by Jacob Grimm
The Donkey
ONCE UPON a time there lived a King and a Queen, who were rich, and had everything they wanted, but no children. The Queen lamented over this day and night, and said: “I am like a field on which nothing grows.” At last God gave her her wish, but when the child came into the world, it did not look like a human child, but was a little donkey. When the mother saw that, her lamentations and outcries began in real earnest; she said she would far rather have had no child at all than have a donkey, and that they were to throw it into the water that the fishes might devour it. But the King said: “No, since God has sent him he shall be my son and heir, and after my death sit on the royal throne, and wear the kingly crown.” The donkey, therefore, was brought up and grew bigger, and his ears grew up high and straight. And he was of a merry disposition, jumped about, played and took especial pleasure in music, so that he went to a celebrated musician and said: “Teach me your art, that I may play the lute as well as you do.” “Ah, dear little master,” answered the musician, “that would come very hard to you, your fingers are not quite suited to it, and are far too big. I am afraid the strings would not last.” But no excuses were of any use—the donkey was determined to play the lute. And since he was persevering and industrious, he at last learnt to do it as well as the master himself. The young lordling once went out walking full of thought and came to a well; he looked into it and in the mirror-clear water saw his donkey’s form. He was so distressed about it, that he went out into the wide world and only took with him one faithful companion. They traveled up and down, and at last they came into a kingdom where an old King reigned who had a single but wonderfully beautiful daughter. The donkey said: “Here we will stay,” knocked at the gate, and cried: “A guest is without—open, that he may enter.” When the gate was not opened, he sat down, took his lute and played it in the most delightful manner with his two fore-feet. Then the door-keeper opened his eyes, and gaped, and ran to the King and said: “Outside by the gate sits a young donkey which plays the lute as well as an experienced master!” “Then let the musician come to me,” said the King. But when a donkey came in, everyone began to laugh at the lute-player. And when the donkey was asked to sit down and eat with the servants, he was unwilling, and said: “I am no common stable-ass, I am a noble one.” Then they said: “If that is what you are, seat yourself with the soldiers.” “No,” said he, “I will sit by the King.” The King smiled, and said good-humoredly: “Yes, it shall be as you will, little ass, come here to me.” Then he asked: “Little ass, how does my daughter please you?” The donkey turned his head towards her, looked at her, nodded and said: “I like her above measure, I have never yet seen anyone so beautiful as she is.” “Well, then, you shall sit next her too,” said the King. “That is exactly what I wish,” said the donkey, and he placed himself by her side, ate and drank, and knew how to behave himself daintily and cleanly. When the noble beast had stayed a long time at the King’s court, he thought: “What good does all this do me, I shall still have to go home again,” let his head hang sadly, and went to the King and asked for his dismissal. But the King had grown fond of him, and said: “Little ass, what ails you? You look as sour as a jug of vinegar, I will give you what you want. Do you want gold?” “No,” said the donkey, and shook his head. “Do you want jewels and rich dress?” “No.” “Do you wish for half my kingdom?” “Indeed, no.” Then said the King: “If I did but know what would make you content. Will you have my pretty daughter to wife?” “Ah, yes,” said the ass, “I should indeed like her,” and all at once he became quite merry and full of happiness, for that was exactly what he was wishing for. So a great and splendid wedding was held. In the evening, when the bride and bridegroom were led into their bed-room, the King wanted to know if the ass would behave well, and ordered a servant to hide himself there. When they were both within, the bridegroom bolted the door, looked around, and as he believed that they were quite alone, he suddenly threw off his ass’s skin, and stood there in the form of a handsome royal youth. “Now,” said he, “you see who I am, and see also that I am not unworthy of you.” Then the bride was glad, and kissed him, and loved him dearly. When morning came, he jumped up, put his animal’s