The Owl, The Raven, and the Dove: The Religious Meaning of the Grimms' Magic Fairy Tales

by G. Ronald Murphy

The fairy tales collected by the brothers Grimm are among the best known and most widely-read stories in western literature. In recent years commentators such as Bruno Bettelheim have, usually from a psychological perspective, pondered the underlying meaning of the stories, why children are so enthralled by them, and what effect they have on the the best-known tales ( Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty ) and shows that the Grimms saw them as Christian fables. Murphy examines the arguments of previous interpreters of the tales, and demonstrates how they missed the Grimms' intention. His own readings of the five so-called "magical" tales reveal them as the beautiful and inspiring "documents of faith" that the Grimms meant them to be.
Offering an entirely new perspective on these often-analyzed tales, Murphy's book will appeal to those concerned with the moral and religious education of children, to students and scholars of folk literature and children's literature, and to the many general readers who are captivated by fairy tales and their meanings.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fairy Tales, Religion, Mythology, Christian, Folklore, Literary Criticism

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Sherwood Smith]

Father Murphy was a guest at Mythcon. His talk on the Heliand and the remarkable churches of Northern Europe, with their dragon roofs, was so compelling I had to get this book.

I was glad I did. I found this book to be far more insightful than Bruno Betelheim (whom he cites, and engages with snark-free grace) as Murphy doesn't try to fit the fairy tails into a modern psychological model. Instead, Murphy went to Germany and looked at the brothers' personal manuscripts, down to the university lectures and the marginalia scribbled in their books.

Murphy carefully builds a case for why and how the Grimm brothers retold the fairy tales the way they did. He delves for the religious meaning below symbols and events, looking at five of the most famous of the Grimms' tales (Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood,Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty) in painstaking detail, giving crucial phrases in German so that one can see for oneself his interpretation.

There are fascinating appendices--the one I appreciated most was "Yggdrasil, the Cross, and the Christmas Tree." There is, I hope, a whole book in that one alone.

If you find yourself sympathetic to the following quote, you are likely to get the most out of this book: As a poet and a storyteller he [Wilhelm Grimm] would deny that he is a theologian . . . His love of the Two Great Commandments as the key to faith in this life and in an afterlife led him to unusual poetic realizations with the help of the fairy tales. One of these is surely that there is a secret alliance between love and beauty.

[Marquise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very thorough examination of half a dozen of the most popular fairy tales compiled by the Brothers Grimm, analysed through the lens of religious beliefs that inform the use of certain symbols and phraseology that they chose when modifying the oral tales they received. The religiosity of the Brothers, particularly Wilhelm's, isn't an aspect I had seen looked into in-depth until now, and it's an excellent angle for a unique interpretative viewpoint that you can contrast with the more popular psychological, psychoanalytical, anthropological, cultural, and feminist interpretations, even if you're not religious yourself.

[Rosamund Hodge]

Read this for the upcoming Mythcon. It compares the Brothers Grimm version of several major fairytales to other versions (esp. Perrault), and argues that the Grimms emphasized Classical, German, and Christian allusions/symbolism in the service of (Christian) spiritual themes. It's an engaging book; I wouldn't take any of Murphy's interpretations as the One True Reading of a fairytale, but I think he does an excellent, painstaking job of picking apart the stories to show the possible resonances in each element.

For instance: in Sleeping Beauty, he discusses the obvious Christian symbolism, of "she is not dead, but asleep" = Sleeping Beauty, and the briar = crown of thorns, but also suggests a linkage of "fairy with spindle" = Norn = the inevitability of death. Which loops right back into the Christian symbolism. I don't know as that I'm sure the Grimms were specifically intending that reading... but I think it does do a good job of helping explain why those stories have such power.

And frankly, it's nice to read a book about fairytales that isn't cynical or deconstructive! (I'm not sure when I last read a discussion of Snow White that didn't center around EWWWW NECROPHILIA. Though maybe I'm just reading the wrong discussions.)

[Skye Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This was a super powerful read for me.

A few years back I remember hearing some female celebrities talk about how they wouldn’t let their little girls read the old classic fairytales or watch the old Disney renditions of them. They brought up points such as, “I don’t want my daughter to think she needs Prince Charming to save her.” Or “these stories are so toxic. The prince and princess hardly know each other, why are they getting married?” Etc. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed Disney try to change or remove some of the key parts of some of these classic fairytales, and even go so far as to poke fun at the classic prince/princess tropes.

While I always usually enjoy these Disney movies despite their modern changes, for some reason, I never liked the criticisms that continue to pop up regarding the classics. I often felt like the critics were looking beyond the mark. Like there was further meaning that the critics were completely missing. As I started to pull on that thread of curiosity, I started learning how deep, powerful, and symbolic these classic fairytales are and were meant to be. This book helps shed so much light on this fact. The Grimm brothers were deeply spiritual men that wanted to share divine truths through these stories. And once you realize that... a whole new world of mystery, and spiritual knowledge is unlocked.

