Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm

by Jacob Grimm

  Not long thereafter, when he was just about to fall asleep, he heard two men passing overhead, one of whom said to the other, “How shall we go about relieving the rich pastor of his silver and gold?”

  “It’s as easy as pie!” cried out Tom Thumb.

  “What was that?” The one thief took fright. “I heard someone say something.”

  They stopped dead in their tracks and listened. Then Tom Thumb spoke up again: “Take me along, and I’ll help you.”

  “Where are you hiding?”

  “Just search on the ground and take heed of where the voice is coming from,” he replied.

  The thieves finally found him and lifted him up in the air. “You little twerp, what good would you do us?”

  “Easy does it,” he replied. “I’ll crawl through the iron bars into the pastor’s room and hand you everything you like.”

  “Very well,” they said, “let’s see what you can do.”

  When they reached the rectory, Tom Thumb crept into the pastor’s room and promptly cried out at the top of his lungs, “Do you want everything?”

  The thieves took fright and said, “Speak in a whisper, so you don’t wake everyone up.”

  But Tom Thumb pretended not to understand, and cried out again, “What do you want? Do you want everything?”

  Which roused the cook who, sleeping in the room next door, sat up in bed and cocked an ear.

  In their terror the thieves had run back a bit, but finally they pulled themselves together and thought, The little fellow is kidding us. They came back and whispered to him, “Up and at ’em now. Pass something to us.”

  Whereupon Tom Thumb cried out again at the top of his lungs, “I’ll give you everything, just reach your hands in for it!”

  The maid heard these words clearly, leapt out of bed, and stumbled to the door. The thieves ran for their lives, as though a wild dog were on their trail, but noticing nothing, the maid went to light a lantern. When she approached, Tom Thumb slipped out to the barn without being seen. After inspecting every corner and finding nothing, the maid finally returned to bed and thought she must have been dreaming with open eyes and ears.

  Tom Thumb climbed around in the hay and found himself a cozy place to curl up and sleep – he intended to rest until daybreak and then make his way home to his parents. But other experiences lay in store for him. Life is full of trials and tribulations! At the crack of dawn the maid climbed out of bed to feed the livestock. Her first task was to go to the barn to grab an armful of hay, precisely that armful, alas, in which Tom Thumb lay asleep. But he slept so soundly that he was oblivious and did not blink an eye until he found himself in the mouth of a cow that had snatched him up along with the hay.

  “Dear God,” he cried, “however did I land in the gristmill!” But soon he fathomed where he was. Now he had to take pains not to land between two teeth and be crunched up, and thereafter he had to stay afloat, slithering along down into the stomach. “They forgot to put windows in this little room,” he said. “No rays of sunlight shine in, nor did anyone fetch me a night-light.” He found the lodgings altogether lacking, and worst of all, more and more hay kept coming through the door, and the space got ever tighter. Finally he cried out in terror as loud as he could, “Don’t bring me any more feed, don’t bring me any more feed!”

  The maid was just milking the cow, and when she heard a voice without seeing anyone about, and fathomed that it was the same voice she had heard during the night, she took such fright she slipped off the milking stool and spilled the milk and ran as fast as she could to her master and cried, “For God’s sake, reverend, sir, the cow just spoke.”

  “You’ve lost your mind,” replied the pastor, but went to the cowshed to see for himself what’s what.

  But no sooner had he set foot inside than Tom Thumb cried out again, “Don’t bring me any fresh feed, don’t bring me any fresh feed.”

  Whereupon the pastor took fright, believing it to be an evil spirit that had entered the cow, and he decided to kill it. So the cow was slaughtered, but the stomach in which Tom Thumb lodged was tossed into the garbage heap. Tom Thumb had an awful time wriggling his way out, until he finally managed. But when he went to poke his head out, poor lad, he was engulfed by a new misfortune. A hungry wolf came running up and gobbled down the entire stomach in one gulp. But Tom Thumb never lost courage. Perhaps, he thought, I can bend the wolf’s ear with my words, and he shouted out of the pit of the wolf’s paunch, “Dear wolf, I know where you can find a tender tidbit.”

