On the third night he sat down again on his bench, saying in great vexation, “Oh, if I could only shiver!” When it grew late, six tall men came in bearing a coffin between them, “Ah, ah,” said he, “that is surely my little cousin, who died two days ago;” and beckoning with his finger he called, “Come, little cousin, come!” The men set down the coffin upon the ground, and he went up and took off the lid, and there lay a dead man within, and as he felt the face it was as cold as ice. “Stop a moment,” he cried; “I will warm it in a trice;” and stepping up to the fire he warmed his hands, and then laid them upon the face, but it remained cold. So he took up the body, and sitting down by the fire, he laid it on his lap and rubbed the arms that the blood might circulate again. But all this was of no avail, and he thought to himself if two lie in a bed together they warm each other; so he put the body in the bed, and covering it up laid himself down by its side. After a little while the body became warm and began to move about. “See, my cousin,” he exclaimed, “have I not warmed you?” But the body got up and exclaimed, “Now I will strangle you.” “Is that your gratitude?” cried the youth. “Then you shall get into your coffin again;” and taking it up, he threw the body in, and made the lid fast. Then the six men came in again and bore it away. “Oh, deary me,” said he, “I shall never be able to shiver if I stop here all my lifetime!” At these words in came a man who was taller than all the others, and looked more horrible; but he was very old and had a long white beard. “Oh, you wretch,” he exclaimed, “now thou shalt learn what shivering means, for thou shalt die!”
“Not so quick,” answered the youth; “if I die I must be brought to it first.”
“I will quickly seize you,” replied the ugly one.
“Softly, softly; be not too sure. I am as strong as you, and perhaps stronger.”
“That we will see,” said the ugly man. “If you are stronger than I, I will let you go; come, let us try!” and he led him away through a dark passage to a smith’s forge. Then taking up an axe he cut through the anvil at one blow down to the ground. “I can do that still better,” said the youth, and went to another anvil, while the old man followed him and watched him with his long beard hanging down. Then the youth took up an axe, and, splitting the anvil in one blow, wedged the old man’s beard in it. “Now I have you; now death comes upon you!” and, taking up an iron bar, he beat the old man until he groaned, and begged him to stop and he would give him great riches. So the youth drew out the axe, and let him loose. Then the old man, leading him back into the castle, showed him three chests full of gold in a cellar. “One share of this,” said he, “belongs to the poor, another to the King, and the third to yourself.” And just then it struck twelve and the old man vanished, leaving the youth in the dark. “I must help myself out here,” said he, and groping round he found his way back to his room and went to sleep by the fire.
The next morning the King came and inquired, “Now have you learnt to shiver?” “No,” replied the youth; “what is it? My dead cousin came here, and a bearded man, who showed me a lot of gold down below; but what shivering means no one has showed me!” Then the King said, “You have won the castle, and shall marry my daughter.”
“This is all very fine,” replied the youth, “but still I don’t know what shivering means.”
So the gold was fetched, and the wedding was celebrated, but the young Prince (for the youth was a Prince now), notwithstanding his love for his bride, and his great contentment, was still continually crying, “If I could but shiver! if I could but shiver!” At last it fell out in this wise: one of the chambermaids said to the Princess, “Let me bring in my aid to teach him what shivering is.” So she went to the brook which flowed through the garden, and drew up a pail of water full of little fish; and, at night, when the young Prince was asleep, his bride drew away the covering and poured the pail of cold water and the little fish over him, so that they slipped all about him. Then the Prince woke up directly, calling out, “Oh! that makes me shiver! dear wife, that makes me shiver! Yes now I know what shivering means!”
The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats
Once upon a time there lived an old Goat who had seven young ones, whom she loved as every mother loves her children. One day she wanted to go into the forest to fetch some food, so, calling her seven young ones together, she said, “Dear children, I am going away into the wood; be on your guard against the Wolf, for if he comes here, he will eat you all up—skin, hair, and all. He often disguises himself, but you may know him by his rough voice and his black feet.” The little Goats replied “Dear mother, we will pay great attention to what you say; you may go away without any anxiety.” So the old one bleated and ran off, quite contented upon her road.
