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

by Brothers Grimm

  Her husband then called to her, “Come down to me!” but she cried, “Come you to me, I cannot come to you!” And there they fluttered about in the breeze, and neither could get to the other, and, for all I know, there they flutter still; but the young Giant took his iron staff, and travelled onwards.

  The Dwarfs

  There was once upon a time a rich King who had three daughters, who all day long were accustomed to walk in the palace gardens; and the King was such a great admirer of every species of tree, that of one it was said that whoever should pluck off a single apple would disappear a hundred feet into the ground. Now, when harvest came, the apples on this tree were as red as blood, and the three Princesses went every day under the tree to see if any of the fruit had fallen; but the wind did not blow any down, and the branches were so overloaded that they hung almost on the ground. At last the youngest of the three daughters took such a fancy to the fruit that she said to her sisters, “Our father loves us so much he will never cause us to disappear underground; he only meant that judgment for strangers;” and, so saying, she plucked an apple, and, jumping before her sisters, invited them also to taste it. So the three sisters shared it between them; but as soon as they had eaten it they all sank down below the earth, so far that no bird could scratch them up.

  By-and-by, when it became noon, the King wanted his daughters, but they were nowhere to be found, though the servants searched all over the house and gardens. At length, when he could hear nothing about them, the King caused it to be proclaimed throughout the country, that whoever should bring back the Princesses should receive one of them as a bride. Thereupon numbers of young men travelled about on land and sea to find the maidens; for every one was desirous to regain them, they were so amiable and pretty. Amongst others there went out three young Huntsmen, who, after travelling about eight days, came to a large castle, wherein every room was splendidly furnished; and in one room they found a large table, and on it was spread all manner of delicate food, and everything was still so warm that it smoked; yet nowhere did they hear or see any human being. Here they waited half the day, while the meats still smoked before them, till at length they became very hungry, and sitting down, they ate what they liked, and afterwards agreed together that one should remain in the castle while the two others sought the Princesses; and to decide the matter, they drew lots; and it fell to the share of the eldest to stop where they were. The next day, accordingly, the two younger Brothers took their departure, while the eldest remained in the castle; and about noon a little Dwarf entered, and brought in some pieces of roast meat, which he cut in pieces, and then handed them; and while he held it to the young Huntsman he let one piece fall, and the Dwarf asked him to be good enough to pick it up again. So he bent down to do so, and immediately the Dwarf jumped on him, and caught him by the hair, and beat him roughly. The next day the second Brother remained at home, but he fared no better: and, when the two others returned, the eldest asked him how he had passed the day. “Oh! badly enough, I can tell you,” he replied; and the two Brothers told each other of what had befallen them; but they said nothing to their youngest Brother, for fear he should refuse to have any part in the matter. So the third day he remained at home, and the Dwarf entered as usual with the meat, and, letting one piece fall, requested the youth to pick it up. But he said to the Dwarf, “What! can you not pick that up yourself?” If you had the trouble of earning your daily bread you would be glad enough, but now you are not worth what you eat!”

  This answer made the Dwarf very angry; but the youth gripped hold of him, and gave him such a shake that he exclaimed, “Stop, stop! and let me go, and I will tell you where the King’s daughters are.”

  When the youth heard this he let him drop, and the little manikin said he was an underground Dwarf, and there were more than a thousand like him; and if any one went with him he could show him where the Princesses were living: that he knew the place, which was a deep well, where no water entered. The Dwarf told him further that he knew his Brothers would not act honourably to him, and, therefore, if he would rescue the King’s daughters he must go alone, and must take with him a great basket wherein to let himself down, and go armed with his forester’s knife; and below he would find three rooms, in each of which would sit a Princess, guarded by dragons with many heads, which he must cut off. As soon as the Dwarf had said all this he disappeared; and about evening the two Brothers returned, and asked the youngest how he had passed the time. “Oh! very well indeed,” he replied; “and about noon a Dwarf came in, who cut up the meat, and let one piece fall, which he asked me to pick up; but I refused; and, as he flew into a passion, I gave him a shake, and presently he told me where to find the Princesses.”

