With the help of Salome, she discovers Jamie's dual nature, and when he, offended by her lack of trust, leaves her, Rosamond goes after him. Her journey is the hero's quest, usually a male activity in myths and legends. It takes her through the wilderness where she suffers hardship and trials but emerges transformed, reconciled with Jamie's duality and enlightened (Carson). Rosamond's heroic journey also results not only with her achievement of knowledge, love, and happiness, but in the end she rescues the man Lockhart from his divided self and double life. Welty's portrayal of the relationship between Salome and Rosamond reverses the typical stepmother-daughter antagonism found in fairy tales. Although Salome is hateful toward Rosamond early on in the story, she changes and becomes the girl's ally in her heroic quest. Salome gives Rosamond a recipe to remove...

Both the stepmother's change of heart and her intervention on behalf of her daughter's interest are atypical of that role in fairy tales (Habeeb 47).
There are similarities and differences between the Robber Bridegroom and Mason's Feather Crowns. Unlike Welty's fairy tale, Feather Crowns is more a work of historic realism. Mason provides a meticulous account of daily domestic life, pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing in early twentieth-century rural America (Price 119). In that regard, the novel is a woman's history and very much focused on the events, customs, and artifacts of women's lives. Christie Wheeler's story does take on a larger than life aspect with the birth, death, and traveling display of her celebrated babies.

Christie's journey isn't so much a hero's quest as