The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

by Jacob Grimm

  The queen then took out the comb, and when Little Snow White saw it shine and that the woman was someone entirely different from the one she had previously met, she opened the door and bought the comb.

  “Come,” said the peddler woman, “I’ll also comb your hair.”

  But no sooner did the old woman stick the comb in Little Snow White’s hair than the maiden fell down and was dead.

  “Now you’ll remain lying there,” the queen said, and her heart had become lighter as she returned home.

  However, the dwarfs came just in the nick of time. When they saw what had happened, they pulled the poison comb out of Little Snow White’s hair, and she opened her eyes and was alive again. She promised the dwarfs that she would certainly not let anyone inside again.

  Now the queen stepped in front of her mirror once more and asked:

  “Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

  who in this land is fairest of all?”

  The mirror answered:

  “You, my queen, may have a beauty quite rare,

  But Little Snow White’s alive, this I must tell,

  She’s with the dwarfs and doing quite well.

  Indeed, she’s still a thousand times more fair.”

  When the queen heard this once again, she trembled and shook with rage. “Little Snow White shall die!” she exclaimed. “Even if it costs me my own life!”

  Then she went into a secret chamber where no one was allowed to enter. Once inside she made a deadly poisonous apple. On the outside it looked beautiful with red cheeks. Anyone who saw it would be enticed to take a bite. Thereafter, she disguised herself as a peasant woman, went to the dwarfs’ cottage, and knocked on the door. Little Snow White looked and said “I’m not allowed to let anyone inside. The seven dwarfs have strictly forbidden me.”

  “Well, if you don’t want to let me in, I can’t force you,” answered the peasant woman. “I’ll surely get rid of my apples in time. But let me give you one to test.”

  “No,” said Little Snow White. “I’m not allowed to take anything. The dwarfs won’t let me.”

  “You’re probably afraid,” said the old woman. “Look, I’ll cut the apple in two. You eat the beautiful red half.”

  However, the apple had been made with such cunning that only the red part was poisoned. When Little Snow White saw the peasant woman eating her half, and when her desire to taste the apple grew stronger, she finally let the peasant woman give her the other half through the window. As soon as she took a bite of the apple, she fell to the ground and was dead.

  The queen rejoiced, went home, and asked the mirror:

  “Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

  who in this land is the fairest of all?”

  And the mirror answered:

  “You, my queen, are now the fairest of all.”

  “Now I can rest in peace,” she said. “Once again I’m the most beautiful in the land, and Snow White will remain dead this time.”

  When the dwarfs came home from the mines that evening, they found Little Snow White lying on the ground, and she was dead. They unlaced her and tried to find something poisonous in her hair, but nothing helped. They couldn’t revive her. So they laid her on a bier, and all seven of them sat down beside it and wept and wept for three whole days. Then they intended to bury her, but she looked more alive than dead, and she still had such pretty red cheeks. So, instead they made a glass coffin and placed her inside so that she could easily be seen. Then they wrote her name on the coffin in gold letters and added the family name. One of the dwarfs remained at home every day to keep watch over her.

  So Little Snow White lay in the coffin for a long, long time but did not rot. She was still white as snow and red as blood, and if her eyes could have opened, they would have been black as ebony, for she lay there as if she were sleeping.

