Chronicle of Three Sisters

The Chronicle of Three Sisters by Johann Karl August Musaus

The Chronicle of Three Sisters, sometimes also titled The Enchanted Knights, is a story in three richly illustrated books by Johann Karl August Musaus (1735-1787), published by Verlag von J A Stargardt from Berlin in 1900.

The book is illustrated by Heinrich Lefler and Joseph Urban, a well-tuned creative duo of brothers-in-law where Lefler created most of the pictures and Urban preferably took care of the decorative elements.

The story was popular in the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th century. Musaus put it at the beginning of his fairy tale collection Folktales of the Germans in 1782. These fairy tales are presented as satires, but this specific story was also retold as a classic fairy tale in the first edition of Children's and Household Tales by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812. The most famous fairy tale collectors in the world excluded it from all their later editions. Grimms' version of Three Sisters, however, was much shorter.

Summary of The Chronicle of Three Sisters (The Enchanted Knights)

We'll condense the whole story as it was told by Museus and illustrated by Lefler and Urban in Jugendstil. It's a real treat in aesthetics.

There was a count who loved to party.

But every party has to party. If not before, when your money runs out.

The count was without any money. He has to go to the woods to hunt.

A bear attacked him.

The bear didn't kill the count. Instead, they made an agreement.

The count's oldest daughter had to marry the bear. The count would get a bag of gold.

The daughter was approached by a night who took her into the woods. The count started partying again.

He had spent all his new fortune. He was forced to go hunting again.

This time, he was attacked by an eagle. The count promised the eagle his second daughter.

She was taken by another knight. The count had got another bag of gold.

More partying followed.

The count lost all his money again.

This time, he went to the sea. There, he was attacked by a giant fish. His third daughter was promised to become a wife to the fish in exchange for the count's life and another bag of gold.

The youngest daughter was taken by the third knight.

The count finally became more frugal. But he had lost all his daughters. This is the end of the first book.

The count had got a son.

The boy was sixteen years old when he decided to leave the castle and search for his sisters.

He had found his oldest sister living in the cave.

Her husband was a bear. But once in a while, he changed into a knight.

The boy stayed with them for a while. Their cave was actually a castle.

It was nice to spend some time with his sister.

Her life was quite luxurious.

The boy eventually left his sister.

Her husband gave him three hairs.

The boy continued his search.

His second sister was married to the eagle.

He also turned into a human once in a while.

It was nice to stay with his second sister, but he still had to find his third sister.

The boy had to leave the eagle's castle.

The eagle gave him three feathers.

The third sister was married to a fish.

She lived in the castle under the sea.

She was very happy to meet her brother. She also told him that her husband occasionally turns into a knight.

After some time, the boy had to leave. He had got three scales.

The second book ends, but the boy's mission is not over yet.

He continued his journey.

He spotted a castle. It had large doors. They were locked.

A huge bull attacked him. The boy tried to beat him, but the bull was too strong. The boy's sword couldn't hurt him. Luckily, he had three magic hairs. The hairs turned into the bear who killed the bull. A duck flew out, but the eagle, summoned from the three feathers, caught the duck.

The duck threw an egg into the lake, but the fish, summoned from the three scales, found the egg.

The boy broke the egg and found a key. The key opened the doors of the castle.

A beautiful girl was sleeping in the castle.

She woke up and started screaming. She believed the boy was a magician who turned into the boy to seduce her.

The boy consoled her. They started talking.

She told him about the evil magician who wanted to marry her, but he declined his offer.

He locked her into the castle and turned her brothers into animals.

Later, the magician met a sorceress with much greater magical powers.

The boy told her about his sisters and three knights.

The knights arrived, and the awakened lady was finally sure the boy was her rescuer.

They fell in love. All four couples lived happily ever after.

Short Analysis

This unusual fairy tale has several elements from more popular classic fairy tales.

It is really one of the versions of The Three Enchanted Princes or The Three Animal Kings in Gianbattista Basile's Pentamerone.

The initial motif of the father trading his daughter in exchange for his well-being is best known from Beauty and the Beast by Le Prince de Beaumont. A similar theme (where the father neglects his daughter's well-being on account of his obsession) is played in The Wind's Tale by Andersen.

The scene with the animals coming out of other dead animals until the duck loses the egg is very similar to the scene in a famous Russian fairy tale Vasilisa the Beautiful.

Why is the fairy tale about the three sisters not popular anymore?

•  It was written for a completely different audience. Johann Musaus wrote his books of fairy tales as satires for educated nobility, just like the first writers in Italy and France. These stores are rather lengthy for today's taste, and especially with too much info (with a lot of unnecessary stuff) for kids.
• There are several failures from the dramatic point of view. For instance, the third book has a short action scene and a very long explanation of events from many years. The suspension is lost.
• The characters are pretty boring. The only interesting character is the father, who constantly loses money, and his daughters. But he is present only at the beginning. His son is all about action, and his daughters are just objects. For a memorable story, you need at least one memorable character who goes through important life changes and is completely different at the end. Another potentially interesting character is a magician, but he is excluded from real fights too easily.

The illustrations by Heinrich Lefler and Joseph Urban, on the other hand, make this book a true keepsake.