Doll in the Grass: tiny bride in a mouse-drawn spoon beneath the departing couples
The lower part of this composite ending illustration shows the miniature bride in her spoon carriage with its mouse team. Above it, the king expels the other couples. These scenes belong to Braekstad’s version of Doll in the Grass; the small attendant in the separate opening plate is a different character.
Overview
Boots, rejected by his eleven elder brothers during their search for brides, meets a tiny girl emerging from a grass tuft. She leads him below to Doll i' the Grass, who receives him seated in a chair. The king requires each prospective daughter-in-law to spin, weave and sew a shirt in one day. Doll agrees to marry Boots and completes the task, although the resulting shirt is correspondingly minute.
Her wedding journey matches this scale: a silver spoon serves as her carriage, drawn by two white mice presented as horses. Boots rides carefully beside her, afraid of crushing her. His startled horse overturns the spoon at a stretch of water. A merman brings her back, now full grown and more beautiful than before. The narrative gives no named curse, species or explanation for that change, so those gaps remain open.
Origins & earliest records
This miniature bride belongs to the Norwegian collected tale translated by Dasent as Doll I' the Grass. His English collection first appeared in 1859, while the inspected electronic text incorporates a second-edition notice with no securely identified print date. The title supplies an English story designation; it should not be mistaken for a universally attested fairy classification.
Records & interpretation
The tiny shirt, spoon carriage and mouse team consistently establish miniature scale before the water episode. The merman's intervention and adult-sized return are narrated transformations, without an explanation of their mechanism. The record therefore supports a particular wonder-tale bride, rather than evidence for a biological population of small people beneath Norwegian grass.
In the literature
“the two horses that drew her were two tiny white mice”
Tale LII, Doll I’ the Grass; Journey to the king in the silver spoon · George Webbe Dasent
The tiny bride’s carriage and its animals are described before the water incident.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Doll I’ the Grass (Popular Tales from the Norse)
Inspected named tale LII. Electronic witness includes a notice to the second edition; its exact print date is unresolved.
- 02
Popular Tales from the Norse — Doll I’ the Grass
Dasent historical English translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe. Hosted PG8933 text includes a Second Edition notice but does not establish the exact selected print edition date or printed pagination. The 1859 first English publication is context, not an asserted date for this selected witness. Exact observed HTML tale anchors and narrative episodes provide locators.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Popular Tales from the Norse — Doll I’ the Grass
Dasent historical English translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe. Hosted PG8933 text includes a Second Edition notice but does not establish the exact selected print edition date or printed pagination. The 1859 first English publication is context, not an asserted date for this selected witness. Exact observed HTML tale anchors and narrative episodes provide locators.
- Doll agrees to marry Boots and makes the shirt required by the king, despite its tiny size; the king accepts her fulfilment of the one-day spinning, weaving and sewing condition.
Tale LII, Doll I’ the Grass; Boots’s meeting below the grass and bride test
- Doll travels in a silver spoon drawn by two white mice, although she calls them horses. Boots keeps his own horse apart for fear of crushing her.
- Boots’s horse overturns the spoon. A merman brings Doll back from the water full grown; Boots carries her home, where the king rejects the other sons’ brides and celebrates this marriage.
Tale LII, Doll I’ the Grass; Spoon upset in water; merman’s return and wedding
Complete named tale read. No invented print pages, exact selected edition date, earliest attestation or general rule for all members of a creature class is inferred.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textPopular Tales from the Norse — Doll I’ the Grass (tale LII)Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
Historical illustrationDoll in the Grass: tiny bride in a mouse-drawn spoon beneath the departing couples
The lower part of this composite ending illustration shows the miniature bride in her spoon carriage with its mouse team. Above it, the king expels the other couples. These scenes belong to Braekstad’s version of Doll in the Grass; the small attendant in the separate opening plate is a different character.