  This tale sorely vexed the other Brothers, who turned blue with suppressed rage; but the next morning they all went up the hill, and drew lots who should descend first in the basket. The lot fell, as before, to the eldest, and he went down, taking a bell with him, which when he rang they were to pull him up as fast as they could. So after he had been down a little while he rang his bell furiously; and, as soon as he was drawn up, the second Brother took his place and went down; but he quickly rang to be pulled up again. The turn now came to the youngest Brother, who allowed himself to be let down to the very bottom, and there, getting out of the basket, he marched boldly unto the first door, with his drawn knife in his hand. There he heard the dragons snoring loudly; and, on his carefully opening the door, he saw one of the Princesses sitting within, with the dragon’s nine heads in her lap. He raised his knife and cut these heads off; and immediately the Princess jumped up and hugged and kissed him, and fell upon his neck, and then gave him her golden necklace for a reward. Next he went after the second Princess, who had a dragon with seven heads by her side: he also freed her, and then went to the youngest, who was guarded by a four-headed dragon. This beast he also destroyed; and then the three Sisters embraced and kissed him so much that at last he clashed the bell very hard, so that those above might hear. When the basket came down he set each Princess in by turns, and let them be drawn up; but, as it descended for him, he remembered the Dwarf’s saying that his Brothers would be faithless to him. So he picked up a huge stone, and laid it in the basket, and just as the false Brothers had drawn it half-way up they cut the cord at the top, and the basket with the stone in it fell plump to the bottom. By this means they thought they had rid themselves of their Brother; and they made the three Princesses promise that they would tell their father it was they who had delivered them; and then they went home to the King and demanded the Princesses for their wives. But meanwhile the youngest Brother wandered about sadly in the three chambers, and thought he should have to die there, when all at once he perceived on the walls a flute, and he thought to himself, “Ah! what good can this be here? What is there to make one merry!” He kicked, too, the dragons’ heads, saying, “And what good are you to me? you cannot help me!” Up and down, to and fro, many times he walked, so often, indeed, the floor was worn smooth.

  By-and-by other thoughts came into his head, and, seizing the flute, he blew a little on it; and, behold, ever so many little Dwarfs instantly appeared! He blew a little longer, and with every note a fresh one came, till at last the room was quite filled with them. Then all of them asked what his wishes were, and he told them that he wanted to be up above on earth again, and in the clear daylight. Immediately each Dwarf seized a hair of his head, and away they flew up the well with him till they landed him at the top. As soon as ever he was safe on his legs again he set out for the royal palace, and arrived about the time the weddings of the Princesses were to be celebrated. So he hurried up to the room where the King sat with his three daughters; and as soon as he entered they were so overcome that they fainted away. This made the King very angry; and he ordered the new comer to be put in prison, for he thought he had done his children some injury; but as soon as they recovered themselves they begged their father to set him at liberty. But he asked them the reason; and, when they said they
dare not tell him, he bade them tell their story to the oven; and meantime he went outside and listened at the door. When the King had heard all, he caused the two traitorous Brothers to be hanged; but he gave his youngest daughter in marriage to the true deliverer.

  And to their wedding I went in a pair of glass shoes, and, kicking against the wall, broke them all to pieces.

  The Peasant’s Wise Daughter

  There was once upon a time a poor Peasant, who had no land, but merely a little cottage, and an only Daughter, who one day said to him, “We must ask the King for a piece of waste land.”

  Now, when the King heard of their poverty, he presented them with a corner of a field, which the man and his daughter tilled, and prepared to sow in it corn and seeds. As they turned the land about they found a mortar of pure gold, and the Peasant said to his Daughter, “Since his Majesty the King has been so gracious to us to present us with this acre, we ought to give him this treasure.”

  But to this the Daughter would not agree, saying, “If we have the mortar, and not the pestle, we must procure the pestle for it; therefore be silent.”

  However, the Father would not obey her, but took the mortar to the King, and said he had found it while tilling the ground, and asked the King if he would accept the offering. The King took it, and asked if he had found nothing more. “No,” replied the Peasant. “Then,” said the King, “you must procure the pestle for it.” The Peasant said they had not found that; but it was of no use, he might as well have spoken to the wind, and he was ordered to be put in prison until he discovered it. The keepers had to bring him daily bread and water, which is all one gets in prison, and when they did so they heard the man always lamenting, “Had I but obeyed my daughter! had I obeyed my daughter!” So these keepers went and told the King that the man was always crying, “Had I obeyed my daughter!” and would neither eat nor drink. His Majesty commanded them to bring the prisoner before him, and then he asked him why he was always crying out in this manner, and what his Daughter had said.

  “She told me,” said the man, “not to bring the mortar to you before I had found the pestle.”

  “What! have you such a wise daughter? let her come hither at once!” said the King. So the girl came, and the King asked her if she were so wise as was said, for he would propose a riddle, which if she solved, he would then marry her. “What is that which is unclothed and yet is not naked, that moves along and yet neither rides nor walks, and that goes not in the road nor out of it?”

  The girl said she would do her best, and went away and pulled off all her clothes, so that she was not clothed; then she took a large fishing-net and set herself in it, and wrapped it round her, so she was not naked; then she bought an ass, and bound the net to its tail, so it dragged her along, and thus she neither rode nor walked. The ass, too, had to trail her along in a rut, so that she was neither in the road nor out of it, for only her big toes touched the ground. Now, as the King saw her coming towards him, he said she had solved the riddle, and fulfilled all the conditions. Then he let her father out of prison, and made the Daughter his bride, and committed to her all the royal possessions.

