The palace

Traditional stories are, as I’ve said before, very old, but as they are transmitted by word of mouth, they get to be adapted in a way that they reflect the reality of the moment in which they are told (that is the reason why we feel those stories actual, even if they were made up ages ago). In this way, even if it’s a story of the Grimm Brothers, the main character of The Grimm Tale receives 50$ from his parents when he leaves his house. This doesn’t have any sense at all, unless we think that the action takes place in EEUU where, naturally, there aren’t haunted castles, kings or princesses.

The existence of the abandon castle, takes us to the feudal period and to the birth of the modern states. Gradually, the nobility looses power in benefit of the monarchy and of the centralized estate. The action of the story, takes place in an intermediate period: Feudal men don’t exist any more and that is why, castles have lost their function, and we have forgotten them. But, the monarchy hasn’t consolidated yet, because the King of the place, seems to be very accessible; any man can talk to him and, what is more important, can aspirate to have his daughter’s hand.

With the full of feudalism, the internal fights between the nobility disappear, the castles as strategic hiding places loose importance, and the power moves to the cities that get walled and they are used by the kings and the nobility. The defense moved to the walls of the city, so instead of castles, luxurious palaces were built. These palaces, that are the king’s and the aristocracy’s residences, are a sample of their power.

In this hypertext, it is said that the youth visits the King, so we suppose that he goes to his palace, because the place was where, traditionally, the kings celebrated the public audiences and had rooms available for this.

Because of the fact that he doesn’t seem a very important king, we suppose that his palace will not be very big, but, for our main character, it would be one of the most luxurious places he had ever been to.