The Queen Bee

The Queen Bee

The Queen Bee is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 62. It is Aarne-Thompson type 554, the grateful animals.

ynopsis

Two king's sons went out to seek their fortune, but fell into disorderly ways. The youngest, Simpleton, went out to find them, but they mocked him. They traveled on, and Simpleton prevented his brothers from destroying an ant hill, killing some ducks, and suffocating a bee hive with smoke. Then they came to a castle with stone horses in the stable, and no sign of anyone. They hunted through it and found a room with a little gray man, who showed them to dinner. In the morning, he showed the oldest son a stone table, on which were written three tasks. Whoever performed them would free the castle.

The first was to collect the princess's thousand pearls, scattered in the woods. Whoever tried and failed would be turned to stone. The older brother tried and failed. For the youngest, however, the ants collected the pearls. The second was to fetch from the key to the princess's bedchamber from the lake, which the ducks did for him. The third was to pick out the youngest princess from the three sleeping princesses; they looked exactly alike, and the only difference was that the oldest had eaten a bit of sugar before they slept, the second a little syrup, and the youngest some honey. The queen bee picked out the youngest.

This woke the castle, and restored all those who had been turned to stone. The youngest son married the youngest princess, and his two brothers, the other princesses.

Adaptations

In 2008, [http://chatterboxtheater.org Chatterbox Audio Theater] performed a special interactive version of the story at the Memphis Children's Theatre Festival, and posted the recording of the show [http://chatterboxtheater.org/node/425 here.]

ee also

*The Grateful Beasts
*The Glass Coffin
*The Two Brothers
*Sleeping Beauty
*Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful

External links

* [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/62queenbee.html "The Queen Bee"]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • queen bee — The queen bee is a woman who holds the most important position in a place …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • Queen bee — For other uses, see Queen bee (disambiguation). Carniolan queen bee with attendants on a honeycomb. The term queen bee is typically used to refer to an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of… …   Wikipedia

  • Queen Bee (comics) — Superherobox caption = Zazzala, the Queen Bee. Art by Howard Porter. character name = Queen Bee publisher = DC Comics debut =I: Justice League of America #23 (November 1963) II: Justice League International #16 (August 1988) IV: JLA: Incarnations …   Wikipedia

  • Queen bee (disambiguation) — A queen bee is an insect.Queen bee may also refer to: * Queen bee (aircraft), the unmanned aircraft used in World War II * Queen bee (subculture), the term in clique social groups. * Queen Bee (comics) * Queen Bee (film) * Queen Bee (graphic… …   Wikipedia

  • queen bee — noun a) A reproductive female (especially the only one) in a colony of bees. It is generally believed that the queen bee mates only once in her lifetime. b) The most important or dominant woman in an organisation or situation. She muttered to her …   Wiktionary

  • queen bee —  Office matron; woman in charge of an office. The phrase is considered offensive, sexist.  ► “The jury is the Queen Bee of the American legal system, reputedly all powerful but in practice immobilized, groomed and force fed by a swarm of… …   American business jargon

  • Queen bee — Queen Queen, n. [OE. quen, quene, queen, quean, AS. cw[=e]n wife, queen, woman; akin to OS. qu[=a]n wife, woman, Icel. kv[=a]n wife, queen, Goth. q[=e]ns. [root]221. See {Quean}.] 1. The wife of a king. [1913 Webster] 2. A woman who is the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Queen Bee (graphic novel) — Queen Bee is a graphic novel aimed at middle schoolers about cliques and popularity, written by Chynna Clugston, an American graphic artist, who has written several other comics for an older age group.ynopsisHaley Madison is a quiet, unpopular… …   Wikipedia

  • queen bee — noun singular HUMOROUS a woman who thinks she is the most important person in a group …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • queen bee — ► NOUN 1) the single reproductive female in a colony of honeybees. 2) informal a dominant woman in a group …   English terms dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”