest Romanian variant about the prince in pig form, who marries the heroine after fulfilling the suitor's tasks in the tales.
Variants
Romania
The Child in the Pighair Clothes
In a tale collected by folklorist from the Transylvanian Saxons, with the title Das Borstenkind, a three-year-old prince is eating some of the apples his mother, the queen, has been peeling. Angered, she curses her son to become a wild boar. He transforms into one and escapes with other swines to the pigpen. Some time later, he reaches the cottage of a poor swineherd and his wife, who wished for child, even if it was a pig. As answer to their prayers, the porcine prince appears. They live like a family for 17 years. One day, another king decrees that her daughter should marry after her suitor accomplishes three tasks: to build a silver castle, to build a golden castle seven miles away from the silver one, and to erect a bridge between both castles made of diamond and crystal. The wild boar boy does so and marries the king's daughter, much to her disgust. One night, the princess awakes and sees a beautiful golden-haired prince, the boarskin at his side. He tells her he is a cursed king's son and wants her to keep quiet about it, lest he does not break the enchantment. Sometime later, the reveals the prince's condition to her mother, the second queen, who suggests her daughter takes the boarskin and burns it in the stove. Seeing he was betrayed by his wife - having been so close to breaking the curse -, he says to the princess he will vanish from her eyes and that he will be at the end of the world, from where no soul can save him. The distraught princess, then, decides to travel to the end of the world to save her husband: with the help of the Wind's winged steed, reaches the Moon. The Moon does know not where her husband is, but gives the princess a silver nut and allows her to ride of the lunar horse to the Sun's house. The princess next reaches the Sun's house, who also does not know where her husband it, but gives her a golden nut and advises her to consult with its children, the stars. The princess takes the Sun's horse and pays a visit to the Evening Star and the Morning Star, who point her to the end of the world, where her husband is to be married to the princess of that place. The Morning Star gives her a star-studded nut and takes her to the castle at the end of the world. The princess cracks open each nut to produce three dresses which she uses to trade for three nights with her husband.''Ion porc-împărat''
Romanian folklorist collected a tale titled Ion porc-împărat, from a source named Ioan Hurubean. In this tale, a prince becomes a pig and is adopted by a poor human couple. The pig convinces his father to ask for the hand of the king's daughter in marriage. To dissuade the poor couple, the king sets three difficult tasks to be performed, which the pig suitor does with ease. After he marries the princess, he takes off his skin at night to become human. The princess, pregnant at this point, burns the skin. Her husband wakes up and curses her that she will not give birth to their son until he embraces her once again, and that she will only find him at the end of the world, in the city of Ciumii. Saying this, he vanishes, and the princess departs after him: after she commissions seven pairs of iron shoes and seven iron canes, she begins her quest. She reaches the house of the Mother of the Winds, who gives her some little mice, and directs her to sfinta Luna. The Moon gives her a silver nut and guided her to sfintul Soare. The Sun gives her a golden nut and tells her to go the Morning Star. The Morning Star gives her a coloured nut and tells the princess to take a ship to the end of the world, where her husband is. The princess sails to the end of the world, to the city of Ciumii, and finds her husband as the consort of the local empress. The princess cries over her situation, and each time the magic nuts crack open to produce, respectively, silver dresses, golden dresses and dresses decorated with stars and gems. The princess uses the dresses to bribe the empress for three nights with her husband. On the third night, the emperor awakens and places his hand on the princess, and she gives birth to a golden-haired boy.''Povestea cu Poarca''
In another Romanian variant, Povestea cu Poarca, collected by writer and folklorist Cristea Sandu Timoc from Preda Petre, the first part of the tale opens with the discovery of a talking pig in a litter of pigs by the farmer. The pig is adopted by the human couple and, when he comes of age, marries a human princess. After their marriage, the pig husband takes off his porcine skin and becomes a human prince. The second part of the tale continues as the princess burns his pig skin and is forced to look for him. The princess meets Sinta Vineri, who directs her to her husband. On the way, the princess gives birth to her child and meets her husband in a hut in the forest.The Three Stars
