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

by Brothers Grimm

  “Only Little Red Riding Hood, bringing you some meat and wine: please open the door,” replied the Wolf.

  “Lift up the latch,” cried the grandmother; “I am too weak to get up.”

  So the Wolf lifted the latch, and the door flew open; and, jumping without a word on the bed, he gobbled up the poor old lady. Then he put on her clothes, and tied her cap over his head; got into the bed, and drew the blankets over him. All this time Red Riding Hood was still gathering flowers; and when she had plucked as many as she could carry, she remembered her grandmother, and made haste to the cottage. She wondered very much to see the door wide open: and when she got into the room, she began to feel very ill, and exclaimed, “How sad I feel! I wish I had not come to-day.” Then she said, “Good-morning,” but received no answer; so she went up to the bed, and drew back the curtains, and there lay her grandmother, as she thought, with the cap drawn half over her eyes, looking very fiercely.

  “Oh! grandmother, what great ears you have!”

  “The better to hear with,” was the reply.

  “And what great eyes you have!”

  “The better to see with.”

  “And what great hands you have!”

  “The better to touch you with.”

  “But, grandmother, what great teeth you have!”

  “The better to eat you with;” and scarcely were the words out of his mouth, when the Wolf made a spring out of bed, and swallowed up poor Little Red Riding Hood.

  As soon as the Wolf had thus satisfied his appetite, he laid himself down again in the bed, and began to snore very loudly. A huntsman passing by overheard him, and thought, “How loudly the old woman snores; I must see if she wants any thing.”

  So he stepped into the cottage; and when he came to the bed, he saw the Wolf lying in it. “What! Do I find you here, you old sinner? I have long sought you!” he exclaimed, taking aim with his gun. Then, just as he was about to fire, it occurred to him that the Wolf might have devoured the grandmother and that he might still save her. So instead of firing, he took a pair of scissors and began to cut open the belly of the sleeping Wolf. After two snips, he saw the little red riding hood, and after two more snips the little girl sprang out, crying: “Oh, how frightened I have been! It was so dark inside the Wolf!” And then the old grandmother came out, also alive, but scarcely able to breathe. Little Red Riding Hood ran outside and found some big stones, and they put them in the Wolf’s belly. When he woke up, he tried to run away, but the stones were so heavy that he collapsed and fell dead.

  Then all three were happy. The huntsman skinned the Wolf and took the skin, the grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine Little Red Riding Hood had brought and felt better at once. As for Little Red Riding Hood, she said to herself, “I will never again leave the path and run into the woods when my mother has told me not to.”

  Some folks say that this story is not the true one, but that one day, when Red Riding Hood was taking some baked meats to her grandmother’s, a Wolf met her, and wanted to lead her astray; but she went straight on, and told her grandmother that she had met a Wolf, who wished her good-day; but he looked so wickedly out of his great eyes, as if he would have eaten her had she not been on the high road.

  So the grandmother said, “Let us shut the door, that he may not enter.”

  Soon afterwards came the Wolf, who knocked, and exclaimed, “I am Red Riding Hood, grandmother; I bring you some roast meat.” But they kept quite still, and did not open the door; so the Wolf, creeping several times around the house, at last jumped on the roof, intending to wait till Red Riding Hood went home in the evening, and then to sneak after her and devour her in the darkness. The old woman, however, saw all that the rascal intended; and as there stood before the door a great stone trough, she said to Little Red Riding Hood, “Take this pail, child: yesterday I boiled some sausages in this water, so pour it into that stone trough.” Red Riding Hood poured many times, until the huge trough was quite full. Then the Wolf sniffed the smell of the sausages, and smacked his lips, and wished very much to taste; and at last he stretched his neck too far over, so that he lost his balance, and slipped quite off the roof, right into the great trough beneath, wherein he was drowned; and Little Red Riding Hood ran home in high glee, but no one sorrowed for Mr. Wolf!

