The Old Woman in the Wood

German fairy tale

The Old Woman in the Wood

"Suddenly the branches twined round her and turned into two arms." Illustration by Arthur Rackham, 1917.

Folk tale
Name| The Old Woman in the Wood
Aarne–Thompson grouping| ATU 442, "The Old Woman in the Woods"
Country| Germany
Published in| Grimms' Fairy Tales

"The Old Woman in the Wood" (German: Die Alte im Wald) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 123. It is Aarne-Thompson type 442.

## Synopsis

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A beautiful but poor servant girl was traveling with the family she worked for when robbers attacked them. She hid behind a tree, but no one else survived. She lamented her fate and a dove came to her with a golden key. He told her to unlock a tree and she found food there. In the evening, he brought her to a tree with a bed. She lived like this for many days. When the dove asked her to do something for him, she agreed. He told her to go to a house and go in. An old woman would greet her, but she should not answer. She should open an inner door, which will reveal a room full of splendid rings, but she should take a plain one.

The old woman was quite angry, but the girl did not heed her. Then, when she could not see the plain ring, she saw the old woman trying to carry off a birdcage. She took it away from her. It held a bird, which held the ring in its beak, so she took it outside and waited against a tree. Two branches turned into arms about her as the tree turned into a handsome man who kissed her. He told her that the old woman was a witch who had turned him into a tree, and for two hours a day, he became a dove, and she had freed him. All his attendants turned back from trees to humans as well. With the prince being the king's son, they went to his father's kingdom and got married.

## Analysis

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The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 442, "The Old Woman in the Woods" (previously, "The Old Man in the Woods"): the heroine survives a robbers' attack by hiding up a tree; a dove flies in and gives her a key which she can use to open three nearby trees; the heroine then goes to the house of an old woman in the woods to fetch a ring; in doing so, the heroine releases a prince from an arboreal form.[1][2][3]

## In popular culture

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"The Old Woman in the Wood" is featured in Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, with several changes. The talking dove is an owl, his tree form only appears at the end, and in his owl form, he has more direct interactions with the servant girl, here named Lisbeth. The witch attacks the family with a horde of goblins instead of a band of robbers. The tasks that Lisbeth faces are slightly different from the original ones: she must go inside the house when the witch isn't home; look for a specific magical key in the witch's treasury, one whose handle is shaped like a human head; use it on a specific door (which turns out to be the nose of a skull placed on top of a rotating shelf); then find a gold ring and bring it to the owl. In addition, she cannot talk or even scream while she is in the house.

## See also

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* Children's literature portal

* The Hut in the Forest
* Jorinde and Joringel

## References

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1. ^ Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. p. 150.
2. ^ Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica. pp. 262–263\. ISBN 978-951-41-0963-8.262-263&rft.pub=Suomalainen+Tiedeakatemia,+Academia+Scientiarum+Fennica&rft.date=2004&rft.isbn=978-951-41-0963-8&rft.aulast=Uther&rft.aufirst=Hans-Jörg&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Old+Woman+in+the+Wood" class="Z3988">
3. ^ Uther, Hans-Jörg (2021). Handbuch zu den "Kinder- und Hausmärchen" der Brüder Grimm: Entstehung – Wirkung – Interpretation (in German). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 261–262\. doi:10.1515/9783110747584.261-262&rft.pub=De+Gruyter&rft.date=2021&rft_id=info:doi/10.1515/9783110747584&rft.aulast=Uther&rft.aufirst=Hans-Jörg&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Old+Woman+in+the+Wood" class="Z3988">

## External links

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* Media related to The Old Woman in the Wood at Wikimedia Commons
* The Old Woman in the Wood Archived 2012-12-20 at the Wayback Machine

* v
* t
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The Brothers Grimm

Jacob Grimm · Wilhelm Grimm

Works|

* Grimms' Fairy Tales
* Deutsche Sagen
* Deutsche Mythologie
* Deutsches Wörterbuch

Notable
tales|

* "Bearskin"
* "The Brave Little Tailor"
* "Brother and Sister"
* "Cat and Mouse in Partnership"
* "Cinderella"
* "The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs"
* "Doctor Know-all"
* "The Dog and the Sparrow"
* "The Elves and the Shoemaker"
* "The Fisherman and His Wife"
* "The Four Skillful Brothers"
* "The Frog Prince"
* "The Gnome"
* "Godfather Death"
* "The Golden Bird"
* "The Golden Goose"
* "The Goose Girl"
* "The Goose-Girl at the Well"
* "The Grave Mound"
* "Hans My Hedgehog"
* "Hansel and Gretel"
* "The Hut in the Forest"
* "The Jew Among Thorns"
* "Jorinde and Joringel"
* "The Juniper Tree"
* "The King of the Golden Mountain"
* "King Thrushbeard"
* "Little Red Riding Hood"
* "Mary's Child"
* "Mother Holle"
* "Old Hildebrand"
* "Old Sultan"
* "Pied Piper of Hamelin"
* "The Queen Bee"
* "Rapunzel"
* "The Riddle"
* "The Robber Bridegroom"
* "Rumpelstiltskin"
* "The Seven Ravens"
* "The Singing, Springing Lark"
* "The Six Servants"
* "The Six Swans"
* "Sleeping Beauty"
* "Snow White"
* "Snow-White and Rose-Red"
* "The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was"
* "The Three Little Men in the Wood"
* "The Three Spinners"
* "Thumbling"
* "Town Musicians of Bremen"
* "Trusty John"
* "The Turnip"
* "The Twelve Brothers"
* "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"
* "The Water of Life"
* "The White Snake"
* "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats"
* "The Wonderful Musician"