Romanian ethnologue collected a tale from with the title Die drei Sterne. In this tale, a poor old couple wants to have a son that may care for them, so they exit their house and split up in the forest to find any creature they can adopt as a son. They find a pig rolling in the mud and take it as their son to raise. Years pass, the pig becomes a boar and says he wants to marry the king's daughter, so his father goes to the king and asks her hand in marriage. The king sets a task first: for the suitor to build a bridge of gold and gems, with apple trees along the path. The pig suitor fulfills the task and the princess has to marry him. After they retire to the bridal chambers, the pig takes off its skin and tells her he is an enchanted prince, and that she has to keep his secret for two days after their marriage for the enchantment to be over. The next day, the princess's mother visits her daughter and notices her mood change: horrified just before the wedding, and now quite contented. The princess reveals her pig husband is a beautiful man when he takes off the pigskin, so the queen advises her daughter to burn it the next time he takes it off. That same night, the princess takes the pigskin and throws it in the fire. Her husband wakes up and admonishes her: he is cursed again and has to depart for the city of Shalagastran; before he departs, he places an iron ring around her belly, and curses her not to give birth until she finds him again. He vanishes. The princes goes after him for seven years, and finds a woman named Friday on the road. Friday summons every bird with the crack of a whip, but none of the birds know of Shalagastran. Friday directs her to her sister Sunday, who summons all the birds. A little bird comes late and says it has come from Shalagastran. Sunday orders the bird to take the princess to Shalagastran. Just outside the city, the princess sees three youths quarreling over three magic objects: a cane that petrifies people, a cap of invisibility and a pair of shoes that can cross water. The princess tricks the youths: she uses the cane on them, takes the cap and the shoes and goes to Shalagastran to her husband's house. She wears the cap and waits inside his house for him to finish his food. Still invisible, he accidentally touches her and the iron girdles around her drop to the ground. The man sees his wife and their son next to him, but says theirs is not a joyful reunion. After their encounter, they become stars and fly to the sky, but cannot ever be together again.The Piglet with Curly Hair
Folklorist and ethnologue provided the summary of a tale from "Nieder-Eidisch" with the title Kraushaarferkel. In this tale, a queen is unpeeling an apple for herself, when her son comes in and eats the apple. The queen calls her son a swine; he turns into a piglet and runs into the forest. Meanwhile, a poor couple in the forest wishes for a son, even if he is a pig. Suddenly, the piglet appears to them, and the couple adopt him as their son. Years pass; and the piglet asks his adoptive father to go to the king and ask for the princess's hand in marriage. The king hears the old man's proposition, and orders him to fulfill tree tasks: to build a copper bridge, with trees blooming with flowers and with ripe and unripen fruits, then to build a silver bridge, and finally a golden bridge. The piglet fulfills the three tasks and gets to marry the princess. On the wedding night, the piglet takes off the porcine skin and becomes a youth "more beautiful than anyone else under the sun". On Sunday, the queen visits her daughter, who tells her that her husband is a man underneath it. The queen then advises her to give a sleeping potion to the pig, take the pigskin and burn it in the oven. The princess follows her instructions. The next morning, the human piglet looks for his covering, but does not find it. He then tells the princess his curse would have been lifted in one year, but now she will have to find him in the dark world, and vanishes. The princess goes to her parents to cry, but decides to go looking for him in iron shoes, seven dresses and with an iron cane. She passes by the Evening Star, who gives her a copper nut; the Moon, who gives her a silver nut, and thirdly the Sun, who gives her a golden nut. Finally, she reaches the dark world, where she learns her husband is to be married to the queen of the dark world. The princess then cracks open the nuts to produce three dresses, and waits by the church's door for the queen of the dark world. She bribes the queen with the dresses for one night with the human prince. She fails on the first two nights, but manages to wake him up on the third night. Her now human husband hears her woes of "wanting to be released from this burden"; he touches her and she gives birth to a golden-haired son.The Devil's Son-in-Law
