Akhir Riwayat Sang Lutung

Seekor lutung (kera hitam) berjalan terseok-seok di pasir. Akibat jatuh dari pohon, tubuhnya menjadi lemah tak bertenaga. Ia lapar sekali, sementara hutan masih jauh. Dengan memaksa diri, ia tiba di tepi muara sungai. Ia minum dengan rakusnya. “Kenapa kamu pucat lutung? Kamu sakit payah?” tegur seekor ayam hutan besar yang mematuk-matuk udang di tepi muara. “Ya, tolong terbangkan aku ke hutan di seberang muara ini,” pinta lutung. Ayam hutan merasa iba dan setuju, ia terbang membawa lutung yang berpegangan erat di kakinya.

Sesampainya di hutan, lutung tak mau melepaskan kaki ayam hutan. Ia bahkan mencabuti semua bulu ayam hutan yang berwarna kuning keemasan itu. Sang ayam hutan pingsan karena kesakitan. Dia sudah mati, pikir lutung. Kemudian bangkai ayam hutan disembunyikannya di dalam semak belukar, sementara ia pergi mencari api di dalam hutan.

Sang Ayam Hutan kemudian sadar. Dia menangis tersedu-sedu sebab kehilangan semua bulunya. “He, kenapa badanmu, siapa yang telah mencabuti bulu-bulumu?” tanya seekor sapi dengan heran. Ayam hutan menceritakan semua pengalamannya. Alangkah marahnya sapi terhadap perlakuan si lutung. “Kurang ajar!” Biarlah kuberi pelajaran lutung itu. Sembunyilah kau di tempat lain,” ujar sapi. Ayam hutan menurutinya. Ketika lutung datang membawa obor dan menanyakan di mana ayam hutan, sampi membohonginya. “Ayam hutan itu rupanya belum mati, ia berenang ke tengah laut,” kata sapi. Lutung meminta sapi mengantarnya ke gundukan batu karang di tengah laut, di mana ia mengira si ayam hutan bersembunyi. Dengan ramah sapi bersedia mengantarnya. Tanpa pikir panjang lutung naik ke punggung sapi yang kemudian berenang ke gundukan batu karang di tengah laut. Akan tetapi, setelah lutung loncat ke gundukan batu karan gitu, segera sapi meninggalkannya. “Semoga kau mampus disergap ikan gurita” ujar sapi. Lutung duduk di puncak batu karang dan menangis. “Mengapa kamu menangis?” tegur seekor penyu. “Aku heran, bagaimana kau dapat ke sini.” Aku naik sampan, kemudian sampanku terbalik dan aku terdampar disini,” jawab lutung berbohong. Karena kasihan, penyu mengantarkan lutung ke pantai. Lutung naik ke punggung penyu.

“Bagaimana kau dapat berenang dengan cepat?” tanya lutung. “Dengan kayuhan kaki-kakiku,” jawab penyu tanpa curiga. Ketika di pantai, lutung ingin melihat kaki penyu. Penyu setuju dan segera tubuhnya dibalikkan oleh lutung. Ternyata lutung segera meninggalkan penyu dalam keadaan terbalik. Ia bermaksud mencari harimau, karena hanya harimaulah yang dapat mengeluarkan daging penyu dari kulitnya yang keras itu.

Penyu menangis dan berteriak-teriak minta tolong. “Mengapa kamu?” tanya seekor tikus yang mendekat. Penyu lalu menceritakan pengalamannya. Tikus pun mejadi sangat marah terhadap lutung yang tak tahu membalas budi itu. Ia bersama tikus-tikus lain menggali pasir di bawah badan penyu, dengan harapan apabila air pasang naik penyu dapat membalikkan tubuhnya dengan mudah. Sementara menunggu kedatangan lutung, tikus-tikus itu menutupi tubuh penyu dengan tubuh mereka sendiri. Dan menari-nari sambil bersayir : “Mari kita ikut gembira ria … bersama sang lutung yang jenaka … yang berhasil menipu Raja Rimba … yang mengira betul ada penyu, padahala hanya kita yang ada…” Lutung yang datang bersama harimau sangan heran, dimanakah penyu? Mendengar syair tikus-tikus, harimau pun menjadi marah karena merasa ditipu. “Mana penyu yang kau katakan itu?” geramnya. Kemudian lutung itu diterkam oleh sang Harimau, dibawa lari kedalam hutan.

(SELESAI)

....READ MORE >>

Aladin dan Lampu Ajaib

Dahulu kala, di kota Persia, seorang Ibu tinggal dengan anak laki-lakinya yang bernama Aladin. Suatu hari datanglah seorang laki-laki mendekati Aladin yang sedang bermain. Kemudian laki-laki itu mengakui Aladin sebagai keponakannya. Laki-laki itu mengajak Aladin pergi ke luar kota dengan seizin ibu Aladin untuk membantunya. Jalan yang ditempuh sangat jauh. Aladin mengeluh kecapaian kepada pamannya tetapi ia malah dibentak dan disuruh untuk mencari kayu bakar, kalau tidak mau Aladin akan dibunuhnya. Aladin akhirnya sadar bahwa laki-laki itu bukan pamannya melainkan seorang penyihir. Laki-laki penyihir itu kemudian menyalakan api dengan kayu bakar dan mulai mengucapkan mantera. “Kraak…” tiba-tiba tanah menjadi berlubang seperti gua.


Dalam lubang gua itu terdapat tangga sampai ke dasarnya. “Ayo turun! Ambilkan aku lampu antik di dasar gua itu”, seru si penyihir. “Tidak, aku takut turun ke sana”, jawab Aladin. Penyihir itu kemudian mengeluarkan sebuah cincin dan memberikannya kepada Aladin. “Ini adalah cincin ajaib, cincin ini akan melindungimu”, kata si penyihir. Akhirnya Aladin menuruni tangga itu dengan perasaan takut. Setelah sampai di dasar ia menemukan pohon-pohon berbuah permata. Setelah buah permata dan lampu yang ada di situ dibawanya, ia segera menaiki tangga kembali. Tetapi, pintu lubang sudah tertutup sebagian. “Cepat berikan lampunya !”, seru penyihir. “Tidak ! Lampu ini akan kuberikan setelah aku keluar”, jawab Aladin. Setelah berdebat, si penyihir menjadi tidak sabar dan akhirnya “Brak!” pintu lubang ditutup oleh si penyihir lalu meninggalkan Aladin terkurung di dalam lubang bawah tanah. Aladin menjadi sedih, dan duduk termenung. “Aku lapar, Aku ingin bertemu ibu, Tuhan, tolonglah aku !”, ucap Aladin.

Aladin merapatkan kedua tangannya dan mengusap jari-jarinya. Tiba-tiba, sekelilingnya menjadi merah dan asap membumbung. Bersamaan dengan itu muncul seorang raksasa. Aladin sangat ketakutan. “Maafkan saya, karena telah mengagetkan Tuan”, saya adalah peri cincin kata raksasa itu. “Oh, kalau begitu bawalah aku pulang kerumah.” “Baik Tuan, naiklah kepunggungku, kita akan segera pergi dari sini”, ujar peri cincin. Dalam waktu singkat, Aladin sudah sampai di depan rumahnya. “Kalau tuan memerlukan saya panggillah dengan menggosok cincin Tuan.”

Aladin menceritakan semua hal yang di alaminya kepada ibunya. “Mengapa penyihir itu menginginkan lampu kotor ini ya ?”, kata Ibu sambil menggosok membersihkan lampu itu. “Syut !” Tiba-tiba asap membumbung dan muncul seorang raksasa peri lampu. “Sebutkanlah perintah Nyonya”, kata si peri lampu. Aladin yang sudah pernah mengalami hal seperti ini memberi perintah,”kami lapar, tolong siapkan makanan untuk kami”. Dalam waktu singkat peri Lampu membawa makanan yang lezat-lezat kemudian menyuguhkannya. “Jika ada yang diinginkan lagi, panggil saja saya dengan menggosok lampu itu”, kata si peri lampu.

Demikian hari, bulan, tahunpun berganti, Aladin hidup bahagia dengan ibunya. Aladin sekarang sudah menjadi seorang pemuda. Suatu hari lewat seorang Putri Raja di depan rumahnya. Ia sangat terpesona dan merasa jatuh cinta kepada Putri Cantik itu. Aladin lalu menceritakan keinginannya kepada ibunya untuk memperistri putri raja. “Tenang Aladin, Ibu akan mengusahakannya”. Ibu pergi ke istana raja dengan membawa permata-permata kepunyaan Aladin. “Baginda, ini adalah hadiah untuk Baginda dari anak laki-lakiku.” Raja amat senang. “Wah…, anakmu pasti seorang pangeran yang tampan, besok aku akan datang ke Istana kalian dengan membawa serta putriku”.

Setelah tiba di rumah Ibu segera menggosok lampu dan meminta peri lampu untuk membawakan sebuah istana. Aladin dan ibunya menunggu di atas bukit. Tak lama kemudian peri lampu datang dengan Istana megah di punggungnya. “Tuan, ini Istananya”. Esok hari sang Raja dan putrinya datang berkunjung ke Istana Aladin yang sangat megah. “Maukah engkau menjadikan anakku sebagai istrimu ?”, Tanya sang Raja. Aladin sangat gembira mendengarnya. Lalu mereka berdua melaksanakan pesta pernikahan.

Nun jauh disana, si penyihir ternyata melihat semua kejadian itu melalui bola kristalnya. Ia lalu pergi ke tempat Aladin dan pura-pura menjadi seorang penjual lampu di depan Istana Aladin. Ia berteriak-teriak, “tukarkan lampu lama anda dengan lampu baru !”. Sang permaisuri yang melihat lampu ajaib Aladin yang usang segera keluar dan menukarkannya dengan lampu baru. Segera si penyihir menggosok lampu itu dan memerintahkan peri lampu memboyong istana beserta isinya dan istri Aladin ke rumahnya.

