Almost every folklore history of our time can be interpreted as a folk tale. "Madame Blizzard" is no exception. The story described in it echoes with many others, in which a beautiful, sweet and hardworking girl remains an orphan and suffers infringement from her stepmother or stepfather.
Differences between different tales with a similar plot
Of course, fairy tales from different peoples, although similar, but not identical. Vivid examples of this can serve as "Frost", "Babin's daughter, grandfather's daughter" - folk tales. They have a number of differences, in them, first of all, the main fairy-tale character - a man, besides, the stepdaughter did not have to work to get a reward. Only her meek disposition and kindness were enough. The Russian fairy tale "Madame Blizzard" is a vivid example of how history encourages children to virtue, humility and kindness.
Background
This story tells about a sweet girl who was left without a father and fell into submission to his wife with her own daughter. The woman mercilessly exploited the girl and eventually forced her to jump into a deep well behind a fallen spindle. But she did not disappear in cold water, but woke up in a fairy-tale world where she passed the tests of the Metelitsa, found shelter and a reward for her hard work. Having returned home safe and sound, and even with gold, she caused only anger and frustration from her stepmother, envy from her half-sister. Following her example, she also jumped into the well, but ambitious plans and laziness only ruined the native daughter of an evil woman, and instead of wealth, she brought black tar with her as a sign of indelible disgrace for life. Thus, the fairy tale "Madame Blizzard" teaches its readers to conscientiously fulfill their duties, not to cunning, and not to seek profit in good deeds.
The fairy-tale world helps not only children but also adults in a lightened form to realize the actions and essence of individual characters and the world as a whole, the interconnections in it, various ways to achieve results.
Who wrote the tale of the Snowstorm?
The author of the fairy tale "Madame Blizzard" (or rather, the authors, because her brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimma wrote it ) tried to convey to every reader all the absurdity and bankruptcy of greedy people. It is worth noting that all the tales of the brothers are based on folk folk tales. They devoted their lives, many years of painstaking work, collecting bit by bit stories, editing them, supplementing. This is how unusual works saw the light, such as the fairy tale “Madame Blizzard”, the stories “Rapunzel”, “Hansel and Gretel” and many others.
Brief characteristics of the main characters
The characters in this story are completely diverse and very vividly describe human nature in all its manifestations. The main character is purity and simplicity itself, sometimes bordering on naivety and childish spontaneity. But no matter how ridiculous these qualities may seem in a person (especially in our cruel times), they helped her to get out of a difficult situation with dignity and honor.
The second positive hero of the tale was Mrs. Metelitsa herself. Seeing the house and its inhabitant, the girl was immediately confused and frightened, because the lady of the winter and the blizzard seemed to her terrible and evil. This is not surprising, because people tend to ascribe negative features to the natural elements (and the more merciless the element, the more terrible it is in the mind of a person). However, in reality, the Blizzard turned out to be fair and merciful. She sheltered the girl and did not argue with her will when she decided to return to her family.
The stepmother and her own daughter are both similar and distant characters. And if a mother turned into a cruel and soulless woman in many respects for the sake of her daughter, then the second is the most base person in all its manifestations: lazy, conceited, selfish and selfish. It was these features that were always considered vices in society, and the fairy tale "Madame Blizzard" conveyed them most accurately. A vivid example of hypocrisy was the moment when the good daughter returned from Metelitsa in gold, and the stepmother and sister, who until recently could not bear her spirit, scattered in the amiability and manifestations of imaginary kindness.
What makes the Grimm brothers different from other authors?
In general, the fairy tale Grimm "Madame Blizzard" is very characteristic of the authors. In their work, they were guided by the maximum realism and credibility in relation to the primary sources, namely, folk stories. For the Middle Ages, cruelty and punishment on the verge of torture for wrongful acts were the hallmarks of society. Executions, the stigma of shame, expulsion from cities and villages for misconduct in front of the community were the norm of that time. It is sometimes difficult for a modern humane person to imagine the realities of past centuries.
Such norms could not appear in folk tales, and sometimes fairy tales became not a good parting word for a child, but rather a terrible and terrible story that really frightened. When publishing their works, the Grimm brothers tried to preserve as much folk integrity as possible, trimming only the most unpleasant moments in which there were scenes of real violence, incest, cruelty in relation to people and animals. Often, printing houses insisted on this, motivating their wishes with the fact that fairy tales are still intended for children.
All fairy tales are trying to teach a lesson in life, to help recognize good and evil. But different ideas about the permissible framework, differences in the mentality of each individual country lead to the fact that the translation of a fairy tale from the original language does not always correspond to the original content. Many authors, at their discretion, translate names, names of places of what is happening and often soften some of the plot details for easier perception.
"Madame Blizzard": film adaptations
The plot of the tale "Madame Blizzard" is popular with representatives of art. A lot of illustrations have been created for the fairy tale, which interpret the appearance of the main characters in very different ways. Unfortunately, a modern high-quality cartoon based on this particular story was not created. The newest is the adaptation of the Czech director, dating from 1985. There is also a Soviet cartoon, shot even earlier, in 1971. At the same time, the consistency of the tale, the desire of children and their parents to see their favorite characters live push to put on its basis plays in theaters and create puppet shows.