Marie-Louise Von Franz, Archetypal Symbols in Fairytales Vol 3

The Collected Works of
Marie-Louise von Franz
MLvF
Volume 3
General Editors
Steven Buser
Leonard Cruz
1915-1998
Volume 3
Archetypal Symbols
in Fairytales
The Maiden’s Quest
Translated by Roy Freeman and Tony Woolfson

in collaboration with Emmanuel Kennedy
CHIRON PUBLICATIONS • ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

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Translated by Roy Freeman and Tony Woolfson
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“Everything is simpler than you think
and at the same time more complex than you imagine.”
“Alles ist einfacher, als man denken kann, zugleich verschränkter,

als zu begreifen ist.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections

Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. Bluebeard 65
Chapter 2. The Pastor’s Wife 105
Chapter 3. The Woman Who Became A Spider 123
Chapter 4. Sedna 139
Chapter 5. The Girl and the Skull 157
Chapter 6. The Two Sisters 163
Chapter 7. Mother Holle 175
Chapter 8. Ingebjörg and the Good Stepmother 195
Chapter 9. The Wages of the Stepdaughter and the House Daughter 203
Chapter 10. Little Fatima with the Moon Forehead 211
Chapter 11. Snowflake 227
Chapter 12. Sleeping Beauty — Little Briar Rose 231
Chapter 13. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves 241
Chapter 14. Rapunzel 263
Chapter 15. Cinderella 273
Chapter 16. The Magic Horse 307
Chapter 17. Hans Wunderlich 329
Chapter 18. Allerleirauh, All-Kinds-Of-Fur 343
Chapter 19. The White Bride and the Black Bride 363
Chapter 20. The Goose Girl 405
Epilogue 425
Bibliography 429
Index of Authors 443
Index of Fairytales 447
Subject Index 455
Introduction
1 In the fairytales we considered in the prior volume, the main character and
carrier of the action was a male figure, an image of the hero archetype. Since
the hero represents the individuation of the man, the tales were interpreted
from the point of view of masculine psychological structure. In many
fairytales, however, a female figure stands in the centre of the plot. This is
because, as stated at the end of the previous section, the Self manifests in both
male and female aspects. Some well-known examples are “Cinderella,” “Little
Snow White,” and “Sleeping Beauty (Little Briar Rose).” From the point of view
that we have taken until now, this female figure has been considered to be an
image of the man’s anima, assuming that his conscious reality is completely,
or to a large extent, ignored, that the plot is driven mainly by the action of
figures from the unconscious, and that only at the end do we turn to the
subjective conscious experience. The more obvious approach would be to take
the opposite assumption, that is, the fairytale is mainly concerned with the
symbolized expression of problems of the female psyche. We cannot decide
unambiguously if it is more applicable to interpret a certain fairytale as an
expression of the male or of the female psychic structure, since ultimately the
essential archetypal images stem from the psyches of both sexes. These images
reflect psychic components or structures common to all human beings.
Nonetheless, the meaning of some of these images is different, depending on
whether they have been shaped from the masculine or feminine psyche. The
archetype of the mother, for example, is drawn with more differentiation in
the reflection of the female psyche than in that of the male in which the anima
is mixed with the mother. The reverse applies to the figure of the father. In the
same way, the figure of the virgin in a fairytale is, from the viewpoint of the
woman, a symbol of her core personality; however, from the point of view of
the man it belongs to the figure of his anima.1 In this section we will now
attempt to interpret fairytales from the point of view of the female psyche,
choosing those tales in which the main carrier of the action or the experience
is a girl or woman.
1
See “Zum psychologischen Aspekt der Korefigur” ¶309f.
2 ARCHETYPAL SYMBOLS IN FAIRYTALES
2 Just as the figure of the anima occupies a central position within the male
psyche, and can even take on the primary image of an entire fairytale, we find
as a parallel, particularly in tales that illustrate problems specific to the female
psyche, a male figure that Jung has called the “animus.” 2 This archetypal image
could be described as the accumulation of all the experiences of the woman
with the man, and even more, these include experiences not lived out in the
outer world, but the inner male component of the woman’s psyche. The
animus is a symbol and driving force of her spiritual life. The phenomenology
of the animus is described by Emma Jung in her book Animus and Anima.
Practical explanations can also be found in the chapter “The Ghostly Lover”
in Esther Harding’s The Way of All Women.3 Mythologically, this figure is the
“son” of primeval parents just as the anima is their daughter. He corresponds
to the earth-fire-spirit, which, as Emma Jung points out, as the son of the
“lower mother” is near and known.4 That he is a son of the “lower mother”
indicates that he comes from the magical world, and this affiliation with the
unconscious gives him — unlike the precise rational intellect of the man —
the character of a nature spirit.5
3 The way in which, for the female soul, the animus corresponds to a spirit,
an enlightened being, is illustrated in a Chukchee tale, “The Sun-Man,” in
which the animus figure is identified with the sun god. (Here also we see the
motif discussed in the previous section of the frequent merging of the figure
of the father in the magical with that of the demonic son.)
2
See C. G. Jung, CW 6, Psychological Types ¶806f,¶810ff, C. G. Jung, CW 7, “Relation between the ego
and the unconscious,” ¶329¶336, C. G. Jung, CW 11, “Psychologie und Religion”¶48, C. G. Jung, CW
10, “Mind and earth,” ¶71-84.
3
[See also M.-L. von Franz, Feminine in Fairy Tales, New York 2001 passim and von Franz, Animus,
New York 2001 passim.]
4
Emma Jung writes,
Such a mother figure, in contrast to a heavenly, light mother, embodies the primordial
feminine as a power that is heavy, dark, earth-bound, a power versed in magic, now helpful,
now witch-like and uncanny, and often actually destructive. Her son, then, would be a
chthonic fire-spirit, recalling Logi or Loki of northern mythology, who is represented as a
giant endowed with creative power and at the same time as a sly, seductive rascal, later on
the prototype of our familiar devil. (E. Jung, Animus and Anima, Putnam 1985 p. 31.)
5
On the spirit character of the animus, see the comments on the wind and women in, de Gubernatis
p. 106. The same author writes that the Khorda Avesta and the Ram Yasta record a vedic hymn to the
Maruts to whom the maidens call to procure a husband. [The Maruts are also called Rudras, these are
storm gods, attendants of Indra, some 27 to 60 in number.] According to the footnote (de Gubernatis
p. 106), the wind (as a symbol of the spirit) is hailed as,
. . . “the strongest of the strong, the fastest of the fast, with golden weapons and golden
ornaments, golden chariot, and golden wheel.” (Darmesteter p. 262.) His golden shoes and
golden girdle show, moreover, his sympathy and his golden shoes and relationship to Ardvî
Çûra Anâhita [the great goddess of the waters.], who in verse 55 is dressed in the garments
of Aurora. The women love the strong, the bold, even the violent ones, the winds are the
strong ones, the fearless ones, the fierce ones . . . The wind is a very indiscreet fellow who
goes everywhere, he visits everything. He hears everything, the secrets of young women he
can surprise. This is also why in the Pan- chatantra (I, 5) a (male) weaver who has fallen in
love, regrets that no one can enter his beloved chambers except the wind, and A. de
Gubernatis, Thiere i. d. indog. Mythologie, Leipzig 1874 p. 79 [not found in English version
of the same footnote].)
Chapter 15
Cinderella
877 With completely different fairytale motifs, the well-known tale “Cinderella”
depicts a very similar psychological process. In this tale the heroine is also
initially paralyzed and depressed by the power of the evil stepmother, a
condition that even in popular language is called “being a Cinderella.” As in
“Sleeping Beauty (Little Briar-Rose),” “Little Snow-White,” and “Rapunzel,”
the appearance of the prince changes the tide of misfortune. Here Cinderella
has a positive mother-imago, however, the spirit of her dead mother, who
stands by her side. We give here the Grimms’ version.
878 The wife of a rich man fell sick, and as she felt that her end was
drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said,
“Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always
protect thee, and I will look down on thee from heaven and be near
thee.” Thereupon she closed her eyes and departed. Every day the
maiden went out to her mother’s grave and wept, and she remained
pious and good. When winter came the snow spread a white sheet
over the grave, and when the spring sun had drawn it off again, the
man had taken another wife.
879 The woman had brought two daughters into the house with her, who
were beautiful and fair of face, but vile and black of heart. Now began
a bad time for the poor stepchild. “Is the stupid goose to sit in the
parlour with us?” said they. “He who wants to eat bread must earn it;
out with the kitchen wench!” They took her pretty clothes away from
her, put an old grey bedgown on her, and gave her wooden shoes. “Just
look at the proud princess, how decked out she is!” they cried, and
laughed, and led her into the kitchen. There she had to do hard work
from morning till night, get up before daybreak, carry water, light
fires, cook, and wash. Besides this, the sisters did her every imaginable
injury; they mocked her and emptied her peas and lentils into the
ashes, so that she was forced to sit and pick them out again. In the
evening when she had worked till she was weary she had no bed to
go to, but had to sleep by the fireside in the ashes. And as on that
account she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.
It happened that the father was once going to the fair, and he asked
his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them. “Beautiful
dresses,” said one, “Pearls and jewels,” said the second. “And thou,
Cinderella,” said he, “what wilt thou have?” “Father, break off for me
the first branch which knocks against your hat on your way home.”
So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls, and jewels for his two
stepdaughters, and on his way home, as he was riding through a green
thicket, a hazel twig brushed against him and knocked off his hat.
Then he broke off the branch and took it with him. When he reached
home he gave his stepdaughters the things which they had wished for,
and to Cinderella he gave the branch from the hazel bush. Cinderella
thanked him, went to her mother’s grave and planted the branch on
it, and wept so much that the tears fell down on it and watered it. It
grew, however, and became a handsome tree. Thrice a day Cinderella
went and sat beneath it, and wept and prayed, and a little white bird
always came on the tree, and if Cinderella expressed a wish, the bird
threw down to her what she had wished for.
880 It happened, however, that the king appointed a festival which was to
last three days, and to which all the beautiful young girls in the
country were invited, in order that his son might choose himself a
bride. When the two stepsisters heard that they too were to appear
among the number, they were delighted, called Cinderella and said,
“Comb our hair for us, brush our shoes and fasten our buckles, for
we are going to the festival at the king’s palace.” Cinderella obeyed,
but wept, because she too would have liked to go with them to the
dance, and begged her stepmother to allow her to do so. “Thou wishes
to go, Cinderella?” said she. “Thou art dusty and dirty, and wouldst
go to the festival? Thou hast no clothes and shoes, and yet wouldst
dance!” As Cinderella went on asking, however, the stepmother at last
said, “I have emptied a dish of lentils into the ashes for thee, if thou
hast picked them out again in two hours, thou shalt go with us.” The
maiden went through the backdoor into the garden, and called, “You
tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come
and help me to pick: The good into the pot, The bad into the crop.”
881 Then two white pigeons came in by the kitchen window, and
afterwards the turtledoves, and at last all the birds beneath the sky,
came whirring and crowding in, and alighted amongst the ashes. And
the pigeons nodded with their heads and began pick, pick, pick, pick,
and the rest began also pick, pick, pick, pick, and gathered all the good
grains into the dish. Hardly had one hour passed before they had
Cinderella 275
finished, and all flew out again. Then the girl took the dish to her
stepmother, and was glad, and believed that now she would be allowed
to go with them to the festival. But the stepmother said, “No,
Cinderella, thou hast no clothes and thou canst not dance; thou
wouldst only be laughed at.” And as Cinderella wept at this, the
stepmother said, “If thou canst pick two dishes of lentils out of the
ashes for me in one hour, thou shalt go with us.” And she thought to
herself, “That she most certainly cannot do.” When the stepmother
had emptied the two dishes of lentils amongst the ashes, the maiden
went through the backdoor into the garden and cried, “You tame
pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds under heaven, come and
help me to pick: The good into the pot, The bad into the crop.”
882 Then two white pigeons came in by the kitchen window, and
afterwards the turtledoves, and at length all the birds beneath the sky,
came whirring and crowding in, and alighted amongst the ashes. And
the doves nodded with their heads and began pick, pick, pick, pick,
and the others began also pick, pick, pick, pick, and gathered all the
good seeds into the dishes, and before half an hour was over they had
already finished, and all flew out again. Then the maiden carried the
dishes to the stepmother and was delighted, and believed that she
might now go with them to the festival. But the stepmother said, “All
this will not help thee; thou goest not with us, for thou hast no clothes
and canst not dance; we should be ashamed of thee!” On this she
turned her back on Cinderella, and hurried away with her two proud
daughters. As no one was now at home, Cinderella went to her
mother’s grave beneath the hazel tree, and cried,
883
“Shiver and quiver, little tree,
Silver and gold throw down over me.”
884 Then the bird threw a gold and silver dress down to her, and slippers
embroidered with silk and silver. She put on the dress with all speed,
and went to the festival. Her stepsisters and the stepmother however
did not know her, and thought she must be a foreign princess, for she
looked so beautiful in the golden dress. They never once thought of
Cinderella, and believed that she was sitting at home in the dirt,
picking lentils out of the ashes. The prince went to meet her, took her
by the hand and danced with her. He would dance with no other
maiden, and never left loose of her hand, and if anyone else came to
invite her, he said, “This is my partner.” She danced till it was evening,
and then she wanted to go home. But the king’s son said, “I will go
with thee and bear thee company,” for he wished to see to whom the
beautiful maiden belonged. She escaped from him, however, and
sprang into the pigeon house. The king’s son waited until her father
came, and then he told him that the unknown maiden had leapt into
the pigeon house. The old man thought, “Can it be Cinderella?” and
they had to bring him an axe and a pickaxe that he might hew the
pigeon house to pieces, but no one was inside it. And when they got
home Cinderella lay in her dirty clothes among the ashes, and a dim
little oil lamp was burning on the mantlepiece, for Cinderella had
jumped quickly down from the back of the pigeon house and had run
to the little hazel tree, and there she had taken off her beautiful clothes
and laid them on the grave, and the bird had taken them away again,
and then she had placed herself in the kitchen amongst the ashes in
her grey gown.
885 Next day when the festival began afresh, and her parents and the step-
sisters had gone once more, Cinderella went to the hazel tree and said,
886 “Shiver and quiver, my little tree,
887
Then the bird threw down a much more beautiful dress than on the
preceding day. And when Cinderella appeared at the festival in this
dress, everyone was astonished at her beauty. The king’s son had
waited until she came, and instantly took her by the hand and danced
with no one but her. When others came and invited her, he said, “She
is my partner.” When evening came she wished to leave, and the king’s
son followed her and wanted to see into which house she went. But
she sprang away from him, and into the garden behind the house.
Therein stood a beautiful tall tree on which hung the most
magnificent pears. She clambered so nimbly between the branches
like a squirrel, that the king’s son did not know where she was gone.
He waited until her father came, and said to him, “The unknown
maiden has escaped from me, and I believe she has climbed up the
pear tree.” The father thought, “Can it be Cinderella?” and had an axe
brought and cut the tree down, but no one was on it. And when they
got into the kitchen, Cinderella lay there amongst the ashes, as usual,
for she had jumped down on the other side of the tree, had taken the
beautiful dress to the bird on the little hazel tree, and put on her grey
gown.
888 On the third day, when the parents and sisters had gone away,
Cinderella went once more to her mother’s grave and said to the little
tree,
889 “Shiver and quiver, my little tree,
Cinderella 277
890 And now the bird threw down to her a dress which was more splendid
and magnificent than any she had yet had, and the slippers were
golden. And when she went to the festival in the dress, no one knew
how to speak for astonishment. The king’s son danced with her only,
and if anyone invited her to dance, he said, “She is my partner.” When
evening came, Cinderella wished to leave, and the king’s son was
anxious to go with her, but she escaped from him so quickly that he
could not follow her. The king’s son had, however, used a stratagem,
and had caused the whole staircase to be smeared with pitch, and
there, when she ran down, had the maiden’s left slipper remained
sticking. The king’s son picked it up, and it was small and dainty, and
all golden. Next morning, he went with it to the father, and said to
him, “No one shall be my wife but she whose foot this golden slipper
fits.” Then were the two sisters glad, for they had pretty feet. The eldest
went with the shoe into her room and wanted to try it on, and her
mother stood by. But she could not get her big toe into it, and the shoe
was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, “Cut
the toe off; when thou art queen thou wilt have no more need to go
on foot.” The maiden cut the toe off, forced the foot into the shoe,
swallowed the pain, and went out to the king’s son. Then he took her
on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. They were, however,
obliged to pass the grave, and there, on the hazel tree, sat the two
pigeons and cried,
891 “Turn and look, red and blue,
There is blood in the shoe,
The shoe is much too small,
Your true bride waits in the hall.”
892 Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was streaming from
it. He turned his horse round and took the false bride home again,
and said she was not the true one, and that the other sister was to put
the shoe on. Then this one went into her chamber and got her toes
safely into the shoe, but her heel was too large. So her mother gave
her a knife and said, “Cut a bit off thy heel; when thou art queen thou
wilt have no more need to go on foot.” The maiden cut a bit off her
heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out
to the king’s son. He took her on his horse as his bride, and rode away
with her, but when they passed by the hazel tree, two little pigeons sat
on it and cried,
893 “Turn and peek, red and blue,