Ketika Aladin pulang dari berkeliling, ia sangat terkejut. Lalu memanggil peri cincin dan bertanya kepadanya apa yang telah terjadi. “Kalau begitu tolong kembalikan lagi semuanya kepadaku”, seru Aladin. “Maaf Tuan, tenaga saya tidaklah sebesar peri lampu,” ujar peri cincin. “Baik kalau begitu aku yang akan mengambilnya. Tolong Antarkan kau kesana”, seru Aladin. Sesampainya di Istana, Aladin menyelinap masuk mencari kamar tempat sang Putri dikurung. “Penyihir itu sedang tidur karena kebanyakan minum bir”, ujar sang Putri. “Baik, jangan kuatir aku akan mengambil kembali lampu ajaib itu, kita nanti akan menang”, jawab Aladin.

Aladin mengendap mendekati penyihir yang sedang tidur. Ternyata lampu ajaib menyembul dari kantungnya. Aladin kemudian mengambilnya dan segera menggosoknya. “Singkirkan penjahat ini”, seru Aladin kepada peri lampu. Penyihir terbangun, lalu menyerang Aladin. Tetapi peri lampu langsung membanting penyihir itu hingga tewas. “Terima kasih peri lampu, bawalah kami dan Istana ini kembali ke Persia”. Sesampainya di Persia Aladin hidup bahagia. Ia mempergunakan sihir dari peri lampu untuk membantu orang-orang miskin dan kesusahan.

(SELESAI)

....READ MORE >>

KISAH SI PEMALAS DENGAN ABU HANIFAH

Suatu hari ketika Imam Abu Hanifah sedang berjalan-jalan melalui sebuah rumah yang jendelanya masih terbuka, terdengar oleh beliau suara orang yang mengeluh dan menangis tersedu-sedu. Keluhannya mengandungi kata-kata, "Aduhai, alangkah malangnya nasibku ini, agaknya tiada seorang pun yang lebih malang dari nasibku yang celaka ini. Sejak dari pagi lagi belum datang sesuap nasi atau makanan pun di kerongkongku sehingga seluruh badanku menjadi lemah longlai. Oh, manakah hati yang belas ikhsan yang sudi memberi curahan air walaupun setitik."
Mendengar keluhan itu, Abu Hanifah berasa kasihan lalu beliau pun balik ke rumahnya dan mengambil bungkusan hendak diberikan kepada orang itu. Sebaik saja dia sampai ke rumah orang itu, dia terus melemparkan bungkusan yang berisi wang kepada si malang tadi lalu meneruskan perjalanannya. Dalam pada itu, si malang berasa terkejut setelah mendapati sebuah bungkusan yang tidak diketahui dari mana datangnya, lantas beliau tergesa-gesa membukanya. Setelah dibuka, nyatalah bungkusan itu berisi wang dan secebis kertas yang bertulis, " Hai manusia, sungguh tidak wajar kamu mengeluh sedemikian itu, kamu tidak pernah atau perlu mengeluh diperuntungkan nasibmu. Ingatlah kepada kemurahan Allah dan cubalah bermohon kepada-Nya dengan bersungguh-sungguh. Jangan suka berputus asa, hai kawan, tetapi berusahalah terus."



Pada keesokan harinya, Imam Abu Hanifah melalui lagi rumah itu dan suara keluhan itu kedengaran lagi, "Ya Allah Tuhan Yang Maha Belas Kasihan dan Pemurah, sudilah kiranya memberikan bungkusan lain seperti kelmarin,sekadar untuk menyenangkan hidupku yang melarat ini. Sungguh jika Tuhan tidak beri, akan lebih sengsaralah hidupku, wahai untung nasibku."
Mendengar keluhan itu lagi, maka Abu Hanifah pun lalu melemparkan lagi bungkusan berisi wang dan secebis kertas dari luar jendela itu, lalu dia pun meneruskan perjalanannya. Orang itu terlalu riang sebaik saja mendapat bungkusan itu. Lantas terus membukanya.

Seperti dahulu juga, di dalam bungkusan itu tetap ada cebisan kertas lalu dibacanya, "Hai kawan, bukan begitu cara bermohon, bukan demikian cara berikhtiar dan berusaha. Perbuatan demikian 'malas' namanya. Putus asa kepada kebenaran dan kekuasaan Allah. Sungguh tidak redha Tuhan melihat orang pemalas dan putus asa, enggan bekerja untuk keselamatan dirinya. Jangan….jangan berbuat demikian. Hendak senang mesti suka pada bekerja dan berusaha kerana kesenangan itu tidak mungkin datang sendiri tanpa dicari atau diusahakan. Orang hidup tidak perlu atau disuruh duduk diam tetapi harus bekerja dan berusaha. Allah tidak akan perkenankan permohonan orang yang malas bekerja. Allah tidak akan mengkabulkan doa orang yang berputus asa. Sebab itu, carilah pekerjaan yang halal untuk kesenangan dirimu. Berikhtiarlah sedapat mungkin dengan pertolongan Allah. Insya Allah, akan dapat juga pekerjaan itu selama kamu tidak berputus asa. Nah…carilah segera pekerjaan, saya doakan lekas berjaya."

Sebaik saja dia selesai membaca surat itu, dia termenung, dia insaf dan sedar akan kemalasannya yang selama ini dia tidak suka berikhtiar dan berusaha.
Pada keesokan harinya, dia pun keluar dari rumahnya untuk mencari pekerjaan. Sejak dari hari itu, sikapnya pun berubah mengikut peraturan-peraturan hidup (Sunnah Tuhan) dan tidak lagi melupai nasihat orang yang memberikan nasihat itu.
Dalam Islam tiada istilah pengangguran, istilah ini hanya digunakan oleh orang yang berakal sempit. Islam mengajar kita untuk maju ke hadapan dan bukan mengajar kita tersadai di tepi jalan.

....READ MORE >>

CLEVER ELSIE

There was once a man who had a daughter who was called  Clever  Elsie. And  when  she had  grown  up  her father  said: ‘We  will  get  her  married.’ ‘Yes,’ said the mother, ‘if only someone  would come who would have her.’ At length a man came from a  distance and wooed her, who was called Hans; but he stipulated  that  Clever Elsie should be really smart. ‘Oh,’ said the father, ‘she has plenty of good sense’; and the mother said: ‘Oh, she can see the  wind  coming  up  the  street, and  hear  the  flies coughing.’ ‘Well,’  said Hans, ‘if she is not really smart, I won’t have her.’ When they were sitting at dinner and had eaten, the mother said: ‘Elsie, go into the cellar and fetch some beer.’ Then Clever Elsie took the pitcher  from the wall, went into the cellar, and tapped the lid briskly as she went, so that the time might not appear long. When she was below she fetched herself a chair, and set it before the barrel so that she had no need to stoop, and did not hurt her back or do herself any  unexpected injury. Then  she placed the can before her, and turned  the tap, and while the beer was running she would not let her eyes  be idle, but looked up at the wall, and after much peering here


and there, saw a pick-axe exactly above her, which the masons had accidentally left there.
Then Clever Elsie began to  weep and said: ‘If I get Hans, and we have a child, and he grows big, and we send him into the cellar  here to draw beer, then the pick-axe will fall on his head and kill him.’ Then she sat and wept and screamed with all the strength of  her body, over the misfortune which lay before her. Those upstairs waited for the drink, but Clever Elsie still did not come. Then  the woman said to the servant: ‘Just go down into the cellar and see  where Elsie is.’ The  maid went  and found her sitting in front of the barrel, screaming loudly. ‘Elsie why do you weep?’ asked the maid. ‘Ah,’ she answered, ‘have I not reason to weep? If I get Hans,  and we have a child, and he grows big, and has to draw beer here, the pick-axe will perhaps fall on his head, and kill him.’ Then said the maid: ‘What a clever Elsie we have!’ and sat down beside her and began loudly to weep over the misfortune. After a while, as the  maid did not come back, and those upstairs were thirsty for the beer, the man said to the boy: ‘Just go down into the cellar and see where Elsie and the girl are.’ The boy went down, and there sat Clever  Elsie and the girl both weeping together. Then he asked: ‘Why are you weeping?’ ‘Ah,’ said Elsie, ‘have I not reason to weep? If I


get Hans, and we have a child, and he grows big, and has to draw  beer here, the pick-axe will fall on his head and kill him.’ Then  said  the  boy: ‘What a clever Elsie we have!’ and sat down by her,  and likewise began to howl loudly. Upstairs they waited for the boy, but as he still did not return, the man said to the woman: ‘Just go down into the cellar and see where Elsie is!’ The woman went down, and found all three in the midst of their lamentations, and inquired what was the cause; then Elsie told her also that her future child was to be killed by the pick-axe, when it grew  big and  had  to  draw  beer,  and  the  pick-axe  fell down. Then said the mother likewise: ‘What a clever Elsie we have!’ and sat down and wept with them.  The man upstairs waited a short time, but as his wife did not come back and his thirst grew ever greater, he said: ‘I must go into the cellar myself and see where Elsie is.’ But when he got  into  the  cellar,  and  they  were  all sitting together crying, and he heard the reason, and that Elsie’s child was the cause, and the Elsie might perhaps bring one into the world some day, and that he might be killed by the pick- axe, if he should happen to be sitting beneath it, drawing beer just at the very time when it fell down, he cried: ‘Oh, what a clever Elsie!’ and sat down, and likewise wept with them.  The  bridegroom  stayed upstairs alone  for  along


