by Jacob Grimm
“My father, he ate me.”
Then the woman fell down again as if she were dead.
“My sister, Marlene, she made sure to see.”
“Oh,” said Marlene, I want to go outside, too, and see if the bird will give me something.”
Then she went out.
“My bones were gathered secretly,
bound nicely in silk, as neat as can be.”
All at once the bird threw her the shoes.
“And laid them beneath the juniper tree.
Tweet, tweet! What a lovely bird I am!”
Marlene felt cheerful and happy. She put on the new red shoes and danced and skipped back into the house.
“Oh,” she said, “I was so sad when I went out, and now I feel so cheerful. That certainly is a splendid bird. He gave me a pair of red shoes as a gift.”
“Not me,” said the wife, who jumped, and her hair flared up like red-hot flames. “I feel as if the world were coming to an end. Maybe I’d feel better if I went outside.”
As she went out the door, crash! The bird threw the millstone down on her head, and she was crushed to death. The father and Marlene heard the crash and went outside. Smoke, flames, and fire were rising from the spot, and when it was over, the little brother was standing there. He took his father and Marlene by the hand, and all three were very happy. Then they went into the house, sat down at the table, and ate.
48
OLD SULTAN
A farmer had a faithful dog named Sultan. He was old and couldn’t latch onto things with his teeth anymore. So the farmer said to his wife: “I’m going to shoot old Sultan. He’s no longer of use to us anymore.”
His wife replied, “Don’t you do it! We should support the faithful dog in his old age. He’s served us well so many years.”
“You must be out of your mind!” her husband said. “What are we going to do with him? He doesn’t have a tooth left in his head. No thief would be afraid of him anymore. If he’s served us well, he’s done it because of his hunger, and because he was well fed here. Tomorrow is his last day. End of discussion!”
The dog had overheard everything that they had discussed. Since he had a good friend, the wolf, he went out to see him in the evening and whine about his fate and tell him that his master was going to shoot him the next day.
“Don’t worry,” the wolf said. “I’m going to give you a good plan: Early tomorrow morning your master will be going out with his wife to make hay, and they’ll take their little child with them because nobody will be staying at home. They generally lay the child behind the hedge while they work. Now, you’re to lie down next to the child as if you want to rest and guard him. I’ll come out of the forest and steal the child. Then you’ve got to jump up and run after me and chase me away. They’ll believe that you rescued their child, and you’ll be in their good graces, and they’ll give you anything you want for the rest of your life.”
The dog liked the plan, and it was carried out just as they had conceived it. The wolf ran off a short distance, and when the dog overtook him, the wolf dropped the child, and the dog brought him back to his master, whereupon the man cried out in a very loud voice: “Well, since our old Sultan has chased away the wolf once again, he’s going to stay alive, and we’ll support him for the rest of his life. Wife, go home and cook him some bread mush that he can easily swallow. Also, bring him my pillow. He’s to have it for his bed as long as he lives.”
All of a sudden old Sultan had it so good that he couldn’t have wished for a better life. The wolf came to him and was delighted to learn that everything had succeeded so well.
“Now you certainly won’t have anything against it and will help me when I steal a fat sheep from your master.”
But Sultan was loyal to his master and told him what the wolf had in mind. So the man waited for the wolf in the barn, and when the wolf came and wanted to get a good bite of sheep, the farmer practically skinned him alive. Later the wolf was so outraged that he scolded old Sultan, called him a miserable fellow, and challenged him to a duel to settle things.
They were to take their positions right outside the forest, and each one was to bring a second with him. The wolf was the first one at the place and had brought the wild boar as his second, and old Sultan had only been able to recruit a lame cat and finally set out with her. When the wolf and the boar saw the cat coming toward them, constantly limping, they thought that she was picking up stones to throw at them, and they both became frightened. So the wild boar crawled into some bushes, and the wolf jumped up a tree. When the dog and cat reached the spot, they were both puzzled to find nobody there. However, the boar in the bushes began twitching his ear, and when the cat saw something move, she sprang on top of the boar and bit and scratched him. Consequently, the boar leapt into the air with a loud cry and ran away. As he was running, he yelled out: “Your opponent’s sitting up there in the tree!”
So it came to light that the wolf had cowardly retreated, and the only way he could climb down from the tree was by agreeing to a peaceful settlement.
49
THE SIX SWANS
A king went hunting in a vast forest, got lost, and couldn’t find his way out. Finally, he came upon a witch and asked her to show him the way out of the forest. However, the witch told him she wouldn’t do it. He had to remain there and would lose his life. He could only be saved if he married her daughter. The king cherished his life, and he was so frightened, he said yes. So the witch brought the maiden to him. Though she was young and beautiful, he couldn’t look at her without getting the creeps and secretly shuddering. However, he intended to keep his promise. Then the old woman led both of them on the right path out of the forest, and once they were at the king’s home, the witch’s daughter became his wife.
Now the king still had seven children from his first wife, six boys and a girl, and since he was afraid the stepmother might harm them, he brought them to a castle in the middle of a forest. It lay so well concealed nobody knew the way to it, and he himself would not have found it if a wise woman had not given him a ball of yarn. When he threw the ball before him, the yarn unwound itself and showed him the way.
