Stories Featuring Cursed Males

As should be no surprise by this point, “Tam Lin” is a story about a mortal man who has been cursed by fairies. From my understanding, Tam Lin must endure three different curses throughout the course of the story. First, he is cursed in this sort of limbo between the mortal and fairy realms, not truly a part of either. Second, when Janet tries to rescue him, the Fairy Queen turns Tam Lin into all sorts of creatures. Finally, the Fairy Queen eventually admits defeat and loss of her tithe, although she usually leaves cursing that she wishes she had replaced his heart (or eyes) with stone (or wood).

As part of Project: Fairy Tale, therefore, I thought it would be fun to discuss the use of the cursed male in folklore and fairy tales. Physical transformation of a human male character is common trope found among magic stories, so I wanted to list a few central ones below:

Fairy tales Featuring Cursed Male Lovers

"Beauty and the Beast"

A prince is cursed by a fairy to live as a beast until a beautiful virgin agrees to become his bride.

"The Frog Prince"

A prince is cursed by a fairy to live as a frog until a princess lets him sleep upon her bed for three nights.

"Snow White and Rose Red"

A black bear befriends sisters Snow White and Rose Red. He is actually a prince cursed by a dwarf who has stolen his treasure.

"East of the Sun and West of the Moon"

A prince is cursed by his step-mother to take the form of a white bear by day and a man by night unless a girl will sleep with him and not look upon his form by night for a year. This does not happen, and the story goes in a new direction as the girl seeks to cure the prince.

I think it would be interesting to point out that the majority of the fairy tales I mentioned above not only feature human men who have been cursed, but men who have transformed into animals. The idea of the animal bridegroom is a common trope with roots back at least as far as ancient Rome and is first attributed to Apuleius' story of "Cupid and Psyche." Although Cupid retains a human form throughout the story, this is the first story where the mortal girl questions what form her lover really has.

Other myths from antiquity also deal with the idea that of male transformation. The entirety of Ovid's Metamorphoses is tales about humans transformed into something non-human. Actaeon was a hunter transformed into a deer by the goddess Artemis. Narcissus was transformed into a flower, as was Adonis. The minor sea god Proteus can foretell the future, but for him to answer questions, the questioner must hold on to him as he shifts his form into various animals. In The Odyssey, Odysseus' crew finds themselves turned into swine by the nymph Circe. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

From many of these stories, transformations do seem to function as punishments. Interestingly, it is not only the male who seems to suffer from his transformation; many times, his female lover must suffer in some way to help him regain his true form. 

Of course, "Tam Lin" is a Scottish ballad and not truly a fairy tale; it is impossible to say whether any fairy tales or myths really had an influence on the story of "Tam Lin." I simply felt that this was an interesting basis of comparison.

I have barely brushed the surface here on fairy tales and fables dealing with animal bridegrooms, or cursed males. What are some of your favorite cursed male stories?