time; then as no one would come back he thought: ‘They must be waiting for me below: I too must go there and see what  they  are  about.’ When  he  got  down,  the  five of them     were    sitting    screaming    and    lamenting    quite piteously, each out- doing the other. ‘What misfortune has happened then?’ asked he. ‘Ah,  dear Hans,’ said Elsie, ‘if we marry each other and have a child, and he is big, and we perhaps send him here to draw something to  drink, then the pick-axe which has been left up there might dash his  brains out  if it were to  fall down,  so have we  not reason to weep?’ ‘Come,’ said Hans, ‘more understanding than that is not needed for my household, as you are such a clever Elsie, I will have you,’ and seized her hand, took her upstairs with him, and married her.
After Hans had had her some time, he said: ‘Wife, I am going out  to work and earn some money for us; go into the field and cut the corn that we may have some bread.’
‘Yes, dear Hans, I  will do  that.’ After Hans had  gone away, she cooked herself some good broth and took it into the field with her. When she came to the field she said to herself: ‘What shall I do; shall I cut first, or shall I eat first? Oh, I will eat first.’ Then she drank her cup of broth and when she was fully satisfied, she once more said:  ‘What shall I do? Shall I cut first, or shall I sleep first? I will sleep


first.’ Then she lay down among the corn and fell asleep. Hans had been at home for a long time, but Elsie did not come; then said he: ‘What a clever Elsie I have; she is so industrious that she does not even come home to eat.’ But when evening came and she still stayed away, Hans went out to see what she had cut, but nothing was cut, and she was lying among the  corn  asleep. Then  Hans hastened home and brought a fowler’s net with little bells and hung it round about her, and she still went on sleeping. Then he ran home, shut the house-door, and sat down in his chair and worked. At length, when  it was quite dark, Clever Elsie awoke and when she got up there was a jingling all round about her, and the bells rang at each step which she took.   Then   she  was  alarmed,  and  became  uncertain whether she really was Clever Elsie or not, and said: ‘Is it I, or is it not I?’ But she knew not what answer to make to  this,  and  stood  for  a  time  in  doubt;  at  length  she thought: ‘I will go home and ask if it be I, or if it be not I, they will be sure to know.’ She ran to  the door of her own  house,  but  it  was shut;  then  she knocked  at  the window and cried: ‘Hans, is Elsie within?’ ‘Yes,’ answered Hans, ‘she is within.’ Hereupon she was terrified, and said:
‘Ah, heavens! Then it is not I,’ and went to another door;
but when the people heard the jingling of the bells they


would not open it, and she could get in nowhere. Then she ran out of the village, and no one has seen her since.

....READ MORE >>

THE PINK

There was once upon a time a queen to whom God had given  no children. Every morning she went into the garden and prayed to  God in heaven to bestow on her a son or a daughter. Then an angel from heaven came to her and said: ‘Be at rest, you shall have a son with the power of wishing, so that whatsoever in the world he wishes for, that shall he have.’ Then she went to the king, and told him the joyful tidings, and when the time was come she gave birth to a son, and the king was filled with gladness.
Every morning she went with the child to the garden where the wild beasts were kept, and washed herself there in a clear stream. It happened once when the child was a little older, that it was lying in her arms and she fell asleep. Then came the old cook, who knew that the child had the power of wishing, and stole it away, and he took a  hen, and cut it in pieces, and dropped some of its blood on the queen’s apron and on her dress. Then he carried the child away to a secret place, where a nurse was obliged to suckle it, and he ran to the king and accused the queen of having allowed her child to be taken from her by the wild beasts. When the king saw the blood on her  apron, he believed
eBook brought to you by

Grimms’ Fairy Tales
Create, view, and edit PDF. Download the free trial version.


this, fell into such a passion that he ordered a high tower to be built, in which neither sun nor moon could be seen and had his wife put into it, and walled up. Here she was to stay for seven years  without meat or drink, and die of hunger.  But  God  sent two  angels  from  heaven in  the shape of white doves, which flew to her twice a day, and carried her food until the seven years were over.
The cook, however, thought to himself: ‘If the child has the  power of wishing, and I am here, he might very easily get me into trouble.’ So he left the palace and went to the boy, who was already big enough to speak, and said to him: ‘Wish for a beautiful palace  for yourself with a garden, and all else that pertains to it.’ Scarcely  were the words out of the boy’s mouth, when everything was there that he had wished for. After a while the cook said to him:
‘It is not well for you to be so alone, wish for a pretty girl as a companion.’ Then the king’s son wished for one, and she immediately stood before him, and was more beautiful than any painter could have painted her. The two played together, and loved  each other with all their hearts, and the  old  cook  went  out  hunting  like  a nobleman.  The thought  occurred to  him,  however,  that the  king’s son might some day wish to be with his father, and thus bring him into great peril. So he went out and took the maiden


aside, and said: ‘Tonight when the boy is asleep, go to his bed and plunge this knife into his heart, and bring me his heart and tongue,  and if you do not do it, you shall lose your  life.’ Thereupon   he   went  away,  and  when  he returned next day she had not  done it,  and said: ‘Why should I shed the blood of an innocent boy who has never harmed anyone?’ The cook once more said: ‘If you do not do it, it shall cost you your own life.’ When he had gone away, she had a little hind brought to her, and ordered her to be killed, and took her heart and tongue, and laid them on a plate, and when she saw the  old man coming, she said to  the  boy: ‘Lie down  in your bed, and  draw the clothes over you.’ Then the wicked wretch came in and said: ‘Where are the  boy’s heart and tongue?’ The  girl reached the plate to him, but the king’s son threw off the quilt, and said: ‘You old sinner, why did you want to kill me?  Now   will  I  pronounce   thy  sentence.  You  shall become a black poodle and have a gold collar round your neck, and shall eat burning coals, till the flames burst forth from your throat.’ And when he had spoken these words, the old man was changed into a poodle dog, and had a gold collar round his neck, and the cooks were ordered to bring up some live coals, and these he ate, until the flames broke forth from his throat. The king’s son remained there


a short while longer, and he thought of his mother, and wondered  if  she were still alive. At length he said to the maiden: ‘I will go  home to my own country; if you will go with me, I will provide for you.’ ‘Ah,’ she replied, ‘the way is so long, and what shall I do in a strange land where I am unknown?’ As she did not seem quite willing, and as they could not be parted from each other, he wished that she might be changed into a beautiful pink, and took her with  him. Then  he went away to his own country, and the poodle had to run after him. He went to the tower in which his mother was confined, and as it was so high, he wished for a ladder which would reach up to the very top. Then   he  mounted  up  and  looked   inside,   and  cried:
‘Beloved mother, Lady Queen,  are you still alive, or are you  dead?’  She answered: ‘I have just eaten, and am still satisfied,’ for she thought the angels were there. Said he: ‘I am your dear son, whom the wild beasts were said to have torn from your arms; but I am alive still, and will soon set you  free.’ Then  he  descended again, and  went  to  his father, and caused himself to be announced as  a  strange huntsman, and asked if he could offer him service. The king said yes, if he was skilful and could get game for him, he should come to him, but that deer had never taken up their quarters in any part of the district or country. Then


the huntsman promised to procure as much game for him as   he   could  possibly use  at  the  royal  table.  So  he summoned all the  huntsmen together, and bade them go out into the forest with him. And he went with them and made them form a great circle, open at one end where he stationed himself, and began to wish. Two  hundred deer and more came running inside the circle at once, and the huntsmen shot them. Then they were all placed on sixty country carts, and driven home to the king, and for once he was able to deck his table with game, after having had none at all for years.
Now the king felt great joy at this, and commanded that his  entire household should eat with him next day, and made a great  feast. When  they  were  all assembled together, he said to the  huntsman: ‘As you are so clever, you shall sit by me.’ He replied: ‘Lord King, your majesty must excuse me, I am a poor  huntsman.’  But the king insisted on it, and said: ‘You shall sit by me,’ until he did it. Whilst he was sitting there, he thought of his dearest mother,   and  wished  that  one  of  the  king’s principal servants would begin to speak of her, and would ask how it was faring with the queen in the tower, and if she were alive still, or had perished. Hardly had he formed the wish than the marshal began, and said: ‘Your majesty, we  live


joyously here, but how is the queen living in the tower? Is she still alive, or has she died?’ But the king replied: ‘She let my dear son be torn to pieces by wild beasts; I will not have  her  named.’  Then  the  huntsman  arose and  said:
‘Grablood of a chicken.’ Thereupon&nbscious lord father she is alive still, and I am her son, and I was  not  carried away by wild beasts, but by that wretch the old cook,  who tore me from her arms when she was asleep, and sprinkled her apron with the p; he took the dog  with  the golden collar, and said: ‘That is the wretch!’ and caused live coals to be brought, and these the dog was compelled to devour before  the  sight of all, until flames  burst forth from its throat. On this  the  huntsman asked the king if he would like to see the dog in his true shape, and wished him back into  the  form  of  the  cook,  in   the  which  he  stood immediately, with his white apron, and his  knife by his side. When the king saw him he fell into a passion, and ordered him to be cast into the deepest dungeon. Then the huntsman spoke further and said: ‘Father, will you see the maiden who brought me up so tenderly and who was afterwards to murder  me, but did not do it, though her own life depended on it?’ The king replied: ‘Yes, I would like to see her.’ The son said: ‘Most gracious father, I will show her to you in the form of a beautiful flower,’ and he


thrust his hand into his pocket and brought forth the pink, and placed it on the royal table, and it was so beautiful that the king had never seen one to equal it. Then the son said:
‘Now will I  show her  to  you  in  her  own  form,’ and wished  that she might become a maiden, and she stood there looking so beautiful that no painter could have made her look more so.
And    the     king    sent    two     waiting-maids    and    two attendants into the tower, to fetch the queen and bring her to  the  royal  table.  But  when  she  was led  in  she  ate nothing, and said:  ‘The gracious and merciful God who has supported me in the tower, will soon set me free.’ She lived three days more, and then died  happily, and when she was buried, the two white doves which had  brought her  food  to  the  tower,  and  were  angels of  heaven, followed her  body and seated themselves on  her  grave. The aged king ordered the cook to be torn in four pieces, but  grief consumed  the  king’s own  heart, and he  soon died. His son married the beautiful maiden whom he had brought with him as a flower in his pocket, and whether they are still alive or not, is known to God.