  Now it happened that a prince came to the dwarfs’ cottage one day and wanted to spend the night there. When he entered the room and saw Little Snow White lying in the coffin and the seven little candles casting their light right on her, he couldn’t get enough of her beauty. Then he read the golden inscription and saw that she was a princess. So he asked the dwarfs to sell him the coffin with the dead Little Snow White inside. But they wouldn’t accept all the gold in the world for it. Then he pleaded with them to give Little Snow White to him as a gift because he couldn’t live without gazing upon her, and he would honor her and hold her in high regard as his most beloved in the world. Well, the dwarfs took pity on him and gave him the coffin, and the prince had it carried to his castle. It was then placed in his room, where he himself sat the entire day and couldn’t take his eyes off her. And when he had to leave the room and couldn’t see Little Snow White, he became sad. Indeed, he couldn’t eat a thing unless he was standing near the coffin. However, the servants, who had to carry the coffin from place to place in the castle all the time, became angry about this, and at one time a servant opened the coffin, lifted Little Snow White into the air, and said: “Why must we be plagued with so much work all because of a dead maiden?” On saying this he shoved Little Snow White’s back with his hand, and out popped the nasty piece of apple that had been stuck in Little Snow White’s throat, and she was once again alive. As soon as this happened, she went to the prince, and when he saw his dear Little Snow White alive, he rejoiced so much that he didn’t know what to do. Then they sat down at the dinner table and ate with delight.

  The wedding was planned for the next day, and Snow White’s godless mother was also invited to attend. When she now stepped before the mirror, she said:

  “Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

  who in this land is the fairest of all?”

  And the mirror replied:

  “You, my queen, may have a beauty quite rare,

  but Little Snow White is a thousand times more fair.”

  When she heard this, she was horrified and became so afraid, so very afraid that she didn’t know what to do. However, her jealousy drove her so much that she wanted to be seen at the wedding. When she arrived, she saw that Little Snow White was the bride. Iron slippers were then heated over a fire. The queen had to put them on and dance in them, and her feet were miserably burned, but she had to keep dancing in them until she danced herself to death.

  54

  SIMPLE HANS

  Once a king lived happily with his daughter, who was his only child. Then, all of a sudden, she gave birth to a baby, and no one knew who the father was. For a long time the king didn’t know what to do. At last he ordered the princess to take the child and go to the church. Once there, a lemon was to be placed in the hands of the child, and the boy was to walk about and offer it to a man. As soon as boy stopped and chose a man, they would know that he was child’s father, and he would be declared the princess’s husband. Everything was arranged accordingly, and the king also gave orders to allow only highborn people into the church.

  However, there was a crooked little hunchback living in the city who was not particularly smart and was therefore called Simple Hans. Well, he managed to push his way into the church among the others without being noticed, and when the child offered the lemon, he handed it to Simple Hans. The princess was mortified, and the king was so upset that he had his daughter, the child, and Simple Hans stuck into a barrel, which was cast into the sea. The barrel soon floated off, and when they were alone at sea, the princess groaned and said, “You nasty, impudent hunchback! You’re to blame for my misfortune! Why did you force your way into the church? My child’s of no concern to you.”

  “That’s not true,” said Simple Hans. “He does concern me because I once made a wish that you would have a child, and whatever I wish comes true.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, wish us something to eat.”

  “That’s easily done,” replied Simple Hans, and he wished for a dish full of potatoes. The princess would have liked to have something better. Nevertheless, she was so hungry that she joined him in eating the potatoes. After they had satisfied their
hunger, Simple Hans said, “Now I’ll wish us a beautiful ship!”

  No sooner had he said this than they were sitting on a splendid ship that contained more than enough to fulfill their desires. The helmsman guided the ship straight toward land, and when they went ashore, Simple Hans said, “Now I want a castle over there!”

  Suddenly there was a magnificent castle standing there, along with servants dressed in golden uniforms. They led the princess and her child inside, and when they were in the middle of the main hall, Simple Hans said, “Now I wish to be a young and clever prince!”

  All at once his hunchback disappeared, and he was handsome, upright, and kind. Indeed, the princess took such a great liking to him that she became his wife.

  For a long time they lived happily together, and then one day the old king went out riding, lost his way, and arrived at their castle. He was puzzled because he had never seen it before and decided to enter. The princess recognized her father immediately, but he did not recognize her, for he thought she had drowned in the sea a long time ago. She treated him with a great deal of hospitality, and when he was about to return home, she secretly slipped a golden cup into his pocket. After he had ridden off, she sent a pair of knights after him. They were ordered to stop him and search him to see if he had stolen the golden cup. When they found it in his pocket, they brought him back. He swore to the princess that he hadn’t stolen it and didn’t know how it had gotten into his pocket.

