Buttercup or Butterball is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe. It is Aarne-Thompson type 327 C, the devil (witch) carries the hero home in a sack. A fairy tale is a story, either told to children or as if told to children, concerning the adventures of mythical characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others. ... Edition from 1896. ... Antti Amatus Aarne (1867 - 1925) was a Finnish folklorist, who developed the initial version of what became the Aarne-Thompson classification system of classifying folktales, first published in 1910. ...

Synopsis

While his mother was baking, the dog began to bark, and Buttercup saw a witch coming. His mother had him hide in the kneading trough, but the witch said she had a silver knife to give him, and he came out. The witch told him that he had to climb into her sack to get it, and as soon as he was in, she carried him off. On the way, the witch asked how far they had to go, and Buttercup said a half mile, so she rested, and he escaped, putting a fir root in the sack.

The next day, she lured him out with the offer of a silver spoon, but he escaped in the same way, using a stone. The third day, she offered him a silver fork and went straight home without resting. She gave him to her daughter to cook and went to church to invite guests to dinner. The daughter didn't know how to kill him. Buttercup told her to lay her head on the chopping block, and he would show her. He cut her head off, put it in her bed, and stewed her body. Then he climbed up the chimney with the root and stone.

The witch and her husband came home, and when they ate the soup, speaking of "Buttercup broth", Buttercup talked of "daughter broth." They went outside to see what caused the noise, and Buttercup killed them by dropping the stone and root on their heads. He took all their gold and silver and went home.

See also

• Hansel and Gretel
• Hop o' My Thumb
• The Witch
• Vasilissa the Beautiful
• Foundling-Bird

Gretel tricks the witch Hansel and Gretel (German: Hänsel und Gretel) is a fairy tale of Germanic origin, collected by the Brothers Grimm. ... Hop o My Thumb is an ancient folk tale first retold by Charles Perrault. ... Vasilissa the Beautiful is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev. ... Foundling-Bird is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 51. ...

External links

• Buttercup
• Butterball