There’s blood within the shoe,
The shoe is much too small,
Your true bride waits in the hall.”
894 He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out
of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking. Then he turned
his horse and took the false bride home again. “This also is not the
right one,” said he, “have you no other daughter?” “No,” said the man,
“There is still a little stunted kitchen wench which my late wife left
behind her, but she cannot possibly be the bride.” The king’s son said
he was to send her up to him; but the mother answered, “Oh no, she
is much too dirty, she cannot show herself!” He absolutely insisted on
it, and Cinderella had to be called. She first washed her hands and face
clean, and then went and bowed down before the king’s son, who gave
her the golden shoe. Then she seated herself on a stool, drew her foot
out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, which fitted
like a glove. And when she rose up and the king’s son looked at her
face he recognized the beautiful maiden who had danced with him
and cried, “That is the true bride!” The stepmother and the two sisters
were terrified and became pale with rage; he took Cinderella on his
horse, however, and rode away with her. As they passed by the hazel
tree, the two white doves cried,
895 “Turn and peek, red and blue,
There is no blood in the shoe,
The foot fits and this is true,
Your real bride rides with you.”
896 And when they had cried that, the two came flying down and placed
themselves on Cinderella’s shoulders, one on the right, the other on
the left, and remained sitting there.
897 When the wedding with the king’s son had to be celebrated, the two
false sisters came and wanted to get into favor with Cinderella and
share her good fortune. When the betrothed couple went to church,
the elder was at the right side and the younger at the left, and the
pigeons pecked out one eye of each of them. Afterwards as they came
back, the elder was at the left, and the younger at the right, and then
the pigeons pecked out the other eye of each. And thus, for their
wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness as long
as they lived.1
1
[Slightly edited following the translation of Margaret Hunt from Grimm, Grimm pp. 119–126. The
Grimms’ source: Dorothea Viehmann (1755-1815), and other sources. This tale, in a different version,
Cinderella 279
898 The wicked stepmother corresponds to the teacher/Aunt Bibi in “Little Fatima
with the Moon Forehead” and has the same meaning as in that fairytale.
Significantly, in an Irish version, “Móirín,”2 the two sisters murder their
mother out of envy because she preferred their younger sister (as Little Fatima
does at the instigation of the teacher/Aunt Bibi) and humiliate the heroine
into being the Cinderella. This parallel, which we will relate and discuss in
more detail below, shows more clearly than the Grimms’ version that the
problem here is the shadow’s gaining control over the personality. When the
real mother in “Cinderella” falls ill and dies, this means a repression or
splitting off of the positive mother image, described here as a natural process
rather than an act of violence. In both cases, forces dominate that distort or
“secularize” the inner personality.
899 Seen from the standpoint of the father, the stepmother is again the “false
bride,” who supersedes the “true bride” (the real mother). Insofar as she is
extremely focused on outer worldly appearance and values, she could be
regarded as the persona (and not as the anima) of the father, that is, the mask
or role he plays in the outside world. Psychologically, a person can in such
case be so completely identified with his persona that, not he, but his wife,
experiences the disturbance and can even take on the consequences. As Jung
points out,
900 Because the inner world is dark and invisible to the extraverted
consciousness, and because a man is all the less capable of conceiving
his weaknesses the more he is identified with the persona, the
persona’s counterpart, the anima, remains completely in the dark and
is at once projected [onto the spouse].3
901 And,
To the degree that the world invites the individual to identify with the
mask, he is delivered over to influences from within. ... An opposition
forces its way up from inside; it is exactly as though the unconscious
suppressed the ego with the very same power that drew the ego into
the persona. The absence of resistance outwardly against the lure of
the persona means a similar weakness inwardly against the influence
of the unconscious. Outwardly an effective and powerful role is
was included in the first edition of Kinder und Hausmärchen (1812). It was substantially revised for the
second edition (1819).] Similar tales are found in Japan, for instance, “Komebuku and Awabuku” and,
“Chiyo Gogo.”
2
See the “Notes” in K. Müller-Lisowski, Irische Volksmärchen, Jena 1923 p. 348 according to which the
word Móirín means “The Little Big.” See also additional discussion of “Cinderella” and the “goldeners”
where we discuss the motif of the heroine who has a disgraceful appearance and hides her golden hair
under an inconspicuous head covering.
3
See C. G. Jung, CW 7, “Relation between the ego and the unconscious,” ¶306.
played, while inwardly an effeminate weakness develops in the face of

