by Jacob Grimm
12. Rapunzel (Rapunzel). Source: Friedrich Schulz, “Rapunzel,” in Kleine Romane (1790).
This tale was edited by Jacob Grimm, and there may be some influence by Giambattista Basile’s “Petrosinella” (Il Pentamerone, 1634), which the Grimms mention in their note. The Grimms believed that Schulz’s tale derived from the oral tradition. However, it is clear that he may have taken some motifs from the French writer Mlle de la Force’s “Persinette” in Les contes des contes (1698).
13. The Three Little Men in the Forest (Die drei Männlein im Walde). Source: Henriette Dorothea Wild.
The Grimms also refer to a similar motif of three little men in an anonymous Danish song.
14. Nasty Flax Spinning (Von dem bösen Flachsspinnen. Source: Jeanette Hassenpflug.
The literary source was a tale in Johannes Praetorius’s Der abentheuerliche Glückstopf (1669). The Grimms summarized Praetorius’s tale in their notes this way:
A mother cannot motivate her daughter to spin, and because of this she often slaps her. One time a man sees the mother slapping her daughter and asks why she is doing this. The mother answers: “Oh, I can’t stop her from spinning. She spins more flax than I can produce.” The man says: “Well then, let me marry her. I’ll certainly be satisfied with her untiring hard work, even if there’s not much of a dowry.” The mother is very glad to do this and is content, and the bridegroom brings his bride immediately to a large supply of flax. The maiden is horrified by this, but she accepts the supply of flax and brings it into her chamber, where she ponders what she should do. At that moment three old women pass by her window: one whose behind is so wide that she can’t fit through the door to the room, the second has a gigantic nose, the third has a thick thumb. They offer the maiden their services and promise to spin the flax for her only if the bride doesn’t show that she is ashamed of them on her wedding day and pretends that they are her aunts and allows them to sit at her table. The maiden agrees to the conditions. The women spin the flax, and the bridegroom praises the bride. When the day of the wedding arrives, the three repulsive women are also present. The bride honors them and calls them her aunts. The bridegroom is astonished and asks how she could have struck up a friendship with such horrible women. “Oh,” says the bride, “all three of them have become the way they are through spinning. One of them developed a big rear through sitting. The second licked her lips so much that they wasted away. That’s why her nose sticks out so much. The third turned the spindle much too much with her thumb.” Upon hearing this the bridegroom becomes gloomy and says to his bride that she is not to spin anymore thread for the rest of her life to prevent her from becoming a monster like the three women.
The Grimms also remark that they knew a similar oral tale that was told in Corvey.
15. Hansel and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel). Source: Based on various anonymous stories from Hesse and possibly an oral tale told by Henriette Dorothea Wild.
However, it is clear from their note that the Grimms were also aware of two literary tales: Giambattista Basile’s “Ninnillo and Nennella,” Pentamerone (1634), and Charles Perrault’s “Le Petit Poucet,” Histoires ou contes du temps passé (1697).
16. Herr Fix-It-Up (Herr Fix und Fertig). Source: Johann Friedrich Krause.
The Grimms discuss a similar tale, Giovan Francesco Straparola’s “Livoret,” Le piacevoli Notti (1550).
17. The White Snake (Die weiße Schlange). Source: Hassenpflug family.
The Grimms wrote in their note that “the tales about talking birds that give advice to humans and announce their fate are too numerous to be dealt with here. Humans learn the language of the birds generally in two ways: (1) through eating the heart of a dragon, for example, Siegfried; or (2) through eating the heart of a white snake as depicted here and in a strange Hanoverian tale from Seeburg that we shall publish elsewhere. Another appropriate version that completely belongs here is an old Nordic tale about Kraka and her two sons, Roller and Erich.”
18. The Journey of the Straw, the Coal, and the Bean (Strohhalm, Kohle und Bohne auf der Reise). Source: From Kassel, perhaps Dorothea Catharina Wild.
The Grimms mention a medieval Latin poem from a manuscript in Strasbourg. In this story a mouse and a piece of coal travel together on a pilgrimage to confess their sins in a church. When they cross a little brook, the coal falls into the water, hisses, and expires. They also allude to Aesop’s fable about the thorn bush, diver, and bat.
