Show Your Face, My Dearest Wifey
I must say that I was absolutely enchanted with
this folklore character and its (her?) story, as it seemed to me
sophisticated and poetic.
The first thing I
would like to point out is that the story of pig-faced women originated roughly simultaneously in Holland, England and France in
the late 1630s. (The heroine had the body of a woman and the head of a pig,
in case that is not clear. In addition, she would also be wealthy.)
The initial explanation of the damsel’s
weird appearance was found in the fact that she was a witch before marriage
(and probably after too), so her punishment was that she had to
be either pig-like to her husband and normal to others or vice versa. the choice was the husband's, as she was only to throw herself on his mercy. But
this love-is-blindness thing had another tricky point: were the husband to
reject his right to choose in her own favour, the enchantement would dissipate.
What I want to add is that the recorded
versions show considerable relish for the macabre details of the pig-faced women’s
appearance and for the details of her family life.
However, whatever the story is, magic abandons it sooner or
later, and so it happened with the legendary tale.
First, in the early 19th century, the story turned into a
rumour-like folklore anecdote. Whenever people faced a woman who was
not fond of appearing at the social events was the reason to spread such
gossip. That was the way the existence of pig-faced women
began to be treated as fact.
Where this fairly common belief also found
its reflection was fairs, where showmen exhibited living "pig-faced
women". Moreover, these were not even women in masks but shaven bears
dressed in women's clothing. (Oh my God, our life today is boring indeed.) I
bet the sight was spectacular enough to lead the crowd by the nose and
promote spreading the folklore gossip.
It
is not necessary to say that today the legend is almost forgotten.
Wiki
were apparently as interested in the story as I was, so you may enjoy a lot of
information here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig-faced_women