every influence coming from the unconscious.4
902 This weakness makes itself noticeable in the father figure of our tale: The father
does nothing to defend his daughter, who is a symbol of his “inner voice.” As
is evident from the dual interpretability of the tale, it is basically not only, or
can no longer be, circumscribed as a personal problem for one figure, but is
rather a psychic-emotional family drama. All people participate both
consciously and unconsciously and stand in relationship to one another, and
together they correspond to the components comprising a complete
personality. From the point of view of Cinderella, as mentioned above, the
stepmother and stepsisters represent shadow figures, similar to the evil cobbler
in “The Two Travelers,” who aspires to displace the true core personality in
favor of secular and collective tendencies.
903 New in this fairytale is that this shadow figure occurs in a kind of trinity,
to which Cinderella makes up the fourth. This structure reminds us of the
groups of four male figures in many of the previously discussed fairytales,
often made up of an uncomprehending father and the two hostile, more
secular brothers. This suggests that the four figures in the present tale
represent the four functions of the conscious personality. Again, we associate
the fourth with the unworldly, undeveloped function that often is portrayed
by the hero or heroine. In contrast to the aforementioned tales in which the
father and two older brothers are dominant and superior from the beginning
and then get into difficulties as the story evolves, here the process whereby
the negative takes over is portrayed in the tale, and the fourth figure is
undervalued only as the story evolves.
904 The previously discussed tales depict the psychological situation of
midlife, without considering the earlier history, whereas in “Cinderella,” we
learn how and why the unsatisfactory situation in midlife gradually came
about. In this case, that involves forcing the child prematurely to leave her
original state of wholeness, and an excessive concession to the world, brought
about by weakness. In fairytales depicting the hero’s quest, this was intimated
only in “The Two Travelers” and, “Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the
Unfaithful,” and there only gradually did a shadow figure gain the upper hand
over the hero. Whereas a man’s losing himself to the world was described more
as due to ambition and one-sidedness, in fairytales that represent female
issues, this is not the case. Rather the “lostness to the world” in a woman is
characteristically represented as vanity, a desire to please the man, and play
his anima, but not actually to be his anima. In the quaternity, albeit weaker, is
an allusion to the four function structure. Here the woman’s superior function
4
C. G. Jung, CW 7, “Relation between the ego and the unconscious,” ¶308.
Cinderella 281
is used to adapt to this world and her original nature remains merged with
the less developed function.
905 Cinderella receives help from her dead mother5 after she had her father
promise to break off the first branch which knocked against his hat on his way
home. He brought a hazel twig home that Cinderella planted on the grave of
her mother and this later grew into a tree that a helpful white dove visited.
Therein lies a concentrated effort on Cinderella’s part oriented towards the
unconscious, with the help of the animus (the father). In this case, the animus
works through intuition: He brings home an idea (that which “knocks against
the hat”). Cinderella’s wish may have been grounded on a vague idea that she
could gain a sign from the sphere of repressed feminine instincts, now in the
realm of the dead, by means of the twig. This wish corresponds to an emergent
memory of her own unconscious nature that is still contained in the image of
the mother. The hazel twig is an important symbol of ancient Germanic
mythology. Ninck says of the hazel,
906 It has a special sacredness over the whole Germanic regions.

