The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (69 page)

The son escaped from the enemy and made his way to a large forest on a high mountain. The mountain opened, and he went into a large enchanted castle, where all the chairs, tables, and benches were draped in black. Then
three princesses appeared. They were clad entirely in black but had a little white on their faces. They told him not to be afraid, for they wouldn't harm him, and he could rescue them. He replied that he would gladly do so if only he knew how. They told him he was not to speak to them for one whole year, nor was he to look at them. If he wanted anything, he just had to ask for it, and if they were permitted to answer his questions, they would do so.

After he had been there for a long time, he said that he would like to go and see his father. They told him that he could go, but he was to take a purse of money with him, put on certain clothes, and return in a week. Then he was lifted into the sky, and before he knew it, he was in East India. However, his father was no longer in the fishing hut, so the son asked some people where the poor fisherman was. They told him that he must not call him that or he would be taken to the gallows. Then he went to his father and said, “Fisherman, how did you get here?”

“You mustn't call me that,” the father replied. “If the lords of the city hear you say that, you'll be taken to the gallows.”

However, he wouldn't stop saying it and was taken to the gallows. When he got there, he said, “My lords, grant me permission to go to the fishing hut.”

Once there, he put on his old fisherman garb, and then he returned to the lords and said, “Don't you see now that I'm the poor fisherman's son? This was the way I dressed when I earned a living for my mother and father.”

They recognized him then and apologized and took him home with them. The son told them everything that had happened, how he got to the forest on a high mountain, how the mountain had opened, and how he had entered an enchanted life where everything was black and where three young princesses had come to him, all in black except for a little white on their faces, and how the princesses had told him not to be afraid, and that he could save them. His mother warned him this might not be a good thing to do and told him to take a consecrated candle with him and to let some of its hot wax drop on their faces.

The son returned to the castle and was so fearful that he let the wax drop on their faces while they slept, and they all turned half white. The
three princesses jumped up and cried, “You cursed dog, our blood shall cry out for vengeance! There is no man born now anywhere nor ever will be who can save us. But we still have three brothers bound by seven chains, and they will tear you to pieces.”

All at once there was a shrieking throughout the castle, and he jumped out a window and broke his leg. The castle sank back into the earth, the mountain closed, and nobody knows where the castle once stood.

52

KNOIST AND HIS THREE SONS

Between Werrel and Soist there lived a man named Knoist, and he had three sons. One was blind, the other was lame, and the third was stark naked. Once they were walking across a field and saw a hare. The blind one shot it. The lame one caught it, and the naked one stuck it into his pocket. Then they came to a tremendously large lake with three boats on it. One boat leaked, the other sank, and the third had no bottom to it. They went aboard the boat with no bottom. Then they came to a tremendously large forest, where they saw a tremendously large tree. In the tree was a tremendously large chapel, and in the chapel was a hornbeam sexton and a boxwood pastor, who dispensed holy water with cudgels.

Blessed is he who gets away when the holy water comes his way.

53

THE MAIDEN FROM BRAKEL

Once there was a maiden from Brakel who went to Saint Anne's Chapel at the foot of the Hinnenberg. Since she wanted a husband and thought that nobody else was in the chapel, she sang:

“Holy Saint Anne,

please help me get my man.

Oh, you know him, I'm sure.

He lives down by the Suttmer Gate;

his hair is yellow and very pure.

Oh, you know him well. I'm very sure.”

The sexton was standing behind the altar and heard her. So he called out in a shrill voice, “You won't get him, you won't get him!”

The maiden thought that it was the child Mary standing beside Mother Anne who had spoken. Hence, the maiden became angry and replied, “
Tra-la-la
, you stupid brat! Hold your tongue and let your mother speak.”

54

THE DOMESTIC SERVANTS

“Where are you going?”

“To Woelpe.”

“I'm going to Woelpe, you're going to Woelpe. So then, let's go together.”

“Do you also have a husband? What's his name?”

