The Seven Ravens

As I started reading this book, I realized that it sounded familiar, and then I realized that I'd just watched a version of this story told on the Netflix show CGI-animated Hansel and Gretel series. (frankly, I didn't like the series that much, but that's a story for another day)

The story itself is a little weird. Because seven brothers made a relatively small mistake, their parents get so pissed off that they curse the boys to become ravens. Which is just... a head-scratcher here. I know this is just a fairy tale and a lot of them were weird, but damn, the parents really over-reacted to the kids losing a water-jug. At least their little sister was able to undo the curse.

I've never heard of the Seven Ravens fairy tale. Both the tale and illustrator and new to me! it is an incredible find.

Unfortunately, after searching for more than an hour, I was only able to find one illustration for this book.

To observe the beauty of the artistry, I highly recommend purchasing this book. I found this edition on Thriftbooks.com

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This is a tale of a couple who longed for a daughter after having seven sons. When a baby girl was born, she was tiny, nonetheless, her parents were overjoyed even though she was hospitalized at once.

Her father sent one of the sons to fetch water for the baptism. Excited, the other six accompanyed him. In their excitement, the pitcher dropped into the show more well.

They were very afraid to go home. Waiting, the father assumed the sons forgot and were playing instead of obtaining water for the baptism. He wished they would turn to ravens, and alas the wind began to whirl and seven black ravens flew away.

When the spell could not be undone, they were sad, but found a lot of joy in their daughter. When she grew, she overheard mention of the seven brothers and that she was to blame for their curse. Her parents told her the spell was heaven's wish.

The beautiful daughter could not rest until she found her brothers and helped to undo the curse. She left her home and took a small ring reminding her of her parents, a loaf of bread and water. In addition, she took a chair to rest when she was weary.

Her travels took her to the world's end where so found the sun that was way too sorching. Fearing the sun would harm her, she continined on and found the wicked moon who told her he liked the flesh of human children. Again she fled. The stars that she found were kind and had their own chairs.

Finally, she found the morning star who gave her a chicken leg and told her her brothers would be found inside the glass mountion, but the chicken leg would be needed .

As the story progressed, she opened the cloth that previously held the chicken leg, but it was gone. Here is where the story gets a gory as the girl cuts her find with a knife to unlock the door to the glass mountain.

As usual, a fairytale, has to contain some type of nastiness. The little figer unlocked the door into the glass mountain.

Now, the long journey proceeds as she discovers a dwarf who tells her the brothers are ravens, and she should wait and eat a tad from eachof the seven plates placed before her.

Whirling back to the beginning, the ring she originally took, now is mistakenly dropped in a cup. In doing so, the raven flapped inside and much like the story of Goldilocks, the ravens asked "Who's been drinking from my cup. With that the ravens recognized the ring as belonging to their parents of lond ago.

Knowing now only their sister can break the spell, and the ravens became the seven brothers of long ago.

The ending is happy, and they all traveled home happily.

This story is new to me. As I journey through illustrated books with their exquisite illustrations, it again becomes abundantly clear that fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm all have much in common:

A longing for a beautiful, life, different than the one currently lived. A journey to a far away mountain, castle or woods where others are found to help unlock the spell wether it is a kiss, a ring, a glass slipper. Along the way there is either an individual or a group who will help, perhaps dwarfs or others who either assist to find the way to find the end where the spell is broken and the main character find his/her fulfillment.

The stunning illustrations made this tale special. show less

I thought that this story was enjoyable enough but not anything particularly exceptional. This is a traditional fairy tale, and it reads like one (although, the girl cutting off her own finger is definitely an exciting twist that we wouldn't expect in more recently written children's stories). The illustrations were interesting, and I thought that a couple of them were downright odd, but I still liked them nonetheless. All in all, I'd keep this book in my classroom, and I'd read it to my students, but I don't think that it's anything to write home about.

This Brothers Grimm tale is about a young girl who searches the world for her brothers who were turned into ravens. After sacrificing her finger, she was able to bring her brothers home. Though a dark story, The Seven Ravens is a story about perseverance and family love.

Library Thing Part C # 8 Traditional Literature
Grimm, Jacob, Wilhelm Grimm, Henriette Sauvant, and Anthea Bell. The Seven Ravens: a Fairy Tale. New York: North-South, 1995. Print.

The Seven Ravens has a dream quality and the illustrations certainly follow that thought. Henriette Sauvant uses oils to paint scenes with haunting images surrounding the young sister. The style of art is surrealistic with bold images contrasting a young innocent dainty girl. The folktale begins with a father of seven sons wishing to have a daughter. She is conceived and born but in a frail condition and her father fears she will die. He sends his sons to bring water from the well so he can baptize the baby and they drop the pitcher in the well by accident. show more The father curses the boys for not bringing the water and realizes in his rage the curse was fulfilled and they have turned into ravens. The baby survives and at a young age, probably 8 years learns about her brothers and is filled with guilt that their disappearance was connected to her birth. She leaves home with a ring, a pitcher, and a chair, in search of her brothers. She travels to the sun and the moon and finally receives some comfort and guidance from the stars. One star gives her a bone to use as a key to open the door at the glass mountain. She loses the bone and sacrifices her smallest finger to use in place of the lost bone. Once inside the mountain she finds a table prepared with food and drink. She nibbles on some of the food and drops her ring inside one of the cups. The ravens return home hungry and thirsty and find their food has been bitten and when the seventh raven drinks from his cup he finds the ring. The little girl runs from behind the door and as soon as they see her, the spell is broken and they regain their humanity. They all return home.
The pattern of 3 objects is seen by the things the girl has with her throughout the journey. Other folktale elements would be the spell, transformation from human to animal, the journey, and the sacrifice of a limb. The number 7 is symbolical and is found in the Bible as well as in myths from various cultures. This title should be in a folktale collection and I would recommend buying this book. Curriculum connection would be grades 3rd through high school for language arts. show less

In this classic tale by the Brothers Grimm, a young girl must go out into the world and find her brothers who have been transformed into ravens by her father's curse. Meets the Sun, Moon, and Stars in her journey to save her family.

Praaaaaachtig prentenboek dat ik via dit systeem opsnorde, n.a.v. de titel Bontepelsje, uitgegeven bij de bijzondere uitgeverij De Vier Windstreken. Ooit in de Slegte getroffen !