Brothers Grimm Fanart

Some doodles inspired by the lesser-known fairy tale, “The Three Sisters”, by the Brothers Grimm (the Brothers Grimm film that’s coming out soon looks pretty good).

Partial Synopsis: A spendthrift king has three daughters, and when his family grows poor as a result of his wasteful nature, he goes off hunting and is cornered by a bear who accuses him of sitting under his honey tree, and when the king begs the bear not to kill him, the bear says that he will spare his life only if the king gives him his oldest daughter in marriage. The king reluctantly consents, and he returns home, where the bear delivers a huge bag of gold as a token of his thanks. Seven days later, beautiful carriage arrives at the king’s castle, and a prince steps out of the carriage and carries away the oldest daughter.

However, the king quickly spends all of the gold, his family grows impoverished again, and he goes hunting with his falcon. A great eagle threatens his life and asks for his middle daughter’s hand in marriage, to which the king also consents. The king returns home to find two enormous golden eggs, and seven weeks later, a beautiful chariot appears at his castle, and a second prince carries away his middle daughter.

Once again, the king spends everything he has, and one day decides to go fishing, where he his life if once again threatened, this time by a whale. The whale asks for his youngest daughter’s hand in marriage, the king consents, and returns home to find three huge sacks of pearls waiting for him. Seven months later, a third prince appears at the castle and carries off his youngest daughter.

Miraculously, a short time after this, the king’s wife gives birth to a son which they name Reinald. They tell him all about his three sisters, and when Roland is old enough, he leaves home in search of them.

He finds them all three of them, one by one. It turns out that the bear, the eagle and the whale are actually enchanted princes (brothers, in fact), who return to their human form once every seven days, once every seven weeks, and once every seven months, respectively.

During the six days that the first prince is a bear, his castle is nothing more than a cave. Reinald finds his oldest sister during this time, playing with two bear cubs which turn out to be her sons, which are bears during the same time their father is a bear.

During the six weeks that the second prince is an eagle, his castle is a huge nest atop a high tree. Reinald finds his second-oldest sister in this nest with a large egg on her lap.

During the six months that the third prince is a whale, his wife lives in a home made out of clear crystal at the bottom of the sea, with a chimney sticking out of the water (Reinald slides down the chimney to gain access to his third-oldest sister’s home). During the time that the prince is a human, this fascinating abode becomes a castle on an island.*

I’ve drawn the three princesses as Reinald finds them, plus the three princes in their enchanted and non-enchanted states (giving their human forms some characteristics of their animal forms). You’ve probably noticed that I’ve made the third prince into a shark. This seemed justified because:
1. The whale threatens to eat the king, and whales are filter feeders. What was the whale going to do, strain him to death?
2. When he is in his non-enchanted state, the third prince gives Reinald three scales and tells him to rub them together if he ever needs his help (just as the first and second princes gave Reinald three bear hairs and three eagle feathers and told him the same thing). Whales don’t have scales, sharks do.

*(Of course, this story doesn’t end just with Reinald finding his sisters. He manages to find a bride and break the enchantment on the three brothers, and they all live happily ever after. Big surprise.)