Not long afterwards, somebody knocked at the hut-door and called out, “Open, my dear children; your mother is here and has brought you each something. But the little Goats perceived from the rough voice that it was a Wolf, and so they said, “We will not undo the door; you are not our mother; she has a gentle and loving voice; but yours is gruff; you are a Wolf.” So the Wolf went to a shop and bought a great piece of chalk, which he ate, and by that means rendered his voice more gentle. Then he came back, knocked at the hut-door, and called out, “Open, my dear children; your mother has come home, and has brought you each something.” But the Wolf had placed his black paws upon the window-sill, so the Goats saw them, and replied, “No, we will not open the door; our mother has not black feet; you are a Wolf.” So the Wolf went to a baker and said, “I have hurt my foot, put some dough on it.” And when the baker had done so, he ran to the miller, saying, “Strew some white flour upon my feet.” But the miller, thinking he was going to deceive somebody, hesitated, till the Wolf said, “If you do not do it at once, I will eat you.” This made the miller afraid, so he powdered his feet with flour. Such are men.
Now, the villain went for the third time to the hut, and knocking at the door, called out, “Open to me, my children; your dear mother is come, and has brought with her something for each of you out of the forest.” The little Goats exclaimed, “Show us first your feet, that we may see whether you are our mother.” So the Wolf put his feet up on the window-sill, and when they saw that they were white, they thought it was all right, and undid the door. But who should come in? The Wolf. They were terribly frightened, and tried to hide themselves. One ran under the table, the second got into the bed, the third into the cupboard, the fourth into the kitchen, the fifth into the oven, the sixth into the wash-tub, and the seventh into the clock-case. But the Wolf found them all out, and did not delay, but swallowed them all up one after another: only the youngest one, hid in the clock-case, he did not discover. When the Wolf had satisfied his appetite, he dragged himself out, and, lying down upon the green meadow under a tree, went fast asleep.
Soon after the old Goat came home out of the forest. Ah, what a sight she saw! The hut-door stood wide open; the table, stools, and benches were overturned; the wash-tub was broken to pieces, and the sheets and pillows pulled off the bed. She sought her children, but could find them nowhere. She called them by name, one after the other; but no one answered. At last, when she came to the name of the youngest, a little voice replied, “Here I am, dear mother, in the clock-case.” She took her out, and heard how the Wolf had come and swallowed all the others. You cannot think how she wept for her poor little ones.
At last she went out in all her misery, and the young Goat ran by her side; and when they came to the meadow, there lay the Wolf under the tree, snoring so that the boughs quivered. She viewed him on all sides, and perceived that something moved and stirred about in his body. “Ah, mercy!” thought she, “should my poor children, whom he has swallowed for his dinner, be yet alive!” So saying, she ran home and fetched a pair of scissors and a needle and thread. Then she cut open the monster’s hairy coat, and had scarcely made one slit, before one little Goat put his head out, and as she cut further, out jumped one after another, all six, still alive, and without any injury,
for the monster, in his eagerness, had gulped them down quite whole. There was a joy! They hugged their dear mother, and jumped about like tailors keeping their wedding-day. But the old mother said, “Go and pick up at once some large stones, that we may fill the monster’s stomach, while he lies fast asleep.” So the seven little Goats dragged up in great haste a pile of stones, and put them in the Wolf’s stomach, as many as they could bring; and then the old mother went, and, looking at him in a great hurry, saw that he was still insensible, and did not stir, and so she sewed up the slit.
When the Wolf at last woke up, he raised himself upon his legs, and, because the stones which were lying in his stomach made him feel thirsty, he went to a brook in order to drink. But as he went along, rolling from side to side, the stones began to tumble about in his body, and he called out
“What rattles, what rattles
Against my poor bones!
Not little goats, I think,
But only big stones!”
And when the Wolf came to the brook he stooped down to drink, and the heavy stones made him lose his balance, so that he fell, and sunk beneath the water.
As soon as the seven little Goats saw this, they came running up, singing aloud, “The Wolf is dead! the Wolf is dead!” and they danced for joy around their mother by the side of the brook.
