# A Riddling Tale explained — Household Tales

> Chapter companion for Household Tales by Jacob Grimm.

## What happens

Three women are transformed into identical flowers in a field, but one is allowed to return home at night. She tells her husband that if he gathers her in the afternoon, she will be freed. The husband identifies her because she has no dew on her, unlike the other flowers.

## Themes in this chapter

### Magic and the Supernatural

The transformation of women into flowers and the magical condition for release.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The three women transformed into flowers, including the one who returns home at night.

### Unknown

The husband who identifies his wife by the absence of dew.

## Key lines

> Three women were changed into flowers which grew in the field, but one of them was allowed to be in her own home at night.

Three women were turned into flowers in a field, but one could return home each night.

_Sets up the magical transformation and the exception for one woman._

> If thou wilt come this afternoon and gather me, I shall be set free and henceforth stay with thee.

If you come this afternoon and pick me, I will be freed and can stay with you forever.

_The wife's instruction to her husband for her liberation._

> as she was at her home during the night and not in the field, no dew fell on her as it did on the others, and by this her husband knew her.

Because she spent the night at home, she had no dew on her, unlike the other flowers, which allowed her husband to recognize her.

_The clever solution to the riddle._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters/a-riddling-tale
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters