The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (47 page)

Now the foreman wanted to receive his pay, but the bailiff requested another two weeks' grace to think up a new plan. The clerks met again and advised him to send the foreman to the haunted mill to grind grain at night since nobody had ever emerged alive from it the next morning. The bailiff liked the proposal and called the foreman to him that very same evening. He ordered him to carry eight bushels of grain to the mill and grind it that night because they needed it right away. So the foreman went to the loft and put two bushels in his right pocket and two in his left. He carried the other four in a sack that he slung over his shoulder so that half was on his back and half on his chest. And off he went to the haunted mill. The miller told him he could easily grind the grain during the day, but not at night, because the mill was haunted, and anyone who had gone in there at night had not returned alive in the morning.

“Don't worry, I'll manage,” said the foreman. “Why don't you go and get some sleep.” Then he went into the mill and poured the grain into the hopper. Toward eleven o'clock he went into the miller's room and sat down on a bench. After he had been sitting there awhile, the door suddenly opened, and an enormous table came in. Next he saw wine, roast meat, and all sorts of good food appear on the table by themselves, but nobody carried these things in. After that the chairs slid to the table, but nobody came. All at once he saw fingers handling knives and forks and putting food on the plates; otherwise he didn't see a thing. Since he was hungry and saw all this food, he sat down at the table, and enjoyed the meal. When he had eaten his fill and the fingers had also emptied their plates, he distinctly heard all the lights being suddenly snuffed out, and when it was pitch dark, he felt something like a smack in the face. Then he said, “If anything like that happens again, I'm going to strike back.”

When he received a second smack in the face, he struck back, and so it went the whole night. He took nothing without paying it back generously, with interest, and kept himself busy by smacking anything that came near
him. At daybreak, however, everything stopped. When the miller got up, he went by to see how the foreman was, and he was amazed to find him alive.

“I got some smacks in the face,” the foreman said, “but I also gave some in return and ate a full meal.”

The miller was happy and said that the mill was now released from its curse, and he wanted to give the foreman a good deal of money as a reward.

“I don't want money,” said the foreman, “I already have enough.”

Then he took the flour on his back, went home, and told the bailiff he had done his job and now wanted to be paid the wages they had agreed upon. When the bailiff heard that, he really became upset. He paced up and down the room, and beads of sweat ran down his forehead. So he opened the window to get some fresh air, but before he knew it, the foreman had given him such a kick that he went flying through the window out into the sky. He flew and flew until he was completely out of sight. Then the foreman said to the bailiff's wife that she'd have to take the other blow.

“No, no!” she exclaimed. “I won't be able to stand it,” and she opened the other window because beads of sweat were running down her face also. Then he gave her a kick too, and she went flying out the window. Since she was lighter than her husband, she soared much higher.

Her husband called out to her, “Come over here!”

But she replied, “No, you come over here to me! I can't make it over to you.”

So they floated in the air, and neither could get to the other. Whether they are still floating, I don't know, but I do know that the young giant took his iron staff and continued on his way.

5

THE GNOME

Once upon a time there was a rich king who had three daughters. Every day they went walking in the palace garden, where the king, who loved trees, had planted many different kinds, but he was most fond of one particular tree, which he protected by placing it under a spell: Whoever picked one of its apples would be sent a hundred fathoms underground.
When harvest time came, the apples on that tree became as red as blood. Every day the three daughters looked under the tree to see if the wind had blown an apple to the ground, but they never found one. Gradually the tree became so full and its branches so heavy that it seemed the tree would collapse. By then the youngest sister had such a craving for an apple from this tree that she said to her sisters, “Our father loves us far too much to put a curse on us. I believe he cast the spell mainly with strangers in mind.”

Upon saying that, she plucked a nice plump apple, ran to her sisters, and said: “Just taste it, dear sisters! I've never tasted anything so delicious in all my life.”

Then the two other princesses also took a bite of the apple, and suddenly all three sank deep down into the earth, leaving no trace whatsoever behind them.

At noon the king wanted to call them to the dining table, but they were nowhere to be found. He looked all around the castle and garden but couldn't find them. Finally, he became so distressed that he made it known throughout the country that whoever brought his daughters back could have one of them for his wife. As a result, more men than you can imagine went out searching for them all over the kingdom, for the princesses were known to be beautiful and kind to all. Indeed, they were loved by everyone in the country.

Among the searchers were three huntsmen who had spent a week looking for them and had eventually come to a large castle. When they went inside, they found beautiful rooms, and in one of the rooms the table was set with delicious dishes that were still steaming hot, but there was not a living soul to be seen or heard in the whole castle. At last they were so hungry that they sat down and ate up all the food Then they agreed to stay in the castle and drew lots to see which one would remain there while the other two continued to look for the princesses. The lot fell to the oldest, and the next day he stayed in the castle while the two youngest went out searching. At noon a tiny gnome came and asked for a piece of bread. The huntsman took a loaf of bread that he found there and cut off a slice. As he was handing it to the little man, the gnome let it drop and asked him to kindly pick up the piece for him. As the huntsman was bending over, the
gnome took a stick, grabbed him by his hair, and gave him a good beating. The next day the second huntsman stayed home, and he fared no better. When the other two returned in the evening, the oldest asked him, “Well, how did things go?

“Very badly.”

So the two eldest brothers confided in each other about their plight and didn't tell the youngest anything about it because they didn't like him. They always called him Stupid Hans, because he was not particularly worldly-wise.

On the third day the youngest stayed home, and again the gnome came to fetch a piece of bread. When the huntsman handed him a piece, the gnome let it drop again and asked him to kindly pick it up for him.