....READ MORE >>

FREDERICK AND CATHERINE

There was once a man called Frederick: he had a wife whose  name was Catherine, and they had not long been married. One  day  Frederick said. ‘Kate! I  am going to work in the fields; when I come back I shall be hungry so let me have something nice cooked, and a good draught of ale.’ ‘Very well,’ said she, ‘it shall all be  ready.’ When dinner-time  drew  nigh,  Catherine  took  a  nice   steak, which was all the meat she had, and put it on the fire to fry. The steak soon began to look brown, and to crackle in the pan; and Catherine stood by with a fork and turned it: then she said to herself, ‘The steak is almost ready, I may as well go to the cellar for the ale.’ So she left the pan on the fire and took a large jug and went into the cellar and tapped  the  ale  cask. The  beer  ran  into  the  jug   and Catherine  stood looking on.  At last it popped into  her head, ‘The dog is not shut up—he may be running away with the steak; that’s well thought of.’ So up she ran from the cellar; and sure  enough the rascally cur had got the steak in his mouth, and was making off with it.
Away ran Catherine, and away ran the dog across the field: but  he ran faster than she, and stuck close to the


steak. ‘It’s all gone,  and ‘what can’t be  cured must be endured’,’ said Catherine. So she turned round; and as she had  run  a good  way  and  was tired,  she walked home leisurely to cool herself.
Now  all  this  time  the  ale  was  running  too,   for Catherine had not turned the cock; and when the jug was full the liquor ran upon the floor till the cask was empty. When  she  got  to  the   cellar   stairs she  saw what  had happened. ‘My stars!’  said she,  ‘what shall I do to keep Frederick  from  seeing all this  slopping  about?’  So  she thought a while; and at last remembered that there was a sack of fine meal bought at the last fair, and that if she sprinkled this over  the  floor it  would  suck up  the  ale nicely.  ‘What a lucky thing,’ said she, ‘that we kept that meal! we have now a good use for it.’ So away she went for it: but she managed to set it down just upon the great jug full of beer, and upset it; and thus all the ale that had been saved was set swimming on the floor also. ‘Ah! well,’ said she, ‘when  one  goes another  may as  well  follow.’ Then  she strewed the meal all about the cellar, and was quite  pleased with  her  cleverness, and said, ‘How  very neat and clean it looks!’
At noon Frederick came home. ‘Now, wife,’ cried he,
‘what have you for dinner?’ ‘O  Frederick!’ answered she,
eBook brought to you by

Grimms’ Fairy Tales
Create, view, and edit PDF. Download the free trial version.


‘I was cooking you a steak; but while I went down  to draw the  ale, the dog ran away with it; and while I ran after him, the ale ran out; and when I went to dry up the ale with the sack of meal that we got at the fair, I upset the jug: but the cellar is now quite dry, and  looks so clean!’
‘Kate, Kate,’ said he, ‘how could you do all this?’ Why did you leave  the steak to fry, and the ale to run, and then spoil all the meal?’  ‘Why, Frederick,’ said she, ‘I did not know  I  was  doing  wrong;  you  should  have  told  me before.’
The husband thought to himself, ‘If my wife manages matters  thus, I must look sharp myself.’ Now  he had a good deal of gold  in  the house: so he said to Catherine,
‘What pretty yellow buttons these are! I shall put them into a box and bury them in the garden; but take care that you never go near or meddle with them.’ ‘No, Frederick,’ said she, ‘that I never will.’ As soon as he was gone, there came by some pedlars with earthenware plates and dishes, and they asked her whether she would buy. ‘Oh dear me, I should like to buy very much, but I have no money: if you had any use for yellow buttons, I might deal with you.’  ‘Yellow buttons!’ said they: ‘let us have a look at them.’ ‘Go into the garden and dig where I tell you, and you will find the yellow buttons: I dare not go myself.’ So


the rogues went: and when they found what these yellow buttons were, they took them all away, and left her plenty of plates and dishes. Then she set them all about the house for a show: and when Frederick came back, he cried out,
‘Kate, what have you been doing?’ ‘See,’ said she, ‘I have bought  all  these with your yellow buttons: but I did not touch them myself;  the pedlars went themselves and dug them up.’ ‘Wife, wife,’ said Frederick, ‘what a pretty piece of work you have made! those yellow buttons were all my money:  how  came  you  to  do  such  a  thing?’  ‘Why,’ answered she, ‘I did not know there was any harm in  it; you should have told me.’
Catherine stood musing for a while, and at last said to her  husband, ‘Hark ye, Frederick, we will soon get the gold back: let us run after the thieves.’ ‘Well, we will try,’ answered he; ‘but take some butter and cheese with you, that we may have something to  eat by the way.’ ‘Very well,’ said she; and they set out: and as  Frederick walked the fastest, he left his wife some way behind. ‘It does not matter,’ thought  she: ‘when we turn back, I shall  be so much nearer home than he.’
Presently she came to the top of a hill, down the side of which  there was a road so narrow that the cart wheels always chafed the  trees on each side as they passed. ‘Ah,


see now,’ said she, ‘how they have bruised and wounded those  poor  trees; they will never get well.’ So she took pity on them, and made use of the butter to grease them all, so that  the  wheels  might  not  hurt  them  so much. While she was doing this kind  office one of her cheeses fell out of the basket, and rolled down the hill. Catherine looked, but could not see where it had gone; so she said,
‘Well, I suppose the other will go the same way and find you; he has younger legs than I have.’ Then she rolled the other cheese after  it; and away it went,  nobody  knows where, down the hill. But she said she supposed that they knew the road, and would follow her, and she could not stay there all day waiting for them.
At last she overtook Frederick, who desired her to give him  something to eat. Then she gave him the dry bread.
‘Where are the butter and cheese?’ said he. ‘Oh!’ answered she, ‘I  used the butter to grease those poor trees that the wheels chafed so:  and one of the cheeses ran away so I sent the other after it to find  it, and I suppose they are both on the road together somewhere.’ ‘What a goose you are to do such silly things!’ said the husband.  ‘How can you say so?’ said she; ‘I am sure you never told me not.’
They ate the dry bread together; and Frederick said,
‘Kate, I hope you locked the door safe when you came


away.’ ‘No,’ answered she, ‘you did not tell me.’ ‘Then go home,  and  do  it  now  before  we  go  any  farther,’ said Frederick, ‘and bring with you something to eat.’
Catherine did as he told her, and thought to herself by the way,  ‘Frederick wants something to eat; but I don’t think he is very fond of butter and cheese: I’ll bring him a bag of fine nuts, and the vinegar, for I have often seen him take some.’
When she reached home, she bolted the back door, but the front door she took off the hinges, and said, ‘Frederick told me to lock the door, but surely it can nowhere be so safe if I take it with me.’ So she took her time by the way; and when she overtook her husband she cried out, ‘There, Frederick, there is the door  itself, you may  watch  it as carefully  as you please.’  ‘Alas! alas!’ said he, ‘what a clever wife I have! I sent you to make the house fast, and you take the door away, so that everybody may go in and out as they  please—however, as you have brought the door, you shall carry it  about with you for your pains.’ ‘Very well,’ answered she, ‘I’ll carry the door; but I’ll not carry the nuts and vinegar bottle also—that would be too much of a load; so if you please, I’ll fasten them to the door.’
Frederick of course made no objection to that plan, and they set off into the wood to look for the thieves; but they


could not find them: and when it grew dark, they climbed up into a tree to spend the night there. Scarcely were they up, than who  should  come by but the very rogues they were looking for. They  were in truth  great rascals,  and belonged to that class of people  who  find things before they are lost; they were tired; so they sat down and made a fire under the very tree where Frederick and  Catherine were.  Frederick  slipped down  on  the  other  side,  and picked up some stones. Then  he climbed up again, and tried to hit  the thieves on the head with them: but they only said, ‘It must be  near morning, for the wind shakes the fir-apples down.’
Catherine, who had the door on her shoulder, began to be very tired; but she thought it was the nuts upon it that were so heavy: so she said softly, ‘Frederick, I must let the nuts go.’ ‘No,’ answered he, ‘not now, they will discover us.’ ‘I can’t help that: they must go.’  ‘Well, then, make haste and  throw  them  down,  if you  will.’  Then  away rattled the nuts down among the boughs and one of the thieves cried, ‘Bless me, it is hailing.’
A little while after, Catherine thought the door was still very heavy: so she whispered to Frederick, ‘I must throw the  vinegar  down.’  ‘Pray don’t,’  answered he,  ‘it  will discover us.’ ‘I can’t  help that,’ said she, ‘go it must.’ So


she poured  all the  vinegar down;  and the  thieves said,
‘What a heavy dew there is!’
At last it popped into Catherine’s head that it was the door itself that was so heavy all the time: so she whispered,
‘Frederick, I must throw  the door  down  soon.’ But he begged  and prayed her not to do so, for he was sure it would betray them.  ‘Here goes, however,’ said she: and down went the door with such a clatter upon the thieves, that they cried out ‘Murder!’ and not  knowing what was coming, ran away as  fast as  they could, and left  all the gold. So when Frederick and Catherine came down, there they found all their money safe and sound.