19. The Fisherman and His Wife (Von den Fischer und siine Fru). Source: Philipp Otto Runge’s tale written in a Pomeranian dialect.
The Grimms were also aware of and influenced by other versions in the works of Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching, Albert Ludwig Grimm, and Karl Philipp Conz. They summarize a version that was popular in Hesse as follows:
The tale concerns the little man Dominé (also called Hans Dudeldee) and his little wife Dinderlindé. Dominé complains about his misfortune and goes out to the sea, where a little fish sticks its head out of the water.
“What’s the matter with you my little man Dominé?”
“Oh, it really hurts to live in a piss pot.”
“Well, then wish for something else.”
“First I’ve got to tell all this to my wife.”
So he goes home.
“Wish us a better house,” says Dinderlindé.
When he returns to the sea, Dominé cries out:
“Little fish, little fish in the sea!”
“What do you want little man Dominé?”
Now the wishing begins, and there are many. First the house, then a garden, an ox and a cow, fields, and so on. Then all the treasures of the world. When they have wished for everything possible, the little man says: “Now I’d like to be the dear lord God himself and my wife the mother of God.”
Then the little fish sticks its head out of the water and cries out:
“If you want to be the dear lord God,
Go back and live once more in your piss pot.”
The Grimms note that the motif of the wife who pushes her husband to higher honors and ranks is certainly ancient—Eve, and from the Etruscan Tanaquil (Livius) up to Lady Macbeth.
20. A Story about a Brave Tailor (Von einem tapfern Schneider). Source: The first version was taken from Martin Montanus’s Wegkürzer (1557), and the second fragmentary tale is an oral tale from the Hassenpflug family.
The Grimms knew several other versions, and they printed the complete text of a Dutch tale, “Van kleyn Kobisje,” in their note.
21. Cinderella (Aschenputtel). Source: This tale was obtained orally from a female patient in the Elisabeth-Hospital in Marburg and written down by the wife of the director of the hospital.
The Grimms note that the tale is among the most popular tales in Europe and was told everywhere. They spend a goodly amount of time discussing the different ways that Cinderella (dirty common girl) was referred to in dialect tales (Aschenpößel, Asken pel, Askenpüster, Askenböel, Askenbüek, Aschen pöselken, Sudelsödelken, and Aschenpuddel) and in High German tales (Aschenpuddel, Aschenbrödel, and Aescherling). In the second part of the note, there are references to Giambattista Basile’s “Cenerentola” (1634), Charles Perrault’s “Cendrillon” (1697), and Madame d’Aulnoy’s “Finette Cendron” (1698), as well as Polish and Slavic versions. Clearly, the Grimms were familiar with numerous versions that influenced the changes that they made in their tale over the years.
22. How Some Children Played at Slaughtering (Wie Kinder Schlachtens mit einander gespielt haben). Source: The first tale is from Heinrich von Kleist, Abendblatt (October 13, 1810); the second, from Martin Zeiler, Miscellen (1661).
23. The Little Mouse, the Little Bird, and the Sausage (Von dem Mäuschen, Vögelchen und der Bratwurst). Source: Clemens Brentano in Badische Wochenschrift (July 11, 1806).
24. Mother Holle (Frau Holle). Source: Henriette Dorothea Wild.
The Grimms begin their note by relating another version with which they were familiar:
On
ce upon a time there was a woman who only loved her own daughter and didn’t love her stepdaughter. One day she sat both daughters down at the edge of a well, where they were to spin. Then she said, “If either of you lets her distaff drop down the well, I’ll throw you into the water.” After that she tied her daughter’s distaff to her firmly and tied her stepdaughter’s distaff loosely. No sooner did the stepdaughter begin to spin than her distaff fell into the water. The stepmother was merciless and threw her into the water. The maiden fell deep down into the well’s water and came to a gorgeous garden and entered a house where nobody was to be found. As she entered the kitchen, the soup was about to boil over, the roast meat about to burn, and the cake about to turn black in the oven. She quickly took the kettle of soup away from the fire; she poured some water onto the roast meat; and she took out the cake and set it right. Even though she was very hungry, she didn’t touch a thing except for some crumbs that fell onto the floor while she was setting the cake right. Soon thereafter a nixie came into the kitchen. Her hair was terrible, and it certainly had not been combed for over a year. So the nixie demanded that the maiden comb her hair, but she was not to pluck one strand of her hair nor pull a single hair. The maiden was able to perform all this and finish the combing with great skill. Now the nixie told her that she would have liked to have kept her there, but she couldn’t because the maiden had eaten some crumbs. However, she gave her a ring as a gift and some other things. If the maiden turned the ring during the night, the nixie would come to her aid. Now, the other daughter was thrown down the well to the nixie. However, she did everything the opposite way and didn’t control her hunger. Consequently, she was sent back home with poor presents.
