The Boys with the Golden Stars (Romanian folktale)
"The Boys with the Golden Stars" is a Romanian folktale that centers around themes of beauty, betrayal, and the magical qualities of children. The story follows Laptitza, the youngest daughter of a herdsman, who captivates the emperor and becomes his bride after promising to bear him extraordinary twin boys, each marked with a golden star on their forehead. However, jealousy from the emperor's stepmother leads to a series of tragic events, including the abduction and concealment of the twins shortly after their birth. The narrative unfolds with elements common in fairy tales, such as the evil stepmother and themes of transformation, as the twins eventually reclaim their identities after being reborn as magical fish.
The tale incorporates the motif of the number three, reflecting a common pattern in folklore. The story not only illustrates the struggles of Laptitza but also highlights broader themes regarding familial love and the complexities of step-parenting. "The Boys with the Golden Stars" has been popularized by Scottish folklorist Andrew Lang, who included it in "The Violet Fairy Book," contributing to the preservation and study of global fairy tales. This folktale serves as a rich reflection of Romanian culture and its storytelling traditions, inviting readers to explore the deeper meanings behind its enchanting narrative.
The Boys with the Golden Stars (Romanian folktale)
Author: Andrew Lang
Time Period: 1851 CE–1900 CE
Country or Culture: Romania
Genre: Folktale
PLOT SUMMARY
There is a herdsman who has three daughters, Anna, Stana, and Laptitza. While all three possess great beauty, Laptitza, the youngest, is more stunning than her two sisters combined. The three sisters are picking strawberries one day when the emperor and some of his friends ride by on horses. As the men pass, Anna tells her sisters that if one of those men will make her his wife, she will bake him a loaf of bread that will keep him young and brave forever. Stana says if one chooses her as his wife, she will weave him a shirt that will protect him from any dragon. Laptitza states that she will give her husband twin boys, each with a golden star on his forehead that shines as bright as the sun. The emperor turns to Laptitza and says he will take her as his wife. They ride away and are wed the next morning. For three days and three nights, the kingdom rejoices.
The emperor’s stepmother, who has a daughter with her first husband, hates Laptitza, for she had always thought that the emperor would marry her daughter. The stepmother convinces her brother, who is the king of a neighboring country, to declare war against the emperor in order to get him away from his new bride. The emperor assembles his forces, and they swiftly defeat the enemy. While he is away, Laptitza gives birth to twin boys, each with golden hair and a bright star on his forehead. The stepmother quickly steals the babies away and buries them in a hole. When the emperor returns, he sees no baby sons, so he begrudgingly has to punish Laptitza. He orders her to be buried up to her neck so others can see what happens to those who deceive the emperor. Days later, the emperor takes the stepmother’s daughter for his bride.
From the spot where the babies are buried grow two aspen trees. The stepmother wishes to remove them, but the emperor insists that they be allowed to grow so he can enjoy their sight from his window. The aspens grow three times quicker than a normal tree, and the emperor delights in them. The empress finally convinces him to cut down the trees, but he insists that their wood be used to make beds. These beds are made, and the emperor sleeps soundly on his, but the empress is kept awake by the cracking made by the wood. She thinks the beds are mocking her, so the next day the empress has the beds burned.
Two sparks fly up from the flames and fall into a great river. These sparks turn into two little fishes with identical golden scales. One morning, the emperor’s fishermen come to the river and cast their nets in; they are stunned at the sight of the two golden fishes. The two fishes plead with the men not to take them to the palace, where they will be eaten. They ask the men to collect dew from the leaves and allow them to swim in it, and then allow them to dry in the sun. The fishermen comply with their wishes and the fish transform into twin boys with golden hair and bright stars on their foreheads.
The boys grow thrice as fast as normal children in age, wisdom, and knowledge until the day they ask to be taken to the emperor. They are led to the palace and force their way into the emperor’s hall. The king and queen are at first angered by this insolent duo, but then the twins begin to tell their story. When they reach the end, they remove their caps to reveal the golden hair and bright stars. The emperor knows they are his sons and he takes Laptitza as his wife again.
SIGNIFICANCE
“The Boys with the Golden Stars” is a Romanian fairy tale made popular by Scottish folklorist Andrew Lang in his collection of fairy tales The Violet Fairy Book, first published in 1901. Lang contributed greatly to the study of folklore, fairy tales, and anthropology and published over a dozen books on the subject. He was also a poet, historian, and literary critic.
This story contains several motifs and narrative elements that appear in fairy tales throughout the world. The boys’ ability to change shape to elude the nefarious stepmother is a fantastical trick that happens commonly in fairy tales—a pattern is usually followed in which the pursued transforms several times in an effort to evade the pursuer. There are variations of this type of chase, such as when a character transforms to avoid a spell or break a curse.
Another prevalent recurring motif in “The Boys with the Golden Stars” is the evil stepmother. In this story, she is the one who has the boys first hidden away from the emperor so that her own daughter can become queen. Stepmothers are often portrayed as evil in fairy tales and modern interpretations of this motif have varied. Some interpret the stepmother as another half of the actual mother that contains all of the attributes the child dislikes. One historical explanation points out that, centuries ago, women often died during childbirth and the father had to remarry to provide for his children. In the case of “The Boys with the Golden Stars,” the stepmother performs evil to secure her own daughter with a royal inheritance.
The idea of a woman giving birth to special children with abnormal qualities after she has promised to do so, and then having the children stolen away from her, also appears repeatedly in fairy tales. This story also features the heavy use of the number three, which is a number that commonly appears in fairy tales and folklore. This recurrence is known as the “rule of three.” In this story, the herdsman has three daughters, the kingdom rejoices for three days and three nights following the marriage, and the boys grew three times as fast as normal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bottigheimer, Ruth B. Fairy Tales: A New History. Albany: State U of New York P, 2009. Print.
Lang, Andrew. “The Boys with the Golden Stars.” The Violet Fairy Book. London: Longmans, 1901. 299–310. Print.
Mawr, E. B. Romanian Fairy Tales and Legends. Hong Kong: Forgotten, 2008. Print.
Tatar, Maria. The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2003. Print.
---. The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.