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...

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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...

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SNOWDROP

It was the middle of winter, when the broad flakes of snow were  falling around, that the  queen  of a country many thousand miles off sat working at her window. The frame of the window was made of fine black ebony, and as she sat looking out upon the snow, she pricked her finger, and three  drops of blood  fell upon  it.  Then  she  gazed thoughtfully upon the red drops that sprinkled the white snow, and said, ‘Would that my little daughter may be...

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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...

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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...

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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.’...

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CLEVER GRETEL

There was once a cook named Gretel, who wore shoes with red  heels, and when she walked out with them on, she turned herself this way and that, was quite happy and thought: ‘You certainly are a  pretty girl!’ And when she came home she drank, in her gladness of heart, a draught of wine, and as wine excites a desire to eat, she tasted the best of whatever she was cooking until she was satisfied, and said: ‘The cook must know what the food is like.’It came to  pass that the...

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THE OLD MAN AND HIS GRANDSON

There  was  once  a  very  old  man,  whose  eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth.  His son and his son’s wife  were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind  the  stove,  and  they  gave  him  his  food ...

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RUMPELSTILTSKIN

By the side of a wood, in a country a long way off, ran a fine stream of water; and upon the stream there stood a mill. The miller’s house was close by, and the miller, you must  know,  had  a  very   beautiful daughter.  She  was, moreover, very shrewd and clever; and  the miller was so proud of her, that he one day told the king of the  land, who  used  to  come  and  hunt  in  the  wood,  that ...

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TOM THUMB

A poor woodman sat in his cottage one night, smoking his pipe  by  the  fireside, while  his wife sat by his side spinning. ‘How lonely it is, wife,’ said he, as he puffed out a long curl of smoke,  ‘for  you  and me  to  sit here  by ourselves, without any children to  play about and amuse us while other people seem so happy and merry with their children!’ ‘What  you  say is  very  true,’  said the ...

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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 ...

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