  “That’s why,” she said, “one must beware of rushing to judgment.” And she revealed to him that she was his daughter. The king rejoiced, and they all lived happily together, and after the king’s death, Simple Hans became king.

  55

  RUMPELSTILTSKIN

  Once upon a time there was a miller who was poor, but he had a beautiful daughter. Now, one day he happened to talk to the king and said, “I have a daughter who knows the art of transforming straw into gold.”

  So the king had the miller’s daughter summoned to him right away and ordered her to spin all the straw in a room into gold in one night, and if she couldn’t do this, she would die. Then she was locked in the room where she sat and wept. For the life of her, she didn’t have the slightest inkling of how to spin straw into gold. All of a sudden a little man entered the room and said, “What will you give me if I spin everything into gold?”

  She took off her necklace and gave it to the little man, and he did what he promised. The next morning the king found the entire room filled with gold, but because of this, his heart grew even greedier, and he locked the miller’s daughter in another room full of straw that was even larger than the first, and she was to spin it all into gold. Then the little man came again, and she gave him a ring from one of her fingers, and everything was spun into gold.

  However, on the third night the king had her locked again in another room that was larger than the other two and filled with straw.

  “If you succeed, you shall become my wife,” he said.

  Then the little man came again and spoke: “I’ll do everything for you one more time, but you must promise me your firstborn child that you have with the king.”

  Out of desperation she promised him what he wanted, and when the king saw once again how the straw had been spun into gold, he took the miller’s beautiful daughter for his wife.

  Soon thereafter the queen gave birth, and the little man appeared before her and demanded the promised child. However, the queen offered the little man all that she could and all the treasures of the kingdom if he would let her keep her child, but it was all in vain. Then the little man said, “In three days I’ll come again to fetch the child. But if you know my name by then, you shall keep your child.”

  During the first and second nights the queen tried to think of the little man’s name, but she wasn’t able to come up with a name and became completely depressed. On the third day, however, the king returned home from hunting and told her, “I was out hunting the day before yesterday, and when I went deep into the dark forest, I came upon a small cottage, and in front of the house there was a ridiculous little man, hopping around as if he had only one leg and screeching:

  “Today I’ll brew, tomorrow I’ll bake.

  Soon I’ll have the queen’s namesake.

  Oh, how hard it is to play my game,

  for Rumpelstiltskin is my name!”

  When the queen heard this, she rejoiced, and when the dangerous little man came, he asked, “What’s my name, your Highness?” she responded first by guessing,

  “Is your name Conrad?”

  “No.”

  “Is your name Henry?”

  “No.”

  “Is your name Rumpelstiltskin?”

  “The devil told you that!” the little man screamed, and he ran off full of anger and never returned.

  56

  SWEETHEART ROLAND

  Once upon a time there was a mother who had one daughter of her own and hated her stepdaughter because she was a thousand times more beautiful and better than her own. One time the stepdaughter wore a beautiful apron that the other daughter liked and coveted so much out of envy that she told her mother she wanted the apron and insisted that she get it for her.

  “Be quiet, my dear child,” said the mother. “You shall have it soon. Your stepsister has long since deserved to die, and tonight, I want you to get into the rear of the bed and push her toward the front. Then I’ll come when she’s asleep and chop off her head.”

  But the stepdaughter had been standing in a corner and had overheard everything. So she let the wicked daughter climb into bed first so she could lie down on the far side. But after she fell asleep, the other beautiful sister pushed her toward the front and took her place in the rear of the bed. During the night the old woman crept into the room. She felt around to see if someone was actually lying up front. Then she gripped an axe with both hands and began chopping until she chopped off her own child’s head.

  After she had left the room, the maiden stood up and went to her sweetheart, whose name was Roland, and knocked at his door.