skin on again, and no one could have guessed what kind of a form was hidden beneath it. Soon came the old King. “Ah,” cried he, “so the little ass is already up! But surely you are sad,” said he to his daughter, “that you have not got a proper man for your husband?” “Oh, no, dear father, I love him as well as if he were the handsomest in the world, and I will keep him as long as I live.” The King was surprised, but the servant who had concealed himself came and revealed everything to him. The King said: “That cannot be true.” “Then watch yourself the next night, and you will see it with your own eyes; and hark you, lord King, if you were to take his skin away and throw it in the fire, he would be forced to show himself in his true shape.” “Your advice is good,” said the King, and at night when they were asleep, he stole in, and when he got to the bed he saw by the light of the moon a noble-looking youth lying there, and the skin lay stretched on the ground. So he took it away, and had a great fire lighted outside, and threw the skin into it, and remained by it himself until it was all burnt to ashes. But since he was anxious to know how the robbed man would behave himself, he stayed awake the whole night and watched. When the youth had slept his fill, he got up by the first light of morning, and wanted to put on the ass’s skin, but it was not to be found. At this he was alarmed, and, full of grief and anxiety, said: “Now I shall have to contrive to escape.” But when he went out, there stood the King, who said: “My son, whither away in such haste? what have you in mind? Stay here, you are such a handsome man, you shall not go away from me. I will now give you half my kingdom, and after my death you shall have the whole of it.” “Then I hope that what begins so well may end well, and I will stay with you,” said the youth. And the old man gave him half the kingdom, and in a year’s time, when he died, the youth had the whole, and after the death of his father he had another kingdom as well, and lived in all magnificence.
The Ungrateful Son
A MAN AND his wife were once sitting by the door of their house, and they had a roasted chicken set before them, and were about to eat it together. Then the man saw that his aged father was coming, and hastily took the chicken and hid it, for he would not permit him to have any of it. The old man came, took a drink, and went away. Now the son wanted to put the roasted chicken on the table again, but when he took it up, it had become a great toad, which jumped into his face and sat there and never went away again, and if any one wanted to take it off, it looked venomously at him as if it would jump in his face, so that no one would venture to touch it. And the ungrateful son was forced to feed the toad every day, or else it fed itself on his face; and thus he went about the world knowing no rest.
The Turnip
THERE WERE once two brothers who both served as soldiers; one of them was rich, and the other poor. Then the poor one, to escape from his poverty, doffed his soldier’s coat, and turned farmer. He dug and hoed his bit of land, and sowed it with turnip-seed. The seed came up, and one turnip grew there which became large and strong, and visibly grew bigger and bigger, and seemed as if it would never stop growing, so that it might have been called the princess of turnips, for never was such an one seen before, and. never will such an one be seen again.
At length it was so enormous that by itself it filled a whole cart, and two oxen were required to draw it, and the farmer had not the least idea what he was to do with the turnip, or whether it would be a fortune to him or a misfortune. At last he thought: “If you sell it, what will you get for it that is of any importance, and if you eat it yourself, why, the small turnips would do you just as much good; it would be better to take it to the King, and make him a present of it.”
So he placed it on a cart, harnessed two oxen, took it to the palace, and presented it to the King. “What strange thing is this?” said the King. “Many wonderful things have come be
fore my eyes, but never such a monster as this! From what seed can this have sprung, or are you a favorite of good fortune and have met with it by chance?” “Ah, no!” said the farmer, “no favorite am I. I am a poor soldier, who because he could no longer support himself hung his soldier’s coat on a nail and took to farming land. I have a brother who is rich and well known to you, Lord King, but I, because I have nothing, am forgotten by everyone.”
