by Jacob Grimm
“Duck, run as fast as you can!” cried the rooster.
After they had gone some distance, they encountered two travelers on foot, a needle and a pin, who called and asked them to stop. They said it would soon be very dark, and they wouldn’t be able to go one step farther. Besides, the road was dirty. So they asked if they could have a ride. They had been at the tailor’s tavern outside the town gate and had had one beer too many, which made them late as well.
Since they were thin and didn’t take up much room, the rooster let them both get in, but they had to promise not to step on his or the hen’s feet. Later that evening they came to an inn, and since they didn’t want to travel any farther, and since the duck was not walking well but swayed from side to side, they decided to stop there. At first the innkeeper raised a lot of objections and said his inn was already full. Moreover, he thought they were not a very distinguished-looking group. However, they used some sweet talk and offered him the egg that the hen had laid along the way and told him that he could also keep the duck, who laid an egg a day. So finally he relented and said they could spend the night. Now they ordered some good hot food and had a merry time of it.
Early the next morning, as the sun was rising and everyone was asleep, the rooster woke the hen, fetched the egg, pecked it open, and together they devoured it. After throwing the shells on the hearth, they went to the needle, who was still asleep, grabbed him by the head, and stuck him into the innkeeper’s easy chair. Then they stuck the pin into the innkeeper’s towel. Finally, without much ado, they flew away over the heath.
The duck, who liked to sleep in the open air and had spent the night in the yard, heard the flapping of their wings. So she roused herself, found a brook, and swam away. That went much faster than being harnessed to a carriage. A few hours later the innkeeper got out of bed, washed himself, and took the towel to dry himself. However, the pin scratched his face, leaving a red mark from ear to ear. Then he went into the kitchen and wanted to light his pipe. But, as he leaned over the hearth, the eggshells popped into his eyes.
“Everything’s attacking my head this morning,” he said, and went to sit down in his easy chair to settle his bad mood, but he jumped up immediately and screamed, “Oww!” The needle had stuck him worse than the pin and not in the head. Now he was completely angry and suspected the guests who had arrived so late the night before. But when he went looking for them, they were gone. Then he swore he would never again let riffraff stay at his inn, especially when they eat so much, pay nothing, and play mean tricks on top of it all.
11
LITTLE BROTHER AND LITTLE SISTER
A little brother took his little sister by the hand and said, “Ever since our mother died, we’ve not had one moment of happiness. Our stepmother beats us every day, and when we come near her, she kicks us away with her foot. We get nothing but hard crusts of bread, just leftovers for food, and the dog under the table is better off. At least he gets a good chunk of meat to eat every now and then. Lord have mercy on us, if our mother only knew! Come, let’s go off together into the wide world.”
So they went away and came to a large forest, where they were so sad and so tired that they crept into a hollow tree and just wanted to die from hunger. Then they both fell asleep. When they woke the next morning, the sun was already high in the sky and warmed the hollow tree with its rays.
“Little sister,” said the little brother after a while, “I’m thirsty. If only I knew where to find a spring, I’d go and have a drink right away. Listen, I think I hear one trickling.”
“What good will that do?” the little sister answered. “Why do you want to drink when we just want to die from hunger?”
The little brother kept quiet and climbed out of the hollow tree, and since he always held his sister’s hand tightly, she had to climb out with him.
Now, their evil stepmother was a witch, and when she had noticed that the two children had left, she followed them and caused a clear little stream near the tree to trickle from some rocks and form a spring. The trickling spring was intended to lure the children and make their mouths water. But whoever drank from the spring would be changed into a little fawn.
The little brother soon came to the spring with his sister, and when he saw the glittering water trickle over the stones into the spring, his thirst became even greater, and he wanted to drink some of the water. However, the little sister was fearful. She thought she heard the spring speak to her as it trickled: “Whoever drinks me will be changed into a fawn! Whoever drinks me will be changed into a fawn!” So, she begged her little brother not to drink the water.
“I don’t hear anything,” said the little brother. “I just hear how lovely the water is trickling. Let me go!”
Upon saying this he lay down on the ground, leaned over, and drank, and as soon as he felt the first drop of water on his lips, he was changed into a little fawn sitting beside the spring.
The little sister wept and wept. However, the witch was angry that she hadn’t been able to lure the little sister to drink the water as well. After the girl wept for three days, she stood up, gathered some bulrushes, and wove them into a soft rope. Then she attached it to the little fawn and led him with her. She looked for a cave, and when she found one, she carried moss and foliage inside and made a soft bed for him. The next morning she went out with the fawn to a place with tender grass, and there she gathered the most beautiful grass, which he ate out of her hand. The fawn was delighted and romped about on the hills. In the evening when the little sister was tired, she laid her head on the back of the fawn. It was her pillow, and this is how she fell asleep. If only her brother could have retained his human form, it would have been a wonderful life.
