The Twelve Huntsmen

Summary

The Twelve Huntsmen is a tale full of lions, unfaithful men, and cross-dressers. It makes for a pretty interesting story.

Once upon a time there was a king’s son who had a bride that he loved dearly. Word came to this man who his father was very ill and might soon die. The king’s son told his wife that he must leave and go see his father. His father was very ill and made his son promise that he would marry a specific king’s daughter. The son made this promise to his father because of the emotional anguish he was in.

When the king died, his son became king. He kept his word to his father and married this other king’s daughter. When word came back to his first wife that he had done this she was distraught. Her father asks her if she needs anything. She tells him that she wants him to find eleven maidens exactly like herself in height, build, and face. Her father does find eleven girls that look exactly like her. She has them all dressed as huntsmen. She then goes with her twelve huntresses to the service of the king who was/is her husband.

The king decides they are such appealing huntsmen that they must be in his service. he goes out on hunts with them. His lion, yes, he has a lion, tells him something is up with the twelve huntsmen. The lion is a special lion that knew all concealed and secret things. The lion tells the king that his twelve huntsmen aren’t men at all, but women. He tells the king to place a challenge to them. He says to strew peas across the anteroom floor. If they are men, the peas will not move around the floor when the huntsmen walk into the room, but if they are women, women being all skippy and so forth, the peas will travel all over the floor. A servant of the king gets word of this plan. He tells the twelve huntsmen what the king is planning. The first wife of the king tells her maidens to man up and walk like men. She doesn’t want any of that sissy-walking.

The twelve huntsmen come into the pea-strewn room and not one pea moves. The king tells his lion that he’s a freaking liar. The lion says he was telling the truth and that the king should put another challenge to the huntsmen. He tells the king to place twelve spinning wheels in the anteroom. The fake huntsmen will see them and be delighted. The servant gets word of the plot again. He tells the first wife and she tells her fake huntsmen to man up they’re just spinning wheels. The twelve huntsmen came into the antechamber and didn’t betray any emotion over the spinning wheels, what women would do that in the first place? The king tells his lion he’s a big liar, again. The lion says that they learned of the plan, but the king is done with his foolishness and decides to go hunting.

The king went out hunting with his twelve huntsmen and news came that his new wife was approaching. The first wife was so distraught over this that she fell off of her horse. The king thought something was terribly wrong with one of his beloved huntsmen so he tried to help out. When he got close he realized it was his first wife. He said to her, “You are mine and I am yours, and no one in the world can alter that.” He sent a messenger to his second wife telling her to go back home he already has a wife and he doesn’t need another one. They celebrated their wedding and the lion became a friend to the king again.

The End

Observations

What a two-timing jerk! He marries someone else, while he is still married to his first wife. Doesn’t he have the balls to tell his dad that he is already married? Is polygamy legal in this kingdom? Remember, we’ve already made the point that kings just don’t care. They married whoever they wanted whenever they wanted.

Cross-dressing is a neat point to this story. This woman and eleven other women pretend to be men. That was a crime punishable by death at many points in history, especially if you were a woman. I don’t know what this kingdom’s view on this crime was. Obviously, the king’s first wife got off without any charges, but what about the eleven other women? The king probably married them as well since they were so much like his beloved first wife. This is my backup wife, for when the other one is sick. I actually have eleven backup wives. Their menstrual cycles are all synced up though. For one week each month, this place is hell.

Where does this lion come from? First of all, it talks. Lions don’t talk. Second of all, why does it know all the secrets and hidden things about life? Was this lion given some special power? Did he eat a magical antelope? Where does one buy a lion that knows the truth to all things? The lion does have some religious connotations. It is associated with the tribe of Judah, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the book of Revelation, the lion also represents Jesus Christ. We usually look at a lion and think of strength and even royalty. It may be that the lion is associated with this king because the king is royal. I don’t know why the idea of hidden truths are associated with this lion though.

Themes

If you’re already married, don’t marry someone else. It’s simple. If you’ve got a wife, you better not try to marry another one. If you’ve got a husband, don’t try to marry another one. It’s illegal, in many countries, to be married to more than one person at once, legally. It’s not illegal to cheat on your spouse and take up a lover, but they can actually sue for alienation of affection. So that’s something to consider. Pretty much as long as there has been marriage, there have been people trying to marry more than one person at once. Is it right? No. It’s a contract you better stick to it, or get divorced.

The first wife in this story sounds pretty resourceful even if she has a penchant to dress in men’s clothing and surround herself with eleven other women who look just like her. She could find another man, or woman, whatever she prefers.

I don’t really want to get all mushy as far as this story is concerned. This is a bit of a love story and it you want to say a moral of this story is that true love conquers all, you can go ahead and say that. I’m just not going to say it here.

Overall

I liked the cross-dressing bit.



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