AT 313, The Girl as Helper in the Hero’s Flight, amongst the longest of Märchen,
is also rich with complex symbolism, and requires, for a comprehensive
interpretation, a much fuller treatment than can be adequately contained within
the prescribed twenty minutes. It is for this reason that I focus principally on one
aspect of the tale’s meaning, summarized in the first part of my title, Recognizing
Female Sexuality. The second part of my title AT 313, The Maid as Mentor in the
Young Man’s Maturation aptly summarizes what I feel would be an appropriate
renaming of the tale type, if such a renaming were based uniquely on versions of
the tale I or my students have collected from French Newfoundlanders over
an almost thirty year period, and if, more pertinently, there was sufficient
scholarly agreement on the meaning and function of the tale. In focussing on
female sexuality in the tale, however, I wish to stress not only its centrality to
an understanding of the tale’s meaning, but also the crucial significance of the
relationship between tale interpretation and what Bengt Holbek called “the
storytelling community.