....READ MORE >>

SWEETHEART ROLAND

There was once upon a time a woman who was a real witch  and had two daughters, one ugly and wicked, and this one she loved because she was her own daughter, and one beautiful and good, and  this  one she hated, because she was her stepdaughter. The  stepdaughter once had a pretty apron, which the other fancied so  much that she became envious, and told her mother that she must  and would have that apron. ‘Be quiet, my child,’ said the old woman, ‘and you shall have it. Your stepsister has long deserved death; tonight when she is asleep I will come and cut her head off.  Only be careful that you are at the far side of the bed, and push her well to the front.’ It would have been all over with the poor girl if  she had not just then been standing in a corner, and heard everything. All day long she dared not go out of doors, and when bedtime had come, the witch’s daughter got into bed first, so as to lie  at the  far side, but  when  she was asleep, the  other pushed her  gently to the front, and took for herself the place at the back, close by the wall. In the night, the old woman came creeping in, she  held  an axe in her right hand, and felt with her left to see if anyone were lying at


the outside, and then she grasped the axe with both hands, and cut her own child’s head off.
When she had gone away, the girl got up and went to her  sweetheart, who was called Roland,  and knocked at his door.  When  he came out,  she said to  him: ‘Listen, dearest Roland, we  must fly in all haste; my stepmother wanted to kill me, but has  struck her own child. When daylight comes, and she sees what she  has done, we shall be lost.’ ‘But,’ said Roland,  ‘I counsel you first  to take away her magic wand, or we cannot escape if she pursues us.’ The maiden fetched the magic wand, and she took the dead girl’s head and dropped three drops of blood on the ground, one in front  of the bed, one in the kitchen, and one on the stairs. Then she hurried away with her lover.
When the old witch got up next morning, she called her  daughter, and wanted to give her the apron, but she did not  come.  Then  the witch cried: ‘Where are you?’
‘Here, on  the  stairs, I am sweeping,’ answered the  first drop of blood. The old woman went out, but saw no one on the stairs, and  cried again: ‘Where are you?’ ‘Here in the kitchen, I am warming myself,’ cried the second drop of blood. She went into the kitchen,  but found no one. Then she cried again: ‘Where are you?’ ‘Ah, here  in the bed, I am sleeping,’ cried the third drop of blood. She


went into the room to the bed. What did she see there? Her own child, whose head she had cut off, bathed in her blood.  The  witch   fell  into  a  passion, sprang  to  the window, and as  she could look  forth quite far into the world, she perceived her stepdaughter hurrying away with her sweetheart Roland.  ‘That shall not  help  you,’ cried she, ‘even if you have got a long way off, you shall still not escape me.’ She put on her many-league boots, in which she  covered an hour’s walk at every step, and it was not long before she overtook them. The girl, however, when she saw the  old woman  striding towards her,  changed, with her magic wand, her sweetheart Roland into a lake, and herself into a duck swimming in the middle of it. The witch placed herself on the shore, threw breadcrumbs in, and went to endless trouble to entice the duck; but the duck did  not let herself be enticed, and the old woman had to go home at night as she had come. At this the girl and her sweetheart Roland  resumed their natural shapes again, and they walked on the whole night until daybreak. Then the maiden changed herself into a  beautiful flower which  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  briar  hedge,  and   her sweetheart Roland into a fiddler. It was not long before the witch came striding up towards them, and said to the musician:   ‘Dear   musician, may  I  pluck  that  beautiful


flower for myself?’ ‘Oh, yes,’ he replied, ‘I will play to you while  you  do  it.’ As she was hastily creeping into  the hedge and was  just going to pluck the flower, knowing perfectly well who the flower was, he began to play, and whether she would or not, she was forced to dance, for it was a  magical dance.  The  faster he  played, the  more violent springs was she forced to make, and the thorns tore her clothes from her body, and pricked her and wounded her till she bled, and as he did not stop, she had to dance till she lay dead on the ground.
As they were now set free, Roland said: ‘Now I will go to my  father and arrange for the wedding.’ ‘Then in the meantime I will stay here and wait for you,’ said the girl,
‘and that no one may recognize me, I will change myself into a red stone landmark.’ Then Roland went away, and the girl stood like a  red landmark in the field and waited for her beloved. But when Roland got home, he fell into the snares of another, who so fascinated him that he forgot the maiden. The poor girl remained there a long time, but at length, as  he did not  return  at all, she was sad, and changed herself into a flower, and thought: ‘Someone will surely come this way, and trample me down.’
It befell, however, that a shepherd kept his sheep in the field and  saw the flower, and as it was so pretty, plucked


it, took it with him, and laid it away in his chest. From that time forth, strange things happened in the shepherd’s house. When he  arose in the morning, all the work was already done, the room was swept, the table and benches cleaned, the fire in the hearth was  lighted, and the water was fetched, and at noon, when he came home, the table was laid, and a good dinner served. He could not conceive how this came to pass, for he never saw a human being in his house, and no one could have concealed himself in it. He was  certainly pleased with this good attendance, but still at last he was so afraid that he went to a wise woman and asked for her advice. The wise woman said: ‘There is some  enchantment  behind  it,  listen   very  early  some morning if anything is moving in the room, and if you see anything, no matter what it is, throw a white cloth over it, and then the magic will be stopped.’
The shepherd did as she bade him, and next morning just as day dawned, he saw the chest open, and the flower come out. Swiftly he sprang towards it, and threw a white cloth over it. Instantly the transformation came to an end, and a beautiful girl stood before  him,  who  admitted to him that she had been the flower, and that up to this time she had attended to his house-keeping. She told him her story, and as  she pleased him he asked her if she  would


marry him,  but  she answered: ‘No,’ for she wanted  to remain faithful to her sweetheart Roland, although he had deserted her.  Nevertheless, she promised not to go away, but to continue keeping house for the shepherd.
And now the time drew near when Roland’s wedding was to be celebrated, and then, according to an old custom in the country, it was announced that all the girls were to be present at it, and sing  in  honour  of the  bridal pair. When the faithful maiden heard of  this, she grew so sad that she thought  her heart would break, and  she would not  go thither,  but  the  other  girls  came and took  her. When it came to her turn to sing, she stepped back, until at last she  was the only one left, and then she could not refuse. But  when  she  began  her  song,  and  it  reached Roland’s ears, he sprang up and cried: ‘I know the voice, that is the true bride, I will have no other!’ Everything he had forgotten, and which had vanished from his mind, had suddenly come home again to his heart. Then the faithful maiden  held her  wedding with  her  sweetheart Roland, and grief came to an end and joy began.

....READ MORE >>

THE LITTLE PEASANT

There was a certain village wherein no one lived but really rich peasants, and just one poor one, whom they called the little peasant. He had not even so much as a cow, and still less money to buy one, and yet he and his wife did so wish to have one. One day he said to her:
‘Listen, I have a good idea, there is our gossip the carpenter, he shall make us a wooden calf, and paint it brown, so that it looks like any other, and in time it will certainly get big and be a cow.’ the woman also liked the idea, and their gossip the carpenter cut and planed the calf, and painted it as it ought to be, and made it with its head hanging down as if it were eating.
Next morning when the cows were being driven out, the little peasant called the cow-herd in and said: ‘Look, I have a little calf there, but it is still small and has to be carried.’ The cow-herd said: ‘All right,’ and took it in his arms and carried it to the pasture, and set it among the grass. The little calf always remained standing like one which was eating, and the cow-herd said: ‘It will soon run by itself, just look how it eats already!’ At night when he was going to drive the herd home again, he said to the


calf: ‘If you can stand there and eat your fill, you can also go on your four legs; I don’t care to drag you home again in my arms.’ But the little peasant stood at his door, and waited for his little calf, and when the cow-herd drove the cows through the village, and the calf was missing, he inquired where it was. The cow-herd answered: ‘It is still standing out there eating. It would not stop and come with us.’ But the little peasant said: ‘Oh, but I must have my beast back again.’ Then they went back to the meadow together, but someone had stolen the calf, and it was gone. The cow-herd said: ‘It must have run away.’ The peasant, however, said: ‘Don’t tell me that,’ and led the cow-herd before the mayor, who for his carelessness condemned him to give the peasant a cow for the calf which had run away.
And now the little peasant and his wife had the cow for which they had so long wished, and they were heartily glad, but they had no food for it, and could give it nothing to eat, so it soon had to be killed. They salted the flesh, and the peasant went into the town and wanted to sell the skin there, so that he might buy a new calf with the proceeds. On the way he passed by a mill, and there sat a raven with broken wings, and out of pity he took him and wrapped him in the skin. But as the weather grew so bad


and there was a storm of rain and wind, he could go no farther, and turned back to the mill and begged for shelter. The miller’s wife was alone in the house, and said to the peasant: ‘Lay yourself on the straw there,’ and gave him a slice of bread and cheese. The peasant ate it, and lay down with his skin beside him, and the woman thought: ‘He is tired and has gone to sleep.’ In the meantime came the parson; the miller’s wife received him well, and said: ‘My husband is out, so we will have a feast.’ The peasant listened, and when he heard them talk about feasting he was vexed that he had been forced to make shift with a slice of bread and cheese. Then the woman served up four different things, roast meat, salad, cakes, and wine.
Just as they were about to sit down and eat, there was a knocking outside. The woman said: ‘Oh, heavens! It is my husband!’ she quickly hid the roast meat inside the tiled stove, the wine under the pillow, the salad on the bed, the cakes under it, and the parson in the closet on the porch. Then she opened the door for her husband, and said:
‘Thank heaven, you are back again! There is such a storm, it looks as if the world were coming to an end.’ The miller saw the peasant lying on the straw, and asked, ‘What is that fellow doing there?’ ‘Ah,’ said the wife, ‘the poor knave came in the storm and rain, and begged for shelter,


