The Spinning Wheel of Fortune, adapted from Walter Crane's original drawing
I got such a lovely response from my fellow students regarding Clever Grethel that I decided to have a look at another story about misbehaving and getting away with it!
The ending in The Three Spinsters made me laugh out loud, more so because of how Crane's drawing punctuates the absurdity of the lazy girl's fate.
Professor Rabkin, my fictional husband, urged us to keep an eye out for the relationship between Walter Crane's illustrations and the tales. I can't think of a better place to start than this one.
The first sentence sets me up with the impression that the "girl who was lazy and could not spin" would get a good ol' smackdown. By the last sentence, however, what we get is a wonderfully deranged degree of "happily ever after."
Through a series of lucky breaks, the lazy girl at the heart of the story dupes a queen into thinking of her as industrious and virtuous – qualities she most certainly does not possess! Virtue here is derived from her supposed diligence at spinning flax, an activity often associated with righteous womanhood.
The protagonist is not entirely unlikable, but is undeserving of praise. Her happy denouement is a reminder that life, rather than rewarding the good, can be downright unfair!
This is the message summarized by Crane's drawing, which combines the image of a spinning wheel with the symbolic "wheel of fortune." Throughout the middle ages, and originating in Roman mythology, the wheel of fortune functioned as a reminder that fate can be fickle, that luck is awarded at random and that your position at the top or bottom of the wheel is often beyond your control.
So our lazy girl meets the greatest spinsters in the world by chance, gets them to do her work, and bags the prince. On top of it all, she'll never again have to pretend that she likes to spin. Lucky gal!
But Crane's drawing hints at tragedy to come. His version of fortune keeps at work spinning the wheel, and from the girl's present position, there is nowhere to go but tumbling down.
She may never have to spin again (as if she ever did!), but I can only imagine what the marriage will be like once the prince – and his mother the queen – discover the true nature of this 'poor but diligent' girl. Although being on the right side of luck makes one 'lucky,' more often than not, luck does turn, and hers may be about to run out.
The ending in The Three Spinsters made me laugh out loud, more so because of how Crane's drawing punctuates the absurdity of the lazy girl's fate.
Professor Rabkin, my fictional husband, urged us to keep an eye out for the relationship between Walter Crane's illustrations and the tales. I can't think of a better place to start than this one.
The first sentence sets me up with the impression that the "girl who was lazy and could not spin" would get a good ol' smackdown. By the last sentence, however, what we get is a wonderfully deranged degree of "happily ever after."
Through a series of lucky breaks, the lazy girl at the heart of the story dupes a queen into thinking of her as industrious and virtuous – qualities she most certainly does not possess! Virtue here is derived from her supposed diligence at spinning flax, an activity often associated with righteous womanhood.
The protagonist is not entirely unlikable, but is undeserving of praise. Her happy denouement is a reminder that life, rather than rewarding the good, can be downright unfair!
This is the message summarized by Crane's drawing, which combines the image of a spinning wheel with the symbolic "wheel of fortune." Throughout the middle ages, and originating in Roman mythology, the wheel of fortune functioned as a reminder that fate can be fickle, that luck is awarded at random and that your position at the top or bottom of the wheel is often beyond your control.
So our lazy girl meets the greatest spinsters in the world by chance, gets them to do her work, and bags the prince. On top of it all, she'll never again have to pretend that she likes to spin. Lucky gal!
But Crane's drawing hints at tragedy to come. His version of fortune keeps at work spinning the wheel, and from the girl's present position, there is nowhere to go but tumbling down.
She may never have to spin again (as if she ever did!), but I can only imagine what the marriage will be like once the prince – and his mother the queen – discover the true nature of this 'poor but diligent' girl. Although being on the right side of luck makes one 'lucky,' more often than not, luck does turn, and hers may be about to run out.
I am doing the "dope slap" after reading your essay... the goddess Fortuna and her wheel is one of my very favorite symbols, but I had not really connected it with spinning wheels before... but it's a great connection of course, esp. as in Roman culture the Fates themselves were "spinners." Thank you so much for sharing this! Here is Walter Crane's GORGEOUS illustration of the goddess Fortuna for the story of the boy who foolishly slept beside a well: Fortune and the Boy (he put the whole story "inside" the wheel).
ReplyDeleteWow... just, wow! You may have done a "dope slap" after reading my post, but you managed to open up a whole world of meaning by bringing up the three Fates.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't made the connection at all, and had to do a little research on them to refresh my memory. And as you mention, the mythology surrounding the fates intrinsically links 'destiny' to spinning/threading.
It makes so much sense in terms of the story, where we are introduced to three spinsters.
This has also made me appreciate the cheeky decision (whether by the Grimms or in translation) to call them Spinsters instead of Spinners. The meaning the word as referring to old, unmarried women dates back to the 18th century, before the publication of the Grimm household tales. Surely the tale's contemporary audience would understand the double entendre.
In these terms, the story also references the witches, or "three Weird Sisters" ('weird' being Old English for destiny) in Macbeth.
Once again, thanks for sharing this with me.
Oh my gosh, your wheel of fortune is spinning now - how on earth did you do that? WOW! That is so cool. Is there some animation tool online that you used? I bet my students would love to know how to make something like that - let me know if you get a chance. I am really curious how you did it. VERY COOL.
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