Fairy Tale: The Girl and the
Dead Man
John Francis Campbell
(Popular Tales of the West Highlands)
A poor woman's
oldest daughter said she would go seek her fortune. The mother offered her a big
bannock with her curse or a little one with her blessing. She took the big one,
and when she ate and birds begged for some, she refused it. She found a place
at a house, where it was the body of the housewife’s brother watched over by
night and which was under spells, but she quickly fell asleep the first night
and the mistress hardly hit her that she died.
The second
sister endeavoured (tried) the same way and came to the same end.
The youngest
also tried, but asked for the little one with her blessing, and shared it with
the birds. She got the same place as her sisters, but stayed awake. In the
night, the body propped itself up on its elbow and grinned; she threatened to
beat it. It propped itself up twice more, and the third time, she hit it with a
stick. The stick stuck to the body, and to her hand, and she had to follow it
into the woods, where the nuts and sloes hit her as they went, but they got out
of the woods and back to the house. They gave her a peck of gold and a peck of
silver, and a cordial, which she used to bring her sisters back to life.
Vladimir Propp’s Functions
1. Absentation: The daughters leave home.
6. Trickery: The
use of the bannocks.
8. Villainy: The
mother and the housewife.
9. Mediation: The discovery of the trick.
10. Beginning counter-action: The youngest daughter
seeks to change fate.
12. First function of the donor: The nuts and sloes.
13. Hero’s reaction: Trying to do everything
differently.
14. Receipt of a magical agent: The cordial.
16. Struggle: The fight against the body.
19. Liquidation: The misfortune is resolved.
20. Return: Return to the normal life and subsequently
to the house.
John Francis Campbell
John Francis Campbell, also known as Young John of Islay, was a renowned Scottish author and scholar who specialised in Celtic studies. Campbell was known as an authority on Celtic folklore and of the Gaelic peoples in particular.
His most well-known published works are the bilingual Popular Tales of the West Highlands and The Celtic Dragon Myth, published posthumously in 1911.
John Francis Campbell
John Francis Campbell, also known as Young John of Islay, was a renowned Scottish author and scholar who specialised in Celtic studies. Campbell was known as an authority on Celtic folklore and of the Gaelic peoples in particular.
His most well-known published works are the bilingual Popular Tales of the West Highlands and The Celtic Dragon Myth, published posthumously in 1911.
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