Then the King felt compassion for him, and said: “You shall be raised from your poverty, and shall have such gifts from me that you shall be equal to your rich brother.” Then he bestowed on him much gold, and lands, and meadows, and herds, and made him immensely rich, so that the wealth of the other brother could not be compared with his. When the rich brother heard what the poor one had gained for himself with one single turnip, he envied him, and thought in every way how he also could come by a similar piece of luck. He set about it in a much more cunning way, however, and took gold and horses and carried them to the King, and made certain the King would give him a much larger present in return. If his brother had got so much for one turnip, what would he not carry away with him in return for such beautiful things as these? The King accepted his present, and said he had nothing to give him in return that was more rare and excellent than the great turnip. So the rich man was obliged to put his brother’s turnip in a cart and have it taken to his home. There, he did not know on whom to vent his rage and anger, until bad thoughts came to him, and he resolved to kill his brother. He hired murderers, who were to lie in ambush, and then he went to his brother and said: “Dear brother, I know of a hidden treasure, we will dig it up together, and divide it between us.” The other agreed to this, and accompanied him without suspicion. While they were on their way the murderers fell on him, bound him, and would have hanged him to a tree. But just as they were doing this, loud singing and the sound of a horse’s feet were heard in the distance. On this their hearts were filled with terror, and they pushed their prisoner hastily into the sack, hung it on a branch, and took to flight. He, however, worked up there until he had made a hole in the sack through which he could put his head. The man who was coming by was no other than a traveling student, a young fellow who rode on his way through the wood joyously singing his song. When he who was aloft saw that someone was passing below him, he cried: “Good day! You have come at a lucky moment.” The student looked round on every side, but did not know whence the voice came. At last he said: “Who calls me?” Then an answer came from the top of the tree: “Raise your eyes; here I sit aloft in the Sack of Wisdom. In a short time have I learnt great things; compared with this all schools are a jest; in a very short time I shall have learnt everything, and shall descend wiser than all other men. I understand the stars, and the signs of the zodiac, and the tracks of the winds, the sand of the sea, the healing of illness, and the virtues of all herbs, birds and stones. If you were once within it you would feel what noble things issue forth from the Sack of Knowledge.”
The student, when he heard all this, was astonished, and said: “Blessed be the hour in which I have found you! May not I also enter the sack for a while?” He who was above replied as if unwillingly: “For a short time I will let you get into it, if you reward me and give me good words; but you must wait an hour longer, for one thing remains which I must learn before I do it.” When the student had waited a while he became impatient, and begged to be allowed to get in at once, his thirst for knowledge was so very great. So he who was above pretended at last to yield, and said: “In order that I may come forth from the house of knowledge you must let it down by the rope, and then you shall enter it.” So the student let the sack down, untied it, and set him free, and then cried: “Now draw me up at once,” and was about to get into the sack. “Halt!” said the other, “that won’t do,” and took him by the head and put him upside down into the sack, fastened it, and drew the disciple of wisdom up the tree by the rope. Then he swung him in the air and said: “How goes it with you, my dear fellow? Behold, already you feel wisdom coming, and you are gaining valuable experience. Keep perfectly quiet until you become wiser.” Thereupon he mounted the student’s horse and rode away, but in an hour’s time sent someone to let the student out again.
The Old Man Made Young Again
AT THE time when our Lord still walked this earth, he and St. Peter stopped one evening at a smith’s and received free quarters. Then it came to pass that a poor beggar, hard pressed by age and infirmity, came to this house and begged alms of the smith. St. Peter had compassion on him and said: “Lord and master, if it please you, cure his torments that he may be able to win his own bread.” The Lord said kindly: “Smith, lend me your forge, and put on some coals for me, and then I will make this ailing old man young again.” The smith was quite willing, and St. Peter blew the bellows, and when the coal fire sparkled up large and high our Lord took the little old man, pushed him in the forge in the midst of the red-hot fire, so that he glowed like a rose-bush, and praised God with a loud voice. After that the Lord went to the quenching tub, put the glowing little man into it so that the water closed over him, and after he had carefully cooled him, gave him his blessing, when behold the little man sprang nimbly out, looking fresh, straight, healthy, and as if he were but twenty. The smith, who had watched everything closely and attentively, invited them all to supper. He, however, had an old half-blind crooked, mother-in-law who went to the youth, and with great earnestness asked if the fire had burnt him much. He answered that he had never felt more comfortable, and that he had sat in the red heat as if he had been in cool dew. The youth’s words echoed in the ears of the old woman all night long, and early next morning, when the Lord had gone on his way again and had heartily thanked the smith, the latter thought he might make his old mother-in-law young again likewise, as he had watched everything so carefully, and it lay in the province of his trade. So he called to ask her if she, too, would like to go bounding about like a girl of eighteen. She said: “With all my heart, as the youth has come out of it so well.” So the smith made a great fire, and thrust the old woman into it, and she writhed about this way and that, and uttered terrible cries of murder. “Sit still; why are you screaming and jumping about so?” cried he, and as he spoke he blew the bellows again until all her rags were burnt. The old woman cried without ceasing, and the smith thought to himself: “I have not quite the right art,” and took her out and threw her into the cooling-tub. Then she screamed so loudly that the smith’s wife upstairs and her daughter-in-law heard it, and they both ran downstairs, and saw the old woman lying in a heap in the quenching-tub, howling and screaming, with her face wrinkled and shriveled and all out of shape. Thereupon the two, who were both with child, were so terrified that that very night two boys were born who were not made like men but apes, and they ran into the woods, and from them sprang the race of apes.
