Blog 6

       

There are very few similarities between "Cupid and Psyche" by Lucius Apuleius and "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich" by the Brothers Grimm. "Cupid and Psyche" is a greek tale that has greek deities in it and where a girl is punished for being too beautiful. "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich" is about a young girl who is forced to befriend a frog after he retrieves her toy from a well and he later turns into a prince. The plots of the stories are very different, however, they do begin and end the same way. "Cupid and Psyche" begins with a king and queen who have three daughters and the youngest one is the most beautiful. People come to see her because she is so pretty. "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich" starts with a king who has beautiful daughters and the youngest daughter was the most beautiful. The "sun itself" was amazed when it shined on her (Grimm 2). Another similarity is that the identity of the frog in "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich" is hidden because he has been changed into a frog by an evil queen. Cupid in "Cupid and Psyche" also hides his identity from Psyche, although he does so willingly. The only other similarity is that the princess and her prince in "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich" and Cupid and Psyche get married and live happily ever after. These similarities really are not that outstanding. Many tales end with happily ever afters. Evil witches changing men into beasts also isn’t uncommon. I think the time periods and the places where these stories were written really influence how similar they are. You can’t expect a story written in Germany in the 1800s to be that similar to a story written in ancient Greece.