Hazelnuts and hazel rods are found placed beneath bodies and under
trees of the dead in ancient graves especially those of Alemannic
origin. According to ancient legal statutes, anyone may cut trees and
bushes in the communal forests without penalty, except for oaks and
hazels; these must be left in peace, that is, they may not be felled. A
cut hazel branch was used as a divining rod to find water, precious
metals, and all sorts of treasures. It can even open doors and access
lucky goods. In northern Germany it is called, therefore, wickerode
from wicken, to conjure, perform magic, divine, prophesy. The Old
High German (OHG) word wunsciligerta [wishing rod, divining stick]
was used by an author of glosses to describe magical powers of the
caduceus of Hermes [Mercury]. The Minnesingers compared the most
beautiful and highest, the beloved Mary, Queen of Heaven, with the
wishing rod. And in the Nibelunglied describing how the Nibelungen
Hoard was brought to Worms, it is said that under the Hoard, “The
wish-rod lay among them, / of gold a little wand. / Whosoe’er its
powers / full might understand, /The same might make him master /
o’er all the race of men.”6
5
See the helping role of the dead mother of the hero in a tale from the Fiji Islands, “The Adventures of
Matandua, the One-Eyed.”
6
M. Ninck, Wodan, Jena 1935 p. 128f. [Quote from the Nibelungen is from verse 1124.] See also F. F. A.
Kuhn, Mythologische Studien, Vol. 1, Gütersloh 1886 p. 192f on the divining rod cut from hazel and the
parallels with the caper (or paper) spurge, Euphorbia Lathyris, and the mandrake, Mandragora. See
additional material on the magical power of hazel, ibid, p. 201f, also, Dr. Aigremont, Volkserotik and
Pflanzenwelt, Halle a. S. 1909 p. 37f, and Bächtold-Stäubli under Hasel [hazel], “Native and common
shrub. . . In Germanic soil an ancient magical plant, that “has the many cultic uses. . . ” In folk song
personified as Frau Hazel [Mrs. Hasel], indicating the intimate relation between hazel and humans.
907 From these amplifications we can easily discern the meaning of the hazel twig
as the germ of the inner process of individuation.7 The hazel twig arises out
of the maternal ground, the unconscious, and the tree is a symbol of inner
development. Here it carries the bird as a symbol of inspiration. The mother’s
grave becomes a source of inner life and a helping genius. This is even more
clearly shown in the aforementioned Irish parallel, “Móirín,” in which the dead
mother represents the Cinderella figure’s femininity and instinctual sphere.8
908 Once upon a time long ago there was a poor widow. It had happened
and such things did come to pass, and probably will again. The widow
had three daughters, two of which were older and already young
women. The youngest was still small. She had been given the name
Móirín [Little Big]. Every day she tended the goats that belonged to
the old mother. This mother loved Móirín much more tenderly than
the other daughters and these became envious and began to scold and
even beat their younger sister. When she was out tending the goats,
they even started to push their mother around and handle her badly.
Things went from bad to worse and the elder sisters decided to get rid
of their hated sister and their mother to boot. One day when Móirín
was out with the goats, they boiled up a huge cauldron of water, threw
their mother in and cooked her until the flesh fell away from her
bones. They hid the bones and told the youngest sister that their
mother had gone away and left them there all alone. Móirín suspected
evil and looked and searched all over for her mother. Then she came
upon the bones in the garden. She cried and cried and then carefully
placed the bones in her apron and hid them in a special place out
behind their house. She cared for them, every day going to them and
weeping tears and tears over them. One day, when she went to the
bones, she saw a young cat standing in place of her apron. . .
909 This cat figure, like the cow in “Little Fatima with the Moon Forehead,”
becomes a helper and advisor. It even creates the beautiful ballroom dresses
for Móirín. This motif is ultimately rooted in the primitive belief of the
Also, the shrub was used as a protective hedge surrounding settlements. . . The hazel stick, or hazel
rods were attributed apotropaic properties and used in the dark, in war, against demons, vermin and
thunderstorms. . . The hazel is considered to make a woman fertile, the “rod of life,” also used to make
the fields, trees, and livestock fertile. . . If one carries the hazel around, one becomes at certain times
clairvoyant against witches. . . Hazel can be used against snakes and worms. It plays a central role as a
fertility symbol in popular eroticism and occurs as an erotic symbol in love and marriage eroticism.”
(H. Bächtold-Stäubli Vol. 3, p.1527ff.)
7
See W. Mannhardt, Wald- und Feldkulte, Vol. 1, Berlin 1875 p. 5, 9f., and W. Mannhardt, Wald- und
Feldkulte, Vol. 2, Berlin 1877 pp. 23–31 on the tree as a symbol of human life, the womb as a symbol of
the newborn child, and on the mystical interrelationship between trees and humans.
8
[As yet only available in Irish and German, therefore several parts translated here.]
Cinderella 283
manifestation of the dead as totem animals.9 The cat, as has been mentioned
many times, symbolizes female instinct. In the Russian fairytale “Vasilisa the
Beautiful,” the dying mother leaves a doll for Vasilisa. Later, when she serves
the witch Baba-Yaga, this doll helps to perform the tasks and later makes such
a wonderful weaver’s shuttle that the heroine, through her work, wins the
king’s love. This doll is like the “child” of the heroine and represents her new
future personality, her Self, the sphere of the unconscious represented by the
mother that grows out of Vasilisa.10 Baba-Yaga had previously given the
heroine a skull whose fiery glance kills the evil sisters. This is reminiscent of
the helping skull of the dead grandmother in the Inuit tale “The Skull that
Saved the Girl,” that helps the heroine to gain revenge on her evil husband
and saves her from death by starvation.
910 In “Cinderella,” the maternal helping element is represented in the tree. It
grows from the tears, that is, from the full and painful attention to the
unconscious. The bird signifies fantasy, the imagination, in this case
redeeming [saving] wishful thinking,11 the premonition of the coming
transformation. As such it exerts a restorative, comforting and firming
influence.
911 Cinderella oscillates back and forth between the grave and her daily life
tasks, that is, she repeatedly draws power and confirmation from the
unconscious.12 Through this she gradually finds her own nature, which is later
revealed in a glorious fashion. In an earlier version, Cinderella gets the
precious clothes “from the tree itself, not from a bird sitting in it.”13 In still
another version, Cinderella calls out, requesting:
912 The good ones go into the pot, the bad ones into your crop.
Empty field, open up,
Give me my pretty jewelry!14
913 According to a Dutch version15 the heroine puts a “hazel branch brought to
her by a servant into a well from which three little dogs come later and bring
her beautiful clothes.” The well appears here instead of the grave, a symbol of
the feminine-magical. (See, for example, “Mother Holle.”). Bolte-Polívka
9
See L. Lévy-Bruhl, The “Soul” of the Primitive, New York 1928 p. 283ff.
10
See the Estonian tale “A Tale Of The Tontlawald,” in which the heroine, Else, pursued by the
stepmother, goes into an enchanted forest and finds another girl and her beautiful mother, on whose
behalf a dwarf makes a doll that is sent to the stepmother. The look-alike doll serves as a whipping child
in place of Elsa, who remains with the elfin figures for many years. The beautiful woman in the forest
is the positive mother figure through which a shadow figure arises that takes the suffering upon itself.
Psychologically, this describes a multiple personality.
11
See C. G. Jung, CW 5, Symbols of Transformation ¶347fn. 72.
12
See the Antaeus motif.
13
See J. Bolte and G. Polívka, Anmerkungen, Vol. 1, Leipzig 1913 p. 165.
14
15
mention a parallel in which the father of the heroine brings her a nut
containing clothes and a carriage.16 This nut is, as a round fruit and something
that can germinate, a symbol of the Self in its original form (note that the fruit
of the hazel is a nut). In a Sulawesi version, “Cinderella (Makassar),” the tree
grows from the bones of a fish that the heroine had cared for and then her
sisters had killed out of jealousy. To the extent that this is the same fate as the
child that grew out of the eddo seed-bulb in the African tale “The Adventures
of Mrile,” the fish also represents the Self of the girl as an albeit, unconscious,
“nourishing” content of the unconscious.
914 In the present Grimms’ fairytale, a new scene opens. The king gives a
festival that lasts for three days during which his son should choose a bride.
This king rules a powerful, resplendent, and desirable kingdom. This situation
is similar to the wedding party in “King Thrushbeard,” suggesting that here,
too, the king and his son represent animus figures. This parallelism appears
even more clearly in the Irish variant “Móirín,” in which the heroine, on the
advice of the little cat, finds employment as a maid in the service of the
nobleman (her later groom), just like the heroine with King Thrushbeard. The
glorious kingdom over which the king’s son rules is the unconscious, which is
presented here in a favorable aspect. Just when it is no longer a matter of
worldly progress but rather a journey to the inner regions, the weakness of the
more collective attitude of the stepsisters reveals its inadequacy, and the fourth
function, the previously ignored part of personality, gains in importance.
915 The stepsisters and their mother want to go to the ball of the king and let
themselves be adorned and attended to by Cinderella. This represents how the
secular-collective attitude habitually makes use of the inner world and
degrades the real life of the soul to the status of a servant. The inner being is
initially treated just as the collective attitude treats the outer world. When the
evil women disdainfully make fun of Cinderella’s ugly clothes and her inability
to dance, they clearly reveal an attitude of hubris towards everything that is
not of the secular world. Precisely that part of the personality is pushed aside
that is predestined, by its simple nature and openness to the magical, to deal
with the problem emerging from the unconscious, here personified as a prince
at the royal court, an animus figure.
916 As an apparent concession Cinderella’s mother gives Cinderella two
seemingly impossible tasks: to twice pick lentils out of the ashes within an
unattainably short time. This common fairytale task means to bring order to
a state of chaos and/or unclarity and thereby to distinguish the valuable from
the worthless.17 In alchemy, ash often symbolizes the original matter
considered to be worthless by the collective. Ash is a product of combustion,
16
J. Bolte and G. Polívka, Anmerkungen, Vol. 1, Leipzig 1913 p. 173.
17
On Cinderella’s situation see also our discussion under the motif of the scabhead, originally noted
by J. Bolte and L. Mackensen, Handwörterbuch Berlin 1930, under Aschenputtel [Cinderella].
Cinderella 285
the residue of the matter decomposed in the fire, and this materiality bestows
on ash a maternal nature.18 The lentils are, in their character as seeds, a symbol
of fertility.19 Thus Cinderella’s task is to distinguish, differentiate, and remove
dead traditions from the chaos of the unconscious, and to pluck out the germs
of her future destiny from the maternal past. This work on the unconscious is
really a “Cinderella job,” a tedious, seemingly unworthy, subtle distinguishing
of what has value and what has no value from the circumstances of the
situation, a task requiring much patience to make distinctions in the chaos.
The completion of this work in the kitchen — the place of transformation20
— is only possible with the help of the birds, led by two doves. These are like
a doubling of the white bird on the grave of the mother; the other birds are a
further multiplication, representing a multitude of useful ideas. This hints at
supportive intuitions arising from the unconscious. The bird scene reminds
us of the Icelandic fairytale “Tritill, Litill, and the Birds,” in which the birds