Faithful John
O nce upon a time there lived an old King, who fell very sick, and thought he was lying upon his death-bed so he said, “Let faithful John come to me.” This faithful John was his affectionate servant, and was so called because he had been true to him all his lifetime. As soon as John came to the bedside, the King said, “My faithful John, I feel that my end approaches, and I have no other care than about my son, who is still so young that he cannot always guide himself aright. If you do not promise to instruct him in every thing he ought to know, and to be his guardian, I cannot close mine eyes in peace.” Then John answered, “I will never leave him; I will always serve him truly, even if it cost me my life.” So the old King was comforted, and said, “Now I can die in peace. After my death you must show him all the chambers, halls, and vaults in the castle, and all the treasures which are in them; but the last room in the long corridor you must not show him, for in it hangs the portrait of the daughter of the King of the Golden Palace; if he sees her picture, he will conceive a great love for her, and will fall down in a swoon, and on her account undergo great perils, therefore you must keep him away.” The faithful John pressed his master’s hand again in token of assent, and soon after the King laid his head upon the pillow and expired.
After the old King had been laid in his grave, the faithful John related to the young King all that his father had said upon his death-bed, and declared, “All this I will certainly fulfil; I will be as true to you as I was to him, if it cost me my life.” When the time of mourning was passed, John said to the young King, “It is now time for you to see your inheritance; I will show you your paternal castle.” So he led the King all over it, up-stairs and down-stairs, and showed him all the riches, and all the splendid chambers; only one room he did not open, containing the perilous portrait, which was so placed that one saw it directly the door was opened, and, moreover, it was so beautifully painted, that one thought it breathed and moved; nothing in all the world could be more lifelike or more beautiful. The young King remarked, however, that the faithful John always passed by one door, so he asked, “Why do you not open that one?” “There is something in it,” he replied, “which will frighten you.”
But the King said, “I have seen all the rest of the castle, and I will know what is in there;” and he went and tried to open the door by force. The faithful John pulled him back, and said, “I promised your father before he died that you should not see the contents of that room; it would bring great misfortunes both upon you and me.”
“Oh, no,” replied the young King, “if I do not go in, it will be my certain ruin; I should have no peace night nor day until I had seen it with my own eyes. Now I will not stir from the place till you unlock the door.”
Then the faithful John saw that it was of no use talking, so, with a heavy heart and many sighs, he picked the key out of the great bunch. When he had opened the door he went in first, and thought he would cover up the picture that the King should not see it; but it was of no use, for the King stepped upon tiptoes and looked over his shoulder; and as soon as he saw the portrait of the maiden, which was so beautiful and glittered with precious stones, he fell down on the ground insensible. The faithful John lifted him up and carried him to his bed, and thought with great concern, “Mercy on us! the misfortune has happened; what will come of it?” and he gave the young King wine until he came to himself. The first words he spoke were, “Ah, who is that beautiful picture?”—“That is the daughter of the King of the Golden Palace,” was the reply.
“Then,” said the King, “my love for her is so great that if all the leaves on the trees had tongues they should not gainsay it; my life is set upon the search for her. You are my faithful John, you must accompany me.”
The trusty servant deliberated for a long while how to set about this business, for it was very difficult to get into the presence of the King’s daughter. At last he be-thought himself of a way, and said to the King, “Every thing that she has around her is of gold,—chairs, tables, dishes, bowls, and all the household utensils. Among your treasures are five tons of gold; let one of the goldsmiths of your kingdom manufacture vessels and utensils of all kinds therefrom—all kinds of birds, and wild and wonderful beasts, such as will please her; then we will travel with these and try our luck.” Then the King summoned all his goldsmiths, who worked day and night until many very beautiful things were ready. When all had been placed on board a ship, the faithful John put on merchant’s clothes, and the King likewise, so that they might travel quite unknown. Then they sailed over the wide sea, and sailed away until they came to the city where dwelt the daughter of the King of the Golden Palace.
