Jacob Bigelow, juniper branch (1817). Wikimedia Commons
Der Wacholderbaum
The one with the juniper tree, the murdered boy, and the stew.
To Explore
Cannibalism as a folkloric motif
How does cannibalism function across European folk traditions and fairy tales? What meanings and anxieties does it carry within these narratives?
The juniper tree and folk medicine
What associations does the juniper tree hold in relation to protection, purification, and death? How does the tale draw on these meanings?
Childhood in German Romanticism
How does German Romanticism conceptualise childhood? In what ways does the tale reflect or complicate these ideas?
Famine and food scarcity
What was the historical reality of food scarcity in early modern Germany? How might this context shape our understanding of the tale’s treatment of hunger and survival?
(light) Research
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