also help the hero collect feathers for the blanket of the giantess. In the present
tale, the two doves reappear later as Cinderella’s guides and peck out the eyes
of the evil sisters.21 The doves take on here a similar function as the crows and
other animals that the tailor in “The Two Travelers” gains as helpers against
the evil cobbler. In our discussion of that tale we interpreted these animal
figures as being helpful instinctual forces, as positive shadow figures, and in
“Cinderella,” the doves perform here a similar function.
917 Although Cinderella accomplishes the tasks, she is still not allowed to go
to the ball because she allegedly does not have the right clothes. Dresses
usually mean a particular being, nature, or essence, which is why — as
mentioned above — the initiates exchanged their garments in the ancient
Greek mysteries as a symbolic representation of a change in attitude.
Exchanging garments means renewal, rebirth.22 Vis-á-vis the outer world,
clothing is a part of the persona, the manifested outer appearance. In this tale,
the heroine’s persona does not correspond to adaptation to the outer world
like the aspirations of the secular figures; the heroine’s conduct towards the
inner world is, however, so unrecognizably tender and childlike that she, as
an attitude, does not convince the profane. It is the beautiful ball gowns that
18
On this see the simpleton (dummling) hero who rummages around in the ashes, like the hero of the
tale “Stupid Ivanko.”
19
See Bächtold-Stäubli under Erbsen [peas], and Linsen [lentils]. See also Dr. Aigremont, Volkserotik
and Pflanzenwelt, Halle a. S. 1909 p. 134.
20
See C. G. Jung, CW 16, “Psychology of the Transference,” ¶378.
21
See the examples in, J. Bolte and G. Polívka, Anmerkungen, Vol. 1, Leipzig 1913 p. 187, from popular
language on doves, “Since they pick only the purest seeds, doves are known as a pure, sacred animal.”
22
See this, for R. Reitzenstein, Iranische, Bonn a. Rh. 1921 p. 41,fn. 2:
For the Manichaeans and Mandaeans the image of garments often represent one’s house or
home (i.e., where one lives): The redeemer draws the paradise of light to himself/herself, the
soul lives in garments [guise] of tears and pulls the suffering of the world to itself etc. These
soul parts are naturally the residence and outer shell of the Self.
See also ibid p., 159f, 167.
finally persuade the worldly parts. In alchemical texts the secular nature itself
is described as a garment. The English mystic Jane Leade wrote:
918 I tell thee, God requires an Offering from thee, as he did of Abraham,
there is no sparing any part; an whole Burnt-offering through the
Eternal Spirit must be given up. Understand me thus, thou hast an
Earthly Principle that hath dilated and overspread thee,23 and got into
dominion, and covered thee safe from my Heavens within thee; but
these Thrones and Powers must be cast down, their Place must be
found no more.24
919 This aptly characterizes the secular, collectively conditioned attitude, that in
this tale is personified by the stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella actually
had beautiful clothes that her dead mother secretly gave her, this image
meaning that the unconscious, through her instincts, had given the heroine
the right attitude towards the animus. To begin with, however, this remains
hidden and does not come to a confrontation with the other attitude. (As, for
example, in “Little Fatima with the Moon Forehead,” between the mother and
the rooster, or in another version of that same tale, where the mother beats
the heroine when she accidentally exposes the moon on her forehead.) This
is the reason Cinderella goes back and forth between the profane realm and
the kingdom of the unconscious with an exchange of clothes. This happens
three nights in a row, each with an even more magnificent ball gown, until on
the fourth day the prince finally brings recognition and salvation.
920 During the three ball nights the prince dances from the beginning only
with Cinderella. This means that the animus as the spiritual element in the
unconscious of the woman consistently inclines to her real side that is focused
on the fundamental ground of the soul. The dance, into which the prince pulls
the heroine, signifies her taking part in the higher invisible natural systems,25
a feeling of “harmony with the infinite.” But this experience does not really
last; obviously out of fear of the stepsisters Cinderella flees before midnight
back into the old situation. In a French parallel, “Cinderella or the Little Glass
Slipper,” the helpful fairy says that if Cinderella remains at the ball after
midnight, then all her enchanted gifts would transform: the carriage back into
a pumpkin and the ball clothes back into rags. It follows that after midnight,
that is, when the daytime consciousness begins to return, the secular trends
take over the upper hand again. Cinderella is not yet promised to the prince
and she still has to live with her sisters. She knows that they could hurt her, so
she must keep her experience secret from them. No definite inner decision
23
“Like a garment” notes H. Silberer, Problems of Mysticism, New York 1917 p. 386.
24
Entry for 10th November, 1673, J. Leade, Fountain, London 1696 p. I, 6.
25
On the relationship of the animus to dance, see E. Jung, Animus and Anima, Putnam 1985 p. 36ff.
Cinderella 287
has been made and there is still a certain attachment to the former secular
attitude.
921 This indicates an uncertainty about inner values and she is, therefore,
thrown back and forth between happiness and misery.26 (The fate of Rapunzel
clearly shows the consequences of a careless betrayal: a premature outbreak
of the conflict that brings a great “detour” and much suffering.) It also seems
as if the animus, in the form of the heroine’s father, has a disturbing effect. He
suspects that Cinderella might be the unknown beautiful maiden, but she
escapes him by “evaporating” into the air like a dove and as such takes on an
ambiguous, ungraspable, “incomprehensible,” position. In her second flight,
she hides in a pear tree, indicating a retreat to the inner principle of life. As
such, the tree is indeed the mother or the spirit with which Cinderella
identifies her mother and in that figure she can gradually find herself.
922 The escape has the purpose of not letting disruptive influences come too
close to inner experiences. There are still certain precautionary terms
necessary to protect and foster these experience. Some parallel tales tell what
happens when these rules are violated. For instance, in the French version
mentioned above, Cinderella stays past midnight in the ballroom and all her
magically transformed clothes disappear and she must remain a scullery maid
as before.27 This corresponds to the motif of wonderful presents received in
the night from fairies and leprechauns that change back into ordinary things
when morning comes.28 This corresponds to a state of sudden “disenchant-
ment” through consciousness breaking up the “romantic dream” and leaving
“everything as it was before.” Such a destruction of unconscious values can
only be avoided if a certain inner firmness, security, and form have been
attained, which is why, after the public announcement of her engagement to
the prince, Cinderella is no longer exposed to such dangers. In other variants
the tale continues with an attack by the evil sisters that placed the heroine in
extreme danger and temporarily severed her connection to the prince.
923 In the third and final night of the ball the prince has the stairs smeared
with pitch, and manages to snare a shoe of the unknown dancer. Psychologically,
this means that the animus in the unconscious constructs a connection that
seems to occur unintentionally; everything happens as if by chance and yet
just as the unconscious intends. In this context the shoe has an erotic meaning,
as Aigremont has shown by his rich collection of amplifications. He
demonstrates that the shoe also is associated with power and possession.29
26
See the similar situation of keeping a secret until the right time in “The Great Fool from Cuasan.”
27
28
See, for example, the gold pieces that the Púca in the Irish tale “The Piper and the Púca” brought his
mother: They were just plant leaves the next morning.
29
See Dr. Aigremont, Fuss- and Schuh-Symbolik, Leipzig 1909 p. 50, 62ff. See also J. Bolte and G. Polívka,
Anmerkungen, Vol. 1, Leipzig 1913 p. 187, Bächtold-Stäubli under Schuh [shoe]: “A large part of the
superstitions that are connected to the shoe can be explained as a transference of ideas linked to the
Thus by losing her shoe, Cinderella comes into the sphere of power of the
prince, the animus, and is henceforth tightly bound to him. From this
connection follows a German folk superstition, that “someone who walks in
only one shoe or boot loses one’s dimensions30 if he or she does not walk back
the exact same way they came.”31 In addition, the prince finds the left shoe and
the left side is considered the feminine side. The shoe is made of gold or, in
some variants glass,32 indicating the value and purity of the essential nature
of the woman.
924 In the Irish parallel “Móirín,” we learn:
On the advice of a little cat, Móirín left her evil vain stepsisters. She
entered into the services of a nobleman where she cleaned the ashes
and took care of the ducks. One day, the nobleman went to market
and she remained at home. The little cat told her that the nobleman
would shortly return and would ask for his gloves. This happened
three times, the second time with spurs, and the third time with a
whip. Each time, Móirín wrapped the object in white linen and gave
it to him, and he returned to the market. With the help of the little
cat, Móirín received and donned a beautiful gown and rode to the
market on a swift, enchanted dun-colored horse. There the nobleman
saw her, and was entranced by her beauty. This happened three times:
each market day, Móirín wore an even more beautiful garment. Each
time the nobleman asked where she came from; first she said, from
“Glovetown,” the next time, from “Spurtown,” and the third time, from
“Whipville.” Each time she turned and disappeared like the wind on
her horse. When she returned to the nobleman’s house, she quickly
changed back into the ash maid. The last time at the marketplace the
nobleman managed, however, to grab her shoe and with this, he found
that the beautiful maiden he was seeking was Móirín.33
foot and traditions related to footwear (shoes, boots, slippers, sandals, etc.). As the foot the shoe has
also become the symbol of power, of right, and possession. Above all, it plays an equally important role
in sexual symbolism, although not solely mere transference, but also when the special relationship
between the foot and the shoe is considered. As is apparent from the legends of the sandals of Perseus
and Jason, and the shoes of the Egyptian Isis, the Delphic Charila, who was beaten with a shoe, the
sandal of Nitocris (or Rhodopis) [famed for being the first Cinderella story], the Etruscan Tanaquil,
among other examples, the shoe, like the foot, was in ancient times a symbol of sexual fertility. The
same is also true in German folklore, but here. . . it is a symbol of female sexuality. . . ” (H. Bächtold-
Stäubli Vol. 7, p.1292ff.) See also ibid under Fuss [foot] as a phallic symbol. See also Sartori passim.
30
[German: Mass (measure, dimension).]
31
See H. Bächtold-Stäubli Vol. 7, p. 1309.
32
For example, in “Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper.”
33
[Summarized from K. Müller-Lisowski, Irische Volksmärchen, Jena 1923 pp. 118–133. The little cat
turns out to be the spirit of Móirín’s dead mother. The tale continues with an extensive auseinander-
setzung with the envious stepsisters.]
Cinderella 289
925 By forgetting his riding objects he was unconsciously seeking to see Móirín.
Spurs, whips, and gloves are chivalric requisites, and point to his manhood.
Móirín’s responses indicate that she comes from the region in which he lost
all of this, i.e., that she is actually the object of his unconscious desires. This
parallel episode also hints at an unconscious connection that arose prior to
the time at which he was conscious of what he was missing. Then there follows
the shoe episode through which the conscious mind is (re-)connected to the
unconscious action.
926 Testing with the shoe to find the right woman along with the fraudulent
attempts by the stepsisters to force their feet into the shoe has a deep meaning.