“What?” cried the huntsman. “Can't you pick the bread up yourself? If you won't make the effort to take better care of your daily bread, then you really don't deserve to eat it.”

Then the gnome got very angry and ordered him to do it. But the young huntsman acted swiftly: he grabbed the gnome and thrashed him soundly. The gnome shrieked loudly and said, “Stop! Stop! Let me go, and I'll tell you where the king's daughters are.”

When he heard that, he stopped thrashing him. The gnome told the huntsman that he came from beneath the earth, where there were more than a dozen other gnomes like him, and if the huntsman would go with him, he would show him where the king's daughters were. Then the gnome pointed to a deep well without any water in it and told him to beware of his companions, for they were not to be trusted, and that he would have to save the king's daughters by himself. To be sure, his brothers wanted to rescue the king's daughters too, but they didn't want to exert themselves or take any risks. The best way would be to take a large basket, get into it with his hunting knife and a bell, and then have himself lowered down into the well. There he would find three rooms, and in each one he would see a princess picking the lice from a many-headed dragon. In each room he would have to cut the dragon's heads off.

After the gnome had told him all that, he disappeared, and toward evening, the other two huntsman returned and asked him how his day went.

“So far, so good,” he said, and he told them that he hadn't seen anyone until noon, when a tiny gnome had come and asked for a piece of bread. After he had handed it to him, the gnome had dropped it and asked him to pick it up. When he refused, the dwarf began to spit at him. They had a quarrel, and he gave the gnome a beating. Afterward the little fellow told him where the king's daughters were.

Upon hearing that, the two brothers became so livid that they turned green with envy. The next morning they went to the well together and drew lots to see who would be the first to get into the basket. The lot fell to the eldest again, and he had to get into the basket and take the bell with him.

“If I ring,” he said, “you must pull me up quickly.”

When he was just a little way down, he rang the bell, and they pulled him up again. Then the second brother got in and did the very same thing. Finally, it was the youngest brother's turn, and he let himself be lowered all the way to the bottom.

After he got out of the basket, he took his hunting knife, went to the first door, and listened. When he heard the dragon snoring loudly, he opened the door slowly and saw one of the king's daughters picking lice from the nine dragon's heads in her lap. So he took his hunting knife and cut off all nine heads. The princess jumped up, threw her arms around him, and kissed him many times. Then she took her necklace of pure gold and hung it around his neck. After that he went to the second princess, who was picking lice from a seven-headed dragon, and he rescued her as well. Finally, he went to the youngest, who had a four-headed dragon to louse, and he set her free too. Now they were all enormously happy and couldn't stop hugging and kissing him. Soon thereafter he rang the bell very loudly so his brothers who were above could hear. One after the other, he put the princesses into the basket and had them pulled up. When his turn came, he remembered the gnome saying that his brothers were not to be trusted. So he took a big stone that was lying there and put it into the basket. When the basket was about midway up, the wicked brothers cut the rope so that the basket with the stone inside fell to the ground. Since they thought that he was now dead, they ran off with the king's three daughters and made them promise to tell their father that they were the ones who
had rescued them. Afterward the two of them went to the king and asked to marry his daughters.

In the meantime, the youngest huntsman had become depressed and just walked around the three rooms, for he thought he was doomed to die. Then he saw a flute hanging on the wall and said, “Why are you hanging there? This is no place for merrymaking!” He looked at the dragon heads, too, and said, “You can't help me either.” He paced up and down the floor so much that he wore the ground down so that it became smooth. At last he had an idea: he took the flute from the wall and played a tune on it. Suddenly many gnomes appeared, and with each note he played, another would emerge, and he kept on playing until the room was full of them. They asked him what he desired, and he said that he would like to return to the top of the earth again and see the light of day. Then they each grabbed a strand of his hair and flew up to earth with him. When he was above, he went straight to the king's castle, where one of the princesses was to be married. Soon thereafter he found the room in which the king was sitting with his three daughters. When the princesses saw him, they fainted. The king got very angry and immediately had him taken to prison. He thought the huntsman had harmed his daughters, but when the princesses regained consciousness, they pleaded a great deal with the king to release him. When the king asked them why, they said they were not allowed to tell him the reason. However, their father said they should tell it to the stove. Meanwhile, he left the room, listened at the door, and heard everything. Shortly after, he had the two older brothers hanged on the gallows and gave the youngest daughter to the young huntsman for his wife.

When the wedding took place, I was wearing a pair of glass shoes and stumbled over a stone. The stone said,
Clink!
and my slippers broke in two.

6

THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN

A merchant had two children, a boy and a girl, who were still infants and couldn't walk. About this time the merchant had invested his entire fortune in richly laden ships that he sent out to sea. Just when he thought he
was about to make a lot of money through this venture, he received news that the ships had sunk. So now, instead of being a rich man, he was a poor one and had nothing left but a field outside the city. In order to take his mind off his troubles somewhat, he went into his field, and as he was pacing back and forth, a little black man suddenly stood beside him and asked him why he was so sad and what was troubling his heart.

“If you could help me,” said the merchant, “I'd certainly tell you.”

“Who knows?” answered the little black man. “Just tell me. Perhaps I can help you.”

Then the merchant told him that he had lost his whole fortune at sea and had nothing left but the field.

“Don't worry,” said the little black man. “You shall have as much money as you want if you promise in twelve years from now to bring me the first thing that brushes against your leg when you return home. And you must bring it to this spot.”

The merchant thought, “That's not much to ask. What else can that be but my dog?” Of course, he didn't think of his little boy, and therefore, he said yes. Then he gave the little black man a signed and sealed agreement and went home.