Table Of Content/A<s
jhe. ^&r'p>&r\l and ^wan
T^A r\\ma\ e. in Palklorte and Life/aKjr'e.
boston pubuc ubrmw
Copley Square
^serpani and ihe. ^'wan
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won Id that we were, mtj beloved,
Lite birds on the foam of the Sea!
W. B. Yeats
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/serpentswananimaOOsaxb
jh&^e.r'p&niand ih&^wan
"JT\a Animal "Bifida in FolkloKe and Liter'a-kj^a
'Bto/ia^ax, Ph.D.
The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company
Blacksburg, Virginia
1998
111
The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company
P. O. Box 10308, Blacksburg, Virginia 24062
^erpeni and ihe^wan
Jhe 7\rumal Bride in F'elklar'e and Liferiahj/e
© 1998 by Boria Sax
All rights reserved. First printing October 1998
Printed in the United States of America by
McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., Saline, MI
08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sax, Boria.
The serpent and the swan : the animal bride in folklore and
literature / by Boria Sax.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-939923-68-8 (alk. Paper)
1. Folk literature — History and criticism. 2. Animals -
Folklore. 3. Women—Folklore. 4. Nature in literature. I. Title.
GR72.5.S28 1998
398.24'5 —dc21 98-45173
CIP
Reproduction or translation of any part of this book, except for short
excerpts used in reviews, without the written permission of the
copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission to reproduce
parts of this work, or for additional information, should be addressed
to the publisher.
iv
Contents
Acknowledgment di
.i
Inlriodvclion 3
.
Par4! I
.
Eke Animal Bride J3
.
T^e Animal Bride a? a 'J'oiem Anceplori IS
.
Animal Beitie5 33
.
Eke ^eripen! and Ike ^wan 37
.
/AedieVa! J^alemipm 3!
^.
Eke A\agic Fail 77
.
Tke Animal Bride Enlerip Ike TAode/n World 113
.
tomantic Paganism and CkriptianHy 123
.
Eke. Woman ofBrieamp 133
.
Before Co dp and Coddeppep 141
.
Eke Merimaid and Ike 147
.
Eke Ew&nH&!h Centiiriy 131
.
Women, /Aen, andAnimalp 173
.
Arickeiypep, Convergence, and Invention 137
.
Edward a Eg cram e n lal Uiew ofAnimal tig kip 237
Pari II
.
E>ome Animal Bride EZep from Aria! E^ditionp 223
.
Eke Peri Wife 223
.
Eke A\erimaid Wife 227
.
Eke Ceepe /Aaidenp 232
.
Peieri BimringeriVon ^lavffenberg 234
Eke Legend of/Aelvpine .. ...233
.
Eke E>even /Aerimaidp 243
.
Eke Peapan! andZemyne 243
.
Zelective BiLliograpky 23J
.
Index 233
Acknowledgments
I HAVE TAKEN most of the illustrations in this book from the
splendid pictorial archive series and the fairy tale books from
Dover Publications in New York, especially: Stanley
Appelbaum, editor. Fantastic Illustrations from Grandville
(1974); James Fairbairn, editor. Heraldic Crests (1993); Carol
Belanger Grafton, editor, Egyptian Designs; Carol Belanger
Grafton, editor. Treasury of Book Ornament and Decoration
(1986); Richard Huber, editor. Treasury of Fantastic and
Mythological Creatures (1981); Will Kurth, editor. The Complete
Woodcuts of Albrecht Diirer (1963); Andrew Lang, editor. The
Fink Fairy Book (1967, first published 1897); Andrew Lang,
editor. The Green Fairy Book (1965, first published 1892);
Andrew Lang, editor The Blue Fairy Book (1965, first published
1890); Ernest and Johanna Lehner, editors, Picture Book of
Vll
f'he. ^&/p&nI and ihe. ^wan
Devils and Witchcraft (1971); Ed Sibbett, Jr., editor. Ancient
Egyptian Design (1978); and T. H. White, The Book of Beasts
(1984, first published 1954).
An article entitled "Animals in Religion" has been loosely
adapted from the material in this book and published in
Society and Animals. A version of the tale "Zemyne and the
Peasant," discussed in part one and recorded in detail in part
two of this book, has been published in Parabola. I wrote an
embellished, literary version of the same tale that appeared in
Storytelling Magazine.
In some quotations, I have modernized diction and
spelling. Other liberties, particularly in the stories of part two,
are specifically noted in the text. When quoting texts in
languages other than English, I have chosen to translate.
Unless otherwise specified, the reader may assume that such
translations are my own. All biblical quotations are from the
Jerusalem translation.
I would like to thank Dr. Barbara Fass Leavy, author of In
Search of the Swan Maiden, for her generous encouragement
and suggestions in the final stages of this book. Her
graciousness is especially noteworthy, since her interpretation
of the animal bride tales is very different from (though by no
mean incompatible with) my own. Thanks are also due to
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, who has provided me with
inspiration through both her fine books and her encouraging
remarks. It would not be appropriate to dedicate a book on
animal brides to my wife, Linda Sax, but this book owes much
to discussions with her and even more to her general support.
Vlll
