The Queen Bee

I've just skipped over quite a few tales in my book, some because they are well known, such as “Twelve Dancing Princesses” and “Rose-Bud” (Sleeping Beauty under a different name), and lots animal tales. I have just done two animal tales in a row, and I feel the need to write about human beings instead. I will hopefully go back to some of them later, but for today I’m bringing you “The Queen Bee”, and yes, it does involve animals as well, since there are precious few tales that don't, but at least here the protagonists all have two legs and the animals don't talk. 

Apart from that, “The Queen Bee” is one of the reasons I started this blog. The moment I read it my head was buzzing with so many thoughts that I felt the need to write them down and share them. I even have the page dog-eared, because I was always planning to go back to it in order to think about it some more.

This is a rather more exciting (and typical) tale than the others have been so far, with youngest sons and quests and princesses all around. It is also very puzzling, as you will soon see.

I think that's quite enough introduction for now. Let's get started!

"Queen Bee"
Florida Center for Instructional Technology

The Tale

Two king's sons left to make their way in the world, but fell into wasteful ways of living, and so could not return. The youngest brother, a “little insignificant dwarf” went to find them. When he did, they laughed at him for thinking he would manage in the world when they did not, them being so much wiser than him. All three brothers set off and travel together. They reach an ant hill, a duck pond and a bees' nest. The two older brothers want to kill the ants for the fun of it, the ducks in order to eat them and the bees for their honey. But each time the youngest brother stops them, telling them to let the animals enjoy themselves.

The brothers reach an empty castle where “they saw fine horses standing there, but all were of marble and no man was to be seen”. They go through all the rooms until they find one with three locks. They look through a wicket and see an old man. They call to him, but he doesn't hear them until the third try. Then he comes out to them and doesn't say a word, merely leads them to a banquet table and after they eat takes them each to a separate room. In the morning, he take the eldest brother to a marble table and shows him three tablets which explain how to disenchant a castle. The first one instructs the eldest brother to find one thousand pearls belonging to the princess and scattered through the woods  by sunset. If one is missing, the brother will be turned to stone. The eldest brother fails and is turned into stone. the second brother is given a go the next day, and he too does not succeed. 

When the dwarf's turn comes, he gives up pretty easily because the task was hard and tiresome. While he cries, the ants he saved come to help him and they quickly find all the pearls by nightfall.

The dwarf moves on to the second tablet. The ducks he saved help him fish out the key to the princess's bedchamber from the bottom of the lake. In the third task, the dwarf has to choose the youngest and the best of the king's three daughters. They all look identical, but one ate sugar, the other hand syrup, and the youngest had honey. Now it's the bee's turn to help the dwarf, and the Queen bee finds the princess who ate the honey for the dwarf. The spell is broken and everyone who was turned to stone is released. The dwarf marries the youngest daughter and becomes the king's heir. The two older brothers marry the two other princesses.

"Queen Bee"
Walter Crane

Discussion Points:

There are lots of things in this tale that don't make that much sense. What did the brothers do that was so bad that they could not return to their father, the king? Why aren't they ever described as princes? Why did the three brothers set out on a journey together? What is with the three locks on the door, and why doesn't the man hear them until the third time? Three is a very common number in fairy tales, but it's usual use is to build suspense or to compare the youngest to the failure of the older two. With the lock and the man, this doesn't seem to be the case simply because they don't fulfill these goals. Who enchanted the castle, and who wanted the enchantment broken? Who exactly was turned to marble? If it is just the horses, why does the castle count as enchanted. If not, why are the king and the princesses not made of marble?

I feel like this tale would make an excellent retelling, just because of all the gaps there is to fill.  

As to the enchantment on the castle, while we don't have very many details about it at all, I have a feeling it has something to do with the third princess, since all the tasks seem to do with her (finding the princess's pearls, the key to her room, and her). Also, I think the old man is mute, since he never talks, only shows and leads. If this is the case, he is the second crippled character in the story, along with the dwarf.