Author Iuliu Traian Mera published a Romanian tale in his book Din lumea basmelor with the title Ginerele dracului. In this tale, a man tries to cross a river, but cannot find any exit. A devil appears and offers his help, in exchange for what the man does not know he has at home. The man agrees, and the devil ferries him across the river. When the man returns home, he discovers a son was born to his wife. Both parents worry for their son, and as the child grow older, they kiss him like it will be the last time they will ever see him. The boy, Constantin, suspects something, and one day, a wise old man tells him to fill a bag with pig's blood and threaten to kill himself in front of his parents if he does not reveal their secret. It happens thus, and Constantin stabs a bag of pig's blood, acting like it is his blood. The couple reveal the boy has been promised to the devil, and he decides to go meet him. He reaches the devil's house, who welcomes him and treats him like his future son-in-law, but he has to perform tasks first: first, to rise a valley and raze a hill overnight, so that they become a plain meadow; next, to sow wheat, harvest it, grind it into flour and bake a pie with it, all of this in a single night. The devil's daughter, having fallen in love with him, helps him in every task by summoning the devils from all over the Earth, which fulfill the task for him.After doing the tasks, Constantin advises his wife they should escape from the Devil and worship God. The Devil's daughter accompanies him away from the Devil's lands until they reach the foot of a mountain. Constantin leaves the Devil's daughter by the foot and climbs up until he reaches Heaven and bows down before God. God gives him some gold clothes and a prickly hedgehog's skin disguise and some shabby clothes, then sends the youth on his way. Constantin forgets the Devil's daughter on the other side of the mountain and returns to his home village, where he herds the pigs in the forest in pig form. One day, the Red Emperor loses his way in the forest and Constantin offers to help him, in exchange for his daughter. The next day, the Green Emperor loses his way in the forest and Constantin helps him, by making the same offer. Lastly, on the third fay, the Imparatul Galbin loses himself in the forest, and Constantin helps him by doing the same offer. Later, Constantin takes the daughters of the three emperors to his home village, and chooses the daughter of the Yellow Emperor as his wife. He marries her, and he spends his days in the porcine disguise. Constantin's mother wants to see her handsome son, and dislikes that he is still wearing the prickly coat despite marrying a princess, to the mockery of the locals. His father is also worried, for he knows of his son's golden coat, telling him time and time again to ditch his disguise, for he is fed up with the mocking laughter of the village. Still, Constantin dismisses their concerns. Some time later, his mother goes to talk to the princess, and both conspire to get rid of the pigskin: at night, when Constantin is asleep, the princess steals the pigskin and gives to her mother-in-law to burn it in an oven. The stench of the burning alerts Constantin, who wakes up with a start. He says he will vanish into the world, and curses his wife not to bear their child until he lays a hand on her womb again, then departs. He wanders off with a stick in hand until he reaches a castle in a meadow, ruled by a woman, and becomes lord of the castle.
As for the princess, his wife, after mourning for a while, she decides to go after him. After a long wandering, she reaches the houses of sfânta Mercuri, sfânta Vineri and sfânta Duminică, who each welcome her and ask her to work for them for a whole year. After each year, Holy Wednesday gifts the princess a golden cofiţe, Holy Friday a golden hen with chicks, and Holy Sunday a golden distaff and a golden caier. Holy Sunday also directs the princess to Constantin's location with some instructions. The princess goes on yet another long journey, until she sees a beautiful castle in the distance. Following Holy Sunday's instructions, she stands by a fountain and takes out the golden objects to draw the attention of the local queen's servant: the golden mugs on the first day, the golden hen with chicks on the second, and the golden distaff and hemp bundle on the third. Each time, the servant reports to her mistress, an old woman, about the stranger with the golden items, and the women wishes to have them. The princess agrees to a deal: the golden item for one night in Constantin's chambers. The woman agrees and lets the princess in, but she gives Constantin a soporific drink made of some herbs and flowers in the first two nights. The princess tries to wake Constantin, begging him to touch her belly, but he is fast asleep. After two nights, Constantin is told about the stranger who has come to his room at night, and avoids drinking the old woman's potion on the third night. The princess trades the distaff and hemp and enters her husband's room, begging over his body to wake up and touch her. Constantin opens his eyes and touches his wife, allowing her to give birth to their son, a boy as handsome as Fat-Frumos. Constantin punishes the old woman by tying her to a wild horse and releasing it in the wilderness, then lives with the princess and their son in the palace.
