Tale Summary
Once upon a time, a woman was pestered by a rabbit who was eating all of her fine cabbages, and so she tells her daughter to hunt it. She asks the rabbit to please stop eating the crops, and he asks her to climb on his tail and accompany him to his house. It continues like this for three days until she agrees. When she arrives, the rabbit asks her to cook him green lettuce and bran, and also tells her that there are wedding guests. He asks her three times to get up for their wedding, and on the third ask, distraught, the girl made a straw doll out of her own clothes (with lipstick and everything). She returns back home to her mother, but the rabbit finds the lifeless doll and believes his bride to be dead.
Fairy Tale Title
The Rabbit's Bride
Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)
Brothers Grimm
Fairy Tale Illustrator(s)
Gilbert James
Common Tale Type
Rescue by the sister
Tale Classification
ATU 311
Page Range of Tale
pp. 25-28
Full Citation of Tale
“The Rabbit's Bride.” A Selection from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Gilbert James, London: Siegle, Hill and Co., [c. 1900], pp. 25-28.
Original Source of the Tale
Brothers Grimm
Tale Notes
All of the wedding guests are rabbits, except the parson, who is a crow, and the clerk, who is a fox. The altar is under the rainbow. Also, it is similar to the frog prince (of this same selection of tales) in that the girl is horrified by her potential partner and acts against them to prevent a relationship.
Research and Curation
Kaeli Waggener 2022
Book Title
A Selection from Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Book Author/Editor(s)
Brothers Grimm
Illustrator(s)
Gilbert James
Publisher
Siegle Hill & Co; The H.B. Claflin Company
Date Published
1900
Decade Published
1900-1909
Publisher City
London
New York
Publisher Country
United Kingdom
United States
Language
English
Rights
Public Domain
Digital Copy
Available at the CU Digital Library
Book Notes
This book includes six tales, most of which are the Grimm Brothers' best-known tales including Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Prince, Rumplestilskin, Hansel and Grethel, The Rabbit’s Bride, and The Shreds. The illustrations are simple but beautiful and a few pages are decorated with floral motifs. It is a very small book that appears adapted for children.