  “Where’s that?” said the wolf.

  “In a house on such and such a street, if you creep along the curb, you’ll find cake, bacon, and sausage aplenty, as much as you can eat,” and told him the way to his father’s house. The wolf, not needing to be told twice, slunk along in the dark of night and ate his fill in the storeroom. Once he was full he wanted to slink off, but he had become so fat that he couldn’t fit out the door again, which is just what Tom Thumb counted on. He promptly started making a prodigious racket in the wolf’s gut, raging and roaring as loud as he could.

  “Will you be quiet,” said the wolf. “You’ll wake everyone up.”

  “What’s fair is fair,” the little one replied. “You had your fill, now it’s my turn to make merry,” and he started screaming again at the top of his lungs. The racket finally awakened his father and mother, who went running to the storeroom and peaked through a crack in the planks. As soon as they saw a wolf crouching within, they ran off. The man fetched an ax and the woman a scythe.

  “Stand back,” said the man as they entered the storeroom, “and once I heave to with a blow that stuns him, swing the scythe and cut him to pieces.”

  Then Tom Thumb heard his father’s voice and cried, “Dear Father, I’m here, stuck in the body of the wolf.”

  Overjoyed, the father cried out, “Thank God, our beloved child is back,” and had his wife stay the scythe so as not to harm Tom Thumb. But he heaved to again and struck the wolf with such a mighty blow to the head that it fell dead. Then the parents found a knife and shears, cut open the wolf’s belly, and promptly pulled out their little son.

  “Heaven help us,” said the father, “we were worried to death about you!”

  “Yes, Father, I did get around in the world. Thank God I can breathe fresh air again!”

  “Whereabouts have you been?”

  “Oh, Father, I’ve spent time in a mouse hole, in a cow’s stomach, and in the wolf’s gut. It’s good to be home again.”

  “We wouldn’t sell you again for all the riches in the world,” said the parents, who kissed and cuddled their dear Tom Thumb. Then they gave him plenty to eat and drink, and made him a new suit of clothes, as his old duds were tattered from his travels.

  FAITHFUL JOHANNES

  Once upon a time there was an old king who fell ill and thought, The bed in which I lie will surely be my deathbed. So he said, “Tell Faithful Johannes to come to me.” Faithful Johannes was his favorite servant, so called because he had faithfully served the king for his entire life. Once he stood before the bed, the king said to him, “Dear Faithful Johannes, I feel that my end is near, and my only worry is about my son – he is still so young he cannot always make decisions for himself, and if you do not promise me that you will counsel him in all he needs to know and be his foster father, I cannot die in peace.”

  To which Faithful Johannes replied, “I will not forsake him and will gladly serve him, even if it costs me my life.”

  Whereupon the old king said, “Then I can die in peace and confidence.” And he added: “After my death, take him around the entire castle, to every chamber, hall, and vaulted passageway, and show him all the treasures it contains – but don’t take him to the last chamber at the end of the long hallway in which the painting called The Princess of the Golden Roof lies hidden. If he lays eyes on that painting, he will be so smitten by her beauty that he will swoon and for her sake face great peril. You must safeguard him from that.” And when
Faithful Johannes once again shook hands on it, the king lay his head back on the pillow, was still, and died.

  As they carried the old king out to be buried, Faithful Johannes told the young king what he had promised his father on his deathbed, and added: “On my honor I will keep my word, and be faithful to you as I was to him, even at the cost of my life.”

  Once the mourning period was over, Faithful Johannes said to him, “It is time for you to see your inheritance – I will show you around your father’s castle.” So he took him everywhere, up and down the keep, and showed him all of the magnificent chambers and the treasures they contained – all except for the room with the perilous painting. But the painting was positioned such that you saw it as soon as the door swung open, and it was so splendidly painted that the princess looked alive and kicking and there was nothing sweeter and lovelier to look upon in the whole wide world.