so I gave him a bit of bread and cheese, and showed him where the straw was.’ The man said: ‘I have no objection, but be quick and get me something to eat.’ The woman said: ‘But I have nothing but bread and cheese.’ ‘I am contented with anything,’ replied the husband, ‘so far as I am concerned, bread and cheese will do,’ and looked at the peasant and said: ‘Come and eat some more with me.’ The peasant did not require to be invited twice, but got up and ate. After this the miller saw the skin in which the raven was, lying on the ground, and asked: ‘What have you there?’ The peasant answered: ‘I have a soothsayer inside it.’ ‘Can he foretell anything to me?’ said the miller.
‘Why not?’ answered the peasant: ‘but he only says four things, and the fifth he keeps to himself.’ The miller was curious, and said: ‘Let him foretell something for once.’ Then the peasant pinched the raven’s head, so that he croaked and made a noise like krr, krr. The miller said:
‘What did he say?’ The peasant answered: ‘In the first place, he says that there is some wine hidden under the pillow.’ ‘Bless me!’ cried the miller, and went there and found the wine. ‘Now go on,’ said he. The peasant made the raven croak again, and said: ‘In the second place, he says that there is some roast meat in the tiled stove.’ ‘Upon my word!’ cried the miller, and went thither, and found


the roast meat. The peasant made the raven prophesy still more, and said: ‘Thirdly, he says that there is some salad on the bed.’ ‘That would be a fine thing!’ cried the miller, and went there and found the salad. At last the peasant pinched the raven once more till he croaked, and said:
‘Fourthly, he says that there are some cakes under the bed.’ ‘That would be a fine thing!’ cried the miller, and looked there, and found the cakes.
And now the two sat down to the table together, but the miller’s wife was frightened to death, and went to bed and took all the keys with her. The miller would have liked much to know the fifth, but the little peasant said:
‘First, we will quickly eat the four things, for the fifth is something bad.’ So they ate, and after that they bargained how much the miller was to give for the fifth prophecy, until they agreed on three hundred talers. Then the peasant once more pinched the raven’s head till he croaked loudly. The miller asked: ‘What did he say?’ The peasant replied: ‘He says that the Devil is hiding outside there in the closet on the porch.’ The miller said: ‘The Devil must go out,’ and opened the house-door; then the woman was forced to give up the keys, and the peasant unlocked the closet. The parson ran out as fast as he could, and the miller said: ‘It was true; I saw the black rascal with


my own eyes.’ The peasant, however, made off next morning by daybreak with the three hundred talers.
At home the small peasant gradually launched out; he built a beautiful house, and the peasants said: ‘The small peasant has certainly been to the place where golden snow falls, and people carry the gold home in shovels.’ Then the small peasant was brought before the mayor, and bidden to say from whence his wealth came. He answered: ‘I sold my cow’s skin in the town, for three hundred talers.’ When the peasants heard that, they too wished to enjoy this great profit, and ran home, killed all their cows, and stripped off their skins in order to sell them in the town to the greatest advantage. The mayor, however, said: ‘But my servant must go first.’ When she came to the merchant in the town, he did not give her more than two talers for a skin, and when the others came, he did not give them so much, and said: ‘What can I do with all these skins?’
Then the peasants were vexed that the small peasant should have thus outwitted them, wanted to take vengeance on him, and accused him of this treachery before the major. The innocent little peasant was unanimously sentenced to death, and was to be rolled into the water, in a barrel pierced full of holes. He was led forth, and a priest was brought who was to say a mass for


his soul. The others were all obliged to retire to a distance, and when the peasant looked at the priest, he recognized the man who had been with the miller’s wife. He said to him: ‘I set you free from the closet, set me free from the barrel.’ At this same moment up came, with a flock of sheep, the very shepherd whom the peasant knew had long been wishing to be mayor, so he cried with all his might: ‘No, I will not do it; if the whole world insists on it, I will not do it!’ The shepherd hearing that, came up to him, and asked: ‘What are you about? What is it that you will not do?’ The peasant said: ‘They want to make me mayor, if I will but put myself in the barrel, but I will not do it.’ The shepherd said: ‘If nothing more than that is needful in order to be mayor, I would get into the barrel at once.’ The peasant said: ‘If you will get in, you will be mayor.’ The shepherd was willing, and got in, and the peasant shut the top down on him; then he took the shepherd’s flock for himself, and drove it away. The parson went to the crowd, and declared that the mass had been said. Then they came and rolled the barrel towards the water. When the barrel began to roll, the shepherd cried: ‘I am quite willing to be mayor.’ They believed no otherwise than that it was the peasant who was saying this, and answered: ‘That is what we intend, but first you shall


look about you a little down below there,’ and they rolled the barrel down into the water.
After that the peasants went home, and as they were entering the village, the small peasant also came quietly in, driving a flock of sheep and looking quite contented. Then the peasants were astonished, and said: ‘Peasant, from whence do you come? Have you come out of the water?’ ‘Yes, truly,’ replied the peasant, ‘I sank deep, deep down, until at last I got to the bottom; I pushed the bottom out of the barrel, and crept out, and there were pretty meadows on which a number of lambs were feeding, and from thence I brought this flock away with me.’ Said the peasants: ‘Are there any more there?’ ‘Oh, yes,’ said he, ‘more than I could want.’ Then the peasants made up their minds that they too would fetch some sheep for themselves, a flock apiece, but the mayor said: ‘I come first.’ So they went to the water together, and just then there were some of the small fleecy clouds in the blue sky, which are called little lambs, and they were reflected in the water, whereupon the peasants cried: ‘We already see the sheep down below!’ The mayor pressed forward and said: ‘I will go down first, and look about me, and if things promise well I’ll call you.’ So he jumped in; splash! went the water; it sounded as if he were calling them, and


the whole crowd plunged in after him as one man. Then the entire village was dead, and the small peasant, as sole heir, became a rich man.

....READ MORE >>

THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM

There  was  once  a  miller  who  had  one  beautiful daughter,  and as she was grown up, he was anxious that she should be well  married and provided for. He said to himself, ‘I will give her  to  the  first suitable man  who comes and  asks for  her  hand.’ Not  long  after a  suitor appeared, and as he appeared to be very rich and the miller could see nothing  in him  with  which  to  find fault, he betrothed his daughter to him. But the girl did not care for  the  man  as  a  girl ought  to  care for  her  betrothed husband. She did not feel that she could trust him, and she could not look at him nor think of him without an inward shudder. One  day he said to her, ‘You have not yet paid me  a visit, although we  have been  betrothed  for some time.’ ‘I do not know where your house is,’ she answered.
‘My house is out there in the dark forest,’ he said. She tried to excuse herself by saying that she would not be able to find the way thither. Her betrothed only replied, ‘You must come and see me next Sunday; I have already invited guests for that day, and that you may not mistake the way, I will strew ashes along the path.’


When Sunday came, and it was time for the  girl to start, a feeling of dread came over her which she could not explain, and that she might be able to find her path again, she filled her pockets with  peas and lentils to sprinkle on the ground as she went along. On reaching the entrance to the forest she found the path strewed with ashes, and these she followed, throwing down some peas on either side of her at every step she took. She walked the whole day until she came to the deepest, darkest part of the forest. There she saw a  lonely house, looking so grim and mysterious, that it did not please her at all. She stepped inside, but not a  soul  was  to  be  seen,  and   a   great  silence  reigned throughout. Suddenly a voice cried:
’Turn back, turn back, young maiden fair, Linger not in this murderers’ lair.’

The girl looked up and saw that the voice came from a bird hanging in a cage on the wall. Again it cried:
’Turn back, turn back, young maiden fair, Linger not in this murderers’ lair.’

The girl passed on, going from room to room of the house, but they were all empty, and still she saw no one. At last she came to the cellar, and there sat a very, very old woman, who could not keep her head from shaking. ‘Can


you tell me,’ asked the girl, ‘if my betrothed husband lives here?’
’Ah, you poor child,’ answered the old woman, ‘what a place for  you to come to! This is a murderers’ den. You think yourself a  promised bride, and that your marriage will soon take place, but it is with death that you will keep your marriage feast. Look, do you see that large cauldron of water which I am obliged to keep on the fire! As soon as they have you in their power they will kill you without mercy, and cook and eat you, for they are eaters of men. If I did not  take pity on you and save you, you would be lost.’
Thereupon the old woman led her behind a large cask, which quite hid her from view. ‘Keep as still as a mouse,’ she said; ‘do not move or speak, or it will be all over with you. Tonight, when the robbers are all asleep, we will flee together. I have long been waiting  for an opportunity to escape.’
The words were hardly out  of her mouth  when  the godless  crew returned, dragging another young girl along with them. They were all drunk, and paid no heed to her cries and lamentations. They gave her wine to drink, three glasses  full, one of white wine, one of  red, and one of yellow, and with that her heart gave way and she  died.
eBook brought to you by

Grimms’ Fairy Tales
Create, view, and edit PDF. Download the free trial version.


