science

The Pink

The Pink is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Pink rather than just read about it. In short: "The Pink" or "The Carnation" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as tale number 76. It is Aarne-Thompson type 652, the boy whose wishes always come true.

Key takeaways

The Pink belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Pink to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Pink from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"The Pink" or "The Carnation" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as tale number 76. It is Aarne-Thompson type 652, the boy whose wishes always come true.

Synopsis A childless queen prayed for a child. An angel told her she would have a son with the power of wishing. She had such a son, and every day went with the child to a park where wild beasts were kept. There she washed herself in a stream. One day, a cook stole the child and stained the queen's clothing with hen's blood; then he accused the queen of having let the child be eaten. The queen was imprisoned in a tower to starve, but angels were sent to feed her. The cook, afraid of being caught, had the prince wish for a castle and a little girl as a companion; they lived there, but the cook grew afraid that the boy would wish for his father and reveal his crime, and told the girl, who had grown to a maiden, that she must murder the boy while he slept and cut out his heart and tongue. The girl refused to murder someone so innocent, but the cook threatened to kill her the next day if she didn't obey. She killed a hind and cut out its heart and tongue; then she had the boy hide in the bed. The cook asked about the murder, and the boy got out of the bed and turned him into a poodle for his betrayal. The boy wished to go home. The girl was frightened at the thought of the journey, so the boy turned her into a pink (or carnation) and went home, with the poodle running after and the pink in his pocket. He went to his mother, who at first took him for the angels who fed her; he assured her he would free her. Then he worked as a huntsman for his own father. He hunted so much game that the king insisted that the huntsman sit by him at the feast. During the feast the boy reveals he is the king's son and that the cook was behind the evil plan all along. He changed the cook back into his own shape, and the king had him executed; he changed the pink back into the maiden, and because she had brought him up so tenderly and refused to murder him, the king sanctioned their marriage. The queen was freed, but refused to eat, because angels, having supported her, would now deliver her. She died three days later, and the king died of grief, but the prince married the maiden and they ruled the kingdom together.

Variants German scholar Ulrich Marzolph indicated that an ancestor of the tale type is the Dutch poem Esmoreit. He also mentions the existence of tale type in Judeo-Arabic tradition. Researcher Richard Dorson reported that the tale type can be found sporadically throughout 15 European countries, mainly in Finland. In addition, Canadian folklorist Carmen Roy stated that the type was "widespread" (tres répandu) across Germany, Scandinavia, Southeastern Europe, Turkey and in the "Indes". This tale has also been given the alternate title "The Lost Son". In this version the angels are replaced by fairies.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Pink

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Pink claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Pink before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Pink ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Pink

In research: The Pink appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Pink in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Pink is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics ATU 650-699, Fairy tales about magic, Fairy tales about shapeshifting, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Pink outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study The Pink in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Pink means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Pink out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Pink in simple terms?

"The Pink" or "The Carnation" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as tale number 76. It is Aarne-Thompson type 652, the boy whose wishes always come true.

Why does The Pink matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Pink?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Pink.