Grimm's Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

by Brothers Grimm

  After they had wandered a long way in the world they came to a city where dwelt a beautiful but haughty Princess, who had declared that whoever propounded to her a riddle which she could not solve should be her husband; but if she solved it he must have his head cut off. Three days was the time given to consider, but she was always so sharp that she discovered the proposed riddle before the appointed time. Nine suitors had been sacrificed in this way, when the Prince arrived, and, being blinded with her great beauty, resolved to stake his life upon her. So he went before her and proposed his riddle; namely, “What is this? One killed no one, and yet killed twelve.” She knew not what it was, and thought and thought, but she could not make it out; and, although she searched through all her riddle-books, she could find nothing to help her; in short, her wisdom was at an end. Since she knew not how to help herself, she bade her maid slip into the sleeping-room of the Prince, and there listen to his dreams, thinking perhaps he might talk in his sleep and unfold the riddle. The bold servant, however, had put himself instead of his master into the bed; and when the servant came into the room he tore off the cloak in which she had wrapped herself, and hunted her out with a rod. The second night the Princess sent her chambermaid to see if she could be more fortunate in listening; but the servant snatched her mantle away, and hunted her away with a rod. The third night the Prince himself thought he should be safe, and so he lay in his own bed; and the Princess herself came, having on a dark grey cloak, and sat herself down by him. When she thought he was asleep and dreaming she spoke to him, hoping he would answer, as many do; but he was awake, and heard and understood everything very well. First she asked, “One kills none; what is that?” He answered, “A crow which ate of a dead and poisoned horse, and died of it.” Further she asked, “And yet killed twelve; what is that?” “Twelve robbers who partook of the crow, and died from eating it.”

  As soon as she knew the riddle she tried to slip away, but he held her mantle fast so that she left it behind. The following morning the Princess announced that she had discovered the riddle, and bade the twelve judges come and she would solve it before them. The Prince, however, requested a hearing for himself, and said, “She has stolen in upon me by night and asked me, or she would never have found it out.” The judges said, “Bring us a witness.” Then the servant brought up the three mantles, and when the judges saw the dark grey cloak which the Princess used to wear, they said, “Let the cloak be adorned with gold and silver, that it may be a wedding garment.”

  Old Mother Frost

  There was once a widow who had two daughters, one of whom was beautiful and industrious, and the other ugly and lazy. She showed more love, however, to the ugly one, because she was her own daughter; but she made the other do all the hard work, and live like a kitchen maid. The poor maiden was forced out daily on the high road, and had to sit by a well and spin so much that the blood ran from her fingers. Once it happened that her spindle became quite covered with blood, so, kneeling down by the well, she tried to wash it off, but, unhappily, it fell out of her hands into the water. She ran crying to her step-mother, and told her misfortune; but she scolded her terribly, and behaved very cruelly, and at last said—“Since you have let your spindle fall in, you must yourself fetch it out again!” Then the maiden went back to the well, not knowing what to do, and, in her distress of mind, she jumped into the well to fetch the spindle out. Presently she lost all consciousness, and when she came to herself again she found herself in a beautiful meadow, where the sun was shining, and many thousands of flowers blooming around her. She got up and walked along till she came to a baker’s, where the oven was full of bread, which cried out, “Draw me, draw me, or I shall be burnt. I have been baked long enough.” So she went up, and, taking the bread-shovel, drew out one loaf after the other. Then she walked on further, and came to an apple-tree, whose fruit hung very thick, and which exclaimed, “Shake us, shake us; we apples are all ripe!” So she shook the tree till the apples fell down like rain, and, when none were left on, she gathered them all together in a heap, and went farther. At last she came to a cottage, out of which an old woman was peeping, who had such very large teeth that the maiden was frightened and ran away. The old woman however, called her back, saying, “What are you afraid of, my child? Stop with me: if you will put all things in order in my house, then shall all go well with you; only you must take care that you make my bed well, and shake it tremendously, so that the feathers fly; then it snows upon earth. I am ‘Old Mother Frost.’ ” As the old woman spoke so kindly, the maiden took courage, and consented to engage in her service. Now, every thing made her very contented, and she always shook the bed so industriously that the feathers blew down like flakes of snow therefore her life was a happy one, and there were no evil words; and she had roast and baked meat every day.

