It's interesting how the folk tradition evolves. Though there is no reference to the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers, the three named brothers in the story have names resembling Reuben, Dan, and Benjamin, the names of three of Joseph's brothers. I doubt that's coincidence. The connection seems to have no influence on the plot, though.
Bill, thank you so much for the comment. I’m so sorry it took me so long to respond. There were intentional parallels between Joseph and his brothers in the original version of the tale—what with 12 brothers and the youngest named Benjamin. However, the other brothers’ names weren’t explicitly mentioned in the story, so I gave them the Greek version of the names for Dan and Reuben. Again, thank you so much for your comment and for sharing the story.
I was so ready for a neat little self-fulfilling prophecy, but this went in such a different direction! What a great story full of surprises. I love the change of setting, which gave it an even more intriguing aspect.
Thank you so much for the comment. I’m falling in love with how fresh and weird the originals of some of these folk and fairy tales are compared to many modern interpretations of them. It sort of blows my mind that for all the complaining about the threat of AI to the arts, no one is discussing why it is that, if AI has access to these exact same copyright-free historical documents (the originals of Grimm, for example), why isn’t it capable of “generating” a retelling or reimagining of one of these based on those? Instead, it seems to replicate current models and mimics well-worn cliches to the point that all barmaids in fantasy fiction are all buxom and wear dirndl’s, while all dwarfs become “dwarves” and have embarrassingly Wagnerian characteristics. (Tolkien was influenced by Wagner’s depictions of dwarfs in the Ring Cycle.) When I was working on the werewolf novel early on, I had someone reach out to me offline and tell me that I didn’t seem to understand the distinction between werewolves and vampires, because werewolves were not undead. 😂
That's a really great point, and I think that's one of the indicators that AI is not actually creative or intelligent, it's just good at assembling information and mimicking or remixing average, popular results. That's the opposite of creativity. It probably ignores stuff like those old fairy tales precisely because they're so unpredictable and strange. And that's exactly what makes them human! (On a personal note, I think the anti-AI witch hunting is absurd. If I read one more post about how em dashes are a sign of generated writing—well, I don't know what I'll do!)
You nailed it! There is something about German folk tales and their weirdly macabre happy endings! I think that all the references to gruesome deaths is one of the reasons this one didn’t get re-anthologized a lot in the 19th c.
Wow, so many reversals of fortune...on one hand doomed but then on the other, delivered!! Again and again, the fickle finger of fate! In this case the number 13 is indeed lucky...
Haha. Thank you for the wonderful comment as always, Frank! I’m a bit surprised this fairy tale is not as well known as some of the others. But it is pretty dark. And, yes, the number 13 is ambiguously lucky and unlucky in this story.
It's interesting how the folk tradition evolves. Though there is no reference to the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers, the three named brothers in the story have names resembling Reuben, Dan, and Benjamin, the names of three of Joseph's brothers. I doubt that's coincidence. The connection seems to have no influence on the plot, though.
Bill, thank you so much for the comment. I’m so sorry it took me so long to respond. There were intentional parallels between Joseph and his brothers in the original version of the tale—what with 12 brothers and the youngest named Benjamin. However, the other brothers’ names weren’t explicitly mentioned in the story, so I gave them the Greek version of the names for Dan and Reuben. Again, thank you so much for your comment and for sharing the story.
I was so ready for a neat little self-fulfilling prophecy, but this went in such a different direction! What a great story full of surprises. I love the change of setting, which gave it an even more intriguing aspect.
Thank you so much for the comment. I’m falling in love with how fresh and weird the originals of some of these folk and fairy tales are compared to many modern interpretations of them. It sort of blows my mind that for all the complaining about the threat of AI to the arts, no one is discussing why it is that, if AI has access to these exact same copyright-free historical documents (the originals of Grimm, for example), why isn’t it capable of “generating” a retelling or reimagining of one of these based on those? Instead, it seems to replicate current models and mimics well-worn cliches to the point that all barmaids in fantasy fiction are all buxom and wear dirndl’s, while all dwarfs become “dwarves” and have embarrassingly Wagnerian characteristics. (Tolkien was influenced by Wagner’s depictions of dwarfs in the Ring Cycle.) When I was working on the werewolf novel early on, I had someone reach out to me offline and tell me that I didn’t seem to understand the distinction between werewolves and vampires, because werewolves were not undead. 😂
That's a really great point, and I think that's one of the indicators that AI is not actually creative or intelligent, it's just good at assembling information and mimicking or remixing average, popular results. That's the opposite of creativity. It probably ignores stuff like those old fairy tales precisely because they're so unpredictable and strange. And that's exactly what makes them human! (On a personal note, I think the anti-AI witch hunting is absurd. If I read one more post about how em dashes are a sign of generated writing—well, I don't know what I'll do!)
I love the concluding sentence. 😂
Ah....A good German folk tale. It had a happy ending, but that ending had to be earned with suffering.
Tales like this need to be told to der kinter.
You nailed it! There is something about German folk tales and their weirdly macabre happy endings! I think that all the references to gruesome deaths is one of the reasons this one didn’t get re-anthologized a lot in the 19th c.
Well that was different, wasn't it? But still, so good.
Thank you so much, Ben!
Wow, so many reversals of fortune...on one hand doomed but then on the other, delivered!! Again and again, the fickle finger of fate! In this case the number 13 is indeed lucky...
Haha. Thank you for the wonderful comment as always, Frank! I’m a bit surprised this fairy tale is not as well known as some of the others. But it is pretty dark. And, yes, the number 13 is ambiguously lucky and unlucky in this story.