According to the Grimms, Benedikte Naubert published a very good version of this tale in Neue Volksmährchen der Deutschen (New German Tales, 1789–93). They also cite Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve’s tale, “The Water Nymphs or the Water Nixies,” which had served as the basis for one of the Grimms’ tales (“Murmelthier,” or marmot) in their Ölenberg Manuscript. The Grimms remark that
Ciron, who is called Marmotte, must do the dirtiest work—she must look after the sheep and, while doing this, she must bring home a certain amount of spun thread. The maiden frequently sits down at the edge of a well, and one day she wants to wash her face and falls into the well. When she regains consciousness, she finds herself in a crystal ball in the hands of a beautiful lady of the well. She must comb this lady’s hair, and as a reward she receives a precious dress. Whenever she shakes her hair and combs it, glistening flowers fall, and she will find help when she needs it. Then the lady gives the maiden a shepherd’s staff, which protects her from wolves and robbers; a spindle and a distaff that spin by themselves; and finally a tame beaver, which can be sent off to do many different chores. When Marmotte returns home with these gifts in the evening, the other daughter is sent to gain the same gifts. She jumps down into the well and winds up in muddy water, and because she is so spiteful, stinking canes and reeds grow on her head, and whenever she tears one out, many more replace it. Only Marmotte can comb out the ugly things from her stepsister’s hair, but then they return after twenty-four hours, and Marmotte must comb them out again.
Marmotte has other adventures following this, and other tales are used to show her in danger, but she is always saved by magic things, and her dilemmas are all fortunately resolved.
The Grimms remark that similar versions can be found in a collection of tales in Braunschweig and also in Giambattista’s Pentamerone.
25. The Three Ravens (Die drei Raben). Source: Hassenpflug family and Clemens Brentano.
The Grimms discuss various medieval versions and Arthurian romances with a focus on the motifs of the glass mountain and the end of the world. They begin their note with a summary of key incidents pertaining to the plot of tales with the glass mountain:
There was once an enchanted princess who could only be released from the magic spell if somebody climbed the glass mountain, the place to which she had been banished. At one time a young journeyman arrived at an inn to have his lunch, and he was served a cooked chicken. He carefully collected all the chicken bones, stuck them in a sack, and went to the glass mountain. When he arrived at the mountain, he took a little bone and stuck it into the mountain and climbed up on it. Then he took another bone, and one bone after another, using them as spikes to climb the mountain until he was about to reach the top when he ran out of the little chicken bones. So he sliced off his little pinky and stuck it into the glass mountain. This is how he finally reached the top and rescued the princess.
The Grimms point to other episodes like this in old Nordic literature and Arthurian stories as well as a rabbinical myth about Shamir. They close their note with a tale that stems from Plutarch and Menander and that can be compared to an Aesopian fable:
One time the moon said to his mother: “The nights are so cold, and I am freezing. Make a warm coat for me!”
So she took his measurements, and he ran off. However, when he returned, he had become so big that the little coat didn’t fit him at all. Consequently, his mother began to separate the thread and let out the coat, but all this work was taking too long for the moon, and he went off again. Meanwhile his mother worked hard on the coat and often sat up late at night and sewed in the light of the stars. After the moon had run about a great deal, he returned. Due to all the running, he had lost a good deal of weight and had become slight and pale. The coat was now much too wide for him, and the sleeves hung loosely over his knees. His mother became angry because he had made a fool out of her, and she forbade him from returning home anymore. This is why the poor mischief maker must run around naked and pale in the sky until somebody comes and buys him a little coat.