I find it fascinating that the world today attacks the idea of Prince Charming who loves the princess immediately even with her faults, and wants to take her to his fathers kingdom. Once I learned that the Prince in these stories is representative of the Prince of Peace—our Savior Jesus Christ, I realized just how cunning and deceptive the devil can be in trying to make the most meaningful, truth filled part of the story out to be something cheap and silly, like the world often says.

I personally think that the reason why these classic stories resonate with so many, and at such a young age, is because they teach truths that our soul recognizes. Even if that recognition is subconscious. They teach us about truth. And I love that even as an adult, I’m still learning from them. This book actually really strengthened my testimony in my Savior and in his love for me individually.

If you are a lover of fairytales, Christianity, and symbolism, then this book is definitely for you.❤️

[Laura NC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent review and served as a guide for my reading:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2...

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murphy, a Jesuit priest and Professor of German at Georgetown, provides a fascinating, Christian-themed look at the Grimms' tales,

I read Bruno Bettleheim in college and appreciated how he made the analysis of fairy tales respectable again. However, I think much of his book is tainted by Freudian overemphasis--when you focus a little to keenly on the groin area sometimes you miss out the deeply spiritual nature of the human race.

Is Murphy's book similarly prejudiced? Perhaps, but to ignore the Grimm brothers ingrained religious background is to miss out on one of driving forces behind their authorship. It means not fully understanding the culture and human drives that birthed these dark stories.

What I love about this book is how it also captures many lesser known myths and stories, the reason we put up Christmas trees in Decemeber, why Gothic cathedrals are built the way they are.

The Owl, The Raven, and the Dove is that rare beast: a work of scholarship that also entertains.

[Sarah Schantz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last night, I sifted through my ever-growing stack of "to read" books, and came across this fairly new addition to the pile. Thinking, I'd just skim through it, then pick a work of fiction (since it is my Fall break from teaching college), I sat down with it and a collection of short stories I've been slowly making my way through. Two hours later, I'd discovered that I was halfway through The Owl, the Raven, and the Dove. Today, I finished the book.

I learned a lot more about the Brothers Grimm, and specifically their intent, but particularly the more devout brother of the two, Wilhelm, and his purpose as he set these stories to print.

I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the fairy tale, "Little Red Riding Hood," so I was delighted to learn something new about my favorite story ever. I'm quite familiar with the oral origin of Red, a piece from the Middle Ages called, "The Grandmother's Tale," which was about the werewolves feared during the same period as the witch craze, yet somehow, I'd never come across the connection, or made it myself, of the wolf in the story and the cosmic wolf, Fenrir, of Norse mythology. Now I understand why the Grimm's kept having the beast swallow the girl and her matriarch. He is more a vast void than a blood-thirsty animal.

I was also impressed by the deconstruction of "Sleeping Beauty," and the fact it is a tale that stems from one regarding rape (recently re-examined in the movie, Malificient, and quite timely regarding the growing allegations against Cosby and the general fact we live in a rape culture). While the connection between Snow White and Eve (especially the eating of the apple) has long been recognized by me, I never considered the possibility that when the prince comes to kiss her awake, that really, at least under Wilhelm Grimm's pen, Christ coming to take her to heaven. But I don't want to give too much away about this book. If you are a fairy tale fanatic like I am, then you must read this book and add it to your library. I am not a Christian, and while I am definitely more interested in the animistic pagansim of these ancient narratives, Murphy's book belongs on the shelf beside my Zipes, Dundes, Bettelheim, and Carter.

[Rachel Mayes Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Like many, I have often been told that fairy tales are misogynistic and unrealistic, and when we view them as a template for human romantic relationships, there's some validity to that claim. This book, however, argues that the Grimms' fairy tales actually flowed out of their Reformed Christian beliefs and love for Germanic mythology. When read with this understanding, fairy tales are transformed into profound allegories that show us the way reality truly is. The writing style is so lovely, and the close reading is excellent. It's definitely a niche read, but such a good one.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some gems buried within this, but overall treatment was superficial. Would love to have had more presentation regarding pre-christian philosophy, and discussion of the unwitting role the Grimms' had on minimizing Classical and pagan worldviews. G. Ronald Murphy in his attempts to align the Grimm Fairy tales to Christianity understates that the underlying misogyny of a patriarchal system must vilify powerful female characters, so that the kiss of a prince, or the swing of a woodsman's ax are in reference to a savior but at a cost to pagan belief.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting examination of the Christian imagery in the Grimm fairy tales, including information about Willhelm Grimm's religious views, and of Germanic tales in general. Fascinating and probably one I'll return to at some point.

