Black Bull of Norroway

The Black Bull of Norroway
The maiden on the bull's back. Illustration from More English Fairy Tales by John D. Batten (1894).
Folk tale
NameThe Black Bull of Norroway
Aarne–Thompson groupingATU 425A, "The Animal (Monster) as Bridegroom"
CountryScotland
Published in

"The Black Bull of Norroway" is a fairy tale from Scotland. A version titled "The Black Bull of Norroway" in the 1870 edition of Popular Rhymes of Scotland was reprinted in an Anglicised version by Joseph Jacobs in his 1894 book More English Fairy Tales.[1][2]

It was included within The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang,[3] English Fairy Tales by Flora Annie Steel,[4] Scottish Folk Tales by Ruth Manning-Sanders, and A Book Of British Fairytales by Alan Garner. J. R. R. Tolkien cited it in the essay "On Fairy-Stories" as the example of a "eucatastrophe".

It is Aarne–Thompson–Uther type 425A, "The Animal (Monster) as Bridegroom".[5] Others of this type include, The Brown Bear of Norway, The Daughter of the Skies, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Enchanted Pig, The Tale of the Hoodie, Master Semolina, The Sprig of Rosemary, The Enchanted Snake, and White-Bear-King-Valemon.[6]

  1. ^ Chambers, Robert (1870). Popular Rhymes of Scotland, New Edition. London and Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers. pp. 95–99.
  2. ^ Jacobs, Joseph; Batten, John D. (1894). "The Black Bull of Norroway". More English Fairy Tales. London: David Nutt. pp. 1–6 & notes: 218–19.
  3. ^ The Blue Fairy Book, "The Black Bull of Norroway"
  4. ^ Steel, Flora Annie. English Fairy Tales. London: Macmillan, 1918. pp. 144-153.
  5. ^ Baughman, Ernest Warren. Type And Motif-index of the Folktales of England And North America. The Hague: Mouton & Co., 1966-1967. p. 10.
  6. ^ Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to East of the Sun & West of the Moon Archived 2013-10-20 at the Wayback Machine"