26. Little Red Cap (Rothkäppchen). Source: Johanna (Jeanette) Hassenpflug and Marie Hassenpflug.
The Grimms mention the versions of Charles Perrault and Ludwig Tieck. They wonder why they had not come across other versions.
27. Death and the Goose Boy (Der Tod und der Gänshirt). Source: Georg Harsdörffer, Der grosse Schau-Platz jämmerlicher Mord-Geschichten (1649).
28. The Singing Bone (Der singende Knochen). Source: Henriette Dorothea Wild and/or Johanna Christiane Fulda.
The Grimms note that there is an old Scottish song in which the motif of the talking bone is key. A harpist makes a harp from the breastbone of a drowned sister. The harp plays by itself and expresses grief about the death of the sister.
29. The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs (Von dem Teufel mit drei goldenen Haaren). Source: Amalie Hassenpflug.
The Grimms also mention Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching’s version, “Märchen vom Pompanz,” in Volks-Sagen, Märchen und Legenden (1812). However, they reprimand him for stating that his tale emanated from an oral tradition. They point to ways he changed and added elements from a French book. They also claim that their version is closer to the oral tradition and more pure.
30. Little Louse and Little Flea (Läuschen und Flöhchen). Source: Dorothea Catharina Wild.
31. Maiden without Hands (Mädchen ohne Hände). Source: Marie Hassenpflug.
The Grimms note the significance of the fifteenth-century legends of La belle Hélene de Constantinople, which were often published in chapbooks. They also cite Giambattista Basile’s “La Penta mamomozza” (“The Maiden without Hands”) in Il Pentamerone (1634).
32. Clever Hans (Der gescheidte Hans). Source: The first version was provided by the Hassenpflug family; the second version was taken from Martin Montanus, Gartengesllschaft (1557).
The Grimms also mention Giambattista Basile’s “Vardiello,” Il Pentamerone (1634).
33. Puss in Boots (Der gestiefelte Kater). Source: Jeanette Hassenpflug.
The Grimms also refer to Giovan Francesco Straparola, “Constantino Fortunato” in Le Piacevoli Notti (1550/53); Giambattista Basile, “Cagliuso” in Il Pentamerone (1634–36); Charles Perrault, “The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots” (“Le Maître chat ou Le Chat botté”)
in Histoires ou contes du temps passé (1697); and Ludwig Tieck’s drama, Der gestiefelte Kater (1697).
34. Hans’s Trina (Hansens Trine). Source: Unknown.
35. The Sparrow and His Four Children (Der Sperling und seine vier Kinder). Source: Johann Balthasar Schupp, Fabul-Hanß (1660).
36. The Little Magic Table, the Golden Donkey, and the Club in the Sack (Von dem Tischchen deck dich, dem Goldesel und dem Knüppel in dem Sack). Source: Johanna Isabella Hassenpflug and Henriette Dorothea Wild.
The Grimms mention a similar tale in Giambattista Basile’s Il Pentamerone (1634–36).
37. The Tablecloth, the Knapsack, the Cannon Hat, and the Horn (Von der Serviette, dem Tornister, dem Kanonenhütlein und dem Horn). Source: Johann Friedrich Krause.
