The Husband Who Was to Mind the House

The Husband Who Was to Mind the House

Asbjørnsen and Moe- First published in 1859.

Reading Level: 9+  Number of Pages: 2 Genre: Classic Fairy-tale

Summary: There once was a man and a wife. One day the man came home from working in the field, and was very put out with the hard work he had done that day. He was so angry that his wife suggested they trade roles for the next day, and try out each others' jobs. The husband decided it was a wonderful idea, and so they switched roles.

  That morning he arose and began to churn butter. While doing this, he began to get thirsty, so he went to get some ale. When he came back, he saw that the pig had gotten into the house and had upset the butter churn. In his anger he spilt his ale and accidentally killed the pig. He began to churn again, but then remembered that the cow needed to be milked, and he still wasn't done churning. He couldn't leave the churn at the house, for the child would definitely spill it, so he strapped it to his back and went to milk the cow. As he bent down to milk the cow, the cream and butter spilt out of the churn and ran down his back and onto the ground. Now he had wasted two churns of butter and still had not prepared any for dinner. Presently he milked the cow, and then noticed that it was too late in the day to take her to pasture, so he decided it would work the same to let her graze on the roof, for their house was thatched with sod. So he raised a plank and led her up onto the roof. Afraid the cow might fall off, and making haste since he still had to grind some oatmeal, he lowered the cow's harness down the chimney, and attached it to his leg while he ground the oatmeal and prepared dinner.

 Presently the cow fell off the roof, dragging the man up the chimney. The cow could not get away for the harness, and the man could not release himself. So there he hung until his wife came home. She got on top of the roof to cut him down, and he fell headfirst into the oatmeal he had been grinding.

My Impressions: I wonder if the story does not reinforce gender-roles, but I find it humorous that the husband had such a hard time minding the house, while the woman didn't seem to mind her job at all.

 

Parent's Guide: Alcohol use, the man gets angry and kills the pig.

Recommendations: Recommended for everyone.