Inasmuch as the foot of the woman can be regarded as a phallic symbol34 it
signifies the animus of woman. The shoe is then the complementary symbol
of the feminine, that here originally belonged to the woman, but since the last
night at the ball, is in the possession of the prince as a symbol of his anima,
the heroine. The test with the shoe represents the psychic encounter in the
unconscious, in which the roles are reversed.35 The secular stepsisters try to
force a harmony by not showing their own, natural, feet but artificially adapt
and butcher their own animus, thus completely destroying him.
927 Cinderella’s helpful doves/pigeons take over the role of exposing the fraud
of the sisters and of making the prince aware of the right bride, just as the
rooster did in “Little Fatima with the Moon Forehead.” Then they punish the
sisters by blinding them. The sisters represent the unconscious fantasy activity
and the wishful desires of the heroine, and are in a sense, even her Self, in that
through them, the shadow tendencies are removed.36 In the above-mentioned
Russian fairytale “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” the evil sisters are burned to death
by the glowing eyes of a skull that the heroine had brought back home from
the realm of the arch-witch, the Baba-Yaga. This is a kind of dangerous,
aggressive animus, in his quality as an illuminating agent (the sisters wanted
to use the skull as a lamp), and as a bad conscience (“his glowing eyes . . .
burned into their souls”) that destroys shadow tendencies. The skull cannot
harm the heroine; she buries it without any injurious effects. The austere inner
relentlessness, which the heroine had acquired through her struggle with the
dark realm of the mother, does not result in possession by the animus, but
rather she retains control over him. This is why she gains the king’s love after
she buries the skull: The animus experiences transformation into a positive,
living spirit.
34
See Dr. Aigremont, Fuss- and Schuh-Symbolik, Leipzig 1909 pp. 10–13, 20, 31ff.; and, on the shoe in
general, H. Güntert, Weltkönig, Halle a. S. 1923 p. 301, and Bächtold-Stäubli material cited above.
35
On this complementary behavior of the unconscious, see C. G. Jung, CW 16, “Psychology of the
Transference,” ¶421ff, on the “marriage quaternio.”
36
See the ending of, “Djulek Batür,” where the evil brothers are eliminated when their own arrows
come back to them.
928 In the Irish parallel “Móirín,” the little cat takes on the role of the
doves/pigeons in “Cinderella,” and reveals itself as a manifestation of the
deceased mother. Now that the heroine had met her good fortune in the man,
the cat bestowed on her a dun-colored horse and a beautiful gown. She gave
her some additional powers: a foxglove plant that oozed honey every day, a
swarm of birds that would sing a song every day, and other magical gifts. Then
the cat disappeared. After the marriage with the king the envious stepsisters
resumed their slanderous ways. [Summarized.]
929 After the marriage to the nobleman, everything went well for Móirín
and she became with child. Her sisters had moved nearby, and when
her labour pains began, she notified them of the approaching
childbirth. The older sister came and called for the midwife. Móirín’s
husband said he would go out and wait for the news. The heroine gave
birth to a healthy boy, but her sister bribed the midwife to tell her
younger sister that the child was stillborn. The younger sister went
and told the husband, “Everything is very well, but your wife’s child
is dead.” “As long as my wife is healthy, then all else does not matter.
Take the child and bury it,” responded the husband. The older sister
returned to the house and took the child without anybody seeing her
and threw the child into the sea. A week later the evil sisters went
home. Móirín was exceedingly grieved about her child and her
husband tried to raise her spirits, saying that she should be thankful
that she was healthy. Time passed and Móirín became pregnant again
and when her time came, the sisters made sure that they were present
at the childbirth. Again, a healthy boy child was born, the sisters
bribed the midwife, and told the husband that his wife was well, but
the child was dead. He was relieved that Móirín was healthy, and said
to take the dead child to a peaceful place and bury it. The elder sister
took the child and threw it into the sea.
930 Once again time passed and all was repeated once again. The evil
sisters realized that they could not break the spirit of Móirín nor of
her husband. They connived as to what else they could do. Móirín
suggested to her husband that she take a walk by the sea. The elder
sister accompanied her and they went along the cliffs above the water.
Just when Móirín was not looking, the elder pushed Móirín into the
ocean below. The sister hastened back to the husband, and wringing
her hands in fake anguish, reported that Móirín had swooned at the
cliff edge and had fallen into the sea. The man quickly gathered all
who could help and rushed to the beach. They launched a boat and
canoes but could find no Móirín , living or dead. They searched and
searched, and finally had to give up and return home. The husband
Cinderella 291
was struck with despair but the sisters were happy with their work
accomplished and returned to their home.
931 Many years passed, the husband was distraught from despair. He
wondered if it might not be better if he found a new wife. He asked
the elder sister if she would be willing to marry him, and she
reluctantly agreed, since she knew he had loved Móirín so deeply.
Things seemed to go well for the husband. One day a servant boy of
the nobleman was by the sea and saw out on the waters, a woman
suckling a child at her breast and two boys tossing a ball together over
the waters. The servant boy stared hard at this vision, and heard the
woman speaking to him:
932 Oh you servant, there is no better, tell me,
Does the foxglove of your mistress give honey?
Do the birds sing their songs?
933 “The foxglove gives no honey and the birds do not sing,” replied the
servant boy. He looked out to sea, but the woman had disappeared.
He returned home and reported all that he had seen and heard to
his master. “Oh, be reasonable, I too have had fever-phantasies,”
responded the nobleman.
934 The next day the same thing happened and the servant reported back,
adding that he had never seen any woman who looked so much like
his first wife as the one he had seen in the ocean. Again, he was told
to be silent and stop his idiocy. On the third day, the woman in the
sea asked the same questions and the servant gave the same answers.
He reported back to the husband, “I swear by the holy book, it was
Móirín.” This time, the nobleman himself began to wonder and
decided to go with the servant to the sea and observe for himself. They
went and again saw the woman. Indeed, it was Móirín! The man found
a boat and pulled her from the sea with her three children. On the
way home, he asked her to tell him what had happened, how was it
that she was still alive and her children too, he had been told all had
died. But Móirín answered that the story was too long to tell. Her
husband insisted, however, that she tell everything. When he heard
what her sister had done, he grew furious. Once returned, he ordered
the sister to be tied up and thrown from the cliff, just where she had
pushed Móirín over. Not trusting the other sister, he ordered the same
be done also to her. Soon the story was told throughout the region
and the midwife disappeared and was never seen again, living or dead.
From then on, Móirín lived with her husband in peace and happiness,
without care or heartbreak. And the man never tired of hearing the
story of how Móirín and her children had survived and were saved
from the sea.37
935 The epilogue shows again how the shadow figures can prevail, even after the
unifying wedding, and force the actual personality into the unconscious.
936 An Estonian Cinderella tale, “The Evil Daughter and the Orphan Maid,”
contains this injury in particularly illuminating form. The beginning is similar
to “Móirín,” except it is the “evil ones” who boil the mother:
937 Then the evil ones ate the flesh and gave the bones to the orphaned
daughter. The evil ones had a daughter of their own and on Sunday
morning said to the girls: “Now go bathe, the one who dries her hair
the fastest can come with us.” Their own daughter twisted her head
off and thus easily dried her hair faster. They went to church. The
orphan daughter stayed at home and had to clean the house. She cried
over the bones. The bones spoke to the girl, “Warm rain is falling!”
“No, my dear mother, my tears are falling.” “Is it hard, my little
daughter? Go into the pig stall, maybe you will find there something
you like.”
938 The girl found a beautiful dress and carriage drawn by fine horses.
Weeping, she drove to the church, praying under her tears. After
church, she went back quickly home. A young man saw her and went
after her. But she was already home at work.
939 This happened the two following Sundays. After the bath, the evil
daughter always twisted off her head and dried her hair faster. The
bones gave the orphan daughter splendid clothes and a carriage. The
third time, the young man hid under a bridge and stopped the
carriage on its way back to the house. The orphan daughter jumped
out of the carriage and rushed away but the young man grabbed one
of her golden shoes. When he later went to find her at the house, there
was only the evil ones’ daughter. The evil ones sliced off their
daughter’s heel to make it fit the shoe and the young man did not
notice anything. He took this daughter with him to marry. On the way
to his home he passed by an apple tree full of golden apples and a
small lake full of golden fish. (These had all arisen from the innards
of the mother killed by the evil ones.) The young man saw the fine
apples and golden fish and proposed another test to make sure this
was the right girl for him. If she fetched one of the golden apples and
a golden fish, he would marry her. But the apples did not let
themselves get picked by the evil daughter and all the fish swam away.
37
Translated from K. Müller-Lisowski, Irische Volksmärchen, Jena 1923 pp. 128–133.
Cinderella 293
He left her there and went back to see if another girl lived there. The
orphan girl came. He took her to the apple tree and the small lake and
gave her the same task as her sister. When she went to pick the apples,
they let themselves be plucked and the fish came up to her at the edge
of the lake. She sang to herself:
940 Bring last Value least,
Throw down my golden shoes.
941 The young suitor then recognized the girl he had been seeking. He
threw the evil daughter into the lake and took the orphan girl with
him. . .38
942 (The same motif was found in the Grimms’ tale “One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and
Three-Eyes.”) This demonstrates how the image of the worldly mother
transforms into the archetypal image of the Garden of Paradise, that is,
changes into the unconscious basal ground of the soul. The tale continues:
943 After a while, the evil parents — who thought their daughter had
married the young man — decided to see how their daughter was
faring in her new home. When they came to the lake, they saw under
the bridge a bunch of tall reeds. (These had grown out of the
bellybutton of their daughter.) The evil ones were thirsty. They went
under the bridge to quench their thirst. The reeds began to sing,
944 Dear mother, dear father
Pull me out of the earth
Dear mother, dear father!
945 The mother and father heard and recognized who was singing. They
pulled the reeds up and their daughter was alive again. Then they rode
on to their son-in-law. The orphan maiden was now a mother and was
suckling her newborn baby. The evil ones threw a wolf ’s skin over her,
she immediately transformed into a wolf, and ran off into the forest.
Then the evil ones put their own daughter in the bed with the baby.
But this daughter could give no milk and the child began to cry. Oh!
how it cried! It wrenched the heart to hear! A shepherdess witnessed
all that had happened, took the child with her into the forest, and sang,
946 Dear mother, dear mother
Come and give breast to your child!
38
[The terseness of the original is purposely kept in the translation, here partially summa rized.] Löwis
of Menar, Finnische Volksmärchen, Jena 1922 pp. 255–257.
In the morning it suckles at the mare’s udder,

