The Wise Woman comforts Two-Eyes. Illustration by Hermann Vogel.
"One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes" (German: Einäuglein, Zweiäuglein und Dreiäuglein) is a Fairy Tale collected by The Brothers Grimm and included in their collection Children's and Household Tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen). The tale is classified as a Aarne-Thompson-Uther Type 511.
A woman has three daughters, each named after the number of eyes they have. Two-Eyes, being the most normal of her sisters, is mistreated by her family, but her Knight in Shining Armor might not be too far off.
The tale is in the public domain and can be read in SurLaLune
, Project Gutenberg, here and here.
This tale provides examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: In a Russian version, Two-Eyes is just as evil as her sisters, and an orphan living with the family is the heroine.
- Adapted Out:
- The Russian version cuts the Fairy Godmother and has the helpful animal, here a cow, advise the heroine.
- Some versions cut out the mother and just have the two sisters mistreat Two-Eyes.
- Cinderella Plot: Two-Eyes is constantly mistreated by her mother and sisters:Now, as Two-Eyes saw just as other human beings did, her sisters and her mother could not endure her. They said to her, "You, with your two eyes, are no better than common folk. You do not belong to us!"
They pushed her about, and threw old clothes to her, and gave her nothing to eat but what they left, and did everything that they could to make her unhappy. - Easily Forgiven: Two-Eyes graciously forgives her sisters after her marriage to the knight.
- Evil Matriarch: The mother cannot stand her second daughter because she has two eyes. So, she strikes and insults Two-Eyes, forces her to wear rags and eat leftovers. Tellingly, Two-Eyes eventually forgives her sisters but not her mother. It is a rare instance where the villainous biological mother isn't rewritten as a Wicked Stepmother.
- Failed a Spot Check: When Two-Eyes starts showing signs of better health and esteem, her mother has One-Eye spy on her to see what she is up to. Two-Eyes enchants her single eye so she falls asleep and she cannot see her summon food with a spell. The mother then sends Three-Eyes to spy on her and Two-Eyes tries the same spell... but only enchants two of her eyes, so Three-Eyes sees everything with her third.
- Fairy Godmother: A fairy -also called a Wise Woman- teaches Two-Eyes one spell to summon food.
- Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: After the death of the goat, the wise woman advises Two-Eyes to bury its heart. From the goat's heart a tree with silver leaves and golden fruits sprouts, which only Two-Eyes can pluck. Doing so nets her the prince and the ticket out of her deplorable situation.
- Gender Flip: A Chinese version exists where "One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes" are boys. The Fairy Godmother equivalent is also a man. The evil mother is the same, however.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: The wicked mother isn't mentioned in the epilogue when the sisters come begging because they've fallen on hard times. This is often taken to imply she died off-screen.
- Knight in Shining Armor: A knight takes Two-Eyes away from her evil family and marries her.
- Lost in Translation: Two Eye's helper is described as a "White Woman," usually rendered a "Wise Woman" in English. This doesn't just mean a lady who knows a thing or two. The Grimm Brothers usually censored references to fairies, rewriting references to them as "White Women," Germanic light elves likely based off the Dutch Witte Wieven. This was because the Grimms wanted their stories to be as authentically as "German" as possible and thought "fairies" were too "French."
- Middle Child Syndrome: One Eye is the eldest, Two Eyes is the middle daughter, and Three Eyes is the youngest. Because Two Eyes was similar to the common people, the evil mother mistreated her.
- No Name Given: Neither the evil mother nor the kind knight are given names.
- Youngest Child Wins: Averted. Two-Eyes is the middle daughter.
