The Pretty Little Calf
Encyclopedia
The Pretty Little Calf is a Chinese fairy tale
collected by Wolfram Eberhard
in Folktales of China.
The water buffalo gave birth to a beautiful with a hide like gold. It was very fond of its master, who always gave it some of his food. One day, the official said that if it understood human speech, it should bring the dumplings he gave it to its mother. The calf brought them not to the water buffalo but to the repudiated wife. The first two wives realized that it was the son. They claimed to be ill; the first wife said she needed to eat the calf's liver, and the second, that she needed the calf's skin. The official let the calf loose in the woods and bought another to kill.
A woman named Huang had announced she would throw a colored ball from her house, and whoever caught it would be her husband. The calf caught it on its horn. Miss Huang realized that she had to marry it. She hung the wedding robes on its horns, and it ran off. She chased it and found a young man in wedding robes by a pond; he told her to come, she said she had to find her calf, and he told her that he was the transformed
calf. He went back to his father and told him the truth. The official was ready to kill his first two wives; his son persuaded him to pardon them, but he had his son bring back his mother from the mill.
, and A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers
, in both of which the promised children are done to death, and return in other form, although, unlike this one, they return in a wide variety of forms because the enemy continually discovers their new forms and kills them; in A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers, her enemy is more similar to this tale, as the villain is the husband's old favorite, whereas in The Boys with the Golden Stars, it is her mother-in-law. More commonly, European tales feature the children being abandoned: The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird
, The Tale of Tsar Saltan
, The Three Little Birds
, The Wicked Sisters
, Ancilotto, King of Provino
and Princess Belle-Etoile
Some of the stories motif has similarities with the stories from One Thousand and One Nights, namely Tale of the Trader and the Jinni.
The marital transformation also figures in European tales, such as Hans My Hedgehog
, The Pig King, and The Donkey
.
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 Wolfram Eberhard
Wolfram Eberhard
Wolfram Eberhard was a professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies.-Biography:...
in Folktales of China.
Synopsis
An official without children left home to take up his post. His first wife said she would offer him gold on his return; the second, silver; the third, a son. He was pleased with the third wife, but the other wives were jealous. When she bore a beautiful son, they claimed she had borne a lump of flesh; the first wife threw the baby into a pond, but he floated, and so the second wife had him wrapped in straw and grass and fed to a water buffalo. When the official returned, his first wife gave him gold, the second silver, and when he heard that his third wife had borne a horrid lump of flesh, he sentenced her to grind rice in a mill.The water buffalo gave birth to a beautiful with a hide like gold. It was very fond of its master, who always gave it some of his food. One day, the official said that if it understood human speech, it should bring the dumplings he gave it to its mother. The calf brought them not to the water buffalo but to the repudiated wife. The first two wives realized that it was the son. They claimed to be ill; the first wife said she needed to eat the calf's liver, and the second, that she needed the calf's skin. The official let the calf loose in the woods and bought another to kill.
A woman named Huang had announced she would throw a colored ball from her house, and whoever caught it would be her husband. The calf caught it on its horn. Miss Huang realized that she had to marry it. She hung the wedding robes on its horns, and it ran off. She chased it and found a young man in wedding robes by a pond; he told her to come, she said she had to find her calf, and he told her that he was the transformed
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
calf. He went back to his father and told him the truth. The official was ready to kill his first two wives; his son persuaded him to pardon them, but he had his son bring back his mother from the mill.
Commentary
The calumniated wife is a common motif. Many European fairy tales feature the woman who claims that she will give a man a child, and the enemy who removes the child, but the enemies are usually the woman's sisters, who did not make such a claim and so are jealous, or her mother-in-law. Closely related to this tale are tales The Boys with the Golden StarsThe Boys with the Golden Stars
The Boys with the Golden Stars is a Romanian fairy tale collected in Rumanische Märchen. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...
, and A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers
A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers
A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers or The Golden Twins is a Romanian fairy tale collected by Petre Ispirescu in Legende sau basmele românilor.-Synopsis:...
, in both of which the promised children are done to death, and return in other form, although, unlike this one, they return in a wide variety of forms because the enemy continually discovers their new forms and kills them; in A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers, her enemy is more similar to this tale, as the villain is the husband's old favorite, whereas in The Boys with the Golden Stars, it is her mother-in-law. More commonly, European tales feature the children being abandoned: The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird
The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird
The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales...
, The Tale of Tsar Saltan
The Tale of Tsar Saltan
The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan is an 1831 poem by Aleksandr Pushkin, written after the Russian fairy tale edited by Vladimir Dahl...
, The Three Little Birds
The Three Little Birds
The Three Little Birds is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 96. The story is originally written in Low German.It is Aarne-Thompson type 707, the dancing water, the singing apple, and the speaking bird....
, The Wicked Sisters
The Wicked Sisters
The Wicked Sisters is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.Ruth Manning-Sanders included it, as "The Queen's Children", in A Book of Kings and Queens.-Synopsis:...
, Ancilotto, King of Provino
Ancilotto, King of Provino
Ancilotto, King of Provino is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in The Facetious Nights of Straparola....
and Princess Belle-Etoile
Princess Belle-Etoile
Princess Belle-Etoile is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. Her source for the tale was Ancilotto, King of Provino, by Giovanni Francesco Straparola....
Some of the stories motif has similarities with the stories from One Thousand and One Nights, namely Tale of the Trader and the Jinni.
The marital transformation also figures in European tales, such as Hans My Hedgehog
Hans My Hedgehog
Hans My Hedgehog, or Hans the Hedgehog, is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no...
, The Pig King, and The Donkey
The Donkey (fairy tale)
The Donkey is a German fairy tale collected by Brothers Grimm by Grimm's Fairy Tales.It is Aarne-Thompson type 430, The Donkey Bridegroom.-Synopsis:...
.