A Basque Tale of Beauty and the Beast
"A Basque Tale of Beauty and the Beast" presents a unique adaptation of the well-known fairy tale, diverging from the more familiar French versions. Central to this Basque narrative is the serpent/maiden motif, where the titular Beauty, named Fifine, is bound by a promise made by her father after he steals flowers from a magical castle. In this tale, the beast is revealed to be Azor, a serpent who transforms into a man through Fifine's love and self-sacrifice. The story intertwines ancient archetypes and themes of transformation, similar to other mythological stories like that of Cupid and Psyche.
The narrative is rooted in rich cultural history, with evidence suggesting the maiden/serpent pairing dates back thousands of years. This version emphasizes elements of compassion and choice, as Fifine ultimately agrees to marry Azor only under the condition that he appears as a man during their wedding. The tale concludes with Fifine successfully breaking Azor's curse by following specific instructions, allowing them to live happily together and raise a family. Overall, this Basque rendition of "Beauty and the Beast" offers a fascinating glimpse into how traditional folklore can adapt and evolve within different cultural contexts.
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A Basque Tale of Beauty and the Beast
Author: Wentworth Webster
Time Period: 1851 CE–1900 CE
Country or Culture: France; Western Europe
Genre: Fairy Tale
Overview
The fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast is one of the best-known and best-loved stories in Western literature. The Basque version, however, includes elements unlike those of the more familiar French narratives. In place of the customary romance between a beast of an uncertain species, the Basque narrative features a serpent/maiden motif. Although the original oral source is lost to history, the mythical tale of a relationship between a woman and a snake is thousands of years old. In his book The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology (1959), Joseph Campbell cites archaeological evidence dating to approximately 7500 BCE that suggests that the story of a maiden coupling with a serpent was central to the fertility rites of the tribal culture inhabiting the Admiralty Islands off the coast of New Guinea (384–85). More recently, in the second century CE, Roman writer Lucius Apuleius recounts the myth of Cupid and Psyche in his satirical work The Golden Ass. In Apuleius’s retelling, Cupid’s pursuit of Psyche—a woman whose beauty rivals that of Venus, Cupid’s mother—horrifies her family because they do not know Cupid’s true identity and believe him to be a hideous monster. As the ideas of the Roman Empire and, later, Christianity spread across Europe, various ethnic groups, including the Basque people, adapted their tribal mythologies to reflect these new cultural influences.
Again Azor asks her if she will marry him. Still she does not answer, and she remains like that in darkness several days without eating anything, and she said to herself, “Whatever it shall cost me I must say, Yes.” When the serpent asks her again, “Will you marry me?” she answers, “Not with the serpent, but with the man.”
“Beauty and the Beast,” Basque Legends
The Basque account of Beauty and the Beast was brought to light by the Anglican priest Wentworth Webster (1829–1907), who served as a chaplain in Basque Country in southwest France from 1869 to 1881. During that time, he compiled a group of traditional folktales and published them in 1877 in a volume titled Basque Legends. In contrast to the better-known French versions published by Gabrielle de Villeneuve in 1740 and Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont in 1756, the Basque tale is more succinct, but the basic plot and many of the themes are similar to the later French stories. A father endeavors to keep a promise to the youngest and most beautiful of his daughters. He encounters the beast at his castle and incurs the wrath of the beast when he takes one of the beast’s most prized possessions in order to fulfill his promise to his daughter. The beast demands recompense through either the father’s death or the sacrifice of one of his daughters. The youngest daughter volunteers to go in place of her father, and through her love and self-sacrifice, the beast is transformed into a man.
Similar to the Admiralty Island myth and Apuleius’s version of the Cupid and Psyche story, the “beast” in the Basque version of Beauty and the Beast is also a serpent. In his theory of analytical psychology, renowned Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung theorized that the collective unconscious of the human psyche contains archetypes—primordial symbols common to all cultures. Myths, fairy tales, and folk stories are replete with these dreamlike psychic images. One of the major archetypal pairs in Jung’s theory is the maiden/serpent pairing. Because this pairing is central to the Basque version of Beauty and the Beast, reading the story from an archetypal viewpoint will lay bare the intent, meaning, and transformative power of this ancient tale.
Summary
Fifine, the titular Beauty, is the youngest of a king’s three daughters. Her father is a popular leader who travels frequently among his subjects. Before every journey, he asks his two eldest daughters what gifts they would like him to bring back for them. They are greedy and vain and ask for expensive items. His first two children seem to command all of his attention, but one day before undertaking one of his journeys, he inquires of Fifine what she would like. Considering that he had never before asked her, his query seems to be an afterthought. Not wanting to inconvenience her father, Fifine answers, “I do not want anything” (Webster 167). When her father presses her, she simply requests that he bring her a flower.
