D is for Dreamers (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.

THE TROPE

(Beautiful) Dreamer in this case refers to the trope where one person in a romantic couple falls asleep, and the other lovingly admires them. You know, in a totally romantic, non-creepy way.

THE FOLKLORE

This one had an immediate inspiration: Beauty and the Beast. But not the version most people are familiar with - rather, other variants of tale type ATU 425. In many stories of this type, the enchanted husband visits his wife at night in secret, and she never gets to see him in his true form (think Amor and Psyche). Eventually, she stays awake and lights a candle while her husband is asleep, so she can gaze at him and see how beautiful he really is. Usually, this ends badly, and the husband disappears; the heroine then has to go on a long quest to find him again. When she does, he is in an enchanted sleep, and she has to call (or sing) to him three nights in a row to wake him up.

THE STORIES

Wolf of the Greenwood (American folktale)

This tale was collected in 1914 in upstate New York. It starts with a woman who has a "witch chair", which she uses to catch suitors for her three daughters. The youngest marries a handsome stranger, and they live happily for a while. However, a young woman, jealous of their marriage, curses the husband to roam the Rocky Mountains as a wolf during the day, and only return home at night. Even so, the couple eventually has three children. This makes the witch even more jealous, and she sends a dog to abduct the babies and hide them.

The wife sets out to undo the curse on her husband and save her children. She makes her way to the witch's mountain, and exchanges various gifts for spending three nights in her husband's room. The witch makes the man drink a sleeping potion, so no matter how the wife calls to him, he doesn't wake up. On the third day, however, she sneaks out into the woods and gives her wolf-husband a sponge, which he uses to soak up the potion so he can stay awake. The enchantment is thus broken, and they can reunite their family.

The bull prince (Folktale from the Dominican Republic)

I love this version of the tale because, once again, the lovers know each other before the marriage. Here, a prince is cursed into a half-bull, half-man monster for not marrying a witch. A princess he loved volunteers to marry him anyway, and follows him into the wilderness. She lights a candle to look at him at night, wondering how to break his curse - but a drop of wax falls on him and burns him, and he disappears, crying out that she won't find him until she wears out a pair of iron shoes. She does, going on a long journey, and finally finds him in the Land of Gold. She trades three gifts for three nights in his room, but (just as in the story above) on the first two, she can't wake her husband up. She succeeds on the last night, breaking his enchantment, and they can live happily ever after.

Dalim Kumar (Folktale from Bengal)

Due to a curse, the prince Dalim Kumar is dead during the day, and alive at night. No one knows te secret except for his best friend, and a girl who wanders into his mausoleum and falls in love with him. For years, Dalim Kumar lives and dies every day, and his wife watches over him until the sun sets. Finally his wife decides to break the curse. She comes up with a genius plan to visit the evil queen who's dursed Dalim Kumar, and steals the necklace that can bring him back to life for good.

Do you have favorite romance stories that feature this trope?

Do you like the folktale versions?

Don't forget to leave a link in the comments so I can visit you back!