The faithful John told the King to remain in the ship and wait for him. “Perhaps,” said he, “I shall bring the King’s daughter with me; therefore take care that all is in order, and set out the golden vessels and adorn the whole ship.” Thereupon John placed in a napkin some of the golden cups, stepped upon land, and went straight to the King’s palace. When he came into the castleyard, a beautiful maid stood by the brook, who had two golden pails in her hand drawing water; and when she had filled them, and had turned round, she saw a strange man, and asked who he was. Then John answered, “I am a merchant,” and opening his napkin, he showed her its contents. Then she exclaimed, “Oh, what beautiful golden things!” and setting the pails down she looked at the cups one after another, and said, “The King’s daughter must see these; she is so pleased with any thing made of gold that she will buy all these.” And taking him by the hand she led him in, for she was the lady’s maid. When the King’s daughter saw the golden cups she was much pleased, and said, “They are so finely worked that I will purchase them all.” But the faithful John replied, “I am only the servant of a rich merchant; what I have here is nothing in comparison to those which my master has in his ship, than which nothing more delicate or costly has ever been worked in gold.” Then the King’s daughter wished to have them all brought, but he said, “It would take many days, and so great is the quantity that your palace has not halls enough in it to place them around.” Then her curiosity and desire was still more excited, and at last she said, “Take me to the ship; I will go myself and look at your master’s treasure.”
The faithful John conducted her to the ship with great joy, and the King, when he beheld her, saw that her beauty was still greater than the picture had represented, and thought nothing else but that his heart would jump out of his mouth. Presently she stepped on board, and the King conducted her below; but the faithful John remained on deck by the steersman, and told him to unmoor the ship and put on all the sail he could, that it might fly as a bird in the air. Meanwhile the King sh
owed the Princess all the golden treasures,—the dishes, cups, bowls, the birds, the wild and wonderful beasts. Many hours passed away while she looked at everything, and in her joy she did not remark that the ship sailed on and on. As soon as she had looked at the last, and thanked the merchant, she wished to depart. But when she came on deck she perceived that they were upon the high sea, far from the shore, and were hastening on with all sail. “Ah!” she exclaimed in affright, “I am betrayed; I am carried off and taken away in the power of a strange merchant. I would rather die!”
But the King, taking her by the hand, said, “I am not a merchant, but a king, thine equal in birth. It is true that I have carried thee off, but that is because of my overwhelming love for thee. Dost thou know that when I first saw the portrait of thy beauteous face that I fell down in a swoon before it?” When the King’s daughter heard these words she was reassured, and her heart was inclined towards him, so that she willingly became his bride. While they thus went on their voyage on the high sea, it happened that the faithful John, as he sat on the deck of the ship playing music, saw three crows in the air, who came flying towards them. He stopped playing and listened to what they were saying to each other, for he understood them perfectly. The first one exclaimed, “There he is, carrying home the daughter of the King of the Golden Palace.” “But he is not home yet,” replied the second. “But he has her,” said the third; “she is sitting by him in the ship.” Then the first began again and exclaimed, “What matters that? When they go on shore, a fox-coloured horse will spring towards him, on which he will mount; and as soon as he is on it will jump up with him into the air, so that he will never again see his bride.” The second one said, “Is there no escape?” “Oh yes, if another gets on quickly and takes the firearms which are in the holster out, and with them shoots the horse dead, then the young King will be saved. But who knows that? And if any one does know it and tells him, such an one will be turned to stone from the toe to the knee.” Then the second spoke again, “I know still more; if the horse should be killed, the young King will not then retain his bride; for when they come into the castle a beautiful bridal shirt will lie there upon a dish, and seem to be woven of gold and silver, but it is nothing but sulphur and pitch, and if he puts it on, it will burn him to his marrow and bones.” Then the third crow asked, “Is there no escape?” “Oh, yes,” answered the second; “if some one takes up the shirt with his gloves on, and throws it into the fire so that it is burnt, the young King will be saved. But what does that signify? Whoever knows it and tells him will be turned to stone from his knee to his heart.” Then the third crow spoke:—“I know still more: even if the bridal shirt be consumed, still the young King will not retain his bride. For if, after the wedding, a dance is held, while the young Queen dances she will suddenly turn pale, and fall down as if dead and if some one does not raise her up, and take three drops of blood from her right breast and throw them away, she will die. But whoever knows that and tells it will have his whole body turned to stone, from the crown of his head to the toe of his foot.”
Grimm's Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Page 6