Abstract
In the early decades of the nineteenth century, literary fairy tales inspired by French contes de fées dominated the scene in the German states. Three retellings of Marie- Catherine d’Aulnoy’s “The Bee and the Orange Tree” by German women were published: “The Giant’s Forest” (anonymous 1801); “The Okerlo” (1812), collected from Jeannette Hassenpflug by the Grimms; and “The Bitter Orange Tree and the Bee” by Karoline Stahl. Though romance is central to d’Aulnoy’s tale, the German variants reduce this element and focus instead on d’Aulnoy’s depiction of navigating the patriarchy and avoiding the monstrous desires of men with tools of feminine cleverness, magic, and help.
Recommended Citation
Koehler, Julie L. J.. "Navigating the Patriarchy in Variants of “The Bee and the Orange Tree” by German Women." Marvels & Tales 35.2 (2022). Web. <https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol35/iss2/4>.
