Grimm's Fur-of-All-Kinds (Allerleirauh)

A dying queen demands that her husband remarry only someone as beautiful as she.  After the mourning period, his advisors scramble around to find a new monarch, but the king’s eye alights on his very own daughter.  She demands abstrusse wedding gifts, but they are manufactured.  In desperation, she flees with her dowry, including a fur made from all the kingdom’s animals, and hides in the forest.

What can come from an impossible promise to a dying monarch, and how does one redeem oneself from a horrific crime by one’s own father?  Ian and I summarize and then discuss this tale that begins in tragedy, runs through trauma, butts up against cruelty and envy, and culminates in the tearing away of an old wound.

00:00 Story Summary

08:04 This Story and Trauma

11:40 An Inability to Grieve

19:40 Why Did the Queen Demand Another Like Herself?

28:24 The Power of Images

35:25 Getting Lost in a Dying Wish

38:45 Three-Step Reveals

45:19 The Ripped Away Old Protective Persona

51:29 The Fur-of-All-Kinds

55:48 The King Rips off the Cloak