At noon it nurses on the spindle!
947 A she-wolf came out of the thicket, threw her skin onto a rock and
gave the child her breast to suckle. Then she put on the wolfskin and
disappeared into the forest again. On the second day, the shepherdess
again brought the child and sang her song again. The she-wolf came,
nursed the child, and disappeared. But this time the husband of the
orphaned women by chance caught sight of what happened. He went
to the shepherdess and asked, “What is going on here?” The
shepherdess revealed all, “Three people came to your house as guests.
Two left, the other one remained, your wife was changed into a wolf.”
The man went forth to take his chances, as the wise ones had taught
him. He made a plan and this is how he carried it out: He heated a
stone in a fire till it was glowing red hot. The she-wolf came again to
suckle the child. She threw her wolfskin onto the stone. The skin
immediately burned up. There was nothing left, the man had his wife
again and he took her home. The evil ones’ daughter he killed with
his sword. Then he lived with his wife. The evil ones came no more to
pursue them.39
948 The fact that these evil opponents can transform the heroine into a wolf
expresses more clearly than in other versions that the evil ones are a dark
shadow side of the heroine herself. This dark side emerges out of her own
negative mother complex and threatens to destroy her destiny. If the heroine
succumbs to this figure in herself, she becomes a replica of the evil mother,
whom she otherwise opposes, i.e., she becomes a witchlike wild animal
demoness.
949 This last episode shows how overpowering the negative side of her own
being can be, once awakened by a negative mother figure, and what this figure
can mobilize in the woman herself. This negativity can even go so far as to
condition her fate and, in some circumstances, to block her from realizing her
Self and her own life. Whereas in “Little Fatima with the Moon Forehead,” the
negative mother complex corrupted the daughter in such a way that it led to
an exaggeration of eros, the situation with Cinderella presents a different
psychological effect of the negative attachment to the mother. With Cinderella
it expresses this in a cancellation and paralysis of her own being.
950 When we review the motifs of the above tales, the different effects of the
negative mother are symbolically represented in the following images: as
poisoning and confinement in a glass coffin; as imprisonment in a doorless
high tower; as a state of deep sleep in a hedge of thorns; or as being
39
Translated from Löwis of Menar, Finnische Volksmärchen, Jena 1922 pp. 257–259.
Cinderella 295
condemned to a raggedy, ugly exterior. The situation of the heroine