  Several years had passed away, when once, as the King was walking on parade, it happened that several peasants, who had sold wood, stopped before the palace with their waggons: some of them had oxen yoked and some horses, and one peasant had three horses, one of which was a young foal, which ran away, and laid itself down between two oxen who were in front of a waggon. Soon the peasants grouped together and began to quarrel, wrangle, and dispute with each other: the peasant with the oxen would keep the foal, saying that it belonged to him, while the peasant with the horses denied it, and said the foal was his, for his horses went with it. The quarrel was brought before the King, and he gave judgment that the foal should keep where it was, and so it passed into possession of the man with the oxen, to whom it did not belong. So the other went away weeping and lamenting for his foal; but he had heard that the Queen was a very kind woman, because she had herself been born of peasant folk, so he went to her and asked her to help him that he might regain his own foal. The Queen said she would do so, and if he would promise not to betray her she would tell him how. Early in the morning when the King was on the watch-parade he was to place himself in the midst of the path by which he must pass, and take a large fish-net, and pretend to fish and shake the net about over the terrace as if it were full of fish. She told him, also, what to answer if the King asked any questions; and the next day, accordingly, he stood there fishing in a dry place. When the King came by, and saw him, he sent his page to ask who the simpleton was, and what he was about. The peasant merely replied, “I am fishing.”

  The page asked how he could fish where there was no water; and the man replied, “So well as two oxen can bear a foal, so well can I fish in a dry place.”

  With this answer the page left him, and told it to the King, who bade the peasant come before him and asked him from whom he had the answer he made, for it could not be from himself. The man refused to tell, and replied to every question, “God forbid! I had it from myself.” At last they laid him upon a heap of straw, and beat him and tortured him so long till at last he confessed that he had the answer from the Queen. As soon as the King returned home afterwards, he said to his wife, “Why are you so false to me? I will no longer have you about me; your time is over: go away to whence you came—to your peasant’s hut.”

  He gave her leave, however, to take with her what she considered dearest and best to herself, and the Queen said, “Yes, dearest husband, I will do as you bid me,” and she fell upon his breast and kissed him, and said she would take her leave. But first she made a strong sleeping-mixture to pledge him in, and the King took a long draught, but she drank only a little. Soon he fell into a deep sleep, and when she perceived it was so, she called a servant, and, wrapping a fine white linen napkin over her lord’s face, she caused him to be laid in a carriage, and drawn to the cottage from whence she first came. There she laid him in a bed, where he slept a night and day, and when he awoke he looked round him amazed, and called for a servant, but none answered the call. At last came his wife to the bed, and said, “My dear Lord and King, you commanded me to take out of the castle whatever I thought dearest and best, and because I had nothing dearer or better than you, I have brought you with me here.”

  At these words tears came into the King’s eyes, and he said, “Dear wife, you shall be mine and I will be thine!” and so he took her back again to the palace; and there they are living still in the full enjoyment of health and happiness, for aught I know to the contrary.

  The Three Birds

  Many years ago there lived up among the hills in our country some petty Kings, who every day went out hunting, and had their palaces high above everybody else. One day when one of them had come forth from his castle with his Huntsmen there were three Girls who were tending their cows, and, as they saw the King pass by with his people, the eldest of them, pointing to the King, called out to her companions, “Hilloa! hilloa! if I had any I would have him!” Then the two Girls on the other side of the hill exclaimed, each pointing to the two Men nearest the King, the one with her right hand, the other with her left, “Hilloa! hilloa! if I had any I would have him.” Now these two were the King’s Ministers. The King, who heard all that was said, as soon as he returned from the hunt, ordered the three Maidens to be fetched, and asked them what they had meant in the morning by what they said on the mountains. This question, however, they would not answer, and at last the King inquired of the eldest if she would have him for a husband. To this she said yes; and her two Sisters were then asked in marriage by the Ministers, for they were all three beautiful and fair, especially the King’s wife, who had flaxen hair.

  Now the two Sisters had no children at first, and, as the King had to go out on a journey, he invited them to come and stay with the Queen. During his absence the Queen bore a child who had a red forehead, and was besides very pretty. The two Sisters, however, agre
ed together they would throw the child into the mill-pond, and as they did so a little Bird flew up into the air, which sang,

  “Ready to die

  And for ever to quit

  These lilies and flowers,

  Brave boy, are you fit!”

  When the two Sisters heard this they were very much alarmed, and made all the haste they could home. Afterwards, when the King returned, they told him that the Queen had borne a dead child; but the King only replied, “What God wills I must bear.” Meanwhile a Fisherman had fished the little Boy up out of the water while it still breathed, and, as his wife had no children of her own they brought it up. A year after the King again went out on a journey, and in his absence another Boy was born, which the two Sisters stole away as before and threw into the water. Just as they did so a Bird flew up as at the first time and sang,

  “Ready to die

  And for ever to quit

  These lilies and flowers,

  Little boy, are you fit!”

  When the King returned they told the same tale as before about the Queen; but he merely replied, “What God wills I must bear.” However, the Fisherman had again luckily rescued the child, whom he brought up with his brother.