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THE CORPSE BRIDE STORY  SUMMARY

Once upon a time, there was a young man who lived in a small town in Russia. He was going to get married, and he and a friend prepared to go where his future wife lived.

The first night the two friends decided to camp by the river. The young man discovered a strange-looking stick on the ground, pointing at him like a bony finger. He and his friend started making jokes looking at the bony finger sticking out of the soil, and the young man who was to be married took the gold wedding ring from his pocket and put it on the strange stick. Then they began to do the ceremonial dance. He circled the bony finger three times, holding the ring in his hand, sang the Jewish wedding song, and said the sacraments while dancing. He and his friend joked and laughed non-stop.

Suddenly the earth began to tremble and shake under their feet. The place where the stick was, opened suddenly and from there emerged a corpse stained with dirt. She was a bride, but now she looked like a skeleton wearing an old white silk wedding dress. Her dress and veil were all ripped, and disgusting worms and cobwebs hung from the dress.

The two young men were terrified. Oh!, she said. You have done the wedding dance and the vows and put a ring on my finger. We are now husband and wife, and I claim my rights as your bride.

Terrified by the words of the corpse bride, the two young men fled to the village where the young bride was waiting to be married. The young men explained what had happened and then went directly to the priest. The young man who was going to get married said: Rabbi, I have a question to ask you. If, for some reason, someone were to walk through the woods and suddenly see a stick in the shape of a long bony finger sticking out of the ground and it occurred to him to put a gold wedding ring on it and do the ceremonial dance and say the wedding vows, will it be a real marriage? The Rabbi looked at him in surprise and asked him. Do you know someone who has done that? The young man replied: No. It’s just a question. The Rabbi was very thoughtful and said: Let me think about what you have told me.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew in, the door was flung open, the corpse bride entered, and she said while showing the gold ring she was wearing on her finger: This man is my husband since he has placed a wedding ring on my finger and has pronounced the wedding vows. The Rabbi replied: This is serious, and I will have to consult with the other Rabbis.

When the rabbis from the nearby towns arrived, they met to discuss the matter and make a decision. Meanwhile, the young people waited anxiously outside. Then the corpse bride said, I want to celebrate my wedding night with my husband. The young man looked at her and trembled when he heard those chilling words. Then, the human girlfriend began to cry and said, Oh, my life has collapsed. All my hopes and dreams have shattered; I will never get married and have a family.

At that moment, the rabbis came out and said to the young man: Did you put the gold ring on her finger, dance around it three times, and recite the wedding vows from beginning to end?

The young man said yes. The Rabbis reconvened, and the young human bride wept bitterly again while the corpse bride rejoiced as she looked forward to her wedding night.

Then they entered the room, and the Rabbis said: You put the wedding ring on the corps bride’s finger, danced around her three times, and recited the wedding vows, so we have decided that this constitutes a legitimate ceremony. However, we also have decided that the dead have no claim on the living.

Sighs and murmurs broke the silence in the room, especially from the young human bride, who was relieved by the Rabbi’s words. Then the corpse bride screamed and said: I lost my last chance in life, now my dreams will never come true! Then, she fell to the ground.

And there remained her lifeless bones dressed in a wedding dress. The human bride felt compassion for her, then she knelt and picked up every last bone, careful not to tear the already tattered silk of her gown, and said: Don’t worry. I will live your dreams for you. I will live your hopes for you. I will have children for you so that the three of us can have peace knowing that our children and grandchildren are well cared for and will not forget us.

Tenderly she closed the eyes of the corpse bride, carefully held her in her arms, and walked towards the river with her fragile load. She left her where she dug a shallow grave for her, folding her arms over her bony chest, also the one holding the hand with the ring and wrapping it in the wedding dress. Then she said: Rest in peace; Don’t worry, I’ll live your dreams for you, and we won’t forget you.”

The corpse bride seemed happy and at peace in her new grave, as if she knew somehow that her dreams would come true through this young bride. And the young woman carefully covered the corpse bride with soil, filled the grave, and put wildflowers and stones around it.

Then the young bride returned to her betrothed, and their wedding took place, with a very solemn ceremony, and they lived happily together for many years. And all her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren knew the story of the corpse bride, and no one forgot her, nor did they forget the wisdom and compassion that she had taught them.

AUTHOR: RUSSIAN – JEWISH FOLKLORE

What Happened to Emily?

“The Corpse Bride” is a dark fantasy animated film that premiered on September 23, 2005, in the United States and set in a Victorian-era town in England.

Emily came from a wealthy family who fell in love with a greedy and arrogant man named Barkis Bittern. Emily wanted to marry him, but her parents rejected the relationship, so they planned to marry and ran away together. When Emily escaped, she dressed as a bride and took some jewelry and money from her family, but when she met her boyfriend, he brutally murdered her and then escaped taking Emily’s fortune.

The Corpse Bride story, based on real-life events, occurred in Russia in the 19th century when anti-Semitism spread throughout Eastern Europe. Gangs of anti-Semites often kidnapped brides-to-be from their carriages, murdered them on the way to their weddings, and buried them in their wedding dresses.

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