Then they tore of her dainty clothing, laid her on a table, and cut  her beautiful body into pieces, and sprinkled salt upon it.
The  poor   betrothed   girl  crouched   trembling  and shuddering behind the cask, for she saw what a terrible fate had  been intended for her by the robbers. One  of them now noticed a gold ring still remaining on the little finger of the murdered girl, and as he could not draw it off easily, he took a hatchet and cut off the  finger; but the finger sprang into the air, and fell behind the cask into the lap of the girl who was hiding there. The robber took a light  and  began looking for it, but he could not find it.
‘Have you looked behind the large cask?’ said one of the others. But the old woman called out, ‘Come and eat your suppers, and  let  the  thing  be  till tomorrow;  the  finger won’t run away.’
’The old woman is right,’ said the robbers, and they ceased looking for the finger and sat down.
The old woman then  mixed a sleeping draught with their  wine,  and before long they were all lying on  the floor of the  cellar, fast asleep and snoring. As soon as the girl was assured of this,  she came from behind the cask. She was obliged to step over the  bodies of the sleepers, who were lying close together, and every moment she was


filled with renewed dread lest she should awaken them. But God  helped her, so that she passed safely over them, and then she and the  old woman went upstairs, opened the  door,  and  hastened as  fast  as  they  could  from  the murderers’ den.  They  found  the  ashes  scattered by the wind, but the peas and lentils had sprouted, and  grown sufficiently above  the  ground,  to  guide  them  in  the moonlight along the path. All night long they walked, and it was morning before they reached the mill. Then the girl told her father all that had happened.
The day came that had been fixed for the marriage. The  bridegroom  arrived  and  also a  large company  of guests, for the miller had taken care to invite all his friends and relations.  As they sat  at the feast, each guest in turn was asked to tell a tale; the bride sat still and did not say a word.
’And you, my love,’ said the bridegroom, turning to her, ‘is there no tale you know? Tell us something.’
’I will tell you a dream, then,’ said the bride. ‘I went alone  through a forest and came at last to a house; not a soul could I find within, but a bird that was hanging in a cage on the wall cried:
’Turn back, turn back, young maiden fair, Linger not in this murderers’ lair.’


and again a second time it said these words.’
’My darling, this is only a dream.’
’I went on through the house from room to room, but they  were  all empty,  and  everything was so grim  and mysterious. At last I went down to the cellar, and there sat a very, very old woman, who  could not keep her head still. I  asked her  if  my  betrothed  lived  here,  and  she answered,  ‘Ah,  you  poor  child,  you  are  come  to   a murderers’ den; your betrothed does indeed live here, but he will  kill you without mercy and afterwards cook and eat you.‘‘
’My darling, this is only a dream.’
’The  old  woman  hid  me  behind  a  large cask, and scarcely  had  she  done  this  when  the  robbers returned home, dragging a young girl along with them. They gave her three kinds of wine to drink, white, red, and yellow, and with that she died.’
’My darling, this is only a dream.’
’Then they tore off her dainty clothing, and cut her beautiful body into pieces and sprinkled salt upon it.’
’My darling, this is only a dream.’
’And one of the robbers saw that there was a gold ring still left on her finger, and as it was difficult to draw off, he took a hatchet and cut off her finger; but the finger sprang


into the air and fell behind the great cask into my lap. And here is the finger with the ring.’ and with these words the bride drew forth the finger and shewed it to the assembled guests.
The bridegroom,  who  during this recital had grown deadly  pale, up and tried to escape, but the guests seized him and held him  fast. They delivered him up to justice, and he and all his murderous  band were condemned to death for their wicked deeds.

....READ MORE >>

LITTLE RED-CAP [LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD]

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by everyone who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child. Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always called ‘Little Red- Cap.’
One day her mother said to her: ‘Come, Little Red- Cap, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing; and when you go into her room, don’t forget to say, ‘Good morning’, and don’t peep into every corner before you do it.’
’I will take great care,’ said Little Red-Cap to her mother, and gave her hand on it.
The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red-Cap entered the


wood, a wolf met her. Red-Cap did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.
’Good day, Little Red-Cap,’ said he.
’Thank you kindly, wolf.’
’Whither away so early, Little Red-Cap?’
’To my grandmother’s.’
’What have you got in your apron?’
’Cake and wine; yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick grandmother is to have something good, to make her stronger.’
’Where does your grandmother live, Little Red-Cap?’
’A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below; you surely must know it,’ replied Little Red-Cap.
The wolf thought to himself: ‘What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful—she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both.’ So he walked for a short time by the side of Little Red-Cap, and then he said: ‘See, Little Red-Cap, how pretty the flowers are about here—why do you not look round? I believe, too, that you do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing; you walk gravely along


as if you were going to school, while everything else out here in the wood is merry.’
Little Red-Cap raised her eyes, and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought: ‘Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nosegay; that would please her too. It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in good time’; and so she ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers. And whenever she had picked one, she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on, and ran after it, and so got deeper and deeper into the wood.
Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the grandmother’s house and knocked at the door.
’Who is there?’
’Little Red-Cap,’ replied the wolf. ‘She is bringing cake and wine; open the door.’
’Lift the latch,’ called out the grandmother, ‘I am too weak, and cannot get up.’
The wolf lifted the latch, the door sprang open, and without saying a word he went straight to the grandmother’s bed, and devoured her. Then he put on her clothes, dressed himself in her cap laid himself in bed and drew the curtains.


Little Red-Cap, however, had been running about picking flowers, and when she had gathered so many that she could carry no more, she remembered her grandmother, and set out on the way to her.
She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, and when she went into the room, she had such a strange feeling that she said to herself: ‘Oh dear! how uneasy I feel today, and at other times I like being with grandmother so much.’ She called out: ‘Good morning,’ but received no answer; so she went to the bed and drew back the curtains. There lay her grandmother with her cap pulled far over her face, and looking very strange.
’Oh! grandmother,’ she said, ‘what big ears you have!’
’The better to hear you with, my child,’ was the reply.
’But, grandmother, what big eyes you have!’ she said.
’The better to see you with, my dear.’
’But, grandmother, what large hands you have!’
’The better to hug you with.’
’Oh! but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have!’
’The better to eat you with!’
And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of bed and swallowed up Red-Cap.


When the wolf had appeased his appetite, he lay down again in the bed, fell asleep and began to snore very loud. The huntsman was just passing the house, and thought to himself: ‘How the old woman is snoring! I must just see if she wants anything.’ So he went into the room, and when he came to the bed, he saw that the wolf was lying in it.
‘Do I find you here, you old sinner!’ said he. ‘I have long sought you!’ Then just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother, and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf. When he had made two snips, he saw the little Red-Cap shining, and then he made two snips more, and the little girl sprang out, crying:
‘Ah, how frightened I have been! How dark it was inside the wolf’; and after that the aged grandmother came out alive also, but scarcely able to breathe. Red-Cap, however, quickly fetched great stones with which they filled the wolf’s belly, and when he awoke, he wanted to run away, but the stones were so heavy that he collapsed at once, and fell dead.
Then all three were delighted. The huntsman drew off the wolf’s skin and went home with it; the grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine which Red-Cap had


brought, and revived, but Red-Cap thought to herself: ‘As long as I live, I will never by myself leave the path, to run into the wood, when my mother has forbidden me to do so.’
It also related that once when Red-Cap was again taking cakes to the old grandmother, another wolf spoke to her, and tried to entice her from the path. Red-Cap, however, was on her guard, and went straight forward on her way, and told her grandmother that she had met the wolf, and that he had said ‘good morning’ to her, but with such a wicked look in his eyes, that if they had not been on the public road she was certain he would have eaten her up. ‘Well,’ said the grandmother, ‘we will shut the door, that he may not come in.’ Soon afterwards the wolf knocked, and cried: ‘Open the door, grandmother, I am Little Red-Cap, and am bringing you some cakes.’ But they did not speak, or open the door, so the grey-beard stole twice or thrice round the house, and at last jumped on the roof, intending to wait until Red-Cap went home in the evening, and then to steal after her and devour her in the darkness. But the grandmother saw what was in his thoughts. In front of the house was a great stone trough, so she said to the child: ‘Take the pail, Red-Cap; I made some sausages yesterday, so carry the water in which I


boiled them to the trough.’ Red-Cap carried until the great trough was quite full. Then the smell of the sausages reached the wolf, and he sniffed and peeped down, and at last stretched out his neck so far that he could no longer keep his footing and began to slip, and slipped down from the roof straight into the great trough, and was drowned. But Red-Cap went joyously home, and no one ever did anything to harm her again.

....READ MORE >>

RAPUNZEL

There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. At length the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world. One day the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful rampion (rapunzel), and it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, she quite pined away, and began to look pale and miserable. Then her husband was alarmed, and asked: ‘What ails you, dear wife?’ ‘Ah,’ she replied, ‘if I can’t eat some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die.’ The man, who loved her, thought: ‘Sooner than let your wife die, bring her some of the rampion yourself, let it cost what it will.’ At twilight, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of


rampion, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself a salad of it, and ate it greedily. It tasted so good to her— so very good, that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before. If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden. In the gloom of evening therefore, he let himself down again; but when he had clambered down the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him.
‘How can you dare,’ said she with angry look, ‘descend into my garden and steal my rampion like a thief? You shall suffer for it!’ ‘Ah,’ answered he, ‘let mercy take the place of justice, I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. My wife saw your rampion from the window, and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some to eat.’ Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him: ‘If the case be as you say, I will allow you to take away with you as much rampion as you will, only I make one condition, you must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother.’ The man in his terror consented to everything, and when the woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.


Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower, which lay in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried:
’Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.’

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then the hair fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.
After a year or two, it came to pass that the king’s son rode through the forest and passed by the tower. Then he heard a song, which was so charming that he stood still and listened. This was Rapunzel, who in her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound. The king’s son wanted to climb up to her, and looked for the door of the tower, but none was to be found. He rode home, but the singing had so deeply touched his heart, that every day he went out into the forest and listened to it. Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw


that an enchantress came there, and he heard how she cried:
’Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.’

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress climbed up to her. ‘If that is the ladder by which one mounts, I too will try my fortune,’ said he, and the next day when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried:
’Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.’

Immediately the hair fell down and the king’s son climbed up.
At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her; but the king’s son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought: ‘He will love me more than old Dame Gothel does’; and she said yes, and laid her hand in his. She said: ‘I will willingly go away with you, but I do not know how to get down. Bring with you a


skein of silk every time that you come, and I will weave a ladder with it, and when that is ready I will descend, and you will take me on your horse.’ They agreed that until that time he should come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day. The enchantress remarked nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her: ‘Tell me, Dame Gothel, how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the young king’s son—he is with me in a moment.’ ‘Ah! you wicked child,’ cried the enchantress. ‘What do I hear you say! I thought I had separated you from all the world, and yet you have deceived me!’ In her anger she clutched Rapunzel’s beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground. And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery.
On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, however, the enchantress fastened the braids of hair, which she had cut off, to the hook of the window, and when the king’s son came and cried:
’Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.’


she let the hair down. The king’s son ascended, but instead of finding his dearest Rapunzel, he found the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks. ‘Aha!’ she cried mockingly, ‘you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you; you will never see her again.’ The king’s son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes. Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries, and did naught but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it, and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and he could see with them as before. He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented.

