The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (46 page)

“She deserves nothing better,” said the false bride, “than to be stripped completely naked and put inside a barrel studded with sharp nails. Then two white horses should be harnessed to the barrel and made to drag her through the streets until she's dead.”

“You're the woman,” said the old king, “and you've pronounced your own sentence. All this shall happen to you.”

After the sentence had been carried out, the young king married his true bride, and they both reigned over their kingdom in peace and bliss.

4

THE YOUNG GIANT

A farmer had a son no bigger than the size of a thumb and the son didn't become any bigger or even grow so much as a hair's breadth in the coming years. One day, when the farmer was preparing to go out to the field to do some plowing, the little fellow said, “Father, I want to go with you.”

“No,” said the father. “You'd better stay here. You're of no use to me out there, and you could get lost.”

Thumbling began to weep, and if his father was going to have his peace and quiet, he had to take the boy with him. So his father stuck him in his pocket, and once he was out on the field, he pulled him out and set him down in a freshly plowed furrow. As the boy was sitting there, a big giant came over the hill.

“Do you see the big bogeyman over there?” said the father, who just wanted to scare the little fellow so he would behave. “He's coming to get you.”

Now the giant had long legs, and after only a few steps, he reached the furrow, picked up Thumbling, and carried him away. The father stood there so petrified with fright that he couldn't utter a sound. He was certain his child was now lost to him, and he would never set eyes on him again for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, the giant took the boy and let him suckle at his breast, and Thumbling grew and became big and strong like most giants. When two years had passed, the old giant took him into the woods to test him.

“Pull out that willow tree,” he said.

By now the boy had become so strong that he tore up a young tree right out of the ground, roots and all. But the giant thought he must do better than that. So he took him home again and suckled him for two more years. When he tested him once more, the boy tore out a much larger tree. Yet, it still wasn't enough for the giant, who suckled him another two years, and when he then took him into the woods, he said, “Now, rip out a decent-sized tree!”

All at once, the boy tore up the thickest possible oak tree right out of the ground so that it cracked in two, and this was mere child's play for him.

When the giant saw what he had done, he said. “That's enough now. You've learned all you need to know,” and he took him back to the field where he had found him.

His father was plowing there as the young giant came over to him and said, “Look, father, look at what's become of me. I'm your son!”

The farmer was frightened and said, “No, you're not my son. Go away from me.”

“Of course I'm your son! Let me do your work. I can plow just as well as you can, or even better.”

“No, you're not my son. You can't plow. I don't want you. Go away from me!”

However, since the farmer was afraid of the big man, he let go of the plow, stepped aside, and sat down at the edge of the. field. Then the young man grabbed the plow and merely pressed his hand on it, but his grip was so powerful that the plow sank deep into the earth. The farmer couldn't bear to watch all that, and so he called over to him. “If you're so set on plowing, then you've got to learn not to press down so hard. Otherwise, you'll ruin the field.”

Then the young man unharnessed the horses and began pulling the plow himself. “Just go home, father,” he said, “and have mother cook me a large dish of food. In the meantime, I'll plow the field for you.”

The farmer went home and told his wife to cook the food, and the young man plowed the field, two whole acres, all by himself. After that he harnessed himself to the harrow and harrowed the field with two harrows at the same time. When he was finished, he went into the woods and pulled up two oak trees, put them on his shoulders, and attached a harrow at each end of a tree and a horse at each end of the other tree. Then he carried everything to his parents' house as if it were a bundle of straw. When he reached the barnyard, his mother didn't recognize him and asked, “Who's that horrible big man?”

“That's our son,” the farmer said.

“No,” she said, “that can't be our son. We never had one that large. Our son was a tiny thing.” Then she yelled at him, “Go away! We don't want you!”

The young man didn't respond but led the horses into the stable and gave them oats and hay and put things in order. After he had finished, he went into the kitchen, sat down on a bench, and said, “Mother, I'd like to eat now. Is supper almost ready?”

“Yes,” she replied and didn't dare to contradict him. She brought him two tremendous bowls of food that would have lasted her and her husband a week. However, the young man finished everything by himself and then asked whether she could give him something more.

“No,” she said, “that's all we have.”

“That was really just a nibble. I've got to have more.”

So she went out and put a large pig's trough full of food on the fire. When it was ready, she carried it in.

“At last, a little more,” he said and gobbled up everything that was in it. But that was still not enough.

“Father,” he said, “I can tell I'll never get enough to eat here. So, if you'll get me an iron staff strong enough that I can't break it across my knees, I'll go away again.”

The farmer was happy to hear that. He hitched two horses to his wagon and went to the blacksmith, who gave him a staff so big and thick that the
two horses could barely pull it. The young man laid it across his knees, and
crack!
he broke it in two, as if it were a beanstalk, and threw it away. His father hitched four horses to his wagon and fetched another staff, one so large and thick that the four horses could barely pull it. Once again his son snapped it across his knees and threw it away.

“Father,” he said, “this one's no use to me. You've got to harness some more horses and fetch a stronger staff.”

Then his father hitched up eight horses to his wagon and brought back a staff so large and thick that the eight horses could barely pull it. When his son took it in his hand, he immediately broke off a piece from the top and said, “Father, I see that you can't get the kind of staff I need. So I won't stay here any longer.”

