The Interpretation of Fairy Tales

Marie-Louise Von Franz

(My note: This passage of the book is translated by me from the original Czech version, so there might be some mistakes. The page may not match the original either).

The masculine shadow, Princ Ring, page 95

Dow often shows the way or finds a suitable place to cross a river.Other times, however, dow takes the heroes into misfortune, or even brings him death when It leads him into the abyss, into the sea or the swamp. It can also raise an orphan or an abandoned child. The deer often wears a ring or precious cross among the antlers, sometimes with golden antlers. Our fairy tale depicts a dow with an antlers, which suggests that the dow is female – anima motif – and at the same time attributes the antlers to its a male sign, thus indicating that it is a hermaphroditic creature that unites the elements of the anima and the shadow. According to one medieval text, when a deer feels old, it first eats a snake and then drinks a lot of water to drown the snake in it, yet the snake bites it from the inside and the deer has to drop its antlers to get rid of the poison. When the poison is out, the deer can have new antlers grown. “Therefore, ”One of the Church Fathers explains, a deer knows the secret of his own renewal. It throws away his antlers, so we should learn to put aside our pride (superbia).”