wrestling with robbers

[marycatelli]

Fairy tales with robbers. . . .

There's the Robber Bridegroom of course, and in the Old Woman in the Woods, they set the stage and then vanish like any good plot device. . . .

And then there's the variants of Snow White where she's found by bandits, not dwarfs.  I think some people will allude to this one because they want their prince married off and figure that if he wakes a woman from enchanted sleep they figure they've got him caught, despite his father's order to not marry. . .

The thing is that that robbers feature in many tales as plot devices, not in particular types.  I don't think I'm going to use the substitute letter one where the robbers decide to play a practical joke on a king by having his letter to have the bearer executed change to one saying he should be married to the princess at once.  

Hmm -- though he could allude to it.   All the more in that he thinks it's new orders -- or could at least pretend to believe it.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

The Robber Bridegroom is a good treatment. The bride has to figure out how to tell everyone what happened in a way that she can deliver the account before the bandit can say, "Now, now, you've had a hard day, let's get you some rest" and hustle her off.

[marycatelli]

There is the question of whether it will fit in this one, though