The Grimms provide a summary of a Danish tale, “Historie om tre fattige Skraedere, der ved Pillegrimsrejse kom til stor Vaerdighed og Vekstand,” published in a Copenhagen newspaper, Lykkens flyvende Fane. The story reads as follows:
Three poor tailors who are not earning much from their profession take leave of their wives and children and set out into the world to see if they can have better luck. They come to a mountain in the desert where a magician is living. The mountain is green in summer and winter, full of flowers and fruit. At noon and midnight everything turns into the finest silver. The oldest tailor fills a bundle and all his pockets with the most beautiful silver flowers and fruit, goes home, throws his needle and iron beneath the table, and becomes a rich merchant. The two other tailors think that they can return to the mountain whenever they want, and they decide to continue to wander and seek their fortune elsewhere. They come to a large iron gate that opens up by itself after they have knocked three times. They enter a garden where there are three trees full of golden apples hanging from the branches. The second tailor picks off as many apples as his rucksack can carry and goes home. There he turns to commerce and becomes an even greater merchant than the first tailor so that everyone believes that the rich Jew in Hamburg is his relative. The third tailor was of the opinion that the garden with the gold apples would always be there for him and decides to go farther to seek his fortune. He wanders about the desert, and when he tries to find the silver mountain and the garden again, he can’t find them. Finally, he comes to a huge hill and hears someone playing a pipe. He goes toward the sounds and finds an old witch who is piping in front of a herd of geese that beat their wings and dance as prompted by the sounds of the witch’s pipe. For ninety-four years she had been struggling with death on this hill and can’t die until the geese trample her to death or a Christian comes who beats her to death with some weapons. As soon as she hears the tailor’s steps and sees that he is nearby, she asks him whether he is a Christian and whether he will beat her to death with the club that is standing by her side. The tailor refuses to do this until she tells him that he will find a cloth beneath her head that will provide him with the most delicious food if he just wishes with a few words. So the tailor bashes the witch’s skull. Afterward he searches and finds the cloth. Then he immediately packs it into his bundle and sets out for home. A soldier on horseback encounters him and asks him for a piece of bread. The tailor says: “If you give me your weapons, I’ll share my food with you.” The rider, who had exhausted all his powder and lead in the war, does this gladly. The tailor spreads out his cloth and treats the hungry soldier to food. The rider likes the cloth, and he offers the tailor his magical ammunition pouch in exchange for the cloth. If one knocks on one side of the pouch, a hundred thousand infantrymen and cavalry men appear. If one knocks on the other side of the pouch, all kinds of musicians appear. The tailor agrees to the swap, but after he has the ammunition pouch, he orders ten cavalrymen to pursue the rider and to take back the cloth. Now the tailor returns home, and his wife is surprised that he has earned very little during his wanderings. Pretending not to have gained much, he goes to his former comrades, who generously support him so that he can live off this support with his wife and child for a while. One time, however, he invites his friends to lunch and asks them not to be so proud as to refuse or to spurn him. They reproach him and tell him not to make a feast and waste all that he has. Nevertheless, they promise to come. When they arrive at the appointed time, they find that only the tailor’s wife is at home, and she isn’t even aware that her husband had invited guests. Indeed, she fears that her husband is somewhat confused. Finally, the tailor comes home and tells his wife to quickly clean the room. He greets his guests and apologizes, for he knows that things are better in their homes, but he wanted to see whether they might have become too proud to come to his house because of their wealth. They sit down at the table, but there are no settings. Then the tailor spreads out his cloth, says some words, and within seconds the cloth is filled with the most delicious food imaginable. “Ha! Ha!” the others think, he’s not as bad off as he’s pretended. And they assure him of their love and friendship until death. Their host says, “It’s not necessary to assure me.” As he says this, he knocks on one side of the ammunition pouch. All of a sudden musicians appear and begin to play unusual music. Then he knocks on the other side of the pouch and commands the artillery and a hundred thousand soldiers who set up a rampart and guns and cannons on top. And as the three tailors drink and toast one another, the soldiers fire the cannons. The prince lives four miles from there, and he hears the thunder and believes that the enemy forces have come. So he sends his trumpeter to find out what is happening, and the soldier returns with the news that a tailor is celebrating his birthday and is having fun with his good friends. The prince himself travels to the tailor’s house. The tailor treats him to the feast on his cloth, and the prince likes it. The prince offers him lands and a generous allowance for the cloth, but the tailor doesn’t want to give him the cloth. He tells the prince that he prefers to keep the cloth because it relieves him of his worries, hard work, and frustration. The prince is brief. He takes the cloth by force and goes off. However, the tailor puts on his ammunition pouch and sets off to the prince’s court with it and requests his cloth. Instead, however, he gets a good beating. Then the tailor runs to the rampart of the castle and calls for twenty thousand men to march to the castle. They set up and point their guns and cannons toward the castle and fire. Consequently, the prince has the cloth brought out and humbly asks for the shooting and firing to stop. So the tailor now commands his soldiers return to their quarters. Afterward he goes home and lives in delight with the two other tailors.