Frau Trude was recorded in the 1837 version of Grimm’s Children's and Household Tales. The story is classified as ATU Tale Type 334, Household of the Witch, and motif G11.3.3, Cannibal Witch. The source of the story was a poem by Meier Teddy entitled "Klein Bäschen und Frau Trude, Ammenmärchen," published in Frauentaschenbuch (1823), p. 360.
There are many interpretations for such a short story, from cautionary to initiatory to transformative. Scholar Kay Stone writes in the book Burning Brightly: “This short tale… illustrates how a single text is, in fact, a constantly emerging story. Tellers who compose and recompose orally are aware of the interesting twists and turns a story takes as they continue to tell it. From our experiences with written literature, we are accustomed to expect a single authoritative text created by one named author. Oral tales… are the result of countless variant texts, not only by different authors (every teller is the author of their story) but also by the same text told and retold by the same teller since each performance is unique. Every wondertale that lives an oral life is multi-textual.”
This story is open-ended. It provides for different interpretations in disparate contexts. That’s the power of metaphor. There is no ONE interpretation to any story. If anyone, any group, or any teacher ever tells you there is, know that thought is contrary to any oral tradition. Stories are created to be shared in different contexts for different purposes.
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Once upon a time, there was a small girl who was strong-willed and forward, and whenever her parents said anything to her, she disobeyed them. How could anything go well with her?
One day, she said to her parents: "I have heard so much about Frau Trude. Someday I want to go to her place. People say such amazing things are seen there, and such strange things happen there that I have become very curious.
Her parents strictly forbade her, saying: "Frau Trude is a wicked woman who commits godless acts. If you go there, you will no longer be our child.
But the girl paid no attention to her parents and went to Frau Trude's place anyway.
When she arrived there, Frau Trude asked: "Why are you so pale?"
"Oh," she answered, trembling all over, "I saw something that frightened me."
"What did you see?"
"I saw a black man on your steps."
"That was a charcoal burner."
"Then I saw a green man."
"That was a huntsman."
"Then I saw a blood-red man."
"That was a butcher."
"Oh, Frau Trude, it frightened me when I looked through your window and could not see you, but instead saw the devil with a head of fire."
"Aha!" she said. "So you saw the witch properly outfitted. I have been waiting for you and wanting you for a long time. Light the way for me now!"
With that she turned the girl into a block of wood and threw it into the fire. When it was thoroughly aglow she sat down next to it, and warmed herself by it, saying: "It gives such a bright light!
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Let’s explore the use of color in this story. Frau Trude asks the girl why she is so pale. She explains she saw something frightening. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that throughout history, pale skin was a status symbol representing wealth, good health, beauty, and privilege. During the Middle Ages and in many later folktales, paleness is a sign of nobility. Here we can assume that this aristocratic girl was also scared.
But there is more color in this story than that. There is the pale skin of the girl and a black, green, and red man. If this story sounds familiar, it should. Vasilissa saw a similar sight when she went to Baba Yaga’s chicken-legged hut. ("Vasilissa the Beautiful") Vasilissa, you may recall, saw a white, red, and black rider. Frau Trude explains the three figures without the girl even asking. The black man on her steps was a charcoal burner; the green man was a huntsman, the blood-red man was a butcher. Rather than representing times of day, these figures represent three different occupations. The charcoal burner is someone whose job it is to manufacture charcoal. The hunter finds and kills animals for food, the butcher prepares the meat to eat, and the charcoal-burner creates the charcoal to start the fire.
Whenever we see color used in a folktale, we have to be aware of cultural bias. Just as we watch for issues of sexism or antisemitism, racism is also present. These issues are difficult to unwind, for they reach back into history and mythology, and they clash with our cultural assumptions.
In regards to Grimm, there are two issues. The first is the endemic cultural prejudice and bias in 19th-century European tales. The second is the use of these stories by the Nazis emphasizing certain white characters as Aryan and others as Jews or black. Ann Schmeiesing wrote a wonderful article entitled “Blackness in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales.” Schmeiseing explains that “[t]he Grimms’ Children’s and Household Tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen; KHM) follow the pre-Christian and Christian color symbolism that was prevalent from ancient to early modern times in associating black almost exclusively with negative attributes or situations. On a basic level the negative connotations of blackness in the KHM reflect mythologies, both Christian and pre-Christian, that associate black with the night, the underworld, death, and moral and/or physical impurity.”
Further, while this bias was prevalent, we can’t just assume that every reference to color refers to race. These stories are metaphorical too. In the stories referenced above, the “black” man symbolizes either the darkness of night (the black rider) or when a charcoal burner, someone who makes charcoal. These references are more symbolic and metaphorical than racial. The colorful riders in the Baba Yaga story depict the turning of the earth throughout the day, time, and perhaps even Baba Yaga’s goddess connections. In Frau Trude, there is an interesting foreshadowing in these three characters that symbolize the girl's journey to womanhood. The green huntsman seeks the food that is essential to life. The red butcher chops the meat, leaving only what is essential for sustenance, and the black charcoal burner compresses the wood until it can ignite with a fire that glows from within. Such was her path too.
But this is just the start of a much longer discussion on color in folktales. Check out Vaz da Silva’s article "Red as Blood, White as Snow, Black as Crow: Chromatic Symbolism of Womanhood in Fairy Tales” for a different analysis. Vaz da Silva looks at the Snow White story in which her black hair and the black crow represent what is hidden and symbolize both enchantment and death.
In my podcast on this story, we’ll explore other interpretations, and then I’ll share mine. After that, it’s your turn to make this story your own.
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Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Frau Trude, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales -- Grimms' Fairy Tales), no. 43, 1837. Translation by D. L. Ashliman. © 2001. (https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm043.html)
Schmiesing, Ann. "Blackness in the Grimms’ Fairy
Tales."Marvels & Tales 30.2 (2017). Web.
<http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol30/iss2/4>.
Vaz da Silva, Francisco. "Red as Blood, White as Snow, Black as Crow: Chromatic Symbolism of Womanhood in Fairy Tales."Marvels& Tales 21.2 (2007). Web. <http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol21/iss2/4>.