  The young king noticed that Faithful Johannes always bypassed one doorway and said, “Why don’t you unlock this one?”

  “There is something terrible to look upon inside,” he said.

  But the young king replied, “I have seen the entire castle, so I want to know what’s in there too.” He lunged forward and wanted to force the door open.

  But Faithful Johannes held him back and said, “I swore to your father on his deathbed that you would not set eyes on what’s in there – it could bring you and me great misfortune.”

  “Stuff and nonsense,” said the young king. “If I can’t get in there it will be my undoing. Day and night I would not rest until I’d seen it with my own eyes. I will not move from this spot until you unlock that door.”

  Faithful Johannes fathomed that there was nothing to be done, and sighing with a heavy heart he searched for the right key on the big key chain. Once he had opened the door he entered first, intending to hide the painting so that the king would not see it, but it was no use. The king stood on tiptoes and spotted it over his shoulder. And no sooner did he catch a glimpse of the painting of the fair maiden glimmering with gold and precious stones than he fainted and fell to the ground. Faithful Johannes picked him up and carried him to his bed, fretting all the while. “Dear God, the thing is done, what misfortune will it bring us!”

  Then he fortified the young king with a swallow of wine until he came to again. But the first words he said upon waking were: “Who, in heaven’s name, is the girl in the painting?”

  “She is the Princess of the Golden Roof,” replied Faithful Johannes.

  Then the king replied, “My love for her is so great, if all the leaves on the trees were tongues they could not express it. I will devote my life to finding her. You are my Faithful Johannes, you must stand by me.”

  Faithful Johannes pondered for a long while how to go about tackling this task, as it was hard enough just to stand there and peer at the princess’s face. Finally he had an idea and said to the king, “Everything around her is made of gold – tables, chairs, bowls, goblets, pans, and all household utensils. There are four tons of gold in your treasure vault. Have one of the goldsmiths of your realm fashion it into all sorts of receptacles and devices, into birds, wild game, and wondrous golden creatures. That will please her, and we will carry it with us to her kingdom and try our luck.”

  The king had all the goldsmiths in his realm called to the palace and commanded them to work day and night until finally they had completed all the lovely things. Once everything was loaded onto a ship, Faithful Johannes dressed up as a merchant and bid the king do the same, so as to travel incognito. Then they shoved off across the sea and sailed a long way until they came to the city in which the Princess of the Golden Roof lived.

  Faithful Johannes told the king to remain on the ship and wait for him. “Maybe,” he said, “I’ll bring the princess back with me. Make sure everything is in order, and have the gold receptacles brought up to the deck and decorate the entire ship.” Thereupon he gathered all sorts of golden objects and stuffed them into the pockets of his smock, disembarked, and went straight to the royal palace. When he came to the palace courtyard, there before a well stood a beautiful girl with two golden buckets in hand with which she drew water. And when she turned around to carry off the sparkling water she saw the stranger and asked him who he was.

  To which he replied, “I am a merchant,” and he loosened the pockets of his smock and let her look in.

  Whereupon she cried out, “Oh what lovely gold things!,” put down the buckets, and examined them one by one. Then the girl said, “The princess must see this. She loves golden objects so much she will buy all of your wares.” So she took him by the hand and led him up to see the princess, for the girl was her handmaiden. When the princess saw all the wares Faithful Johannes carried with him, she was delighted and said, “It is so finely fashioned that I will buy it all.”

  But Faithful Johannes replied, “I am only the servant of a wealthy merchant. What you see here is nothing compared to what my master has on his ship – the most artful and precious objects ever fashioned out of gold.” She immediately wanted to have everything brought to her, but he said, “That would take many days, so great are they in number, and they would fill so many chambers that your castle would not suffice.”

  The princess’s curiosity and yearning were stirred to such a degree that she finally said, “Take me to the ship. I will go myself to see your master’s treasures.”

