Fairy Tale Analysis

The story “The Seven Ravens” was a fairy tale written by the Grimm brothers, Which tells about a young sister/maiden who goes on a adventure in hopes of finding her long lost brothers. This story is a very interesting story with an unexpected twist that is not like most fairy tales and that is why I have chosen the fairy tale “The Seven Ravens” to use for my fairy tale analysis.
“The Seven Ravens” opens up with a father who has seven sons who wishes for a daughter. The parents wishes are granted and they are gifted with a daughter who is sick and small, Because of the child’s health the parents decide to have a private baptism for the daughter. The father commands one of the sons who is then accompanied by the other six brothers to go get water for the daughters baptism from the well. When the brothers go to fetch the water with a jug from the well they start quarreling about who should go first. As they are quarreling the jug somehow falls into the jug and now they are all scared to go home in fear of that the father might do to them if they returned without the water for the baptism. As time winds down the father is outraged and furious that his sons have not brought the water for the baptism and thinks that they forgot and are out and about playing foolish games, He is scared that the daughter might die without being baptized. Because of this thought the father then casts a curse upon his sons saying “I wish the boys were all turned into ravens”. As he casts the curse upon his sons he hears seven ravens fly over him. It is said that the parent do not recall the curse and they now find comfort with their daughter. After some time the daughter grew very beautiful and strong. The daughter still didn’t know she had seven brothers until she heard some rumors/ talk busting among the people of her town, She was very troubled when people said to her that “The girl was certainly beautiful, but most that in reality she was to blame for the misfortune which had befallen her seven brothers”, (Grimm 1). After hearing so from many people and receiving confirmation that she had brothers from her mother and father she was troubled and she was very determined to find her brothers no matter what the cost, This is told in the fairy tale when it says, “She had no rest or peace until she set out secretly, and went forth into the wide world to trace out her brothers and set them free, let it cost what it might”, (Grimm 2). The daughter is very adventurous, courageous, and curious. She gathered three things, A ring belonging to her parents as a keepsake, a loaf of bread against hunger, a little pitcher of water against thirst, and a little chair as a provision against weariness. It is said she went to very far end of the world. She visited several places looking for her brothers. The daughter first searched for her brothers by going to the sun where she said the sun was hot, terrible and it devoured little children. She then hastily ran to the moon, which was very cold, awful, and malicious, the moon then said to the daughter “I smell, I smell the flesh of me.”, after this she again quickly ran away to the stars. It is said in this fairy tale that this stars were nice, kind, they all say on its own particular chair to her and they knew where the seven ravens/ her brothers were. The morning star gave the daughter a drumstick from a chicken and said that in order for her to get into the glass mountain too see her brothers she would need the drumstick. The daughter then took the drumstick and wrapped it carefully in her cloth and went forward to the glass mountain. Upon reaching the glass mountain she noticed that the gate was locked shut and the only way to get in was with the drumstick that the morning star had given her. She looked for the drumstick in her cloth but noticed it was empty. She did not know what to do and she really wanted see/ rescue her brothers so being very brave she cut her finger of, put it in the door and the door successfully opened. Upon walking inside the daughter was greeted by a little dwarf that told her that her brothers were not home yet but she could wait for them to show up for dinner. As the little dwarf brought in the food for the ravens and left the daughter alone with it, she was hungry and decided to to eat a morsel from each plate and take a sip from each glass but when she was taking her last sip the ring she had been carrying with her fell to the bottom of the glass. Suddenly she heard the coming of ravens and hid behind the door. When the ravens were eating the food, they were all focused and kept asking “Who has eaten something from my plate?” and “Who has drunk out of my little glass”, They noticed that it was a human mouth that had drunken from their cups. At last the last brother noticed there was a ring in his drink then they all quickly noticed that it was there parent's ring. The ravens prayed that it was their long last sister that was near who has came to rescue/ free them from the spell. The sister came forth from behind the door and all the ravens (brothers) quickly transformed back into their human form again. The story ends with the siblings embracing, kissing each other and walking joyfully home.
The characters in this story are the mother, father, daughter and the seven brothers. The mother and father grieve very much after the father casts away the seven brothers in which he did not really mean to do; he regrets this decision very much. The daughter was basically the reason why the seven brothers had been cast away, and lastly the seven brothers are turned into ravens because of the father who casts them away for being late. The main character in the story is the daughter. The daughter is very adventurous, curious about her brothers, and courageous.
The setting of the story takes place in a place that is unknown, But events do take place at a well, and at a mountain called “Glass Mountain”. The time of the story is also unknown, the author does not tell us. The story is also fiction so no specific date could be placed on this story.

The major problem in this story is that the seven brothers of the maiden have turned into ravens and are lost but she sets out on a mission to find them, This is the main problem that is in this fairy tale.

Major events of this story were the turning of the brothers into ravens. Another event is the visiting of the sun, moon, and stars then the Glass Mountain and the last major event is when they go back home peacefully in joy and happiness.

The first fairy tale theme use in “The seven ravens” were first Characters get help from a magical creature in which the daughter receives help from the dwarf and also the morning star. The second fairy tale theme I noticed was Characters are transformed into something better in which at the end of the story the brothers are transformed back to their human forms. And the last fairy tale theme I noticed in the story was the Characters live happily ever after, In which the at the end of story when the ravens are transformed back into there human forms and the siblings all together embrace each other and kiss each other then go home joyfully. These are all the themes I noticed in “The seven ravens”.