After attending the feast and shopping for the items his older daughters have requested, he suddenly remembers his promise to Fifine. On the way home, he passes a majestic castle surrounded by a garden in full bloom. When he picks several blossoms, he is startled by a disembodied voice chastising him for stealing the flowers. The invisible being demands that the king bring one of his daughters to him by year’s end or the king and his entire realm will “be burnt” (168).
The distressed father returns home and gives each of his daughters her present. The year wears on and as the dreaded deadline approaches, he falls into a depression. Both the elder daughters ask him why he is so glum. When he tells them, they heartlessly refuse to help him. Finally, he shares the story of the nosegay with Fifine. Having compassion on his plight, she agrees to go to the enchanted castle in his stead, thereby saving his life.
When Fifine arrives at the castle, she is given a royal welcome. Food and drink are provided for her by invisible servants. From the time of her arrival to when she goes to bed, she is well cared for but never sees anyone. The next morning, she hears a male voice telling her to shut her eyes so that he may approach her. She insists that she is not afraid and spies “an enormous serpent” slithering toward her (168). The beast asks permission to put his head in her lap. She assents but cannot completely repress her anxiety.
Her every need fulfilled, Fifine happily lives at the castle for a while. Then her serpent companion asks her if she wants to see her family again. She tells him that she has no wish to visit her father and sisters, but the animal insists that she go for three days. To ensure her return, he gives her a magic ring that will turn to blood if she overstays her visit.
The king is happy to see his long-absent daughter, but Fifine’s sisters are jealous of her circumstances. Staying one day longer than she had promised, Fifine notices that the ring the serpent has given her is weeping blood. Concerned, she immediately returns to the castle and finds the place deserted. Nobody meets her or caters to her every whim. The serpent—who at this point in the story is called Azor—is nowhere to be seen. She searches the house calling his name, but to no avail. When she walks in the garden, she discovers a cold spot in the barren ground and makes a fire over it. Azor emerges from the warm earth. They enter the castle where music again fills the rooms.
Several days later, Azor asks Fifine to marry him, but she refuses him. For the next three days, he continues to propose to her, but she remains silent. During her silence, the castle is filled with gloom, and no one brings Fifine her meals. Concerned that she might starve, Fifine realizes that “[w]hatever it shall cost me I must say, Yes” (170).
When the beast again asks her to be his wife, Fifine accepts his proposal on one condition. She replies, “Not with the serpent, but with the man” (170).
Her assent touches off a musical celebration in the castle, and Azor gives her his permission to go to her father’s house and prepare for the wedding so they can be married the next day. When she tells the king she has accepted the serpent’s marriage proposal, the king is angry and her sisters are surprised. Nonetheless, the wedding preparations are completed.
When Fifine returns to Azor’s palace, he asks her, “Which would you prefer, from the house to the church, serpent, or from the church to the house, (serpent)?” Fifine replies, “From the house to the church, serpent” (171). Azor agrees to retain his serpentine appearance from their house to the church where they will be married.
When they arrive at the church, however, Azor demands that Fifine close the curtains and doors of the carriage. She protests that the people will see him in his serpent form anyway when he descends from the carriage, but he is insistent. After she leaves the carriage to fetch the king and his court, Azor’s metamorphosis takes place. When the king opens the door of the carriage, a handsome young man emerges.
After the marriage ceremony, Azor urgently insists that he and Fifine must skip the marriage feast and return to their own house right away. When they arrive home, Azor brings a large basket with a serpent skin lying inside. He gives her precise instructions on how to destroy the skin. If she fails to follow his directions, he tells her that he will “be wretched for ever” (171).
Before midnight, she makes a fire, throws the skin in the flames at the first stroke of twelve, burns the skin, and throws the ashes out the window by at the last stroke of midnight. Her actions set her husband free from the enchantment he has endured for many years. However, she has also incurred the wrath of the mysterious being who cast the spell in the first place. A disembodied voice cries, “I curse your cleverness and what you have just done” (172).
Azor, overjoyed at regaining his humanity, tells Fifine that he is forever grateful to her for liberating him. Had she not obeyed his instructions, he would have been trapped in the body of a serpent for another twenty-one years. The magician’s curse apparently has no effect on Fifine because she and Azor, who is also a prince, become the parents of four children and inherit her father’s kingdom.
Bibliography
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Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Egotism; or, The Bosom Serpent.” Mosses from an Old Manse. Vol. 1. 1846. Boston: Houghton, 1882. 303–21. Print.
Jung, Carl G. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Vol. 9 of Collected Works of C. G. Jung. Trans. R. F. C. Hull. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1981. Print.
---. Man and His Symbols. Ed. M.-L. von Franz. New York: Dell, 1968. Print.
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