  The Singing Bone

  Once upon a time great complaints were made in a certain country of a Wild Boar, which laid waste the fields of the peasants, killed the cattle, and often tore to pieces the inhabitants. The King promised a great reward to whoever should free the land of this plague; but the beast was so big and strong that no one durst venture in the neighbourhood of the forest where it raged. At last the King allowed it to be proclaimed that whoever should take or kill the Wild Boar, should have his only daughter in marriage.

  Now, there lived in this country two brothers, the sons of a poor man, and they each wished to undertake the adventure: the elder, who was bold and brave, out of pride; the younger, who was innocent and ignorant, from a good heart. They agreed, that they might the sooner find the boar, that they should enter the forest on opposite sides; so the elder departed in the evening, and the other on the following morning. When the younger had gone a short way, a little Dwarf stepped up to him, holding a black spear in his hand, and said, “I give you this spear, because your heart is innocent and good; with it you may boldly attack the Boar, who can do you no harm.”

  He thanked the Dwarf, and, taking the spear, went forth bravely. In a little while he perceived the Wild Boar, which ran straight at him; but he held the spear in front of his body, so that, in its blind fury, it rushed on so rashly that its heart was pierced quite through. Then he took the beast upon his shoulder, and went homewards to show it to the King.

  However, just as he came out on the other side of the forest, there stood on the outskirts a house, where the people were making merry, dancing and drinking. His elder brother was amongst them, exciting his courage by wine, and never thinking at all that the Boar might be killed by any other than himself. As soon, therefore, as he saw his younger brother coming out of the forest laden with his booty, his envious and ill-natured heart had no rest. Still he called to him, “Come in here, my dear brother, and rest, and strengthen yourself with a cup of wine.” The younger brother, suspecting no evil, went in and related his story of the good little dwarf, who had given him the spear wherewith he had killed the boar. The elder brother detained him till evening, and then they went away together. But when they came in the darkness to a bridge over a stream, the elder, letting his brother pass on before till he came to the middle of the bridge, gave him a blow which felled him dead. Then he buried him in the sand below the bridge, and taking the Boar, brought it to the King, representing that he had killed it, and so received in marriage the Princess. He declared, moreover, that the Boar had torn in pieces the body of his younger brother, and, as he did not come back, every one believed the tale to be true.

  But, because nothing is hid from God’s sight, so also this black deed at last came to light. Many years after, as a peasant was driving his herd across the brook, he saw lying in the sand below a snow-white bone, which he thought would make a good mouth-piece. So he stepped down, took it up, and fashioned it into a mouth-piece for his horn. But as soon as he blew through it for the first time, to the great astonishment of the herdsman, the bone began to sing of itself—

  “My brother slew me, and buried my bones

  Under the sand and under the stones:

  I killed the boar as he came from his lair,

  But he won the prize of the lady fair.”

  “What a wonderful little bone!” exclaimed the herdsman; “it sings of itself! I must take it to the King.”

  As soon as he came before the King, it began again to repeat its song, and the King understood it perfectly. So he caused the earth below the bridge to be dug up, and there all the bones of the younger brother came to light. The wicked brother could not deny the deed, and, for his punishment, he
was sewed up in a sack and drowned.

  And the bones of the other brother were placed in a splendid tomb in the churchyard.

  The Giant with the Three Golden Hairs

  There was once upon a time a poor woman whose son was born with a caul,f and so it was foretold of him that in his fourteenth year he should marry the King’s daughter. As it happened, the King soon after came into the village, quite unknown to any one, and when he asked the people what news there was, they answered, “A few days since a child with a caul was born, which is a sure sign that he will be very lucky; and indeed it has been foretold of him that in his fourteenth year he will marry the King’s daughter.”