corresponds to that of the enchanted prince, who, for instance, is changed into
a stove in the Grimms’ tale “The Iron Stove” or cursed into an animal.
951 Kari Woodencoat

The motif of exchanging clothes, or wearing a disfiguring garment, is
especially common in fairytales where the central character is female. In
general, clothes represent an attitude to the outer or inner world, and thus
miserable robes point to an incorrect and life-hostile attitude that draws
unhappiness onto the personality. At the same time, it obscures the true Self.
A tale illustrating this garment symbolism in a particularly dramatic way is
the Norwegian tale “Kari Woodencoat:”
952 Once upon a time there was a king whose wife had died, but whose
daughter was so good and so beautiful that no one could have been
kinder or lovelier than she. The king mourned a long time for his queen
because he had loved her greatly; but in the course of time he grew
weary of his lonely life, and married again. This time he married the
widow of another king, who also had a daughter. But the other
daughter was as ugly and evil as his own was pretty and kind. The
stepmother and daughter were jealous of the king’s daughter because
she was so beautiful. As long as the king was at home, they did not dare
harm her, for he was very fond of her. But after a time, the king began
to war against another king, and went out to battle. Then the queen
thought she could do as she wished, and she let the king’s daughter
starve; she beat her and pushed her about everywhere. At last the queen
thought everything in the castle was too good for the king’s daughter
and she sent her to do kitchen service and herd the cows.
953 So the pretty maid went out with the cows, and pastured them in the
forest, or on the hills. Food she had little or none and she grew pale
and thin. Most of the time she was sad and wept. In the herd there
was also a great blue bull, who always kept himself neat and clean,
and often came to the king’s daughter and let her scratch his head.
Once, as she sat there and was sad and cried, he came to her again
and asked why she was so unhappy. She did not answer him but kept
on weeping. “Well, I know what your trouble is,” said the bull, “even
though you will not tell me. You are weeping because the queen is so
unkind to you and would gladly starve you to death. But you need not
worry about food, for in my left ear is a cloth and, if you will take it
out and spread it on the ground, you can have as much as you want
to eat!” She did so, took out the cloth, laid it on the grass, and it was
at once covered with the finest dishes one might desire: bread and
mead and honey-cake. Then she soon regained her strength, and grew
so plump, and so rosy and white complexioned that the queen and
her daughter, who was as thin as a rail, turned green and yellow with
envy. The queen could not understand how it was that her
stepdaughter came to look so well in spite of such poor fare. So she
told a maid to follow her stepdaughter to the forest, and watch and
see how it all came about; for she suspected that some of the servants
secretly gave the girl food. The maid followed the girl into the forest,
and watched carefully, and saw how the stepdaughter drew the cloth
out of the blue bull’s left ear, and spread it out, and how it covered
itself with the finest dishes, and also how the king’s daughter ate
heartily. And the maid returned and told the queen what she had seen.
954 Now the king came home; he had defeated the other king, against
whom he had warred, and the whole castle was overjoyed, and none
was more joyful than his daughter. But the queen pretended to be ill
and gave the physician a great deal of money so that he should say
that she could not recover unless she had some flesh of the blue bull
to eat. The king’s daughter, and others as well, asked the physician
whether nothing else would do. They pleaded for the bull; for all liked
him and said that there was no such other bull in the whole kingdom.
But no, he must be slaughtered, and he should be slaughtered, and
there was no help for it. When the king’s daughter heard this, she felt
sad and went into the stables where the bull spent the night. He stood
and hung his head and looked so mournful that she could not keep
from weeping. “Why do you weep?” asked the bull. Then she told him
that the king had come home, and that the queen had pretended to
be ill, and had forced the physician to say that she could not recover
unless she had some flesh of the blue bull to eat, and that now he was
to be slaughtered. The bull listened and then spoke, “Once she has
done away with me, it will not be long before she does away with you.
But if it suits you, we can run away from here tonight.” The king’s
daughter did say that it would be bad enough to leave her father, but
that at the same time it would be worse to remain under the same roof
with the queen, and so she promised the bull to go with him.
955 That evening, while the rest were asleep, the king’s daughter crept
down to the bull in the stable. He took her on his back and ran off as
quickly as ever he could. When the king’s people arose the following
morning and went to slaughter the bull, he was gone. And when the
king rose and asked for his daughter, she was gone as well. The king
sent out messengers on all sides, and had the church bells rung for
her, but no one had seen anything of her.
Cinderella 297
956 In the meantime the bull trotted through many lands with the king’s
daughter, and they came to a great copper forest, whose trees, leaves,
and flowers were all of copper. But before they entered it, the bull said
to the king’s daughter: “Now when we get into the forest you must be
very careful not to touch so much as a single leaf, or else it is all up
with you and with me; for a troll with three heads lives here, and the
forest belongs to him.” Yes, indeed, she would be careful, and not
touch anything. And she was very careful, and leaned to one side, and
thrust aside the branches; but the forest was so thick that it was almost
impossible to get through, and for all that she was so careful, she did
tear off a leaf, and it remained in her hand.
957 “Alas, alas!” cried the bull. “What have you done! Now I must fight
for my very life. But see that you keep the leaf carefully!” Straightway
they reached the end of the forest, but before they could get into the
open again, a troll with three heads came rushing up. “Who has
touched my forest?” cried he. “The forest is as much mine as yours!”
was the bull’s reply. “We will see if it is!” shouted the troll. “That suits
me!” cried the bull. Then they rushed at each other, and the bull gored
and butted with might and main. But the troll was just as strong, and
it took all day before the bull gained the upper hand. And then he had
so many wounds and was so weak that he could scarcely walk. So they
had to halt for a whole day. The bull told the king’s daughter to take
the horn of ointment that hung at the troll’s girdle and anoint him
with the salve. Thereupon he grew strong and well again, and they
went on the next day. Now they wandered for many, many days, and
at last came to a silver forest, whose trees, branches, leaves, buds and
were all of silver.
958 Before the bull entered the forest he said to the king’s daughter: “Now
when we get into this forest, in heaven’s name be careful! You must
touch nothing, and not even tear off so much as a single leaf, or else
it is all up with you and me. A troll with six heads lives here, and the
forest belongs to him, and I will hardly be able to hold my own against
him!”
959 “Yes,” said the king’s daughter, “indeed I will be careful, I will not
touch the least thing, just as you have told me.” But when they entered
the forest, it was so thick that it was almost impossible to make their
way through. She was as careful as she could be, and avoided the
branches, and thrust them aside with her hands; but the branches
struck her in the face at each moment, and in spite of all her care, one
leaf did remain in her hand.
960 “Alas, alas!” cried the bull. “What have you done! Now I must fight
for my very life, for the troll with six heads is twice as strong as the
first one; but see that you take care of the leaf and keep it carefully!”
961 At once the troll came rushing up. “Who has touched my forest?”
cried he. “The forest is as much mine as yours!” cried the bull. “Oho,
we will see if it is!” cried the troll. “That suits me!” said the bull, and
rushed on the troll, gored him, and thrust his horns right through
him. But the troll was just as strong, and it took three whole days
before the bull got the better of him. After that he was so weak and
feeble that he could scarcely move, and so full of wounds that his
blood ran in streams. Then he told the king’s daughter to take the horn
of ointment that hung at the troll’s girdle and anoint him with the
salve. She did so, and he recovered again: yet they had to remain a
time on the spot, until he was once more able to go on.
962 At last they set out again; but the bull was still weak, and at first they
went slowly. The king’s daughter wanted to spare him, and said she
was young and quick on her feet and could walk very well; but this he
would not allow, and she had to sit on his back. Thus they wandered
for a long time, and through many lands, and the king’s daughter had
no idea where they might be going; but at length they came to a
golden forest. It was very beautiful, and the gold dripped down from
it, for the trees, and branches, and leaves, and buds were all of purest
gold. And here all went as it had in the copper and silver forests. The
bull told the king’s daughter that in no case was she to touch anything,
since a troll with nine heads lived here, to whom the forest belonged.
And he was much larger and stronger than the two others together,
and he could surely not hold his own against this one. Yes, said she,
she would be sure to pay attention and positively would not touch a
thing. But when they entered the forest, it was even thicker than the
silver forest, and the further they went, the worse it became. The forest
grew thicker and denser, and at last it seemed as though it would be
impossible to push on at all. She was much afraid of tearing off
anything and wound and twisted and bent herself in every direction,
in order to avoid the branches, and thrust them aside with her hands.
But each moment they struck her in the face, so that she could not
see where she was reaching, and before she had a chance to think, she
held a golden apple in her hand. Then she was terribly frightened, and
began to cry, and wanted to throw it away. But the bull told her to
keep it, and hide it carefully, and consoled her as best he could. Yet to
himself he thought that the battle would be a hard one and was in
doubt as to whether it would end well.
Epilogue
1308 The goal of the present study is to look at the world of fairytales in depth. To
investigate the bewildering array of phenomena and motifs and try to discover
their meaning, it seemed advantageous to proceed methodically and — like
the analysis of a drama — first determine the place of the event, and then
identify the active figures involved. Despite the diversity of images a certain
parallelism or similarity was observed among them, and even a certain, albeit
limited, regularity of the processes involved.
1309 In the first book, we showed that the “magical space” is seen in concrete
nature, insofar as humans facing this nature feel as if they are confronted by
an apparently insurmountable barrier (such as when one feels confronted with
a dark forest, the wide sea, the high mountains, etc.). And further, this magical
space also encompasses a concretely imagined “world beyond,” or “other
world,” such as the land of the dead, paradise, the underworld, or the world
of the sun, the moon, and the stars. We also found that the main figures
inhabiting these spaces appeared in four basic forms, with different outer
manifestations. These four dominant archetypal figures are first, the chthonic
father god, a spirit hidden in matter; second, the archetype of the mother as
enlivening or destructive maternal-nature, a symbol of matter. Together these
two form the partly good and benevolent, partly angry, threatening, or
demonic “primordial parents.” The third archetypal figure is the son who joins
people as the “shadow” that complements, threatens, or leads the human
“brother,” who comes from the world of the conscious mind to happiness.
Next to this figure stands, as the fourth archetypal figure, the magical maiden,
virgin, or girl. She appears in different forms: demonically iridescent, as an
animal or in the guise of a witch; often she is dazzlingly beautiful, beckoning
enticingly from “the other world,” or bringing happiness and exhilaration to
“this world.” These four archetypal figures are mediators of the most precious
treasure, symbol of the highest psychic value, that which centers the
personality. They demand of the human being a particular kind of behavior:
one that from case to case is not in advance exactly definable, being mostly
determined individually, but one that evidently requires a knowledge of the
conditions of the magical world. Otherwise, these figures can act in
devastating ways.
1310 In the second book, our gaze was initially directed at the world of human
consciousness, and we examined how the hero — the model of a man as a
symbol of a higher or, better stated, a more mature personality — confronts
and deals1 with the magical world. We examined how he, coming most often
from a group of figures representing the dominant conscious attitude, reaches
the world of the unconscious that is actually not far from his real nature,
survives and passes the tests of an adventure-quest, and creates the conditions
to successfully take up the reign after his return, i.e., to replace the previously
ruling principle and renew the personality. Even if in some fairytales this goal
cannot be reached or another goal is preferred, the hero’s journey follows a
line of development that describes a pattern.
1311 Similarly in movement, albeit with another orientation, more driven and
more suffering than active handling, and less aggressive or adventurous, the
maiden’s quest runs according to the other nature of the female psyche. But
this path also leads to encounters and an auseinandersetzung with the figures
of the unconscious and to the realization and completion of the feminine
nature and being. It can be said that these tales represent archetypal processes,
possibilities that can be realized in the human soul.
1312 Generally, fairytales are not content with giving prominence to individual
characters in their relation to the unconscious, or to the conscious world,
rather they focus on problems that are more difficult to explain. As shown in
the discussion of the individual tales, some of these more difficult motifs could
only be touched upon here. This was either because that particular tale was
not in the foreground, or because we wanted first to bring the theme at hand
to a conclusion. These more complicated motifs emerge when one of the
magical figures, or some remarkable ability of the hero or the heroine,
intervenes to redeem a tragic or mysterious situation. In the prior volume we
concentrated on the hero or the heroine, that is, the human figures. In most
of these cases the figures representing the unconscious, with which the hero
or heroine united at the end of the quest, remained rather passive or only
became active towards the end of the journey.
1313 There is another group of fairytales that picture how the figures of the
conscious and the unconscious world, as redeemer and redeemed, are
mutually dependent on each other in a rich and varied interplay. This group
of tales that portray the problem of redemption and salvation as the main
theme with different nuances leads us further to another group that illustrates
the fundamental dualistic forces of psychic life. This group is characterized by
having main figures of the same sex that complement each other’s natures; for
instance, brothers, comrades, or, more rarely, sisters. An additional group of
tales represents the struggle of the conscious world against the demons for
1
[The German word auseinandersetzt meaning here “confront, take apart, and work through”.]
Epilogue 427
control in yet another form. In these cases, it becomes clear that the conflict
between the opposites is actually a struggle for knowledge, and it is precisely
this knowledge that leads to liberation from the conflict of opposites. To
complement what we have discussed so far, we turn to these latter groups of
fairytales with their mysterious themes.

Marie-Louise Von Franz, Archetypal Symbols in Fairytales Vol 3

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Marie-Louise Von Franz, Archetypal Symbols in Fairytales Vol 3

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The Collected Works of

Marie-Louise von Franz

Marie-Louise von Franz

Translated by Roy Freeman and Tony Woolfson

CHIRON PUBLICATIONS • ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

© 2021 Stiftung fur Jung’sche Psychologie Kusnacht, Switzerland.

Original title: Symbolik des Märchens – Versuch einer Deutung

Interior and cover design by Danijela Mijailovic

ISBN 978-1-63051-960-5 paperback

“Alles ist einfacher, als man denken kann, zugleich verschränkter,

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections

893 “Turn and peek, red and blue,

played, while inwardly an effeminate weakness develops in the face of

906 It has a special sacredness over the whole Germanic regions.

In the morning it suckles at the mare’s udder,

condemned to a raggedy, ugly exterior. The situation of the heroine

951 Kari Woodencoat

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