Since the king loved his children very much, he frequently went to the castle. However, the queen became curious and wanted to know why he was going out into the forest all alone. She interrogated the servants, and they revealed the entire secret. The first thing she did was to use her cunning and acquire the ball of yarn. Then she took seven small shirts and went out into the forest. The ball of yarn showed her the way, and when the six little princes saw her coming from the distance, they were delighted because they thought their father was coming and ran out to her. But all at once she threw a shirt over each one of them, and as soon as they were touched by the shirts, they were turned into swans and flew away over the forest.
Now the queen thought that she had gotten rid of all her stepchildren and returned home. So the maiden, who had remained in her room, was saved. The next day the king went to the castle in the forest, and she told him what had happened and showed him the swan feathers that had fallen down from her six brothers into the courtyard. The king was horrified but couldn’t believe that that the queen had done such an evil deed. At the same time, he was worried that the princess might also be stolen away from him. So he wanted to take her with him. However, she was afraid of her stepmother and begged the king to allow her to spend one more night in the castle. Then, during the night, she fled and went deeper into the forest.
She walked the entire day, and toward evening she came to a hut. Once she entered, she found a room with six small beds. Since she was now tired, she lay herself down beneath one of the beds and wanted to spend the night there. Yet at sunset six swans came flying through the window, landed on the floor, and blew on one another until all their feathers were blown off as if some cloth had slipped off them, and there stood her six brothers. She crawled out from beneath the bed, and the brothers were both glad and distressed to see her agai
n.
“You can’t stay here,” they said. “This is a robbers’ den. When they come home from their marauding, they live here. We can take off our swan skins for only a quarter of an hour every evening and assume our human form during this time. Then it’s all over. If you want to rescue us, you must sew six little shirts made out of asters, but during this time you’re not allowed to speak or laugh. Otherwise all your work will be for naught.”
As the brothers were speaking, the quarter of an hour expired, and once again they were transformed into swans. The next morning, however, the maiden gathered asters, perched herself on a branch of a tall tree, and began to sew. She didn’t speak a single word or laugh. She just sat there and concentrated on her work.
After she had been there for some time, the king who owned this land went hunting and came to the tree where the maiden was perched. His hunters called to her and told her to come down. But because she was not permitted to answer them, she wanted to satisfy them by throwing them presents. So she threw them her golden necklace. Yet they continued to call out. So she threw them her girdle, and when this didn’t work either, she threw down her garters and little by little everything that she had on and could do without until she had nothing left but her little shift. Still all this was not enough for the hunters. They climbed the tree, carried her down, and led her by force to the king, who was astonished by her beauty. He covered her with his cloak, lifted her onto his horse, and brought her to his home. Even though she was mute, he loved her with all his heart, and she became his wife.
Now the king’s mother was angry about all of this and spoke ill of the young queen: nobody knew where the wench came from, and she wasn’t worthy of the king. When the queen gave birth to her first child, the old mother-in-law took the child away and smeared the queen’s mouth with blood while she was asleep. Then she accused the young queen of having eaten her own child and of being a sorceress. However, because of his great love for his wife, the king refused to believe this.
Some time later the queen gave birth to a second prince, and the godless mother-in-law played the same trick and accused the queen of cannibalism again. Since the queen wasn’t allowed to talk and had to sit there mute and work on the six little shirts, she couldn’t save herself and was sentenced to burn at the stake.
The day came when the sentence was to be carried out. It was exactly the last day of the six years, and she had managed to finish sewing the six shirts. Only the left sleeve of the last shirt was missing. When she was led to the stake, she took the six shirts with her, and when she stood on the pile of wood and the fire was about to be lit, she saw the six swans flying through the air until they descended right near her. So she threw the shirts over them, and as soon as the shirts touched them, the swan skins fell off, and her six brothers stood before her in the flesh. Only the sixth one was missing his left arm; instead, he had a swan’s wing on his shoulder. Now she could speak once again and told everyone how her mother-in-law had slandered her in such a wicked way. Consequently, the old woman was tied to the stake and burned to death. However, the young queen lived with the king and her six brothers a long time in great joy.
50
BRIAR ROSE
A king and a queen couldn’t have children, and they wanted very much to have one. Then one day, while the queen was bathing, a crab crawled out of the water, came onshore, and said: “Your wish will soon be filled, and you will give birth to a daughter.”
Indeed, this is what happened, and the king was so delighted by the birth of the princess that he organized a great feast and also invited the fairies who were living in his realm. Since he had only twelve golden plates, however, there was one fairy who had to be excluded, for there were thirteen in all.
The fairies came to the feast, and at the end of the celebration they gave the child some gifts. One gave virtue; the second, beauty; and the others gave every splendid thing that one could possibly wish for in the world. But, just after the eleventh fairy had announced her gift, the thirteenth appeared, and she was quite angry she had not been invited to the festivities.