  The king had a wicked heart, and was disturbed concerning this prophecy, so he went to the parents, and said to them in a most friendly manner, “Give me up your child, and I will take care of him.” At first they refused, but the stranger begged for it with much gold, and so at last they consented and gave him the child, thinking, “It is a luck-child, and therefore every thing must go well with it.”

  The King laid the child in a box, and rode away till he came to a deep water, into which he threw the box, saying to himself, “From this unsought-for bridegroom have I now freed my daughter.”

  The box, however, did not sink, but floated along like a boat, and not one drop of water penetrated it. It floated at last down to a mill two miles from the King’s palace, and in the mill-dam it stuck fast. The miller’s boy, who was fortunately standing there, observed it, and drew it ashore with a hook, expecting to find a great treasure. When, however, he opened the box, he saw a beautiful child, alive and merry. He took it to the people at the mill, who, having no children, adopted it for their own, saying, “God has sent it to us.” And they took good care of it, and it grew up full of virtues.

  It happened one day that the King went into the mill for shelter during a thunder-storm, and asked the people whether the boy was their child. “No,” they answered, “he is a foundling, who, fourteen years ago, floated into our dam in a box, which the miller’s boy drew out of the water.” The King observed at once that it was no other than the luck-child whom he had thrown into the water, and so said to them, “Good people, could not the youth carry a letter to my wife the Queen? If so, I will give him two pieces of gold for a reward.”

  “As my lord the King commands,” they replied, and bade the youth get ready.

  Then the King wrote a letter to the Queen, wherein he said, “So soon as this boy arrives with this letter, let him be killed and buried, and let all be done before I return.”

  The youth set out on his journey with the letter, but he lost himself, and at evening came into a great forest. In the gloom he saw a little light, and going up to it he found a cottage, into which he went, and perceived an old woman sitting by the fire. As soon as she saw the lad she was terrified, and exclaimed, “Why do you come here, and what would you do?”

  “I am come from the mill,” he answered, “and am going to my lady the Queen, to carry a letter; but because I have lost my way in this forest, I wish to pass the night here.”

  “Poor boy,” said the woman, “you have come to a den of robbers, who, when they return, will murder you.”

  “Let who will come,” he replied, “I am not afraid; I am so weary that I can go no further,” and stretching himself upon a bench, he went to sleep. Presently the robbers entered, and asked in a rage what strange lad was lying there. “Ah,” said the old woman, “it is an innocent youth who has lost himself in the forest, and whom I have taken in out of compassion. He carries with him a letter to the Queen.”

  The robbers seized the letter and read it, and understood that as soon as the youth arrived he was to be put to death. Then the robbers took compassion on him also, and the captain tore up the letter and wrote another, wherein he declared that the youth on his arrival was to be married to the Princess. They let him sleep quietly on his bench till the morning, and as soon as he awoke, they gave him the letter, and showed him the right road.

  When the Queen received the letter, she did as it commanded, and caused a splendid marriage-feast to be prepared, and the Princess was given in marriage to the luck child, who, since he was both young and handsome, pleased her well, and they were all very happy. Some little time afterwards the King returned to his palace, and found the prophecy fulfilled, and his daughter married to the luck-child. “How did this happen?” he asked. “In my letter I gave quite another command.”

  Then the Queen handed him the letter, that he might read for himself what it stated. Then the King perceived that it had been forged by another person, and he asked the youth what he had done with the letter that had been entrusted to him, that he had brought another. “I know nothing about it,” he replied; “it must have been changed in the forest where I passed the night.”

  Inflamed with rage, the King answered, “Thou shalt not escape so easily; he who would have my daughter must fetch for me three golden hairs from the head of the Giant; bring thou to me what I desire, then shalt thou receive my daughter.”

  The King hoped by this means to get rid of him, but he answered, “The three golden hairs I will fetch, for I fear not the Giant;” and so he took leave and began his wanderings.

  The road led him by a large town, where the watchman at the gate asked him what trade he understood, and what he knew. “I know everything,” replied the youth.

