Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Three Sons

I ran into this one quite often. Three sons of a poor man are sent out to accomplish a great act. This often had to do with appeasing a princess in some way so that they could be married and naturally inherit the kingdom. The task they are given is often a puzzle, riddle, and sometimes even a quest of some sort. The personality of the three brothers, where they sometimes vary, are usually pretty similar between each story.

Son number one has a tendency to be brash. In the puzzle, he will be proven too stupid for it. For a riddle, he will often simply guess without giving it much thought. On a quest, he will take actions that harm innocents or use poor judgement that may cost him his life.

The second son is lazier than the first. In a puzzle, he will spend too much time on it and ultimately give up. He may out rightly get the riddle wrong or pass at the attempt. On a quest, he shall prove the coward. In short, he was not a boy made for greatness.

The emphasis of the story always falls on the third and final son. Son number three is often considered the least likely choice even by his own father. Often, he is called stupid and told that he should not even bother. Nevertheless, he tries. This boy is the meek and thoughtful one. He is curious by nature, and although he may be stupid, he sees the world in his own way. Somehow, that gives him an advantage. In a puzzle, he will cheat in a way that is seen as acceptable by his judges. In a riddle, he will either answer correctly or give a better answer than was expected. On a quest, he shall be more clever than bold.

Needless to say, this boy is a long shot, but he is always the one who wins the contest. This fairy tale trope is positively ancient and even has a counterpart in the Bible. What is it about the small and meek that seem destined to inherit the treasures of the Earth? We always assume that people of great power and influence are the ones who come out on top, but our legends seem to point in another direction.

We don't really live in a world where son number three has inherited the Earth. And what do we get for it? It seems rather corrupt, doesn't it? It seems to me that brash, selfish, and lazy does not do this world any good at all. Why not give kind and meek a whirl? See what happens. After all, our legends and fairy tales seem to think that it's a better idea.

Thank you for reading my blog. Liked it? Hated it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Thank you!

6 comments:

  1. Some people will surprise you. They have everything given to them and still fail. Others seem to have nothing, but make something out of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely! A lot of these tales are based on timeless human behavior.

      Delete
  2. The third son is third in the sequence of conventional choices. Interestingly, it was Seth, the third son of Eve who fathered modern humanity. Cain was the first son and was fathered by Satan. He was brash. The second son was Able, a hardworking man but not particularly imaginative. Jesus is the Son of Man as a descendant of Seth, the third son.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then this really does play out on the spiritual level.

      Delete
  3. Fascinating, the first two sons establish the box then the third comes along and completely works around it. It really is advantageous to not be part of a brash, selfish, and lazy world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha! Yep! The first two are the box. I like your perspective!

      Delete