“Since you didn’t ask me to attend this celebration,” she cried out, “I say to you that when your daughter turns fifteen, she will prick herself with a spindle and fall down dead!”
The parents were horrified, but the twelfth fairy hadn’t made her wish yet, and she said: “The girl will not die. She will fall into a deep sleep for one hundred years.”
The king still hoped to save his dear child and issued an order that all spindles in his entire kingdom were to be banned. Meanwhile, the girl grew up and became marvelously beautiful. On the day she turned fifteen, the king and queen had gone out, and she was left completely alone in the palace. So she wandered all over the place just as she pleased and eventually came to an old tower where she found a narrow staircase. Since she was curious, she climbed the stairs and came to a small door with a yellow key stuck in the lock. When she turned it, the door sprang open, and she found herself in a little room where she saw an old woman spinning flax. She took a great liking to the old woman and joked with her and said she wanted to try spinning one time. So she took the spindle from the old woman’s hand, and no sooner did she touch the spindle than she pricked herself and fell down into a deep sleep.
Just at that moment the king returned to the palace with his entire courtly retinue, and everybody and everything began to fall asleep—the horses in the stable, the pigeons on the roof, the dogs in the courtyard, and the flies on the wall. Even the fire flickering in the hearth became quiet and fell asleep. The roast stopped sizzling, and the cook, who was just about to pull the kitchen boy’s hair, let him go, and the maid, who was plucking the feathers of a hen, let it drop and fell asleep. And a hedge of thorns sprouted around the entire castle and grew higher and higher until it was impossible to see the castle anymore.
There were princes who heard about the beautiful Briar Rose, and they came and wanted to rescue her, but they couldn’t penetrate the hedge. It was as though the thorns clung tightly together like hands, and the princes got stuck there and died miserable deaths. All this continued for many, many years until one day a prince came riding through the country, and an old man told him that people believed that a castle was standing behind the hedge of thorns and that a gorgeous princess was sleeping inside with her entire royal household. His grandfather had told him that many princes had come and had wanted to penetrate the hedge. However, they got stuck hanging in the thorns and had died.
“That doesn’t scare me,” said the prince. “I’m going to make my way through the hedge and rescue the beautiful princess.”
So off he went, and when he came to the hedge of thorns, there was nothing but flowers that separated and made a path for him, and as he went through them, the flowers turned back into thorns. After he reached the castle, the horses were lying asleep in the courtyard, and there was an assortment of hunting dogs. The pigeons were perched on the roof and had tucked their heads beneath their wings. When he entered the palace, the flies were sleeping, as was the fire in the kitchen along with the cook and the maid. The prince continued walking, and he saw the entire royal household with the king and queen lying asleep. Everything was so quiet that he could hear himself breathe.
Finally, he came to the old tower where Briar Rose was lying asleep. The prince was so astounded by her beauty that he leaned over and kissed her. Immediately after the kiss, she woke up, and the king and queen and the entire royal household and the horses and the dogs and the pigeons on the roof and the flies on the walls and the fire woke up. Indeed, the fire flared up and cooked the meat until it began to sizzle again, and the cook gave the kitchen boy a box on the ear, while the maid finished plucking the chicken. Then the wedding of the prince with Briar Rose was celebrated in great splendor, and they lived happily to the end of their days.
51
THE FOUNDLING
Once upon a time a forester went out hunting in the forest, and as he entered it, he heard some c
ries that sounded like those of a small child. He followed the sounds and eventually came to a tall tree where he saw a little child sitting on the top. The child’s mother had fallen asleep with him under the tree, and a hawk had seen the child in her lap. So it had swooped down, carried the child away with its beak, and set him down on top of the tree.
The forester climbed the tree and brought the child down, and thought: “You ought to take him home with you and raise him with your little Lena.” So he took the boy home, and the two children grew up together. However, the boy who had been found on top of the tree was called Foundling because he had been carried off by a bird. Foundling and little Lena were very fond of each other. In fact, they loved each other so much that they became sad if they were not constantly within sight of each other.
Now the forester had an old cook, and one evening she took two buckets and began fetching water. But she didn’t go to the well simply one time but many times. When little Lena saw this, she asked, “Tell me, old Sanna, why are you fetching so much water?”
“If you promise to keep quiet, I’ll let you in on my secret.”
Little Lena of course replied that she wouldn’t tell a soul. Then the cook said, “Early tomorrow morning, when the forester goes out hunting, I’m going to heat some water over the fire, and when it’s boiling, I’m going to throw Foundling in and cook him.”
Early the next morning the forester got up to go out hunting, and after he had gone, the children were still in bed. Then little Lena said to Foundling, “If you won’t forsake me, I won’t forsake you.”
“Never ever,” said Foundling.
“Well then, I’m going to tell you something important,” said little Lena. “Last night old Sanna carried many buckets of water into the house, and I asked her why she was doing that. She said that if I wouldn’t tell a soul, she’d let me in on her secret, and I promised her not to tell a living soul. Then she said that early this morning, when my father goes out hunting, she would boil a kettle full of water, throw you in, and cook you. So let’s get up quickly, dress ourselves, and run away together.”