Below are some spontaneous thoughts on the Grimm version of the fairy tale, The Girl Without Hands. I’m finding the tale very therapeutic right now. This is not a definitive analysis. I’m approaching the text like a dream and my reactions are dream-like, alternating between treating this tale as parts of my psyche, or even parts within a part of my psyche. Marie Louise Von Franz suggested we might also read these tales as a description of the collective concerns of a culture. Like dreams, fairy tales can be filled with paradox and contradiction, just like our inner life.

Brothers Grimm – The Girl Without Hands – Part 2

To read part one click here.

Then she had her mutilated arms tied to her back, and at sunrise she set forth, walking the entire day until it was night. She came to a royal garden, and by the light of the moon she saw that inside there were trees full of beautiful fruit. But she could not get inside, for there it was surrounded by water.

Having walked the entire day without eating a bite, she was suffering from hunger, and she thought, “Oh, if only I were inside the garden so I could eat of those fruits. Otherwise I shall perish.”

Then she kneeled down and, crying out to God the Lord, she prayed. Suddenly an angel appeared. He closed a head gate, so that the moat dried up, and she could walk through.

She entered the garden, and the angel went with her. She saw a fruit tree with beautiful pears, but they had all been counted. She stepped up to the tree and ate from it with her mouth, enough to satisfy her hunger, but no more. The gardener saw it happen, but because the angel was standing by her he was afraid and thought that the girl was a spirit. He said nothing and did not dare to call out nor to speak to the spirit. After she had eaten the pear she was full, and she went and lay down in the brush.

The king who owned this garden came the next morning. He counted the fruit and saw that one of the pears was missing. He asked the gardener what had happened to it. It was not lying under the tree, but had somehow disappeared.

The gardener answered, “Last night a spirit came here. It had no hands and ate one of the pears with its mouth.”

The king said, “How did the spirit get across the water? And where did it go after it had eaten the pear?”

The gardener answered, “Someone dressed in snow-white came from heaven and closed the head gate so the spirit could walk through the moat. Because it must have been an angel I was afraid, and I asked no questions, and I did not call out. After the spirit had eaten the pear it went away again.”

The king said, “If what you said is true, I will keep watch with you tonight.”

After it was dark the king entered the garden, bringing a priest with him who was to talk to the spirit. All three sat down under the tree and kept watch. At midnight the girl came creeping out of the brush, stepped up to the tree, and again ate off a pear with her mouth. An angel dressed in white was standing next to her.

The priest walked up to them and said, “Have you come from God, or from the world? Are you a spirit or a human?”

She answered, “I am not a spirit, but a poor human who has been abandoned by everyone except God.”

The king said, “Even if you have been abandoned by the whole world, I will not abandon you.”

He took her home with him to his royal castle, and because she was so beautiful and pure he loved her with all his heart, had silver hands made for her, and took her as his wife.

Thoughts on part 2 of this tale.

The young woman walks the entire day. and she comes upon a royal garden. She sees the garden in moon light. She is in the liminal space, the space of wounds and healing. But she cannot get to the royal sustenance because it is surrounded by a moat. What might this barrier represent in me? Perhaps the moat is unending tears. Or it might be unconscious material that stops me from moving forward.

The young woman doesn’t know how she can feed herself without arms. She has reached the end of what she can do on her own. When have I reached a dead-end? Marie Louise Von Franz offers a wonderful quote about dead-ends.

“Jung has said that to be in a situation where there is no way out, or to be in a conflict where there is no solution, is the classical beginning of the process of individuation. It is meant to be a situation without solution: the unconscious wants the hopeless conflict in order to put ego-consciousness up against the wall, so that the person has to realize that whatever they do is wrong, whichever way they decide will be wrong.

This is meant to knock out the superiority of the ego, which always acts from the illusion that it has the responsibility of decision.

Naturally, if a person says, “Oh well, then I shall just let everything go and make no decision, but just protract and wriggle out of [it],” the whole thing is equally wrong, for then naturally nothing happens.

But if they are ethical enough to suffer to the core of their personality, then generally because of the insolubility of the conscious situation, the Self manifests.

In religious language you could say that the situation without issue is meant to force the person to rely on an act of God…..

The young woman needs nurturing but she cannot get it from herself. She asks help from God/Higher Power and she receives help. The angel dries up the moat and helps her get to a piece of fruit. The young woman eats just what she needs, and no more. How often do I do that?? The woman is in a sacred place, filled with trust that she will get what she needs. She cannot grasp and hold extra. She lives in the consecrated moment. When I lose all my resources, I come to completely rely on God. I cannot scheme or covet or try to create security. I am dependent and this is a blessed, Kairos time. I remember these times. They have been the “worst times” of my life. And also the most holy.

The King comes to inspect his garden. Is he a petty materialist who won’t share and has to have an exact count of his assets? Perhaps. Or he is a royal soul who is in touch with his inner life and knows who and what he possesses. He is doing an inner inventory and he senses that something is different. He senses a new spirit in his midst. Or he is the royal masculine part of this woman. He is coming forward now to meet her. The Miller had no knowledge of his land, so he gave away his daughter. But this masculine energy knows all inner parts, down to the last pear.

The royal masculine is curious and brave. He does not know what or who this spirit might be. But instead of acting with greed or violence, he waits and watches. He brings his spiritual side with him and approaches her with openness. He does not accuse but asks, is she embodied? Can they relate to each other?

She says yes to this and they have a royal wedding. A healthier sense of masculine and feminine have come together. There is wealth and love. This is often the end of a tale but something isn’t finished yet. Perhaps it is part of the King’s immaturity. He, like the Miller, seeks to use wealth to end the woman’s process. Silver hands are beautiful but not very useable. The woman is still maimed, although now she is loved.

Below are some questions for Brothers Grimm – The Girl Without Hands – Part 2

Read part one here. Part 3 is coming soon! Click here to read the entire tale.

To watch some fairy tale films click here.

Brothers Grimm – The Girl Without Hands – Part 2