The Prince with the Pig's Head
Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga collected a tale from a Romanian informant in Jassy, which he translated to French with the title Le prince à tête de cochon. In this tale, a king has three daughters. One day, he is going to depart for war and allows the princesses to open every room in the house, save for a specific one on the right. After the king leaves, the princesses grow bored and decide to explore the forbidden chamber to discover its secret. They open it and find a book predicting their future marriages: the elder shall marry the king of the Orient, the middle one the king of the Occident, and the youngest shall marry a pig. The youngest is sad by this revelation. The king returns and learns of his daughters' transgression, but does not punish them. In time, the predictions come true, and the elder sisters are indeed married to kings. Soon enough, the pig suitor arrives at the castle with an army of pigs to force the king to deliver his cadette to him. The king reluctantly agrees to the marriage and gives the princess to the pig, who accompanies the pig to a modest mansion. They live like husband and wife, but the princess senses a human presence beside her at night. Time passes, and the princess is visited by an old lady. The old lady tells the princess the pig husband is no ordinary animal, and she is to tie a thread of linen on his right foot, before he changes back to a pig by the first rays of dawn. The princess follows her instructions: at night, the thread bursts, and the man awakes with a startle. He explains he is the cursed son of an emperor, and his curse would have been lifted in three days, but, due to the princess's curiosity, he has to endure three years more. However, she can still reach him, by donning three pairs of iron shoes and a steel cane. Starting her journey, she passes by the houses of Sainte Lundi, Sainte Vendredi, Saint Soleil and Saint Vent on her way to her husband, and spends the night in Holy Friday's house, at Holy Sun and his mother's hut, and Holy Wind and his mother's, where she eats some black chicken and keeps the bones for herself. On the way to Holy Sun, she gives birth to a beautiful son. When she reaches Holy Wind's house, the Wind points to her husband's location: a house deep in the woods. The princess takes her son to the woods and builds a ladder with the chicken bones, but is missing the last step, so she cuts off her left little finger and enters it. Her husband explains he went to war against the dragons, killed the youngest one and was cursed by their mother into pig form. The couple then reunite.Tale of the Bewitched Pig (Cloșca)
In a Romanian tale collected from teller Marinela Gheorghe, in Cloșca, Tulcea, in 1985, with the title Povestea Porcului vrăjit, an emperor has three daughters, and his wife dies. One day, he has to depart for war, and gives his daughters the keys to the palace, but forbids them to open a certain door. After the emperor leaves, the girls decides to open every door, including the forbidden one, where they read a book predicting the elder sister shall marry an emperor from the East, the middle one the emperor from the West, and the youngest a pig. The elder two dismiss the predictions, but the cadette worries about her future. The emperor returns and scolds his daughters for disobeying him, while comforting the cadette. However, just as predicted, the emperors from the East and West come to court the elder two, and eventually the pig suitor appears at the emperor's door. The emperor orders the pig to build a golden bridge from the edge of the realm to the palace, with trees and birds along the way. The pig and his pig minions work overnight and fulfill the emperor's task. The emperor gives his daughter a carriage and sees her off. On the way to the pig suitor's palace, the pig plays in the mud and goes to kiss the princess inside the carriage, which she indulges. The princess reaches the pig suitor's palace, which is filled with gems and precious jewels. She readies herself to her wedding and marries the pig, who removes the pigskin at night to become a tall, handsome and dark-haired prince.They live like this for three years: the pig prince lives as a swine by day, and human by night. One day, an old woman appears at the pig prince's palace and the princess goes to talk to her. The tale explains the old woman was the one who cursed the prince into porcine form, and she advises the princess to prepare a pyre at night and burn the pigskin, which the prince places near his side of the bed for safekeeping. That same night, the princess unties the pigskin from her husband's body - a method he uses to keep it safe -, and tosses it in the oven, but the skin crackles and releases a smell of burning around the house, so she returns to sleep. However, the prince wakes up with a start, admonishes his wife that his curse would have ended in three days' time, tells his wife to wear down nine pairs of "opince" and three staves of horn, and curses that neither of them shall grow old, then vanishes. The princess mourns for her husband, but soon commissions a blacksmith for the nine pairs of footwear and a shepherd for the three staves, and begins her journey. On the road, the way is hard, for she is pregnant, but she eventually reaches the forest house of Sfânta Vineri, and a church amidst fir trees that belongs to sfânta Duminică. Holy Friday and Holy Sunday each welcome the princess and give her a chicken roast, whose bones she takes with herself. The princess also gives birth to her child, a boy with golden hair like hers and dark eyes like his father's. Holy Sunday then sends the princess to the house of her sister, Mama Vântului. Lastly, the princess arrives at the house of Mama Vântului-de-Zi, who does not know where her husband is, so she points to her sister, Mama Vântului-de-Seară. The Mother of the Evening Wind hides the princess and asks the Evening Wind if he saw anything, and he says he saw a hut in a forest. The princess takes her son with her deep in a forest, beyond stumps and brambles, and finds a hut with no visible door, save for the roof. She uses the chicken bones to build a ladder and cuts off her little finger to provide the last step. The princess places her son in a nearby bed and cooks something for herself. The prince appears at the hut and finds his wife and son, then returns with them back home.