The Three Spinners

E786893

The Three Spinners is a German fairy tale about three mysterious women who help a lazy girl spin flax in exchange for a future favor, highlighting themes of cleverness and the subversion of traditional expectations of female labor.

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Label Occurrences
The Three Spinners canonical 1

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Statements (30)

Predicate Object
instanceOf German fairy tale
folk tale
literary fairy tale
centralConflict The girl must spin an impossible amount of flax or face punishment.
countryOfOrigin Germany
culturalContext Reflects historical expectations of women’s domestic labor in German-speaking regions.
featuresCharacter lazy girl
prince
queen
three mysterious women
featuresMotif impossible spinning task
marriage to a prince
three supernatural helpers
hasGenre fairy tale
folk narrative
hasTheme bargain with supernatural helpers
cleverness
laziness
marriage as reward
subversion of traditional female labor roles
languageOfWorkOrName German
moral Cleverness and negotiation can overturn oppressive expectations of labor.
External appearances of industry can be deceptive.
originalTitle Die drei Spinnerinnen NERFINISHED
plotSummary A lazy girl who hates spinning is forced to spin flax, receives help from three strange women in exchange for a future favor, and ultimately avoids spinning for the rest of her life.
relatedMotifCluster spinning tales in European folklore GENERATED
relatedWork Rumpelstiltskin NERFINISHED
The Twelve Huntsmen NERFINISHED
resolution The three spinners complete the work and the girl marries the prince under the condition she will never spin again.
title The Three Spinners NERFINISHED

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Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Brothers Grimm fairy tales includesWork The Three Spinners