[Rachel Steiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts of this book were a bit too scholarly and dry for me to follow well, but I really enjoyed his chapters on five well known fairy tales and the religious symbolism that Grimm wove in. He also touched on different versions of each fairy tale, and included the ancient myths and folk tales that were the most original forms of the stories we know today.

[JL Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Children's fairy tales are told so that in the pure and gentle light of these stories the first thoughts and powers of the heart may awaken and grow." - Wilhelm Grimm

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This. Book. Is. So. Good. One I will flip back to often.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Brothers Grimm, as is well known, did not collect fairy tales with the rigor of a modern folklorist. Many of their tellers were middle-class, not peasantry, and of Hugenot and so French descent. Furthermore, they seriously reworked them.

This is a study specifically of what they did to rework them, treating them as Kunstmärchen, literary fairy tales.

There's a wealth of information about it, especially since they talked about sources, and sometimes we have their original notes, and certainly, we always have the various editions of the tales. Given that they discuss Giovanni Basile's Cenerentola and add to the story between editions an incident where the father asks his stepdaughters and daughter what they want, and the daughter's gift is much less pricey, it would appear clear where they lifted it. Some are quite simple. When Hansel looks back and is ordered onward, he claims to be looking back to see his white cat, or white dove, and in the first edition, the mother says it's the dawn red -- afterwards, this was changed to the morning light glinting from the chimney, which would at least make the color plausible.

What I found truly fascinating was the instances of earlier version that he cites -- most, of course, literary. But they're still neat: a version of Snow White in which the stepmother has a talking dog that betrays Snow White again and again, and the dog's name is Mirror, or the rationalized version where the stepmother's problem is that the doctor compounding her poisons, under attacks of conscience, only makes a sleeping draught -- and the happy ending is that the doctor prospered after that. A play of Little Red Riding Hood where she tells her grandmother she will have to make her a new hood for her confirmation -- red hoods were common, because confirmations were often held on Pentecost, and they wore red in the honor of the feast -- but her grandmother thinks black more sober and suitable for church rather than a dancing floor, and in which the girl chaffs the hunter for wearing green. A Cinderella who arrives at the ball so finely dressed and with so many attendants that she looks like a prostitute arrested on a public thoroughfare, surrounded by police -- then, this is the one that murdered her first stepmother at the instigation of her governess, and then brought her second one on herself by persuading her father to marry the governess. The early medieval Snaefrid, who appears to be an anti-Snow White -- the king mourns over her body, which remains rosy, to the detriment of the realm, until a wise councilor persuades him to change the blankets and clothes she had, which promptly prove her corpse rotten, and emitting reptiles, so they burned it, and the king got better. How Perrault's title could mean either "Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" or "The Beauty In the Sleeping Wood." How Brynhild saved Little Briar Rose from exclusion, by proving it was a German tale.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful book where the author examines the most famous of the Brother's Grimm fairy tales. He looks at the role of fable and faith for the Brothers, and the world in which they lived. Murphy also examines other commentaries on the same stories that ascribe different meanings to the Brothers, and also the alternate versions of the stories. Some of those alternate, non-Brothers Grimm tales, will appear more familiar than their version.

The three animals in the title have varied meanings, one of which are the three religious traditions that together feed into the tales.

Very well worth the time to read, though I was disappointed in the quality of the bound paperback - get an electronic version or some discounted copy as I did. Thankfully I didn't pay full price, as the spine is already falling apart after only one reading.

[Lorri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up hoping to learn more about the Grimm fairy tales. The book does not seem to be geared for a casual reader like me but more for fairy tale scholars. Thus I found the first section incredibly dry as it batted around different theories and interpretations. I found the sections on the individual fairy tales quite thought provoking but dense.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating to read as someone who loves fairy tales. The images from Christianity fit into some of the stories quite well and the author made an interesting argument. However, if one does not like symbolism or literary analysis, this would not be the best book to read.

[April Cordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very well done. It looks into the religious and classical symbolism that was purposefully woven into a handful of fairy tales. I highly recommend it to anyone who has more than a passing interest in fairy tales.

[Clive Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough and intimate study of the Grimms' writings, offering interesting takes on the spiritual dimensions of their retelling of older tales. Recommended for anyone who's interested in the meaning of fairy stories.

[Rese Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the ironic twist of unearthing lost Reformed beauty in the art of the brothers Grimm by a Jesuit priest. I'm ready for a second reading.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and informative. Easy to understand, especially if you already have some knowledge of biblical imagery and symbolism. You'll never read the stories the same way again.

[Jessica Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is AMAZING!