“Chain.”

“My husband's named Chain, yours is Chain. I'm going to Woelpe, you're going to Woelpe. So then, let's go together.”

“Do you also have a child? What's he called?”

“Scab.”

“My child's called Scab. Yours is Scab. My husband's Chain. Yours is Chain. I'm going to Woelpe. You're going to Woelpe. So then, let's go together.”

“Do you also have a cradle? What's your cradle called?”

“Hippodeige.”

“My cradle's called Hippodeige. Yours is Hippodeige. My child's Scab. Yours is Scab. My husband's Chain. Yours is Chain. You're going to Woelpe. I'm going to Woelpe. So then, let's go together.”

“Do you also have a servant? What's your servant called?”

“Do-It-Right.”

“My servant's Do-It-Right. Your servant's Do-It-Right. My cradle's Hippodeige, yours is Hippodeige. My child's Scab, yours is Scab. My
husband's Chain, your husband's Chain. I'm going to Woelpe, you're going to Woelpe. So then, let's go together.”

55

LITTLE LAMB AND LITTLE FISH

Once upon a time there was a little brother and a little sister who loved each other with all their hearts. However, their real mother was dead, and they had a stepmother who wasn't good to them and secretly did all she could to hurt them. It happened that one day the two of them were playing with other children in a meadow in front of the house, and in the meadow was a pond that bordered on one side of the house. The children ran around it, caught each other, and played a counting-out game:

“Eenie, meenie, let me live,

my little bird to you I'll give.

The bird will pick up straw for me.

The straw I'll give the cow to eat.

The cow will make me lots of milk.

I'll give the baker all the milk,

who'll bake my cat a cake so nice,

and then the cat will catch some mice.

The mice I'll hang and let them smoke

before I take one big slice!”

As they played this game they stood in a circle, and when the word
slice
landed on one of them, he had to run away, and the others ran after him until they caught him. While they were merrily running around, the stepmother watched from the window and became annoyed. Since she understood witchcraft, she cast a spell on the brother and sister and turned the little brother into a fish and the little sister into a lamb. The little fish swam about in the pond and was sad. The little lamb ran about in the meadow and was so distressed that she ate nothing. She wouldn't even touch a blade of grass.

A long time passed, and strangers came as guests to the castle. The treacherous stepmother thought, “Now's the time.” So she called the cook and said to him, “Go and fetch the lamb from the meadow and slaughter it. Otherwise, we'll have nothing for the guests.”

The cook went to the meadow, got the little lamb, led her to the kitchen, and tied her feet. The lamb bore all this patiently. As the cook took his knife and began to sharpen it on the doorstep in order to kill the lamb, she noticed a little fish swimming back and forth in the water in front of the gutter and looking up at her. It was her little brother, for when he had seen the cook leading the little lamb away, he had swum along in the pond up to the house. Then the little lamb called to him:

“Oh, brother in the pond so deep,

my heart is torn, and I must weep.

The cook's about to take his knife

and bring an end to my short life.”

The little fish answered:

“Oh, sister way up high,

you make me sad and want to cry,

while in this pond I swim and sigh.”

When the cook heard that the little lamb could speak and was uttering such sad words to the little fish down in the pond, he became frightened and thought, “The lamb must not be a real one but one that the wicked woman in the house cursed.” Then the cook said, “Don't worry. I won't slaughter you.”

So he took another animal and prepared it for the guests. Then he brought the little lamb to a kind peasant woman and told her everything he had seen and heard. The woman happened to have been the wet nurse of the little girl and guessed at once who the lamb was and went with her to a wise woman. There the wise woman pronounced a blessing over the little lamb and the little fish so that they soon regained their human forms. Afterward she took both of them to a little cottage in a large forest, where they lived by themselves but were content and happy.

56

SESAME MOUNTAIN

There once were two brothers, one rich and the other poor. The rich one, however, gave nothing to the poor brother, who barely supported himself by dealing in grain. Things often went so badly for him that his wife and children would have to go without food.

