Water and Salt
Encyclopedia
Water and Salt is an Italian fairy tale
, it can be found in the collection Italian Popular Tales, collected by Thomas Frederick Crane
.
In the Aarne-Thompson classification system
, Water and Salt is Type 923.
The father, not satisfied with the youngest daughter's reply has her thrown out of the palace. But one of the palace servants, an old woman, decides to keep her.
Months later, the king announces a banquet to be held in the palace. Learning of this, the youngest daughter requests that the old woman sees to it that no salt is placed in the meat that will be served at the banquet. The old woman has this done, and when the meat was served, the guests complained greatly about the way it tasted. The young daughter then appeared before her father. She explained to him that as meat is tasteless without salt, so too is her life without her father's love. From that day she was once again treated like a princess.
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...
, it can be found in the collection Italian Popular Tales, collected by Thomas Frederick Crane
Thomas Frederick Crane
Thomas Frederick Crane was an American folklorist, academic and lawyer.He studied law at Princeton, earned his undergraduate degree in 1864, and in 1867 graduated with an A.M. After graduation, he studied law at Columbia Law School but moved to Ithaca when a relative there became ill...
.
In the Aarne-Thompson classification system
Aarne-Thompson classification system
The Aarne–Thompson classification system is a system for classifying folktales. First developed by Antti Aarne and published in 1910, it was translated and enlarged by Stith Thompson...
, Water and Salt is Type 923.
Synopsis
A king with three beautiful daughters asks three of them how much they love their father.- The eldest says, "I love you as bright as the sunshine."
- The second daughter says, "I love you as wide as the ocean."
- The youngest says, "Oh father, I love you as meat loves salt."
The father, not satisfied with the youngest daughter's reply has her thrown out of the palace. But one of the palace servants, an old woman, decides to keep her.
Months later, the king announces a banquet to be held in the palace. Learning of this, the youngest daughter requests that the old woman sees to it that no salt is placed in the meat that will be served at the banquet. The old woman has this done, and when the meat was served, the guests complained greatly about the way it tasted. The young daughter then appeared before her father. She explained to him that as meat is tasteless without salt, so too is her life without her father's love. From that day she was once again treated like a princess.
External links
- SurLaLune Fairy Tale site Water and Salt
- "Love Like Salt" a collection of similar tales