The young man went away, and he began passing himself off as a journeyman blacksmith. Soon he came to a village that had a blacksmith among its inhabitants. He was a miserly man who never gave anyone a thing and kept everything for himself. The young man went to the smithy and asked him whether he could use a journeyman.

“Yes,” said the blacksmith, who looked him over and thought, “That's a sturdy fellow. He'll certainly be good at hammering, and he's sure to earn his keep.” Then he asked, “How much do you want for your wages?”

“None at all,” he answered. “But every two weeks when the other journeymen receive their wages, I shall give you two blows that you must be able to withstand.”

The miser voiced great satisfaction with the terms because he thought he could save money this way. The next morning the strange journeyman was supposed to hammer first, and when the master brought out the red-hot bar and the journeyman dealt the blow, the iron flew all over in pieces, and the anvil sank so deep into the ground that they couldn't get it out again. The miser became furious and said, “That's all! I can't use you anymore. You hammer much too roughly. What do I owe you for the one blow?”

“I'll give you just a tiny tap, that's all,” said the journeyman, and he lifted his foot and gave the miser such a kick that he flew over four stacks of hay. Then the journeyman picked out the thickest iron staff he could find in the smithy, used it as a walking stick, and went on his way. After he had
been traveling for a while, he came to a large farming estate and asked the bailiff if he needed a foreman.

“Yes,” said the bailiff, he could use one. He remarked that he looked like a sturdy and able fellow and asked him what he would like for a year's wages. Again the journeyman answered that he didn't want to be paid, but that the bailiff would have to withstand three blows that he would give him at the end of every year. The bailiff was satisfied with that, for he, too, was a miser. The next morning the hired workers got up early because they were supposed to drive to the forest and cut wood, but the young man was still in bed. One of the workers called to him, “Hey, it's time to get up! We're going to the forest, and you've got to come with us.”

“Not yet,” he replied in a rude and surly voice. “You all go. I'll get there and back before the rest of you anyway.”

Then the workers went to the bailiff and told him that the foreman was still in bed and wouldn't drive to the forest with them. The bailiff told them to wake him again and order him to hitch up the horses. But the foreman answered just as he had before, “You all go. I'll get there and back before the rest of you anyway.”

So he remained in bed another two hours, and when he finally managed to get up, he fetched two bushels of peas from the loft, cooked himself a porridge, and took his own sweet time in eating it. After that was done, he went out and hitched up the horses and drove to the forest. Near the forest was a ravine through which he had to drive. When he drove through it, he stopped the horses, got out, walked behind the wagon, and took some trees and bushes to build a large barricade that would prevent horses from getting through the ravine. When he arrived at the forest, the others were just leaving with their loaded wagons and heading home.

“Drive on,” he said to them. “I'll still get home before you.”

But he only drove a short way into the forest, where he immediately ripped out two of the biggest trees from the ground, threw them into his wagon, and turned back. When he reached the barricade, the others were still standing around, since they had been prevented from getting through.

“You see,” he said. “If you had stayed with me, you'd have made it home just as quickly, and you'd have had another hour's sleep.”

He wanted to drive on, but his horses couldn't work their way through the barricade. So he unharnessed them, set them on top of the wagon, took hold of the shafts, and whisked everything through as easily as if the wagon were loaded with feathers. Once he was on the other side, he said to the workers, “You see, I got through faster than you.”

And he drove on, while the others had to stay where they were. At the barnyard he grabbed hold of one of the trees, lifted it by his hand, showed it to the bailiff, and said, “How do you like this nice cord of wood?”

The bailiff said to his wife, “He's a good man, our foreman, even if he does sleep long. He still makes it home sooner than the others.”

So the young man served the bailiff for a year, and when it was over and the other workers received their wages, it was time for him to collect his pay as well. However, the bailiff was afraid of the blows he had coming to him. He begged the foreman to forgo everything and said that, in return, he would make him bailiff and take over the job as foreman himself.

“No,” said the young man. “I don't want to be bailiff. I'm the foreman and want to stay foreman. And I intend to dole out what we agreed upon.”

The bailiff offered to give him whatever he wanted, but it did no good. The foreman rejected everything he proposed, and the bailiff didn't know what to do except to ask him for a two-week period of grace. He needed time to think of a way out of his situation. The foreman granted him an extension, and now the bailiff summoned all his clerks together. He asked them to think up a way to help him and to advise him. After they had deliberated a long time, they finally said that the foreman had to be killed. The bailiff was to have large millstones brought to the courtyard. Then he was to order the foreman to climb down into the well and clean it out. When the foreman was down below, they would roll the millstones to the well. and heave them on his head. The bailiff liked the idea, and everything was prepared: the millstones were brought to the courtyard. Once the foreman was standing below, they rolled the millstones to the well and threw them down. All at once there was a big splash high into the air. They were convinced they had broken his skull. However, he called up to them, “Chase the chickens away from the well! They're scratching around in the sand and throwing grains into my eyes so that I can't see.”

So the bailiff yelled, “Shoo! Shoo!” as if he were scaring the chickens away. When the foreman had finished his work, he climbed up and said, “Just look at what a fine necklace I've got on now!” but he meant the millstone that he was wearing around his neck.