For many years they lived like this in the forest. Then one day the king went out on a hunt, and when he became lost, he stumbled upon the maiden with the little animal in the forest and was amazed by her beauty. He lifted her up onto his horse and took her with him, while the fawn, attached by the rope, ran along side. At the royal court the maiden was treated with honor. Beautiful young women had to serve her, but she herself was more beautiful than any of the other ladies. She never let the fawn out of her sight, and she tended him with care. Shortly after her arrival the queen mother died, and the king wed the sister, and they lived together in great joy.
However, the stepmother had heard about the good fortune of the poor little sister. She had thought that the maiden had long since been torn to pieces by wild beasts, but they had never done anything to her. Indeed, the maiden was now the queen of the realm. The witch was so angry about this that she could only think of some way she might ruin the queen’s happiness.
When the queen gave birth to a handsome prince the next year and the king was out hunting, the witch appeared in the form of a chambermaid and entered the room where the queen was recovering from the birth.
“The bath has been prepared for you,” she said. “It will do you good and strengthen you. Come, before the water becomes too cold.”
The witch led the queen into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Inside there was a brutally hot fire, and the beautiful queen was suffocated to death.
Now the witch had a daughter of her own, and she endowed her with the outward shape of the queen and laid her in bed in place of the queen. In the evening when the king returned home. he didn’t realize that he had a false wife. But in the night—and the nurse saw this—the real queen appeared in the room. She went to the cradle, lifted the child to her breast, and suckled him. Then she plumped up his tiny mattress, laid the baby in the cradle again, and covered him. After this, she went into the corner, where the fawn slept, and stroked his back. This was how she came and went every night without saying a word.
One time, however, she entered again and said:
“How’s my child? How’s my fawn?
Twice more I’ll come, then I’ll be gone.”
Then she did what she had usually done the other nights. Meanwhile, the nurse woke th
e king and told him secretly what had occurred. So the next night the king kept watch, and he, too, saw how the queen came, and he clearly heard her words.
“How’s my child? How’s my fawn?
Once more I’ll come, then I’ll be gone.”
However, he didn’t dare to speak to her. The following night he kept watch again, and the queen said:
“How’s my child? How’s my fawn?
There’s no more time. Soon I’ll be gone.”
The king could no longer restrain himself. He sprang forth and embraced her, and as soon as he touched her, she was restored to life, rosy red and well. The false queen was led into the forest, where the wild beasts devoured her. The evil stepmother was burned at the stake, and as the fire consumed her, the fawn was transformed, and brother and sister were once again together and lived happily until the end of their days.
12
RAPUNZEL
Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife who had been wishing for a child many years, but it had all been in vain. Finally, the woman became pregnant.
Now, in the back of their house the couple had a small window that overlooked a fairy’s garden filled with all kinds of flowers and herbs. But nobody ever dared to enter it.
One day, however, when the wife was standing at the window and looking down into the garden, she noticed a bed of wonderful rapunzel. She had a great craving to eat some of the lettuce, and yet she knew that she couldn’t get any. So she began to waste away and looked wretched. Her husband eventually became horrified and asked what was ailing her.
“If I don’t get any of that rapunzel from the garden behind our house, I shall have to die.”
Her husband loved her very much and thought, “No matter what it costs, you’re going to get her some rapunzel.”
So one evening he quickly climbed over the high wall into the garden, grabbed a handful of rapunzel, and brought the lettuce to his wife. Then she immediately made a salad and ate it with great zest. However, the rapunzel tasted so good to her, so very good, that her craving for it became three times greater by the next day. Her husband knew that if she was ever to be satisfied, he had to climb into the garden once more. And so he went over the wall into the garden but was extremely terrified when he stood face-to-face with the fairy, who angrily berated him for daring to come into the garden and stealing her rapunzel.
He excused himself as best he could by explaining that his wife was pregnant and that it had become too dangerous to deny her the rapunzel.
“All right,” the fairy finally spoke. “I shall permit you to take as much rapunzel as you like, but only if you give me the child that your wife is carrying.”
In his fear the man agreed to everything, and when his wife gave birth, the fairy appeared at once, named the baby girl Rapunzel, and took her away.
Rapunzel grew to be the most beautiful child under the sun. But when she turned twelve, the fairy locked her in a very high tower that had neither doors nor stairs, only a little window high above. Whenever the fairy wanted to enter the tower, she would stand below and call out:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair.”
Rapunzel had radiant hair, as fine as spun gold. Each time she heard the fairy’s voice, she unpinned her braids and wound them around a hook on the window. Then she let her hair drop twenty yards, and the fairy would climb up on it.
One day a young prince went riding through the forest and came upon the tower. He looked up and saw beautiful Rapunzel at the window. When he heard her singing with such a sweet voice, he fell completely in love with her. However, since there were no doors in the tower and no ladder could ever reach her high window, he fell into despair. Nevertheless, he went into the forest every day until one time he saw the fairy, who called out:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair.”
