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The Frog King vs. The Swan Maiden

"The Beauty and The Beast"

“The Frog King” and “The Swan Maiden” are tales that are supposed to resemble the plot of beauty and the beast. In “The Frog King”, the frog was the special prince at the ending of the tale. However, at the end of “the Swan Maiden” the swan was the special princess. These two tales both have a similar background and story, but they put emphasis on the gender of the hero/heroine.

In the original beauty and the beast, beauty loved beast for he was and overlooked the physical aspect of  him. She made sure she took advantage of the time they had together and did not miss out on any opportunity to cherish the moment.

In “The Frog King”(aka tale one), the princess is the one in search of a man. She comes into contact with a frog who she throws around. However, when she throw him around one good time, he hits the wall and turns into this handsome prince. This prince tells beauty that he has a spell against him so he need to head to the kingdom so the witch can reverse it. In this version, there is another vital character named Heinrich. This Heinrich had hoops around his neck that were there because of the frog spell. Once they set voyage to the kingdom the hoops were breaking because the prince was free from bondage.

In “The Swan Maiden”(aka tale two), there is a peasant who saw some swans sworn past while he was hunting one day. He found one of them to be the most attractive and he could not get the thought out of his head. The swan that he liked the most had taken off her feathers and placed then in her daily spot. The peasant was hiding out so he was able to track her down. She went looking for her clothes and found the man instead. They made wedding arrangements and got married not to long after.

In tale one, the “beast” was a frog and was transformed into a handsome prince, while in tale two the “beast” was a swan who was transformed into a beautiful princess. This difference was surprising because it could potentially reveal the ideas and feminist viewpoints of the authors. One had the woman portray the “manly” figure, while the other had an actual man. This could give the idea that a “beast” does not always have to be a man, but good things could come from the gift and surprise of a woman.

I liked both of the tales equally. They had their own spin on it, but I would have to choose “The Swan Maiden” as the ultimate favorite. I really liked the addition of a woman versus a man. I also liked how they story remained positive. It had a romantic twist while also being able to keep the beauty and the beast theme. The swan tale also involved more relaxing and calm characters. it provided a softer tone to the original harsh "beast-like" interpretation.

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