One day, as he was going through the forest with his wheelbarrow, he noticed a large, bare mountain off to the side. Since he had never seen it before, he stopped in amazement and gazed at it. While he was standing there, twelve big and wild-looking men came toward him. Since he thought that they might be robbers, he pushed his wheelbarrow into the bushes, climbed a tree, and waited to see what would happen. The twelve men went up to the mountain and cried, “Sesame Mountain, Sesame Mountain, open up.”

Immediately, the bare mountain opened in the middle, and the twelve men entered. Once they were inside, the mountain closed. After a short while, however, it opened up again, and the men came out carrying heavy sacks on their backs. After they were all out in the open, they said, “Sesame Mountain, Sesame Mountain, close up.”

Then the mountain closed, and there was no longer a single trace of an entrance. The twelve men departed, and when they were completely out of sight, the poor man climbed down from the tree, curious to know what secret things might be hidden in the mountain. So he went up to the mountain and said, “Sesame Mountain, Sesame Mountain, open up,” and the mountain opened before him. Then he entered, and the entire mountain was a cavern filled with silver and gold, and in the back there were large piles of pearls and glistening jewels heaped on top of each other like grain. The poor man didn't know what to do or whether he should take any of the treasure. Finally, he filled his pockets with gold, but he left the pearls and jewels lying there.

When he came out again, he repeated the words “Sesame Mountain, Sesame Mountain, close up.” Then the mountain closed, and he went home with his wheelbarrow. Now his worries disappeared, and he could buy bread and even wine for his wife and children. He lived happily and honestly, gave
to the poor, and was kind to everyone. However, when he ran out money, he went to his brother, borrowed a bushel measure, and fetched more gold. But he refrained from touching any of the great treasures. When he needed some more gold a third time, he borrowed the bushel measure from his brother once again. But the rich man had long been jealous of his brother's good fortune and the beautiful way he had built his house. Indeed, he had been puzzled by his brother's sudden wealth and wondered why he needed a bushel measure. So he thought of a way to trick him and covered the bottom of the measure with sticky wax. When the measure was returned to him, there was a gold coin stuck to it. So he immediately went to his brother and asked him, “What have you been doing with the measure?”

“I've been measuring wheat and barley,” said the brother.

Then the rich brother showed him the gold coin and threatened to take him to court about this unless he told him the truth. So the poor brother revealed to him how everything had happened. Consequently, the rich brother had a wagon hitched up at once and drove to the mountain with the idea of taking greater advantage of this wonderful opportunity than his brother had by fetching quite different treasures. When he arrived at the mountain, he cried out, “Sesame Mountain, Sesame Mountain, open up.” The mountain opened, and he went inside, where he found all the treasures in front of him. For a long time he couldn't make up his mind what to grab first. Finally, he took as many jewels as he could carry, and when he was about to leave with his load of jewels, his heart and mind became so occupied by the treasure that he forgot the name of the mountain and called out, “Simelei Mountain, Simelei Mountain, open up.” But that was not the right name, and the mountain didn't budge and remained closed. Then he became frightened, but the more he tried to recall the name, the more confused his thoughts became, and the treasures were of no use to him at all. That evening the mountain opened up, and the twelve robbers entered. When they saw him, they laughed and cried out, “Well, we've finally caught our little bird! Did you think we hadn't noticed that you had slipped in here three times? Maybe we weren't able to catch you then, but you won't escape us now.”

The rich man screamed, “It wasn't me, it was my brother!”

But no matter what he said, no matter how he pleaded for his life, they wouldn't listen, and they cut off his head.

57

THE CHILDREN OF FAMINE

Once upon a time there was a woman with two daughters, and they had become so poor that they no longer had even a piece of bread to put in their mouths. Their hunger became so great that their mother became unhinged and desperate. Indeed, she said to her children, “I've got to kill you so I can have something to eat!”