  For some time she remained with the old woman; but all at once, she became very sad, and did not herself know what was the matter. At last she found she was home sick; and, although she fared a thousand times better than when she was at home, still she longed to go. So she told her mistress, “I wish to go home, however well off I am down here, I cannot stay longer, I must return.” The mistress replied, “It appeared to me that you wanted to go home, and, since you have served me so truly, I will fetch you up again myself.” So saying, she took her by the hand, and led her before a great door, which she undid and, when the maiden was just beneath it, a great shower of gold fell, and a great deal stuck to her, so that she was covered over and over with gold. “That you must have for your industry,” said the old woman, giving her the spindle which had fallen into the well. Thereupon the door was closed, and the maiden found herself upon the earth, not far from her mother’s house; and, as she came into the court, the cock sat upon the house, and called—Then she went in to her mother, and, because she was so covered with gold, she was well received.

  “Cock-a-doodle-doo!

  Our golden maid’s come home again.”

  The maiden related all that had happened; and, when the mother heard how she had come by these great riches, she wished her ugly, lazy daughter to try her luck. So she was forced to sit down by the well and spin; and, in order that her spindle might become bloody, she pricked her finger by running a thorn into it; and then, throwing the spindle into the well, she jumped in after it. Then, like the other, she came upon the beautiful meadow, and travelled on the same path. When she arrived at the baker’s, the bread called out, “Draw me out, draw me out, or I shall be burnt. I have been baked long enough.” But she answered, “I have no wish to make myself dirty about you,” and so went on. Soon she came to the apple-tree, which called out, “Shake me, shake me; my apples are all quite ripe.” But she answered, “You do well to come to me; perhaps one will fall on my head;” and so she went on further. When she came to “Old Mother Frost’s” house she was not afraid of the teeth, for she had been warned; and so she engaged herself to her. The first day she set to work in earnest, was very industrious, and obeyed her mistress in all she said to her, for she thought about the gold which she would present to her. On the second day, however, she began to idle; on the third, still more so; and then she would not get up of a morning. She did not make the beds, either, as she ought, and the feathers did not fly. So the old woman got tired, and dismissed her from her service, which pleased the lazy one very well; but she thought, “Now the gold-shower will come.” Her mistress led her to the door; but, when she was beneath it, instead of gold, a tubful of pitch was poured down upon her. “That is the reward of your service,” said “Old Mother Frost,” and shut the door to. Then came lazy-bones home, but she was quite covered with pitch; and the cock upon the house when he saw her, cried—But the pitch stuck to her, and, as long as she lived, would never come off again.

  “Cock-a-doodle-doo!

  Our dirty maid’s come home again.”

  The Seven Crows

  There was a man who had seven sons, but never a daughter, although he wished very much for one; at last his w
ife promised him another child, and when it was born, lo! it was a daughter. Their happiness was great, but the child was so weak and small that, on account of its delicate health, it had to be baptised immediately. The father sent one of his sons hastily to a spring in order to fetch some water, but the other six would run as well; and as each strove to be first to fill the pitcher, between them all it fell into the water. They stood by now knowing what to do, and none of them dared to go home. As they did not come back, the father became impatient, saying, “They have forgotten all about it in a game of play, the godless youths.” Soon he became anxious lest the child should die unbaptised, and in his haste he exclaimed, “I would they were all changed into crows!” Scarcely were the words out of his mouth, when he heard a whirring over his head, and looking up he saw seven coal-black crows flying over the house.

  The parents could not recall their curse, and grieved very much for their lost sons; but they comforted themselves in some measure with their dear daughter, who soon grew strong, and became more and more beautiful every day. For a long time she did not know she had any brothers, for the parents were careful not to mention them, but one day accidentally she overheard the people talking of her, and saying, “She is certainly very beautiful; but still the guilt of her seven brothers hangs on her.” This made her very sad, and she went to her parents and asked whether she had any brothers, and whither they were gone. The old people durst no longer keep their secret, but said it was the decree of heaven, and her birth had been the unhappy cause. Now the maiden daily accused herself, and thought how she could again deliver her brothers. She had neither rest nor quiet, until she at last set out secretly, and journeyed into the wide world to seek out her brothers, and to free them wherever they were, cost what it might. She took nothing with her but a ring of her parents for a remembrance, a loaf of bread for hunger’s sake, a bottle of water for thirst’s sake, and a little stool for weariness.

