Front cover of a 1981 picture book adaptation of the story.
"The Seven Ravens" (German:"Die sieben Raben") is a German fairy tale. It is included in Kinder- und Hausmärchen *Children's and Household Tales), the anthology of German folktales compiled by the Brothers Grimm. In the 1812 first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, the story is called Die drei Raben ("The Three Ravens"). It was rewritten and retitled for the 1819 second edition.
The story concerns seven brothers and their one younger sister. In a moment of anger, the boys' father curses them, causing them to transform into ravens. The boys' sister is only a baby when this happens and grows up not knowing that she has any brothers. When she eventually finds out about her seven brothers, the girl makes up her mind to help them and leaves home to look for them.
Similar stories exist in the folklore of North Africa, Greece, Russia and other European countries. Two other stories that are variants of the same folktale, "The Twelve Brothers" and "The Six Swans", are also included in Kinder- und Hausmärchen. The Danish author Hans Christian Andersen drew on similar Scandinavian folktales to write "The Wild Swans", that was first published in 1838.
"The Seven Ravens" was adapted as a 1937 German animated film and has inspired writers and musicians.
Plot[]
A man and a woman have seven young sons and one baby daughter. The daughter is small and weak and her parents fear she will not survive. Her father wants to have her baptized before she dies. He sends one of his sons to the well to fetch water with which to baptize her. The six other boys want to go to and they each want to be the one to bring back the water. In their eagerness, they all drop their jugs down the well. All of them are then afraid to go home empty handed. When the boys do not return home, their father gets angry. He curses them, saying he wishes they would all turn into ravens. He then sees seven ravens fly overhead and realizes what he has done.
The girl and the sun. Early 20th century illustration by the German artist Osker Herrfurth.
The baby daughter does not die. She grows up to be strong and beautiful. She does not know that she has seven brothers because her parents never speak of them. One day, she overhears someone say that she was the cause of her brothers' misfortune. She asks her parents about this. They tell her that she has seven brothers and it was not her fault that they were turned into ravens. The girl, however, cannot help feeling responsible. She makes up her mind to find her brothers and help them. She leaves home. One of the few things she takes with her is a ring that belongs to her parents.
The girl travels to the end of the world. She meets the sun and the moon, neither of whom help her and both of whom want to eat her. She manages to escape from them unscathed. She also meets the stars, who are friendly and help her in her quest. A star tells the girl that the seven ravens live in a castle on the Glass Mountain. He gives her a chicken bone[1] that she can use as a key to the castle door.
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The seven ravens, their dwarf servant and their sister. 1910 illustration by the German artist Albert Weisgerber.
When the girl arrives at the Glass Mountain, she finds that she has lost the chicken bone. She cuts off one of her own fingers and successfully uses it as a key instead. A dwarf greets the girl and tells here he is the seven ravens' servant. Although the seven ravens are not at home, the dwarf tells the girl she can come in and wait for them. The dwarf brings food and drink for the seven ravens. The girl eats a little from each plate and drinks a little from each cup. She drops her parents' ring into the seventh cup.
The seven ravens return home. The girl hides behind a door. The ravens notice that someone has eaten from their plates and drunk from their cups. When the seventh raven sees the ring in his cup, he recognizes it as belonging to his parents. He says he wishes their sister were there because they could then be saved. The girl then comes out from behind the door. The seven ravens all become human again. They embrace and kiss their sister and then return home together.
Adaptations[]
The 53-minute German stop-motion animation film The Seven Ravens (German: Die sieben Raben) was released on December 2, 1937. It is notable for being an animated film based on a story by the Brothers Grimm released shortly before Walt Disney's famous 83-minute adaptation of "Snow White", the first full length traditional animated film, released on December 21, 1937.
An 80-minute live-action TV movie The Seven Ravens (Czech: Sedmero krakvců) was first shown on the channel ČT1 in the Czech Republic on December 24, 1993.
The Liechtenstein-born composer Josef Rheingerger adapted "The Seven Ravens" as an opera that was first performed in 1857.
Poster for the 1884 show Sieba and the Seven Ravens.
A production of The Seven Ravens that combined elements of drama, pantomime, opera and ballet ran for ninety-six performances at Niblo's Gardens in New York City from November 8, 1884. While that show was being performed, a rival one called Sieba and the Seven Ravens was also staged in New York at the Star Theatre.
A musical adaptation of "The Seven Ravens" by Wolfgang Adenberg and Alexander S. Bermange was first performed in Hanau, Germany as part of the Brothers Grimm Festival.
The short story "Black Feather" by K. Tempest Bradford, included in the 2007 anthology Interfictions, is inspired by "The Seven Ravens", "The Twelve Brothers" and "The Six Swans" and focuses on the sister character who is common to all of them.
Notes[]
- ↑ In the translation by Edgar Taylor, the star gives the girl a piece of wood instead of a chicken bone.