Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa
Encyclopedia
Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa or Anthousa the Fair with Golden Hair is a Greek fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 collected by Georgios A. Megas in Folktales of Greece. Other variants were collected by Michalis Meraklis and Anna Angelopoulou.

It is Aarne-Thompson type 310, the Maiden in the Tower. Other fairy tales of this type include The Canary Prince
The Canary Prince
The Canary Prince is an Italian fairy tale, the 18th tale in Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino. He took the tale from Turin, making various stylistic changes; he noted it developed a medieval motif, but such tales as Marie de France's Yonec produced a rather different effect, being tales of...

, Petrosinella
Petrosinella
Petrosinella or Parsley is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his collection of fairy tales in 1634, Lo cunto de li cunti , or Pentamerone....

, Prunella
Prunella (fairy tale)
Prunella is an Italian fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it The Grey Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 310, the Maiden in the Tower.A version of the tale also appears in A Book of Witches, by Ruth Manning-Sanders....

, and Rapunzel
Rapunzel
"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698...

. The Greek variant was first recorded in 1890 in eastern Thrace. Unlike most such tales, it does not open with the scene in the garden where the baby is traded to the ogress. The ogress's chase particularly resembles that of Petrosinella. This chase, in fact, is another folktale type, Aarne-Thompson type 313, The Girl Helps the Hero Flee; others of this type include The Water Nixie
The Water Nixie
The Water Nixie or The Water-Nix is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 79. It came from Hanau.It is Aarne-Thompson type 313A, the girl helps the hero flee and revolves about a transformation chase...

, Foundling-Bird
Foundling-Bird
Foundling-Bird is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 51.It is Aarne-Thompson type 313A, the girl helps the hero flee, and revolves about a transformation chase...

, Nix Nought Nothing
Nix Nought Nothing
Nix Nought Nothing is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his English Fairy Tales. A similar tale was collected by Andrew Lang in Scotland...

, and The Master Maid
The Master Maid
The Master Maid is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. "Master" indicates "superior, skilled." Jørgen Moe wrote the tale down from the storyteller Anne Godlid in Seljord on a short visit in the autumn of 1842.It is...

. In these tales, the girl is the daughter of the evil from which the hero flees, and some folklorists have interpreted it mean that in the Rapunzel tale, the heroine's being the adopted daughter of the ogress or witch is an adaption of an original where she is the daughter.

Synopsis

An old woman tried for many years to make lentil soup, but every time she was out of one ingredient or another. Finally, she was able to make the soup, but when she put it in the stream to cool, Prince Phivos brought his horse to drink; the pot startled the horse and it would not drink, so the prince kicked the pot over. She cursed him to crave Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa as much as she had the soup.

He, consumed with longing, hunted for Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa for three months until he came to the tower with no entrance, where she lived. He saw an ogre
Ogre
An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...

ss (drakaina) approach and call Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa to throw down her hair; the ogress climbed it, ate and drank with Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa, and climbed back down again. The prince called to her, and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa threw down her hair to him. They fell in love. Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa hid him from the ogress, who would have eaten him, and as soon as the ogress left the tower the next morning, they sealed up the mouths of everything in the tower, because all the objects there could speak, and fled. The ogress returned, her daughter did not answer, and the mortar, which the prince and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa had forgotten, told her that they had fled. The ogress chased after them on a bear, but Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa threw down a comb, which became a swamp, and after the ogress passed through that, another comb, which became thorns, and finally a scarf, which became a sea. The ogress could not pass the sea, but she warned Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa that the prince would leave her in a tree while he went to fetch his mother to bring her to the castle, and when he kissed his mother, he would forget her and decide to marry another. When that happened, she should get two pieces of bread dough being prepared for the wedding, and make them into birds.

It happened as she said, and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa did as the ogress said. The birds flew to the castle and one questioned the other about what had happened between Prince Phivos and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa. He remembered her, went to the tree where he had left her, and brought her to the castle, where they married.

See also

  • Snow-White-Fire-Red
    Snow-White-Fire-Red
    Snow-White-Fire-Red is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales.-Synopsis:A king and queen made a vow that, if they had a child, they would make one fountain run with oil and another with wine. The queen gave birth to a son, and they set up the fountains...

  • The Dove
    The Dove (fairy tale)
    The Dove is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.Although there is no evidence of direct influence, this tale combines many motifs in a manner similar to the Grimms' The Two Kings' Children....

  • The Silent Princess
    The Silent Princess
    The Silent Princess is a Turkish fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in The Olive Fairy Book. It contains inset tales that are similar to ones in Arabian Nights.-Synopsis:...

  • The Two Kings' Children
    The Two Kings' Children
    The Two Kings' Children is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales, tale number 113.It is Aarne-Thompson type 313C, the girl helps the hero flee, and type 884, the forgotten fiancée...

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