House Elves' enslavement (long)

[Kelsey Dangelo]

No: HPFGUIDX 114092

Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at yahoo.com> wrote: 
>> There's a popular Grimm's fairy tale called The Shoemaker and the
Elves (see http://www.shoemakerandtheelves.com/en/flash for the text
of the story).  In it elves cheerfully work for people and are
rewarded by being given new clothes.  They leave the household but
the people are blessed with good fortune, apparently as a result of
their kind treatment of the elves.

I think this is the basis of the relationship that JKR has in mind
for house elves and wizards.  Comparisons to American slavery in the
19th century aren't the best.

At some point in the distant past, centuries ago, not-nice wizards
abused the rules by making sure that they did not give their elves
clothes as rewards and thus tied them to their wizard houses forever.
Thus what was a relationship of mutual respect turned into enchanted
servitude. <<


Kelsey:

OOOO!!! I never thought about that. That fairy tale puts a completely 
different spin on my whole perception of the house-elf issue. Thank you, 
Magda.

I studied this folktale in a college course about a year ago. It's sort of 
an odd folk tale that goes against the normal formula. Usually, the hero 
earns the debt of a magical creature through a good deed, or the magical creature has an ulterior motive in helping the hero (fairy-folk mischievousness). In the "Elves and the Shoemaker" tale, the elves are more of "fairy godmother" character that helps the poor, deserving, and hard 
working shoemaker. While the elves ask nothing in return, they work to make 
the shoemaker into a rich businessman. Maybe the elves of the Potterverse did the same for the Blacks, Crouches, and Malfoys. This might explain why some wizarding families don't have house-elves (they don't need or deserve them, 
or better yet, they freed them).

But in the folk tale, the kind shoemaker and his wife give the elves clothes 
in gratitude. Against the usual folk-tale formula, the shoemaker and his wife receive no reward for their good deed. Besides whatever the shoemaker and his wife "take in hand prosper" [Grimm's fairy tales,] they get no real reward. 
In fact, they still have to work for their money. They don't get a palace or 
a kingdom or stacks of gold. It's as if the elves' job is to just help the person get back on their feet.

I heartily agree with your idea that, in the wizarding world, it must mean 
that these rich families never did the right thing by freeing and rewarding 
the elves. This probably did something to the elves and their loyalties, maybe perverting their abilities and loyalties. Maybe it made them lazy, or angry, 
or psychologically unfit. Regardless, most elves no longer want to be free.

If we follow the logical folk tale conclusion, the punishment--for not doing the right thing (releasing the elves) and living off their toil--is on the horizon. Already, the Black family (which has died out) paid the price for their obsessively loyal house-elf. The Crouch family paid by also dying out 
(or dementing out). The Malfoys paid by losing their elf and their plan (whatever it was) in COS failed.

The one thing I still can't quite figure out is the motivation of the elves in the folk tale vs. that of the Potterverse. Both seem like slaves unwilling to do the work (or, in the very least, treated unjustly), but the elves in the folk tale want to be free, whereas the elves in Potterworld don't.

Kelsey, who is splashing in glorious folk tale-themed literary paradise.