Other|

* Grimm's law
* Göttingen Seven
* Grim Tales
* The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
* Once Upon a Brothers Grimm
* Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics
* Simsala Grimm
* The Brothers Grimm
* Grimm Tales
* The Sisters Grimm
* Fairy tale
* American McGee's Grimm
* German Fairy Tale Route
* Grimm
* Once Upon a Time
* The 10th Kingdom
* The Grimm Variations

* Category
* Commons

* v
* t
* e

"Animal as Bridegroom"

Literary tales|

* Cupid and Psyche
* Pintosmalto
* Fairer-than-a-Fairy
* The Ram
* Graciosa and Percinet
* The Green Serpent
* Beauty and the Beast
* The Story of Princess Zeineb and King Leopard
* The Blue Bird

Main tale types|

| ATU 425|

* Pintosmalto
* Master Semolina/Mr Simigdáli
* Fairer-than-a-Fairy
* The Ram

|

ATU 425A|

* Black Bull of Norroway
* The Brown Bear of Norway
* The Daughter of the Skies
* The Tale of the Hoodie
* The Three Daughters of King O'Hara
* The White Hound of the Mountain
* The Sprig of Rosemary
* The Enchanted Snake
* White-Bear-King-Valemon
* East of the Sun and West of the Moon
* Prince Hat Under the Ground
* The Iron Stove
* The Enchanted Pig
* Whitebear Whittington
* The Serpent Prince
* Sigurd, the King's Son
* The White Wolf
* Trandafiru
* Again, The Snake Bridegroom
* Prince Crawfish
* King Crin
* The Tale of the Little Dog
* About the astonishing husband Horu
* Prince Whitebear

ATU 425B|

* Cupid and Psyche
* Graciosa and Percinet
* The Green Serpent
* The King of Love
* Prince Wolf (Ulv Kongesøn)
* The Golden Root
* The Horse-Devil and the Witch
* Tulisa, the Wood-Cutter's Daughter
* Khastakhumar and Bibinagar
* Habrmani
* The Son of the Ogress
* Yasmin and the Serpent Prince
* The Little Crab
* Pájaro Verde
* The Story of the Abandoned Princess
* Grünkappe
* The Snake-Prince Sleepy-Head
* The Padisah's Youngest Daughter and Her Donkey-Skull Husband
* The Princess Who Could Not Keep a Secret
* The Tale of Aftab
* The Tale of the Woodcutter and his Daughters
* Sea-Horse (Syrian folktale)

ATU 425C|

* Beauty and the Beast
* The Singing, Springing Lark
* The Small-tooth Dog
* The Scarlet Flower

ATU 425D|

* The Golden Crab
* The Donkey's Head
* The Donkey's Head (Turkish folktale)

ATU 425E|

* The Padlock
* Filek-Zelebi

Other tale types|

| AaTh 425Gp|

* The Sleeping Prince

|

ATU 425M|

* Eglė the Queen of Serpents
* The Lake Beetle as Groom

AaTh 425Np|

* The Story of Princess Zeineb and King Leopard
* María, manos blancas
* Feather O' My Wing
* The Man Who Came Out Only at Night

Related tales|

| ATU 426|

* Snow-White and Rose-Red

|

AaTh 428p|

* Prunella
* The Little Girl Sold with the Pears
* La Fada Morgana
* The Man and the Girl at the Underground Mansion
* The Girl as Soldier
* The Tale About Baba-Yaga

ATU 430|

* The Donkey

ATU 431|

* The Hut in the Forest

ATU 432|

* The Prince as Bird
* The Blue Bird
* The Canary Prince
* The Three Sisters
* The Green Knight
* The Feather of Finist the Falcon
* Prince Sobur
* The Fan of Patience
* The Greenish Bird
* The Falcon Pipiristi

ATU 433|

* King Lindworm
* The Dragon-Prince and the Stepmother
* The Girl with Two Husbands
* Dragon-Child and Sun-Child
* Champavati
* The Story of the Hamadryad
* The Origin of the Sirenia

AaTh 437p|

* The Dead Prince and the Talking Doll

ATU 440|

* The Frog Prince
* The Well of the World's End
* The Tale of the Queen Who Sought a Drink From a Certain Well

ATU 441|

* Hans My Hedgehog
* The Pig King
* The Hedgehog, the Merchant, the King and the Poor Man

ATU 442|

* The Old Woman in the Wood

ATU 444*|

* Habogi
* Hermod and Hadvor

Notes: "Literary" indicates tale whose origin is traceable to a literary source with a known author; p indicates a previous tale type extant until 2004. "AaTh" refers to the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index pre-2004; "ATU" refers to the system post-2004.
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