Warrior women of fairy tales (part 3)

 There has been a delay in me posting these, so I'm back now. This is a topic about warrior women in fairy tales, who are not the weak damsels in distress as everyone makes them out to be. This is the third part of the fairy stories with these girls.

Fitcher's Bird

This is a very dark story by the Brothers Grimm. It's never appeared in children's omnibus of fairy tale collections and you'll soon find out why. It's about a sorcerer who disguises himself as a beggar, so that he could kidnap young women and take them off to his castle. He kidnapped the eldest of three sisters, killed her and returned to the streets. He found the second sister, took her back to his castle and gave her a bunch of keys. He told her never to enter a locked room and then he gave her an egg to look after. When the sorcerer went away, the second sister opened the forbidden door and entered a gruesome sight of chopped body parts belonging to her sister. In panic, she dropped the egg and it fell in the bloody mess. What happened to her next also happened to her older sister, when the sorcerer returned. He found the egg and knew that the woman had betrayed him by entering the forbidden room. He killed the second sister and hacked her to pieces. Then the sorcerer kidnapped the youngest sister and took her to his castle. He gave her keys and an egg. He told her the same thing, warning her never to enter this locked room. When the sorcerer left, the youngest sister put the egg down and then she opened the forbidden room's door and found her dead sisters. She restored their body parts and they were able to live again. When the sorcerer returned, he noticed the egg but it wasn't in the bloodied room. Believing that the young sister kept her promise to him, he wanted to marry her. The woman wanted the sorcerer to carry a heavy basket filled with gold to her family. Inside those baskets were really her two sisters. She then got a skull and placed it on the windowsill. She covered herself in honey and birds feathers so that she looked like an unusual bird. She left the castle and went to visit her family. When the sorcerer returned to the castle, the place was burned down by the three sisters out of revenge. 

Li Chi and the Serpent

This story is part of Chinese legend and goes far back in history. There is a giant serpent monster threatening villagers in a kingdom. It's all been agreed among the human officials and the monster that one a year, a young girl is sent to the serpent's cave. A young girl named Li Chi volunteers to be the next sacrifice to the serpent. She wanted to help her poorly father because a sacrifice to the serpent delivers a lot of money to the families of the girls. As there were already six daughters, and no sons, Li Chi told her father that she wanted to offer herself as food to the serpent in the next year, so that her family would have a better life. The magistrate agreed for Li Chi to be the next sacrifice. Li Chi's grandmother gave her some rice balls, a sword an a hunting dog. When she visited the cave of the serpent, she placed the rice balls on the ground and went off somewhere to hide. She watched the serpent monster appear and then eat on the rice balls. The dog ran up and barked at it, while Li Chi buried the sword into the serpent, which killed it. She became Li Chi who slayed the serpent. She went inside the cave and found the nine skeletal remains of the previous victims. When she returned home, victorious, she was made a queen. 

More to come soon...

She Wolf Night