The Enchanted Snake

Hey all!  I'm back with another post in my series about fairy tales without dead moms (or wicked stepmothers).  One of the best depictions of a loving mother in a fairy tale can be found in the Italian story of the Enchanted Snake, collected in The Green Fairy Book.  It has a little bit of an East of the Sun, West of the Moon feel to it - although, since it is Italian in origin, it's more likely to have been inspired by the tale of Cupid and Psyche.  Once upon a time...

A poor woman desperately longed for a child, but had none of her own. One day her husband went out to gather firewood. Hiding in the wood he brought home was a pretty little snake. When she saw it, the woman sighed over her childlessness. To her surprise, the snake offered to be her son and to love her. The woman agreed.

She and her husband raised the snake as if he were their own child, and doted upon it greatly. The snake grew to be very large. One day he told his father that he wished to be married. The man agreed to look for a snake bride for his son, but the snake declined. He wanted to marry a human girl – the daughter of the king.

The farmer brought this request before the king, who laughed. He agreed to marry his daughter to the snake if it could turn his entire castle into ivory. The farmer told his snake son, who asked him to rub herbs all over the castle walls before dawn the next day. As he did this, the farmer saw the castle turn to precious ivory before his very eyes.

The king was shocked when the farmer came to him, his task complete. He told the farmer that the snake and princess could be married if parts of the castle grounds were turned to gold before dawn. This time the snake had his father throw trash all over the architecture, and again they transformed before his eyes. The king had one more demand – a garden full of trees made of precious stone. The snake asked his father to buy fruit from the market and sow its seeds in the garden. They sprouted before dawn into trees made out of gems.

His requests having been met, the king had no choice. He explained to his daughter, Grannonia, what he had done. She agreed to marry the snake, who went to the castle to meet her. Though everyone else was afraid at the sight of the snake, the princess stood her ground. Together they went into a room and closed the door.

There the snake sloughed off its skin, revealing a handsome young man. All was going well until the king and his wife, afraid for their daughter, looked through the keyhole.  When he had been seen, the snake cried out. He transformed into a dove before their eyes and flew away.

Grannonia had quite fallen in love with the snake and was distraught. She left that night to find the prince. A fox joined her on the road, and they traveled together for a time. Birds began to sing. When she complimented them, the fox translated for her. They told of the prince who had wooed her as a snake due to a curse that she had almost broken. He had been injured when he fled, and lay close to death. The fox explained that the blood of the birds rubbed upon his wounds could heal the prince.

Grannonia convinced the fox to catch the birds for her. Their blood obtained, the fox admitted that his blood was also needed. She managed to outwit him when he tried to flee. Killing the fox, Grannonia continued on her way.

She came to the kingdom where the prince lay and met with the king. She promised to cure his son. The king offered her the prince's hand in marriage if Grannonia could succeed. She rubbed the mixture on his wounds, which healed the prince instantly. Awakening, the prince refused his father's deal with the girl. His heart belonged to another. Realizing that he did not recognize her, Grannonia revealed herself. The two were happily married, with both royal families present. The love of his adopted mother and father had saved the prince-turned-snake.

I'll return next week with my final post in the Fairy Tales Without Dead Moms (Or Wicked Stepmothers) series!  See you then.