Three drops of blood, three poisoned items, three tokens given for spinning straw into gold, three nights in the wood; the number three woven into so many of the brothers Grimm folk tales. Perhaps it is for the repetition of an action or phrase to better allow the story to become ingrained in a child’s mind. For who doesn’t recall the words little red riding hood speaks to the wolf, “Oh, grandmother what big ears you have!”
“The better to hear you with.”
“Oh, grandmother what big eyes you have!”
“The better to see you with.”
“Oh, grandmother what a horribly big mouth you have!” “The better to eat you with.” (p.99) The utterance of words or phrases repeated over and over again sticks with us, the more something is repeated, the more it …show more content…
The three drops of blood from the Queen’s finger at the start of snow white, the three poisoned objects from the Stepmother later. It is implied the Mother Queen’s wish for a child with three notable attributes, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black a ebony, sealed with the three drops of a blood was a certain type of magic worked. Snow White’s profound beauty is depicted as practically magical in and of itself, no doubt from her mother’s work. The stepmother in turn, tries three times to do away with Snow White herself, first with a bodice laced too tightly, again with a poisoned comb, and finally the titular poisoned apple. Each attempt on the girl’s life begins in the mundane; a bodice laced too tight, and finally ends in the magical with the highly poisonous and perfectly crafted apple. Snow White is not the only tale showing the magical significance of the number three. Hansel and Gretel spend three nights lost in the wood before mysteriously coming across the witch’s candy cottage, the woods themselves are always a magical place in folktales and it is fitting given the significance and magic of the number three that after three nights of wandering, the enchanted cottage appears as if bidden to them by the forest itself. It was only after three nights wandering hungry did a magic cottage of sweets …show more content…
In both the number three is significant, the triple god or goddess in pagan practices also gives significance in tales pertaining to magical women, usually the witch. In Snow White we have the perfect example of this, the triple goddess here, often show as Maiden, Mother, and Crone are as follows: the maiden, Snow White; the Mother, Snow White’s Mother and Stepmother both, and the Crone, the guise the Stepmother wears to try to fool Snow White. While many pagan elements in folktales were converted or shown as evil in Christianized versions such as those the Grimms collected, the number three has surely endured due to its own significance in Christianity, which as their own version of the triple god: God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit. Both the number three (the holy trinity) and seven are significant, magical, and holy numbers in Christianity, as they were in the religions that preceded them, and thus they endure in the
“The better to hear you with.”
“Oh, grandmother what big eyes you have!”
“The better to see you with.”
“Oh, grandmother what a horribly big mouth you have!” “The better to eat you with.” (p.99) The utterance of words or phrases repeated over and over again sticks with us, the more something is repeated, the more it …show more content…
The three drops of blood from the Queen’s finger at the start of snow white, the three poisoned objects from the Stepmother later. It is implied the Mother Queen’s wish for a child with three notable attributes, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black a ebony, sealed with the three drops of a blood was a certain type of magic worked. Snow White’s profound beauty is depicted as practically magical in and of itself, no doubt from her mother’s work. The stepmother in turn, tries three times to do away with Snow White herself, first with a bodice laced too tightly, again with a poisoned comb, and finally the titular poisoned apple. Each attempt on the girl’s life begins in the mundane; a bodice laced too tight, and finally ends in the magical with the highly poisonous and perfectly crafted apple. Snow White is not the only tale showing the magical significance of the number three. Hansel and Gretel spend three nights lost in the wood before mysteriously coming across the witch’s candy cottage, the woods themselves are always a magical place in folktales and it is fitting given the significance and magic of the number three that after three nights of wandering, the enchanted cottage appears as if bidden to them by the forest itself. It was only after three nights wandering hungry did a magic cottage of sweets …show more content…
In both the number three is significant, the triple god or goddess in pagan practices also gives significance in tales pertaining to magical women, usually the witch. In Snow White we have the perfect example of this, the triple goddess here, often show as Maiden, Mother, and Crone are as follows: the maiden, Snow White; the Mother, Snow White’s Mother and Stepmother both, and the Crone, the guise the Stepmother wears to try to fool Snow White. While many pagan elements in folktales were converted or shown as evil in Christianized versions such as those the Grimms collected, the number three has surely endured due to its own significance in Christianity, which as their own version of the triple god: God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit. Both the number three (the holy trinity) and seven are significant, magical, and holy numbers in Christianity, as they were in the religions that preceded them, and thus they endure in the