After I read Bruno Bettelheim’s statement that “Our Lady’s Child” makes a unique contribution to the “moral education of children,” I pulled down the German edition of “Fairy and Folk Tales Collected by the Brothers Grimm,” then my German dictionary, and a recent online translation from the University of Pittsburgh to help, and began to work through the story to see if it was as good as Bettelheim said.
Here is my summary:
A woodcutter, so poor that he could not feed his family was working sadly in a forest, when a woman appeared, wearing a star-studded crown.
She said “I am the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Christ child,” and that she had come to take his three-year-old daughter to heaven with her. The woodcutter gave his child into Mary’s care.
In heaven the child enjoyed sweet breads and fresh milk, clothing made of gold, and angels- just her age- to play with. When she reached age 14, the Virgin took a trip, leaving the maiden with the 13 Keys of Heaven. Mary warned the child that she could unlock any of the first twelve doors, but to enter the 13th door was totally forbidden.
“If you disobey,” the Virgin warned, “ you will lose your good fortune.”
Each day the maiden opened the door to one of the 12 rooms, to see “one of the Apostles.” There was so much light in each room —and presumably so much love—that the maiden and all her angel friends came away in great joy.
When the maiden said wanted to open the 13th door, her angel friends reminded her that the Virgin had said to open the door was a “sin,” and if she opened the forbidden door she—might— lose her good fortune.
But, left alone by her friends, she decided that no one would ever know what she had done, so she unlocked the door to find “the Trinity” seated there in “fire and glory.” At first she drew back. Then, she reached out and touched the light surrounding the figures. When she saw that her finger had turned to gold, she slammed the door and ran away.
When the Virgin returned, she asked the maiden if she had opened the 13th door.
The girl answered “No.”
After that, the Virgin asked her two times more, but received the same reply. So, the Virgin said that Mary’s child was no longer worthy to live in heaven, and the maiden went to sleep. When she woke up she found herself back on Earth, in the middle of a large forest.
She tried to call out for help, but she had no voice. She tried to run away, but on every side found herself hedged in by a thick wall of thorns.
She found a home in a hollow tree, where she slept at night, and crouched during ice and snow. By day, she searched for “roots and wild strawberries” to eat. Her golden clothing soon wore out and fell off. All she had to cover her was her thick long hair.
One day a king came by, hunting, and tried to speak with her. Failing that, he convinced her to go to his castle with him, where he gave all the food and clothing she wanted, and anything else she asked for. In time, they fell in love and married.
After the queen gave birth to a son, the Virgin appeared one night to ask her again,“Did you open the 13th door?”
When the queen said “No,” the Virgin took her baby back to heaven with her.
Another son was born, and then a daughter. Each time Mary came to ask if the queen had opened the door; each time she answered, “No.” Each time the Virgin took the new baby to heaven.
After the third child disappeared, so many of the people called for a trial for the “man-eater,” that the King had to allow it. When she was questioned in the trial, the Queen could not speak, so she was pronounced guilty.
The executioners tied her to the stake, and lit the fire. As the flames got closer, her “heart of stone melted” and she thought “If I could only confess…before I die… that I opened that door….”
At that instant her voice returned and she shouted loud into the air, “Yes… Mary… I did it.”
Just then, the heavens opened and rain came to put out the fire. A light shone above the queen’s head as Mary descended from heaven, bringing the two little princes by her side, and the baby in her arms.
She smiled at the queen, then said, ”Whoever repents of their sin and confesses is forgiven.”
Then Mary returned the children to their mother, gave her back her speech permanently, and gave her “good fortune for the rest of her life.”
I found this an immensely powerful story, very simple , with almost no explanation. It does tell that Mary is the “mother of the Christ child,” but the fairy tale does not explain who the twelve Apostles were, nor does it define the meaning of the Trinity. It does not tell why opening the 13th door is a“sin.” It does not tell us what became of the woodcutter and his wife. Nor does it tell how the king protected his wife from prosecution so long; nor does it explain “man-eater.”
I am convinced that Bettelheim is right. “Our Lady’s Child” is a tale whose time has come, because it gently tells children—and reminds adults— that lying is a dreadful thing. It also shows how repentance and confession can melt a liar’s heart—whatever its age—and can restore forfeited peace.