The Lord’s Animals and the Devil’s
THE LORD God had created all animals, and had chosen out the wolf to be his dog, but he had forgotten the goat. Then the Devil made ready and began to create also, and created goats with fine long tails. Now when they went to pasture, they generally remained caught in the hedges by their tails, whereupon the Devil had to go and disentangle them, with a great deal of trouble. This enraged him at last, and he went and bit off the tail of every goat, as may be seen to this day by the stump.
Then he let them go to pasture alone, but it came to pass that the Lord God perceived how at one time they gnawed away at a fruitful tree, at another injured the noble vines, or destroyed other tender plants. This distressed him, so that in his goodness and mercy he summoned his wolves, who soon tore in pieces the goats that went there. When the Devil observed this, he went before the Lord and said: “Your creatures have destroyed mine.” The Lord answered: “Why did you create things to do harm?” The Devil said: “I was compelled to do it: inasmuch as my thoughts run on evil. What I create can have no other nature, and you must pay me heavy damages.” “I will pay you as soon as the oak leav
es fall; come then, your money will then be ready counted out.” When the oak-leaves had fallen, the Devil came and demanded what was due to him. But the Lord said: “In the church of Constantinople stands a tall oak-tree which still has all its leaves.” With raging and curses, the Devil departed, and went to seek the oak, wandered in the wilderness for six months before he found it, and when he returned, all the oaks had in the meantime covered themselves again with green leaves. Then he had to forfeit his indemnity, and in his rage he put out the eyes of all the remaining goats, and put his own in instead.
This is why all goats have devil’s eyes, and their tails bitten off, and why he likes to assume their shape.
The Beam
THERE WAS once a sorcerer who was standing in the midst of a great crowd of people performing his wonders. He had a cock brought in, which lifted a heavy beam and carried it as if it were as light as a feather. But a girl was present who had just found a four-leaved clover, and had thus become so wise that no deception could stand out against her, and she saw that the beam was nothing but a straw. So she cried: “You people, do you not see that it is a straw that the cock is carrying, and no beam?” Immediately the enchantment vanished, and the people saw what it was, and drove the magician away in shame and disgrace. He, however, full of inward anger, said: “I will soon revenge myself.”
After some time the girl’s wedding-day came, and she was decked out, and went in a great procession over the fields to the place where the church was. All at once she came to a stream which was very much swollen, and there was no bridge and no plank to cross it. Then the bride nimbly took her clothes up, and wanted to wade through it. And just as she was thus standing in the water, a man, and it was the sorcerer, cried mockingly close beside her: “Aha! Where are your eyes that you take that for water?” Then her eyes were opened, and she saw that she was standing with her clothes lifted up in the middle of a field that was blue with the flowers of blue flax. Then all the people saw it likewise, and chased her away with ridicule and laughter.