Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

The Six Servants

 The Six Servants
type
TVTItem
 The Six Servants
label
The Six Servants
 The Six Servants
page
TheSixServants
 The Six Servants
comment
The Six Servants is a traditional German Fairy Tale, collected by The Brothers Grimm, about a prince who has to perform certain Impossible Tasks for a monarch but is aided by six exceptionally gifted men whom he encountered while travelling. They are: Servant number one: Has a very long, stretchable neck and is able to overview things from a great distance. Servant number two: Has large ears and can hear every tiny sound, even from great distance. Servant number three: Has eyes of such destructive power that he uses a blindfold to prevent himself from looking at things and accidentally destroying them. Servant number four: Is hot when it's cold, and cold when it's hot. Servant number five: A colossal obese man who is able to eat large quantities of food. Servant number six: A very tall man who can stretch is body out to be even taller.It can be read here and here.A king or queen orders the prince to perform three impossible tasks to win the hand of the princess. So far nobody was able to complete them before the deadline. The first task is bringing back a ring that the queen dropped in a river. The long necked servant sees the ring, the obese servant drinks the entire river dry whereupon the fast servant gets the ring and brings it back to the palace. In some adaptations he falls asleep during this assignment while the others nervously wait for him. The long necked servant stretches his neck and sees him, whereupon the servant with the bulletlike eyes shoots a fly sitting on a branch of the tree against which the fast servant is sleeping. This wakes him up and he dashes off back to the palace.The second task involves eating 300 oxen and drinking 300 barrels of wine. The prince is allowed to bring one servant with him and of course he brings the obese one with him. The third task is spending the night with the princess without falling asleep. In the middle of the night the queen will check whether she is still lying in his arms. If not, then he loses. Despite their precautions the prince does fall asleep (in some versions because the queen cast a magic spell upon him and his servants) and the princess is abducted and brought to a faraway hiding place. Eventually the prince and his servants do wake up. The long necked servant quickly discovers where the princess is kept. The fast servant and the one of with the bullet eyes rush to the location, where the bulleteyed servant destroys a rock behind which the princess is hidden. They bring her back just in time before the queen comes to check out whether the princess is still in the prince's arms.When the queen discovers what happened she orders 300 trucks of wood to be lit in flames. Only when somebody is able to sit in the fire the princess will marry the prince. Thus the cold blooded servant steps forward and manages to freezes the flames out, still feeling chilly in the process. The marriage is settled, but the evil queen still sends her troops after them. Luckily the big eared servant hears this. The obese servant blows wind thru one of his nostrils (or spits out a large flood of sea water), thus beating the soldiers. The bullet eyed one also kills many of them. And with that all ends happily ever after.The tale shares some parallels with other stories. Another Grimm fairy tale, How The Six Made Their Way In The World ("Sechse kommen durch die ganze Welt") has a similar plot. A few scenes of the novel The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen also have similar characters serving the baron. In the Netherlands the story is especially well known because the theme park De Efteling uses the character with the long neck as one of its mascots.
 The Six Servants
fetched
2024-01-24T22:30:35Z
 The Six Servants
parsed
2024-01-24T22:30:35Z
 The Six Servants
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Six Servants / int_1d91d9bb
type
Deadly Gaze
 The Six Servants / int_1d91d9bb
comment
Deadly Gaze: One of the servants is able to destroy anything just by looking at it.
 The Six Servants / int_1d91d9bb
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_1d91d9bb
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_1d91d9bb
 The Six Servants / int_3429147e
type
When the Clock Strikes Twelve
 The Six Servants / int_3429147e
comment
When the Clock Strikes Twelve: The princess has to lie in the prince's arms around midnight, when the queen comes watching them.
 The Six Servants / int_3429147e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_3429147e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_3429147e
 The Six Servants / int_5aa5145
type
Rubber Man
 The Six Servants / int_5aa5145
comment
Rubber Man: One of the servants can stretch his body out to such great lengths he can travel miles in a few steps.
 The Six Servants / int_5aa5145
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_5aa5145
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_5aa5145
 The Six Servants / int_5fcedca
type
Big Eater
 The Six Servants / int_5fcedca
comment
Big Eater: One of the servants eats everything.
 The Six Servants / int_5fcedca
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_5fcedca
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_5fcedca
 The Six Servants / int_5ff641e0
type
Long Neck
 The Six Servants / int_5ff641e0
comment
Long Neck: One of the servants can stretch his neck to great heights.
 The Six Servants / int_5ff641e0
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_5ff641e0
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_5ff641e0
 The Six Servants / int_67b0bd0e
type
An Ice Person
 The Six Servants / int_67b0bd0e
comment
An Ice Person: Downplayed, as the chilly servant can't make or control ice, and would feel warm in the cold.
 The Six Servants / int_67b0bd0e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_67b0bd0e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_67b0bd0e
 The Six Servants / int_6f189981
type
Unusual Ears
 The Six Servants / int_6f189981
comment
Unusual Ears: One of the servants has large ears that can hear even the smallest sounds.
 The Six Servants / int_6f189981
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_6f189981
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_6f189981
 The Six Servants / int_a6cda066
type
Rule of Three
 The Six Servants / int_a6cda066
comment
Rule of Three: The queen orders the main character to perform three impossible tasks to marry her daughter.
 The Six Servants / int_a6cda066
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_a6cda066
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_a6cda066
 The Six Servants / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Six Servants / int_name
comment
 The Six Servants / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Six Servants / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
The Six Servants / int_name
 The Six Servants / int_name
itemName
The Six Servants

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Six Servants
hasFeature
Eye Beams / int_af3f59a0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
"Number of Objects" Title / int_af3f59a0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
Plot Tailored to the Party / int_af3f59a0
 The Six Servants
hasFeature
Rubber Man / int_af3f59a0