The Brothers: The story could be seen as showing a debate between two kinds of people: those who see beauty, cleverness and strength as the most important virtues, and those who see kindness, caring and humbleness (in a way) as the more important. This is shown very clearly by the three brothers. The older two stand by the first opinion. They mock their dwarf brother for being young and simple in comparison to their great wisdom and size. I think the matter of size is focused on more by the story itself than by the brothers, since they never mention it. But the fact that the story describes the youngest brother as a “little insignificant dwarf” says a lot. The three princesses also seem to prove this point. They are all identical in beauty, but the youngest is somehow the "best". Whatever that means is up to you to decide. But once again, "best" obviously isn't defined by "strongest and most beautiful". The princess must have some other quality which makes her the best. Perhaps she also kind, which is why she ends up marrying the dwarf who shares the same quality.

"The Queen Bee Task"
Salatrix Parvissima
Grimm Fairy Tale Contest, Devianart

The Dwarf: It's very easy to see a comparison between the dwarf and the animals he saves. For one, the brothers who mock him try to destroy the animals, seeing them good for only one thing- entertainment or food, just like they think their brother is good for nothing. But in the end, both the dwarf and the animals prove their use. The animals aid the dwarf and save him from turning into stone. The dwarf then saves his brothers (with the help of the animals) from their fate and gets them a happy ending. The dwarf has no other virtue of his own other than kindness and compassion. He's not wise or brave or beautiful, as usual fairy tale heroes often are as well as kind. He goes to seek his other brothers, probably because he cares for them and misses them and he saves the animals from his brothers. But when faced with a difficult task, he gives up and cries. His character isn't stereotypical or perfect. He has plenty of flaws. He is certainly not a knight in shining armor, but this is the sort of story that says that knights can't accomplish everything. This is, after all, a story about the strength of small, insignificant creatures and the power of their kindness. 

I would like to point out two things before my ramblings are over:

1. It's interesting that in most other stories that involves three children, the father loves the third son dearly and is very reluctant to let him leave. Here, the father isn't mentioned. I wonder if perhaps if the dwarf had been a normal sized youth, the father figure would have been there. On the other hand, the story starts differently than most three brother tales. Instead of leaving one at a time to a quest from the start, first the two brothers leave, and then the dwarf comes to join them, which seems to highlight the dwarf's insignificance. He wasn't invited to go on the great adventure to explore the world along with the brothers, but he comes anyway once they fail and joins them for a second try.

"Queen Bee Girls"
Walter Crane

2. The first time I read this tale, I was very taken aback by the ending. I didn't understand why the two older brothers had gotten a reward as well. Perhaps they didn't deserve an unhappy ending, but why should they too get to marry a princess? Once I thought about it a bit more, the answer seemed obvious. They had, after all, listened to the dwarf when he told them not to harm the creatures. They didn't need to. The dwarf wasn't powerful enough in order to stop them physically from doing as they wished. Nor did they hold him in highest respect, so they really had no reason to listen to him. But they did anyway, and I think that is the reason they got their reward. I do quite like it that everyone got a happy ending. There isn't a clear antagonist in the story, since we don't know who cast the curse, and the brothers don't really count as antagonists. At the end of the day, everyone was happy. Maybe that's another point this tale tried to make. After all, true happiness is usually found in the small things in life, and that's exactly what this tale celebrates. 

The Moral: I've said it a few times, but I'll try to say it a bit clearer. I think this story comes to say that you don't need to be born with certain traits in order to succeed and be a hero. You could be flawed in every way- physically and mentally, but you can still be a good person. You can be kind to others and care about them. You can even get high in life, despite all the odds, succeed where others have not and maybe even influence them despite the fact that they seem smarter and better than you at everything.

* For once I actually found the same version of the tale that I have online, so here it is for anyone interested: 

The Queen Bee