My History with the Fairy Tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon

Recently my family was again struck with tragedy with the death of my grandfather. He was an amazing, brilliant man who I will miss and always love with all my heart. I felt I should do something in his honor like I did for my grandmother (I read some Swan Lake retellings for a month since it was one of her favorite ballets) and I decided to read as many retellings of my favorite fairy tale as I could in his honor. He was one of my favorite people and the person I was most excited to see on visits. And so, to honor his memory, I will be reading as many retellings as I can of the Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon. 

This tale is not very well known to the public. Disney has never made a movie out of it and the tale seems to be not so well known. That said there have been a good number of retellings of it as well as some picture books so it's not like this tale in invisible or anything. The story is one similar to Beauty and the Beast with a prince changed into the shape of a polar bear who needs a woman to break his spell but there is so much more to it. The fairy tale begins with a poor farmer who struggles to make ends meet and his youngest daughter who is the most beautiful of all. One day a white bear comes to his house and asks the farmer to give him his youngest daughter, promising him great riches in return. The farmer who apparently thinks money is more important than his child’s safety goes to ask her. She originally says no but after a week of being pressured by her family she agrees and rides on the white bear’s back to his ice castle. There she is treated like a princess and has only to ring a silver bell to get what she wants. However, every night a man comes into her room and sleeps next to her and is gone before the first light (and before you say anything he’s actually just sleeping nothing else is happening.) Eventually though she grows homesick, and the bear agrees to take her home for a week on the condition that she never speaks to her mother alone. The maiden (or Lassie as she is called in the book) manages to avoid her mother for six of the seven days, but her mother finally succeeds and upon learning of the mysterious man she worries it is a troll. She gives her daughter a candle so she can secretly look at him while he sleeps. The lassie does this and discovers he is not a troll but a handsome prince. However, she accidentally spills hot tallow on his nightshirt, and he awakens filled with grief. He tells her that if she had waited a year and not seen his face, he would have been freed from his stepmother's spell for she had enchanted him to be a bear by day and himself at night. If he could find a maiden to live with him for a year and a day without seeing or knowing his identity, he would have been free. But now he would be forced to go to her castle which is East of the Sun and West of the Moon and marry his stepsister, a troll with a nose three ells long. The lassie then wakes up to find herself in the middle of nowhere with the castle and the prince gone and herself dressed only in the rags she had brought with her. Knowing her actions had caused the prince misery and realizing that she loves him she decides to go and seek him in the castle East of the Sun and West of the Moon. She meets three elderly women who each gives her a gift (a golden apple, a pair of golden carding combs, and a golden spinning wheel) and then rides the backs of the four winds (east, west, south, and north) to reach the prince. Only North Wind knows the way and he takes her there where she bargains with the troll princess. In exchange for her golden apple, she will be able to spend the night with the prince. The troll princess agrees but she secretly drugs the prince with a sleeping potion so he cannot wake up when the lassie comes to see him. The next day the lassie bargains with her golden carding combs for another night and has the same results. Finally, she bargains with her last gift the golden spinning wheel for a final night (the one before the wedding day.) The troll princess intends to cheat her again but this time some human servants (who were brought to the castle against their will) inform the prince of the sobbing maiden who visits him, and the prince does not drink the sleeping tonic given to him. The lassie and the prince are reunited and form a plan to defeat the trolls once and for all. The next day at the wedding feast the prince asks his stepsister to wash his stained nightshirt clean. She agrees but no matter how hard she tries the stain only gets worse. Her mother then tries, and a bunch of other trolls do too, but they all fail. The prince then calls in the lassie and asks her to wash the shirt clean. She succeeds and the trolls burst from anger and are never seen again. The prince and the lassie (now called a princess) then take all the gold and silver and along with the other humans leave the castle East of the Sun and West of the Moon and live happily ever after. 

What I love about this story is that the couple have to fight for their love. They are up against dangerous foes who would tear them apart and separate them forever, but they do not give up. The lassie is such a brave character who wants to save the prince not just because she loves him but because it was through her actions that he ends up in an unhappy situation that she feels she must fix to make things right. It’s also nice to see a strong female character in an original fairy tale. While it could be argued she had a great deal of help along the way she just could have given up a long time ago. But she didn’t. She kept going and won the battle in the end.  

But the main reason this story is so dear to me is because I have my own personal history with it. It all started with a visit to my relative's house for Thanksgiving. They had quite a movie collection and for some reason I was looking through it. I discovered among them a movie called The Polar Bear King. I read the description and learned it was about a king transformed into a polar bear by an evil witch who he refused to marry. Despite his transformation he and a princess fell in love and got married. However, the witch would not give up and plans to separate them forever. I was instantly hooked to this plotline but there wasn’t any time for me to watch it. I did ask my relatives about it, but they remembered little of the story, nor did they know what fairy tale it was based on. When I returned home my mom and I went to the library, and I looked for a picture book based on the original tale. I didn’t really know what I was looking for since I had no book title to go by. A librarian helped me and at first, we could find nothing but a book in the teenage section called Ice by Sarah Beth Durst. I, however, was hesitant to read some from a book that was meant for an older audience. When mom and I were about to leave the librarian found us with a book called The Princess and the White Bear King written by Tanya Robyn Batt and illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli. I read the book and was introduced to a world of a beautiful princess, a handsome cursed prince, and an evil troll queen. Besides the wonderful story, it told the back of the book also included some history of the tale. The author had based her book off three different fairy tales East of the Sun and West of the Moon, King Valemon the White Bear, and The Black Bull of Norway. The first two tales were from Norway while the third was a Scottish tale despite its name. I also learned of a Greek/Roman myth called Cupid and Psyche which was the predated even the original Beauty and the Beast story. I plan to discuss the story of Cupid and Psyche sometime in the future but that won’t be for a little while. Anyway, some years past and I went from elementary school to middle school and was on a class field trip to a library. Despite my older age my love for fairy tales had never diminished. However, my focus had transferred more to learning about Cinderella tales from across the world. Anyway, I was searching through a shelf of new arrivals and discovered a book called Sun and Moon Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. Curious, I read the back and was surprised to find it was a retelling of the tale I had learned about a few years prior. I was instantly hooked and checked it out. I enjoyed the book so much that I started to look for other retellings of the classic tale. Remembering the book, I had rejected as a child (Ice by Sarah Beth Durst) I checked it out along with East by Edith Pattou. I was glad I had waited to read Ice since it certainly dealt with more adult themes that would have confused and freaked me out as a kid. Anyway, I come now to the present day where East of the Sun and West of the Moon is my favorite fairy tale of all time. While the movie (The Polar Bear King) turned out to be not very good the story has had a special place in my heart for a long time. So, to honor my grandfather's memory I will read and reread as many retellings of the tale as I can for a month. I might extend this to two months, but I haven’t decided yet. I will also include Cupid and Psyche retellings into the mix since it is a similar story. I have already started listening to Sun and Moon Ice and Snow on audiobook so expect a review of it soon. Anyway, Until next time. E. V. A.