....READ MORE >>

THE GOOSE-GIRL

The king of a great land died, and left his queen to take care of their only child. This child was a daughter, who was very beautiful; and her mother loved her dearly, and was very kind to her. And there was a good fairy too, who was fond of the princess, and helped her mother to watch over her. When she grew up, she was betrothed to a prince who lived a great way off; and as the time drew near for her to be married, she got ready to set off on her journey to his country. Then the queen her mother, packed up a great many costly things; jewels, and gold, and silver; trinkets, fine dresses, and in short everything that became a royal bride. And she gave her a waiting- maid to ride with her, and give her into the bridegroom’s hands; and each had a horse for the journey. Now the princess’s horse was the fairy’s gift, and it was called Falada, and could speak.
When the time came for them to set out, the fairy went into her bed- chamber, and took a little knife, and cut off a lock of her hair, and gave it to the princess, and said, ‘Take care of it, dear child; for it is a charm that may be of use to you on the road.’ Then they all took a


sorrowful leave of the princess; and she put the lock of hair into her bosom, got upon her horse, and set off on her journey to her bridegroom’s kingdom.
One day, as they were riding along by a brook, the princess began to feel very thirsty: and she said to her maid, ‘Pray get down, and fetch me some water in my golden cup out of yonder brook, for I want to drink.’
‘Nay,’ said the maid, ‘if you are thirsty, get off yourself, and stoop down by the water and drink; I shall not be your waiting- maid any longer.’ Then she was so thirsty that she got down, and knelt over the little brook, and drank; for she was frightened, and dared not bring out her golden cup; and she wept and said, ‘Alas! what will become of me?’ And the lock answered her, and said:
’Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it, Sadly, sadly, would she rue it.’

But the princess was very gentle and meek, so she said nothing to her maid’s ill behaviour, but got upon her horse again.
Then all rode farther on their journey, till the day grew so warm, and the sun so scorching, that the bride began to feel very thirsty again; and at last, when they came to a river, she forgot her maid’s rude speech, and said, ‘Pray get down, and fetch me some water to drink in my golden


cup.’ But the maid answered her, and even spoke more haughtily than before: ‘Drink if you will, but I shall not be your waiting-maid.’ Then the princess was so thirsty that she got off her horse, and lay down, and held her head over the running stream, and cried and said, ‘What will become of me?’ And the lock of hair answered her again:
’Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it, Sadly, sadly, would she rue it.’

And as she leaned down to drink, the lock of hair fell from her bosom, and floated away with the water. Now she was so frightened that she did not see it; but her maid saw it, and was very glad, for she knew the charm; and she saw that the poor bride would be in her power, now that she had lost the hair. So when the bride had done drinking, and would have got upon Falada again, the maid said, ‘I shall ride upon Falada, and you may have my horse instead’; so she was forced to give up her horse, and soon afterwards to take off her royal clothes and put on her maid’s shabby ones.
At last, as they drew near the end of their journey, this treacherous servant threatened to kill her mistress if she ever told anyone what had happened. But Falada saw it all, and marked it well.


Then the waiting-maid got upon Falada, and the real bride rode upon the other horse, and they went on in this way till at last they came to the royal court. There was great joy at their coming, and the prince flew to meet them, and lifted the maid from her horse, thinking she was the one who was to be his wife; and she was led upstairs to the royal chamber; but the true princess was told to stay in the court below.
Now the old king happened just then to have nothing else to do; so he amused himself by sitting at his kitchen window, looking at what was going on; and he saw her in the courtyard. As she looked very pretty, and too delicate for a waiting-maid, he went up into the royal chamber to ask the bride who it was she had brought with her, that was thus left standing in the court below. ‘I brought her with me for the sake of her company on the road,’ said she; ‘pray give the girl some work to do, that she may not be idle.’ The old king could not for some time think of any work for her to do; but at last he said, ‘I have a lad who takes care of my geese; she may go and help him.’ Now the name of this lad, that the real bride was to help in watching the king’s geese, was Curdken.
But the false bride said to the prince, ‘Dear husband, pray do me one piece of kindness.’ ‘That I will,’ said the
eBook brought to you by

Grimms’ Fairy Tales
Create, view, and edit PDF. Download the free trial version.


prince. ‘Then tell one of your slaughterers to cut off the head of the horse I rode upon, for it was very unruly, and plagued me sadly on the road’; but the truth was, she was very much afraid lest Falada should some day or other speak, and tell all she had done to the princess. She carried her point, and the faithful Falada was killed; but when the true princess heard of it, she wept, and begged the man to nail up Falada’s head against a large dark gate of the city, through which she had to pass every morning and evening, that there she might still see him sometimes. Then the slaughterer said he would do as she wished; and cut off the head, and nailed it up under the dark gate.
Early the next morning, as she and Curdken went out through the gate, she said sorrowfully:
’Falada, Falada, there thou hangest!’
and the head answered:
’Bride, bride, there thou gangest! Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it, Sadly, sadly, would she rue it.’

Then they went out of the city, and drove the geese on. And when she came to the meadow, she sat down upon a bank there, and let down her waving locks of hair, which were all of pure silver; and when Curdken saw it


glitter in the sun, he ran up, and would have pulled some of the locks out, but she cried:
’Blow, breezes, blow! Let Curdken’s hat go! Blow, breezes, blow! Let him after it go!
O’er hills, dales, and rocks, Away be it whirl’d
Till the silvery locks
Are all comb’d and curl’d!

Then there came a wind, so strong that it blew off Curdken’s hat; and away it flew over the hills: and he was forced to turn and run after it; till, by the time he came back, she had done combing and curling her hair, and had put it up again safe. Then he was very angry and sulky, and would not speak to her at all; but they watched the geese until it grew dark in the evening, and then drove them homewards.
The next morning, as they were going through the dark gate, the poor girl looked up at Falada’s head, and cried:
’Falada, Falada, there thou hangest!’
and the head answered:


’Bride, bride, there thou gangest! Alas! alas! if they mother knew it, Sadly, sadly, would she rue it.’

Then she drove on the geese, and sat down again in the meadow, and began to comb out her hair as before; and Curdken ran up to her, and wanted to take hold of it; but she cried out quickly:
’Blow, breezes, blow! Let Curdken’s hat go! Blow, breezes, blow! Let him after it go!
O’er hills, dales, and rocks,
Away be it whirl’d
Till the silvery locks
Are all comb’d and curl’d!

Then the wind came and blew away his hat; and off it flew a great way, over the hills and far away, so that he had to run after it; and when he came back she had bound up her hair again, and all was safe. So they watched the geese till it grew dark.
In the evening, after they came home, Curdken went to the old king, and said, ‘I cannot have that strange girl to help me to keep the geese any longer.’ ‘Why?’ said the king. ‘Because, instead of doing any good, she does nothing but tease me all day long.’ Then the king made


him tell him what had happened. And Curdken said,
‘When we go in the morning through the dark gate with our flock of geese, she cries and talks with the head of a horse that hangs upon the wall, and says:
’Falada, Falada, there thou hangest!’

and the head answers:
’Bride, bride, there thou gangest! Alas! alas! if they mother knew it, Sadly, sadly, would she rue it.’

And Curdken went on telling the king what had happened upon the meadow where the geese fed; how his hat was blown away; and how he was forced to run after it, and to leave his flock of geese to themselves. But the old king told the boy to go out again the next day: and when morning came, he placed himself behind the dark gate, and heard how she spoke to Falada, and how Falada answered. Then he went into the field, and hid himself in a bush by the meadow’s side; and he soon saw with his own eyes how they drove the flock of geese; and how, after a little time, she let down her hair that glittered in the sun. And then he heard her say:
’Blow, breezes, blow! Let Curdken’s hat go! Blow, breezes, blow!


Let him after it go!
O’er hills, dales, and rocks, Away be it whirl’d
Till the silvery locks
Are all comb’d and curl’d!

And soon came a gale of wind, and carried away Curdken’s hat, and away went Curdken after it, while the girl went on combing and curling her hair. All this the old king saw: so he went home without being seen; and when the little goose-girl came back in the evening he called her aside, and asked her why she did so: but she burst into tears, and said, ‘That I must not tell you or any man, or I shall lose my life.’
But the old king begged so hard, that she had no peace till she had told him all the tale, from beginning to end, word for word. And it was very lucky for her that she did so, for when she had done the king ordered royal clothes to be put upon her, and gazed on her with wonder, she was so beautiful. Then he called his son and told him that he had only a false bride; for that she was merely a waiting-maid, while the true bride stood by. And the young king rejoiced when he saw her beauty, and heard how meek and patient she had been; and without saying anything to the false bride, the king ordered a great feast


to be got ready for all his court. The bridegroom sat at the top, with the false princess on one side, and the true one on the other; but nobody knew her again, for her beauty was quite dazzling to their eyes; and she did not seem at all like the little goose-girl, now that she had her brilliant dress on.
When they had eaten and drank, and were very merry, the old king said he would tell them a tale. So he began, and told all the story of the princess, as if it was one that he had once heard; and he asked the true waiting-maid what she thought ought to be done to anyone who would behave thus. ‘Nothing better,’ said this false bride, ‘than that she should be thrown into a cask stuck round with sharp nails, and that two white horses should be put to it, and should drag it from street to street till she was dead.’
‘Thou art she!’ said the old king; ‘and as thou has judged thyself, so shall it be done to thee.’ And the young king was then married to his true wife, and they reigned over the kingdom in peace and happiness all their lives; and the good fairy came to see them, and restored the faithful Falada to life again.

....READ MORE >>