As a result, he now knew what kind of ladder he needed to climb up into the tower. He took careful note of the words he had to say, and the next day at dusk, he went to the tower and called out:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair.”
So she let her hair drop, and when her braids were at the bottom of the tower, he tied them around him, and she pulled him up. At first Rapunzel was terribly afraid, but soon the young prince pleased her so much that she agreed to see him every day and pull him up into the tower. Thus, for a while they had a merry time and enjoyed each other’s company. The fairy didn’t become aware of this until, one day, Rapunzel began talking and said to her, “Tell me, Mother Gothel, why are my clothes becoming too tight? They don’t fit me any more.”
“Oh, you godless child!” the fairy replied. “What’s this I hear?”
And she immediately realized that she had been betrayed and became furious. Then she grabbed Rapunzel’s beautiful hair, wrapped it around her left hand a few times, picked up a pair of scissors with her right hand, and snip, snap, the hair was cut off. Afterward the fairy banished Rapunzel to a desolate land, where she had to live in great misery. In the course of time she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.
On the same day that the fairy had banished Rapunzel, she fastened the braids that she had cut off to the hook on the window, and that evening, when the prince came and called out
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair,”
she let the braids down. But when the prince climbed up into the tower, he was astonished to find the fairy instead of Rapunzel.
“Do you know what, you villain?” the angry fairy said. “Rapunzel is lost to you forever!”
In his despair the prince threw himself from the tower. He escaped with his life, but he lost both eyes. Sadly he wandered around in the forest, eating nothing but grass and roots, and did nothing but weep. Some years later, he made his way to the desolate land where Rapunzel was leading a wretched existence with her children. When he heard her voice, it sounded familiar at first, and then he immediately recognized it. She recognized him, too, and embraced him. Two of her tears fell upon his eyes. Then his eyes became clear again, and he could see as usual.
13
THE THREE LITTLE MEN IN THE FOREST
There was a man whose wife died, and he was undecided whether he wanted to marry again. Finally, he took off one of his boots that had a hole in the sole and said to his daughter, his only child: “Take this boot and carry it up to the loft, where you’ll find a large nail. Hang the boot on the nail. Then fetch some water, and pour the water into the boot. If it holds the water, I’ll get married again. But if it leaks, I’ll let things remain as they are.”
The maiden did as she was told. The water drew the hole together, and the boot became full to the brim. The father checked to see for himself whether this was true. Then he said: “Well, now I’ve got to take a wife.”
So he went and courted a widow who brought a daughter from her first husband with her into the house. When she saw that her stepdaughter was beautiful and that everyone was fond of her, and that her own daughter was ugly, she scolded the stepdaughter whenever she could and only thought of how she might torment her.
One day, in the middle of winter, when the snow was high, the stepmother sewed her a dress made of paper, and when it was finished, she called her stepdaughter to her and said, “I’ve got a craving to eat strawberries. So put on this dress, go into the forest, and fetch me a basket of strawberries. And don’t you dare return home until the basket is full.”
The maiden wept bitter tears and said, “Strawberries don’t grow in winter, and even if they were there, they’d be covered by the snow. How am I supposed to find them? It’s so cold outside that my breath will freeze. How can I go out in a paper dress? The wind will blow right through the dress, and the thorns will tear it off my body.”
“Don’t say one more word!” the stepmother replied. “Get going and look for the strawberries.”
In her jealous heart she thought that the maiden would freeze outside and never retu
rn. That’s why she had made the thin paper dress. Since the maiden was obedient, she put on the paper dress and went out into the forest. There was nothing but snow, not even a blade of green grass. So she kept going, and when she reached the middle of the forest, she saw a small cottage, and three little men were looking out the window. She wished them a good day, and since she greeted them so politely, they asked her what she was looking for in the forest dressed in such a thin paper dress when it was wintertime.
“Oh,” she answered, “I’m supposed to look for strawberries, and I’m not allowed to return home until I’ve gathered a basketful.”
The three little men responded: “Go behind our house and clear the snow away. The strawberries have been protected there and have grown. You’ll find enough to fill your basket.”
The maiden thanked them and did as she was told. While she cleared away the snow and gathered the strawberries, the three little men began talking among themselves.
“Since she’s been so polite to us and is so beautiful, what gifts should we grant her?”
“I’ll make sure that she becomes even more beautiful than she is. This is my gift,” one of the little men said.
“Each time she speaks, golden coins will fall out of her mouth. That will be my gift,” said another one of the little men.
“I’ll grant her a king who will come and take her for his wife,” the third little man said.
When the maiden came back to them, they bestowed their gifts on her, and when she wanted to thank them, golden coins fell out of her mouth. Then she went home, and the stepmother was astonished by the strawberries that she had brought with her and was even more astonished when she saw the coins that fell from the girl’s mouth. Shortly thereafter, a king came, took the maiden with him, and made her his wife.