  So Faithful Johannes led her to the ship, overjoyed that his plan had worked, and as soon as the king set eyes on her, he saw that her beauty in person surpassed that of her portrait and felt like his heart would burst in his breast. Then she boarded the ship, and the king led her into the hold. But Faithful Johannes stayed behind with the helmsman and bid him shove off. “Unfurl your sails that we may fly like a bird in the sky.”

  Meanwhile the king showed her all the golden pots, one by one; the bowls, goblets, and pans; the golden birds and wild game and all the wondrously fashioned golden animals. Examining it all took many hours, and in her joy she did not notice that the ship had set sail. After she had admired the last golden object, she thanked the merchant and wanted to go home, but when she got to the bow she saw that the ship was advancing full sail at high sea far from land.

  “Heaven help me,” she cried out in terror, “I’ve been deceived, kidnapped, and am at the mercy of a merchant. I would rather die!”

  The king promptly grabbed her by the hand and said, “A merchant I am not but a king, no lesser by birth than you – yet if I resorted to a ruse to carry you off, my overwhelming love for you is to blame. The first time I saw your portrait I swooned with love.” When the Princess of the Golden Roof heard this she felt comforted, and her heart went out to him, so that she gladly agreed to become his wife.

  But it so happened while they were sailing the high seas that Faithful Johannes, who was seated at the fore playing music, spied three ravens flying overhead. So he stopped playing and listened to their conversation, for he understood their language.

  The one cried out, “Hey, he’s taking the Princess of the Golden Roof home.”

  “Right,” replied the second, “but he hasn’t got her yet.”

  To which the third countered, “Sure, he’s got her, she’s seated beside him on the ship.”

  Then the first started squawking again and cried, “A lot of good it’ll do him! As soon as they land, a reddish brown horse will come leaping toward him, and he will try to swing himself into the saddle and never see his ladylove again.”

  Said the second, “Is there no way to save him?”

  “Oh, yes,” said the first, “if another man mounts first, removes the musket from the halter, and with it shoots the horse dead, then the young king will be saved. But who knows that? And whoever knows it and says it, he will be turned to stone from his toes to his knees.”

  Then the second one said, “I know more. Even if the horse is slain the young king still won’t keep his bride. Once they get to the castle they will find, lying in a bowl, an e
mbroidered nuptial robe that looks as if it’s woven out of silver and gold but is, in fact, made of brimstone and pitch, and whosoever puts it on will burn down to his marrow and bones.”

  Said the third, “Is there no rescue?”

  “Oh, yes,” replied the second, “if someone wearing gloves grabs the robe and flings it into the fire so that it burns, the king will be saved. But what’s the use? Whoever knows it and tells it to him, he will have half his body, from the knees to the heart, turned to stone.”

  Then the third said, “I know even more. Even if the nuptial robe is burned, the young king still won’t have his bride. After the wedding when the minstrels strike up the music and the young queen gets up to dance, she will suddenly turn pale and appear to drop dead, and if someone does not pick her up and immediately draw three drops of blood from her right breast and spit them out again, she will die. But if someone knows it and reveals what he knows, then he will turn to stone from his spine to his toes.”

  Once the ravens had finished their conversation they flew off, and Faithful Johannes understood every word, but from that moment on he was sad and still. If he kept all he’d heard from his master, the latter would come to a miserable end, but if he revealed it to him, he himself would forfeit his life. Finally, after mulling it over, he said to himself, “I will save my master, even if it means my own undoing.”

  Once they reached land, things happened as the raven had predicted, and a splendid reddish-brown nag came leaping forward.

  “Up an’ at ’em,” said the king, “he’ll carry me back to my castle,” and was about to mount, but Faithful Johannes beat him to it, swiftly swung himself into the saddle, pulled the musket out of the halter, and shot the nag dead.

  Thereupon the king’s other servants, who had it in for Johannes, cried out, “What a disgrace to kill the beautiful creature that was to carry the king back to his castle!”