Extra Credit Reading Option Week 15

The Singing Bone from the Grimm Brothers' Unit

There is a boar tearing everything up and terrorizing people.  The King eventually gets so fed up that he declares whoever can kill the boar may marry his only daughter.  Two sons hear this news and decide to enter the contest.  The two brothers are very different: one enters for pride and the other is simply kind.

The younger (the nice one) manages to get help from a dwarf and kills the boar.  When the older brother sees this, he is instantly jealous and plots.  He kills the younger and takes the booty, and ends up marrying the king's daughter.  However, this is not the last of the youngest.

Many years later, a shepherd finds a snow-white bone and makes it as a mouthpiece for his horn.  To his surprise, the bone sings how his brother killed him for the boar.  The shepherd then shares this with the king, and the evil brother cannot deny his sins after the youngest's skeleton is found buried beneath the bridge.

This story is definitely a Grimm Brothers' tale, including the gore and the fantastical elements that they favored.  I think it is interesting that a dwarf, simply seeing the goodness in the younger man's heart, gave help and the spear which earned him the boar but also led to his death.  Maybe the dwarf was not a dwarf, but a witch in disguise who liked to do evil things.  Maybe the boys' father once broke her heart and she is looking for revenge.  I think this would be an interesting angle to take.
Image from FreePik

Story Source: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman (1998-2013).

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