Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his Celtic Fairy Tales.[1] It is Aarne-Thompson type 709, Snow White. Others of this type include Bella Venezia, Nourie Hadig, La petite Toute-Belle and Myrsina.[2]
Plot
A king had a wife, Silver-Tree, and a daughter, Gold-Tree. One day they walked by a pond, and Silver-Tree asked a trout if she were the most beautiful queen in the world, whereupon the trout said that Gold-Tree was more beautiful. Silver-Tree took to her bed and declared she would never be well unless she ate Gold-Tree's heart and liver. A king's son had asked to marry Gold-Tree, so her father agreed and sent them off; then he gave his wife the heart and liver of a he-goat, at which she got up from her bed.
Silver-Tree went back to the trout, which told her Gold-Tree was still more beautiful, and living abroad with a prince. Silver-Tree begged a ship of her husband to visit her daughter. The prince was away hunting; Gold-Tree was terrified at the sight of the ship. The servants locked her away in a room so she could tell her mother she could not come out. Silver-Tree persuaded her to put her little finger through the keyhole, so she could kiss it, and when Gold-Tree did, Silver-Tree stuck a poisoned thorn into it.
When the prince returned, he was grief-stricken, and could not persuade himself to bury Gold-Tree, because she was so beautiful. He kept her body in a room. Having married for a second time, he would not let his new wife into the room. One day, he forgot the key, and the new wife went in. She tried to wake Gold-Tree, and found the thorn in her finger. Pulling it out, she revived Gold-Tree. Because of the wakened one's identity, the second wife offered to leave, but their husband refused to allow it.
Silver-Tree went back to the trout, who told her what had happened. Silver-Tree took the ship again. The prince was hunting again, but the second wife said that the two of them must meet her. Silver-Tree offered a poisoned drink. The second wife said that it was the custom that the person who offered the drink drank of it first. Silver-Tree put the drink to her mouth, and the second wife struck her arm so that some went into her throat. She fell down dead.
The prince, Gold-Tree, and the second wife lived happily thereafter.
Analysis
Tale type
The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 709, "Snow White".[3]
Motifs
Folklorist Joseph Jacobs commented on variants and motifs of the tale in the Notes of his Celtic Fairy Tales.[4] He suggested the migration of the tale from abroad. He also remarked that publisher and Celtic folklorist Alfred Nutt called Jacobs's attention to the Breton lai of Eliduc.[5]
According to Alan Bruford, Donald A. MacDonald and Christine Shojaei Kawan, the speaking trout in a pool replaces the mirror in Gaelic, Scottish and Irish variants of the tale type ATU 709, as part of the Irish-Scottish oikotype of ATU 709.[6][7]
See also
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- Calumniated Wife
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Udea and her Seven Brothers
- Salmon of Knowledge
References
- ^ Joseph Jacobs, Celtic Fairy Tales, "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree Archived 2016-10-19 at the Wayback Machine"
- ^ Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Archived 2013-05-22 at the Wayback Machine"
- ^ Ashliman, D. L. A Guide to Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, vol. 11. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987. p. 144. ISBN 0-313-25961-5.
- ^ Jacobs, Joseph. Celtic Fairy Tales. London: David Nutt. 1892. p. 252.
- ^ Jacobs, Joseph. Celtic Fairy Tales. London: David Nutt. 1892. p. 252 (footnote nr. 1).
- ^ Bruford, Alan; MacDonald, Donald A. Scottish traditional tales. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2003 [1994]. p. 449.
- ^ Kawan, Christine Shojaei. "Schneewittchen (AaTh/ATU 709)" [Snow White (ATU 709)]. In: Enzyklopädie des Märchens Band 12: Schinden, Schinder – Sublimierung. Edited by Rudolf Wilhelm Brednich; Hermann Bausinger; Wolfgang Brückner; Daniel Drascek; Helge Gerndt; Ines Köhler-Zülch; Lutz Röhrich; Klaus Roth. De Gruyter, 2016 [2007]. p. 133. ISBN 978-3-11-019936-9.
- v
- t
- e
- "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree"
- "Snow-White-Fire-Red"
- "Richilde"
- "The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights"
- "Nourie Hadig"
- "Myrsina"
- "Bella Venezia"
- Disney franchise
- Snow White
- Snow White (Disney)
- The Queen
- Evil Queen (Disney)
- The Seven Dwarfs
- The Magic Mirror
- The Huntsman
- Prince Charming
- Snow White (1902)
- Snow White (1916)
- Betty Boop in Snow-White (1933)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943)
- The Seven Dwarfs to the Rescue (1951)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1955)
- Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)
- Snow White (1961)
- The New Adventures of Snow White (1969)
- A Snow White Christmas (1980)
- Neberte nám princeznú (1981)
- Hófehér (1984)
- Snow White (1987)
- Happily Ever After (1989)
- The Magic Riddle (1991)
- Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997)
- Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (2001)
- 7 Dwarves – Men Alone in the Wood (2004)
- 7 Dwarves: The Forest Is Not Enough (2006)
- Snow White: The Sequel (2007)
- Sydney White (2007)
- Happily N'Ever After 2: Snow White—Another Bite @ the Apple (2009)
- Blanche Neige (2009)
- Grimm's Snow White (2012)
- Mirror Mirror (2012)
- Blancanieves (2012)
- Snow White: A Deadly Summer (2012)
- The Seventh Dwarf (2014)
- Charming (2018)
- Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (2019)
- Snow White and the Evil Queen (2024)
- Snow White (2025)
The Huntsman film series |
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Other film references |
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series
- The 10th Kingdom (miniseries)
- The Charmings (sitcom)
- White Snow (1995)
- The Legend of Snow White (anime series)
- Prétear (anime series)
- Once Upon a Time (drama series)
- "The Enchanted Feast" (Sofia the First episode)
- The 7D (TV series)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1912 play)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (musical)
- A Snow White Christmas (musical)
- The Magic Mirror (1903)
- Fables (comics)
- Mira, Mirror (novel)
- Mirror Mirror (novel)
- Red as Blood (short story)
- Schneewittchen (opera)
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (attraction)
- Snow White's Enchanted Wish (attraction)
- Snow White Grotto (attraction)
- Snow White: Happily Ever After (video game)
- "Snow, Glass, Apples" (short story)
- The Serpent's Shadow (novel)
- Fairest (novel)
- Politically Correct Bedtime Stories (short story collection)
- Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros. (OVA)
- Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (video game)
- Fairytale Fights (video game)
- Snow White with the Red Hair (manga)
- RWBY (TV series)
- The Wolf Among Us (video game)
- Dark Parables (video game)
- Six-Gun Snow White (novel)
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