The Wedding of Mrs. Fox

The Wedding of Mrs. Fox
Tailpiece illustration by Walter Crane, 1882.
Folk tale
NameThe Wedding of Mrs. Fox
Aarne–Thompson groupingATU 65, 1350, 1352, 1510
CountryGermany
Published inGrimms' Fairy Tales

"The Wedding of Mrs. Fox" (German: Die Hochzeit der Frau Füchsin) refers to two German fairy tales collected under the same title by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as number 38.[1] It was included in all editions, and is classified as Aarne-Thompson type 65, 1350, 1352*, and 1510.[2]

The second version of the tale was told to the Grimms by Ludovico Brentano Jordis, who also wrote down "The Lion and the Frog" for the brothers.[3]

Synopsis

In the first version of the story, Mr. Fox has nine tails and feigns his death to test his wife's loyalty. Mrs. Fox rejects all the fox suitors that have fewer than nine tails. When she gets engaged to another fox with nine tails, Mr. Fox arises and throws everyone out of his house, including his wife.

In the second version, Mr. Fox dies and Mrs. Fox is suited by a dog, a deer, a hare, a bear and a lion. She rejects all of them because they do not have red pants and a pointed face. When a fox arrives and meets her requirements, she agrees to marry him and laments her first husband's selfishness.

Motifs

The Grimms used the word "Zeiselschwänze" for "tails" when Mrs. Fox asks about her potential suitors in the first version of the story. The root "schwanz" creates a double entendre as it is also used to describe male genitalia.[2]

"The Wedding of Mrs. Fox" is featured in Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics. In this version, the wealthy Mr. Fox is convinced by another devilish fox he encounters while fishing that his beautiful wife is unfaithful and convinces him to initially follow her though he finds no evidence of her supposed infidelity. So the devilish fox suggests he pretend that he is dead, fooling both his wife and their feline maid.

The first suitor is Mr. Fox's friend and Mrs. Fox is too busy mourning her husband to take suitors, telling the maid to send him away. However, when a second suitor appears, the maid realizes that they will become poor and convinces Mrs. Fox that she must find a suitor. She agrees but states he must have nine tails like her husband.

Meanwhile, Mr. Fox feigns continues to feign his death while fighting his growing hunger, though grows confident that his wife will remain faithful as she refuses each suitor. However, a wealthy, younger fox with nine tails appears and she agrees to wed him, causing an angry Mr. Fox to confront the nine tailed suitor, the maid and his wife.

However Mrs. Fox addresses that he was wrong to deceive his wife in such a way as she had been devoted to him through and through and only chose the suitor as she thought he was dead and thought she would have to provide for herself and the maid defends her mistress by attacking him as he had always mistreated his housekeeper.

Mr. Fox chases them out of the house but realises he is now alone. The devilish fox is revealed to be the devil on his shoulder that makes one do bad deeds, causing Mr. Fox to angrily attack the devil only to destroy his house.

A Fantastic re-write of this tale was published in the December 2025 edition of the Oxford Student Magazine The Turl, by Kyra Radley and Jess Hind.

References

  1. ^ Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, Household Tales, "The Wedding of Mrs. Fox" Archived 2020-01-25 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b D.L. Ashliman, Mrs. Fox's Wedding
  3. ^ The Queen's Mirror: Fairy Tales by German Women, 1780-1900. Edited by Shawn C. Jarvis. University of Nebraska Press, 2001. 27.
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