It’s night, you’re tired and hungry, and you see a light coming from a hut in the forest. Do you go in?
If you are a fairy tale character, of course you go in! Why wouldn’t you seek lodging with a stranger living deep in the woods?
It worked out well for Snow White…
However, in other stories, the innocuous house in the forest houses a robbers den. Or a witch’s home.
In this week’s story, The Hut in the Forest, we don’t know what it is going on in this house until the very end. Inside this hut, we find an old man with a long white beard who keeps a chicken, a rooster, and a spotted cow inside.
Three times, a different girl ends up at the hut, and each time when she seeks lodging, he checks with the animals first, then asks her to cook a meal, after which, he sends her upstairs to prepare the beds. She falls asleep on one, then he, disappointed, pulls a lever which drops her down into the cellar.
What is going on!?!
First, who are these girls?
They are three sisters sent into the forest to bring their father–a woodcutter–his lunch. They can’t find him and get lost, wandering diligently, looking for him until it gets dark.
Why can’t they find their father?
He leaves them a trail…but he is dropping food (millet, lentils, peas) which the birds eat up.
Finally, we get to the youngest daughter.
Her two older sisters have already disappeared. Yet, she still obeys her parents and sets out into the forest herself. She is described as being good and obedient, and likely to stay on the right path as she is not like her sisters who rove about like wild bumble bees.
Did her sisters rove about? Not that we’ve seen. They couldn’t follow the path because there wasn’t one to follow.
However, the youngest sister’s behavior at the hut sets her apart from the others, indicating that she has a good heart. (This is a “character test” story after all.)
The first two sisters do as the old man asks, but they act selfishly, putting their needs first and completely ignoring the animals.
The third, and youngest sister puts others ahead of herself, making sure the old man and the animals are fed first before she eats. Because of her actions, she breaks the enchantment and frees the handsome prince who was cursed to live in the hut as an old man.
During the night, while she sleeps, the house transforms back into the palace, and the girl awakes to her new life.
Lacking from the story is the person who cursed the prince in the first place. Why was he cursed? Was it something he did? Were there any clues or rumors about this hut in the forest?
So many unanswered questions leave an opening for a retelling!
See also: Enchanted Castles