  Now on and on went the maiden further and further, even to the world’s end. Then she came to the sun, but he was too hot and fearful, and burnt up little children. So she ran hastily away to the moon, but she was too cold, and even wicked-looking, and said, “I smell, I smell man’s flesh!” So she ran away quickly, and went to the stars, who were friendly and kind to her, each one sitting upon his own little seat. But the morning-star was standing up, and gave her a crooked bone, saying, “If you have not this bone you cannot unlock the glass castle, where your brothers are.”

  The maiden took the bone, and wrapped it well up in a handkerchief, and then on she went again till she came at last to the glass castle. The door was closed, and she looked therefore for the little bone; but when she unwrapped her handkerchief it was empty—she had lost the present of the good star. What was she to do now? She wished to save her brothers, and she had no key to the glass castle. The good sister bent her little finger, and put it in the door, and luckily it unlocked it. As soon as she entered, a little dwarf came towards her, who said, “My child, what do you seek?”

  “I seek my brothers, the seven crows,” she replied.

  The dwarf answered, “My Lord Crows are not at home; but if you wish to wait their return, come in and sit down.”

  Thereupon the little dwarf carried in the food of the seven crows upon seven dishes and in seven cups, and the maiden ate a little piece of each dish, and drank a little out of every cup; but in the last cup she dropped the ring which she had brought with her.

  All at once she heard a whirring and cawing in the air, and the dwarf said, “My Lord Crows are now flying home.”

  Presently they came in and prepared to eat and drink; each seeking his own dish and cup. Then one said to the other, “Who has been eating off my dish? Who has been drinking out of my cup? There has been a human mouth here!”

  When the seventh came to the bottom of his cup, the little ring rolled out. He looked at it, and recognised it as a ring of his parents, and said, “God grant that our sister be here; then are we saved!”

  As the maiden, who had stood behind the door watching, heard this wish, she came forward, and immediately all the Crows received again their human forms, and embraced and kissed one another, and then they all went joyfully home.

  Little Red Riding Hood 5

  Once upon a time there lived a sweet little girl who was beloved by every one who saw her; but her grandmother was so excessively fond of her that she never knew when to give the child enough.

  One day the grandmother presented the little girl with a red velvet riding hood; and as it fitted her very well, she would never wear any thing else; and so she was called Little Red Riding Hood. One day her mother said to her—“Come, Red Riding Hood, here is a piece of nice meat, and a bottle of wine: take these to your grandmother; she is ill and weak, and will relish them. Make haste before she gets up; go quietly and carefully; and do not run, lest you should fall and break the bottle; and then your grandmother will get nothing. When you go into her room do not forget to say, ‘Good-morning;’ and do not look about in all the corners.” “I will do every thing as you wish,” replied Red Riding Hood, taking her mother’s hand.

  The grandmother dwelt far away in the wood, half an hour’s walk from the village, and as Little Red Riding Hood entered among the trees, she met a wolf; but she did not know what a malicious beast it was, and so she was not at all afraid. “Good-day, Little Red Riding Hood,” he said.

  “Many thanks, Wolf,” said she.

  “Whither away so early, Little Red Riding Hood?”

  “To my grandmother’s,” she replied.

  “What are you carrying under your apron?”

  Little Red Riding Hood

  “Meat and wine,” she answered. “Yesterday we baked the meat, that grandmother, who is ill and weak, might have something nice and strengthening.”

  “Where does your grandmother live?” asked the Wolf.

  “A good quarter of an hour’s walk further in the forest. The cottage stands under three great oak-trees; near it are some nut-bushes, by which you will easily know it.”

  But the Wolf thought to himself, “She is a nice, tender thing, and will taste better than the old woman; I must act craftily, that I may snap them both up.”

  Presently he came up again to Little Red Riding Hood, and said, “Just look at the beautiful flowers which grow around you; why do you not look about you? I believe you don’t hear how beautifully the birds sing. You walk on as if you were going to school; see how merry every thing is around you in the forest.”

  So Little Red Riding Hood opened her eyes; and when she saw how the sunbeams glanced and danced through the trees, and what splendid flowers were blooming in her path, she thought, “If I take my grandmother a fresh nosegay she will be very pleased; and it is so very early that I can, even then, get there in good time;” and running into the forest she looked about for flowers. But, when she had once begun, she did not know how to leave off; and kept going deeper and deeper among the trees, in search of some more beautiful flower. The Wolf, however, ran straight to the house of the old grandmother, and knocked at the door.

  “Who’s there?” asked the old lady.