  “Listen!” she cried out. “We must flee in haste. My stepmother killed her own daughter and thinks she actually killed me. When the sun rises and she sees what she’s done, I’ll be lost. So I’ve taken her magic wand to help ourselves along the way.”

  Sweetheart Roland stood up, and before they left, they went first to take the dead head of the stepsister and let three drops of blood drip from it onto the floor, one in front of the bed, one in the kitchen, and one on the stairs. Then they ran off.

  The next morning, when the mother got up, she called her daughter: “Come, you’ll get the apron now.”

  But the daughter didn’t come.

  “Where are you?”

  “Here I am! On the stairs sweeping,” answered one of the drops of blood.

  The old woman went out but saw no one.

  “Where are you?”

  “Here I am! In the kitchen warming myself,” the second drop of blood replied.

  The old woman went into the kitchen, but she found no one there.

  “Where are you?”

  “Here I am! In bed sleeping.”

  The old woman ran into the room, where she saw her own daughter on her bed swimming in blood. She was horrified and realized that she had been deceived. All at once she burst into anger and rushed to the window. Since she was a witch, she could see quite far into the world, and she spotted her stepdaughter fleeing with her sweetheart. They were already far away. So she put on her seven-league boots, and it didn’t take her long before she had overtaken them. However, the maiden knew through the magic wand that they were being followed and turned herself into a lake and her sweetheart Roland into a duck that swam on it. When the stepmother arrived, she sat down on the bank of the lake and threw bread crumbs to lure the duck to shore. But it was all in vain, and by nightfall the old woman had to return home without having accomplished anything.

  Meanwhile, the maiden and her sweetheart regained
their natural forms and continued on their way. At daybreak, however, the witch pursued them once more. Then the maiden changed herself into a beautiful flower growing in the middle of a briar hedge, and her sweetheart was transformed into a fiddler. When the old woman arrived, she asked the fiddler whether she could pluck the beautiful flower.

  “Of course,” he answered, “and I’ll play a tune while you’re doing it.”

  So she crawled into the hedge to pluck it, and as she reached the middle of the hedge, he began to play a tune, and she was compelled to dance and dance without stopping so that the thorns tore the clothes from her body and scratched her so badly that blood flowed, and she died from the wounds.

  Now they were both free, and Roland said to the maiden: “I want to go to my father and arrange for the wedding.”

  “In the meantime I’ll turn myself into a red stone and stay here and wait until you come back.”

  Roland departed, and the maiden stood in the field as a red stone and waited for her sweetheart a long time, but he didn’t return and had forgotten her. When he failed to come back, she grew sad, turned herself into a flower, and thought, “Someone will surely come along and trample me.”

  But a shepherd found the flower, and since it was so beautiful, he took it with him and tucked it away in a chest. From that time on, amazing things began to happen in the shepherd’s cottage. When he got up in the morning, all the work would already be done: the sweeping, dusting, a fire in the hearth. At noon when he came home, the food was cooked, and the table set, the meal served. He couldn’t figure out how all this was happening, for he never saw a living soul in his cottage. Though it pleased him very much, he eventually became frightened and went to a wise woman for advice.

  She told him that there was magic behind all this, and he should get up very early some morning and watch for anything that moved in the room. Then, if he saw something, he was to quickly throw a white cloth over it. The shepherd did as she told him, and on the following morning, he saw the chest open and the flower come out. Immediately he threw the white cloth over the flower, and suddenly the transformation came to an end and the beautiful maiden, whom her sweetheart Roland had forgotten, stood before him. The shepherd wanted to marry her, but she said, no, because she only wanted to serve him and clean his house. Soon thereafter she heard that Roland was about to hold a wedding and marry another maiden. It was customary at this event for every person who attended it to sing. So the faithful maiden also went, but she didn’t want to sing until at last she was compelled to do so. As she began to sing, Roland recognized her right away, jumped up, and said that she was his true bride, and he didn’t want anyone else but her. So he married her, and her sorrows came to an end while her joy began to thrive.