  “Then you can do us a kindness,” said the watch, “if you tell us the reason why the fountain in our market-place, out of which wine used to flow, now, all at once, does not even give water.”

  “That you shall know,” was the answer; “but you must wait till I return.”

  Then he went on further, and came to a rather large city; where the watchman asked him, as before, what trade he understood, and what he knew. “I know every thing,” he replied.

  “Then you can do us a kindness, if you tell us the reason why a tree growing in our town, which used to bear golden apples, does not now even have any leaves.”

  “That you shall know,” replied the youth, “if you wait till I return;” and so saying, he went on farther till he came to a great lake, over which it was necessary that he should pass. The ferryman asked him what trade he understood, and what he knew. “I know every thing,” he replied.

  “Then,” said the ferryman, “you can do me a kindness if you tell me why, for ever and ever, I am obliged to row backwards and forwards, and am never to be released.” “You shall learn the reason why,” replied the youth; “but wait till I return.”

  As soon as he got over the water he found the entrance into the Giant’s kingdom. It was black and gloomy, and the Giant was not at home; but his old grandmother was sitting there in an immense arm-chair. “What do you want?” said she, looking at him fixedly. “I want three golden hairs from the head of the King of these regions,” replied the youth, “else I cannot obtain my bride.” “That is a bold request,” said the woman; “for if he comes home and finds you here it will be a bad thing for you; but still you can remain, and I will see if I can help you.”

  Then she changed him into an ant, and told him to creep within the fold of her gown, where he would be quite safe.

  “Yes,” he said, “that is all very well; but there are three things I am desirous of knowing:—Why a fountain, which used to spout wine, is now dry, and does not even give water.—Why a tree, which used to bear golden apples, does not now have leaves.—And why a ferryman is always rowing backwards and forwards, and never gets released.”

  “Those are difficult questions,” replied the old woman; “but do you keep quiet and pay attention to what the King says when I pluck each of the three golden hairs.”

  As soon as evening came the Giant returned; and scarcely had he entered, when he remarked that the air was not quite pure. “I smell, I smell the flesh of man,” he exclaimed; “all is not right.” Then he peeped into every corner, and looked about, but could find nothing. Presently his old grandmother began to scold, scr
eaming, “There now, just as I have dusted and put every thing in order, you are pulling them all about again: you are for ever having man’s flesh in your nose! Sit down and eat your supper.”

  When he had finished he felt tired; and the old woman took his head in her lap, and said she would comb his hair a bit. Presently he yawned; then winked; and at last snored. Then she plucked out a golden hair, and laid it down beside her.

  “Bah!” cried the King, “what are you about?”

  “I have had a bad dream,” answered the old woman “and so I plucked one of your hairs.”

  “What did you dream, then?” asked he.

  “I dreamt that a market-fountain which used to spout wine is dried up, and does not even give water: what is the matter with it, pray?”

  “Why, if you must know,” answered he, “there sits a toad under a stone, in the spring, which, if any one kills, wine will gush out as before.”

  Then the old woman went on combing till he went to sleep again, and snored so that the windows shook. Presently she pulled out a second hair.

  “Confound it! what are you about?” exclaimed the King in a passion.

  “Don’t be angry,” said she; “I did it in a dream.”

  “What did you dream this time?” he asked.

  “I dreamt that in a certain royal city there grew a fruit-tree, which formerly bore golden apples, but now has not a leaf upon it: what is the cause of it?”

  “Why,” replied the King, “at the root a mouse is gnawing. But if they kill it, golden apples will grow again; if not, the mouse will gnaw till the tree dies altogether. However, let me go to sleep in peace now; for if you disturb me again you will catch a box on the ears.”

  Nevertheless, the old woman, when she had rocked him again to sleep, plucked out a third golden hair. Up jumped the King in a fury, and would have ill-treated her, but she pacified him, and said, “Who can help bad dreams?”