turnip princess

Today’s tale is another from The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth. “Flour for Snow ” is from the Legends section of the book. I admit that I chose it because I am tired of winter, even if we’ve had more just cold temperatures than actual snow. “What good was snow after all? It had not fallen in Paradise, and it was also not on Noah’s ark. It could not possibly be a part of God’s creation.”

Once again the story features a woodcutter. He’s tired of working, especially when the snow makes his job harder, and constantly complains to the Lord about his misery. One day, while he’s out chopping wood, it starts to snow – again. He crawls into a hollow and just as he starts to stretch out, an angel appears. The angel ask him why he spends more time calling out to the devil than to God and he replies that he isn’t so much friends with God, God rarely pays attention to him. The angel asks what he needs to change his mind and the man foolishly replies that he wants to see flour falling from the sky instead of snow. Wishes like that rarely turn out well in fairy tales.

So immediately, flour begins falling instead of snow and all the people gather it up and now they have enough bread that they don’t have to work anymore. But the next time a house burned down or a wall collapsed no one wanted to fix it, and eventually they all started living in caves and walking around naked. Wild animals multiplied and bushes and trees took over where there used to be houses and paths.

The worker realized how foolish and stupid he was to questions the “divine order of the world.” He regretted it and just as he got up to go search for the angel, he woke up. He exited the hollow and there was snow on the ground. He fell to his knees and thanked God for teaching him a lesson.

I get it. Quit my whining. Winter will be over when it’s over. In the meantime, I should be thankful for the roof over my head, the heat in my house, and the food in my cupboard.

Purchase The Turnip Princess: Amazon

Thursday’s Tales is a weekly event here at Carol’s Notebook. Fairy tales, folktales, tall tales, even re-tellings, I love them all.

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