The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (49 page)

However, she placed the food and drink in front of him so that he could smell everything, and she convinced him to drink once more. Toward two o'clock he went into the garden and climbed onto the pile of tanbark to wait for the raven. Then he felt so tired that his limbs could no longer support him. Since he couldn't help himself, he lay down to sleep a little. When the raven drove up in her carriage drawn by four brown stallions, she was in full mourning again and said, “I know already he's sleeping.”

When she went over to him, he lay fast asleep and couldn't be wakened. She climbed out of the carriage, shook him, and tried to wake him. It was more difficult than the day before until he finally awoke.

“I certainly see,” said the raven, “that you can't free me. Tomorrow at two o'clock I shall come once more, but it will be the last time. My horses will be black, and I shall be dressed all in black. You are not to take anything from the old woman, nothing to eat or drink.”

“Certainly not,” he said.

“Oh, I know for sure that you'll take something!” she replied.

The next day the old woman asked him what the matter was and why he wasn't eating or drinking.

“I don't want to eat or drink,” he replied.

In spite of this, she said he should taste how good all the food was just one time, otherwise he would die from hunger. So he let himself be persuaded and drank something again. When the time came, he went outside into the garden and climbed onto the pile of tanbark to wait for the princess. But he became so tired that he couldn't keep standing and lay down and slept like a log. At two o'clock the raven came, and her carriage was drawn by four black horses. The carriage and everything else were also black, and she was already in full mourning. “I know he's asleep,” she said, “and he won't be able to set me free.”

When she went over to him, he was lying there sound asleep. She shook him and called him, but she couldn't wake him up. So she put a loaf of bread beside him. No matter how much he took from the bread, it would always replenish itself. Then she placed a piece of meat next to him. No matter how much he took from the meat, it would always replenish itself. The third thing she placed next to him was a bottle of wine. No matter
how much wine he drank, it would always replenish itself. After that she drew a golden ring from her finger and placed it on his finger. Her name was engraved on it. Finally, she left him a letter on the ground in which she explained that the things she had given him would never run out, and she concluded her letter by saying: “I clearly see that you can't set me free in a place like this. But if you still want to save me, then come to the golden castle of Mount Stromberg. You can do it. I know that for sure.” And after she had given him all those things, she climbed back into her carriage and drove off to the golden castle of Mount Stromberg.

When the man woke and saw that he had slept, he was terribly sad and said, “I'm sure she's been here, and I haven't set her free.” Then he noticed the things lying beside him, and he read the letter that explained everything that had happened. So he stood up and set out for the golden castle of Mount Stromberg, even though he didn't know where it was. After he had wandered about the world for a long time, he finally came to a dark forest and continued wandering for fourteen days and realized he couldn't find his way out. When it turned evening, he was so tired that he lay down beneath a bush and fell asleep. The next day he moved on, and in the evening, as he was about to lie down beneath another bush when he heard such a moaning and groaning that he was unable to sleep. When the hour came for people to light their lamps, he saw a light glimmering in the distance, got up, and went toward it. Shortly after, he came to a house that appeared to be very small because a big giant was standing in front of it. “Whether you go inside or stay here,” he thought to himself, “the giant will put an end to your life. So, you might as well do it.” So he stepped toward the door, and when the giant saw him, he said, “It's good that you've come. I haven't had a thing to eat for a long time. So I'm going to gobble you up for supper.”

“Let things be,” said the man. “If you want something to eat, I've got something with me.”

“If that's true,” said the giant, “you can rest easy. I wanted to eat you only because I had nothing else.”

They both went inside and sat down at the dinner table, and the man took out the bread, wine, and meat that never ran out. And they ate until
they were full. After supper the man asked him, “Can you tell me where to find the golden castle of Mount Stromberg?”

The giant said, “I'll look it up on my map. It shows all the cities, villages, and houses.”

He took out a map that he kept in the room and looked for the castle, but it wasn't on it. “Don't worry,” he said. “I've got even larger maps in the closet upstairs. We can look for it on them.”

They looked at the maps, but couldn't find the castle. Now, the man wanted to move on, but the giant begged him to stay a few more days until his brother returned. He had gone out to fetch some food. He also had good maps. They could try again with his maps and find the castle for sure. So the man waited until the brother came back. Well, the brother said he didn't know for certain, but he believed that the Castle of Stromberg was on his map. Then the three of them ate once again until they were quite full. Afterward the second giant went to his room and said, “Now I'll take a look at my map.” But the castle wasn't on it. Then he said he had another map upstairs in a room full of maps. It had to be on one of them. When he brought the maps downstairs, they began searching again, and finally they found the Castle of Stromberg. However, it was thousands of miles away.

“How will I ever get there?” asked the man.

“I've got two hours to spare,” said the giant. “I'll carry you as far as I can, but then I must return home and nurse our child.”

So he carried the man until he was about a hundred hours' walk away from the castle and said, “You can go the rest of the way by yourself.”

“Yes, indeed,” said the man. “I can certainly do that.”

As they were about to separate, the man said, “Let's first eat once more until we're full.”

After they did that, the giant took his leave and went home, while the man went on day and night until he finally came to the golden castle of Mount Stromberg. But the castle was up on a glass mountain, and he saw the enchanted maiden driving around the castle. He wanted to climb up to her, but he continually slipped on the glass and became very distressed and said to himself: “It's best if I build a little hut for myself. I've got plenty to eat and drink.” So he built a hut for himself and stayed there for one
solid year and watched the princess every day drive around on top of the mountain, but he couldn't climb up to her.

One day he saw three giants fighting with each other and called out to them, “God be with you!”

They stopped fighting, listened to see where the cry came from, and then resumed fighting when they couldn't see anyone. It was dangerous just to be near them, but again the man called out, “God be with you!”

Again they stopped, looked around, and resumed their fighting when they couldn't see anyone. Finally, the man called out for a third time, “God be with you!” and this time he thought to himself, “You'd better go see what these three are up to.” So he went out to them and asked them why they were fighting. One of them said he had found a stick, and that whenever he struck a door with it, the door would spring open. The second said he had found a cloak and that whenever he hung it over his shoulders, he would be invisible. The third said he had caught a horse and that one could ride it anywhere, even up the glass mountain. Then the man said, “I'll make an exchange with you. I'll take those three things, and to be honest, I don't have any money, but I do have other things that are worth more than money. First, however, I must test your things to see whether you've told me the truth.”

They let him sit on the horse, put the cloak over his shoulders, and handed him the stick. As soon as he had all three objects, they could no longer see him. So he gave them all a good beating and cried out, “Now, are you satisfied?”

The man rode up the glass mountain, and when he got to the top, he found the castle door was closed. So he struck the gate with the stick, and it immediately sprang open. He entered and went up the stairs until he came to a hall. There sat the princess, and she had a goblet filled with wine in front of her. However, she couldn't see him because he was wearing the cloak. When he went over to her, he pulled off the ring that she had given him and threw it into the goblet so that it rang out.

“That's my ring!” she exclaimed. “Well then, the man who's going to set me free must be here somewhere.”

She had her servants search all over the castle, but they couldn't find him. Indeed, he had gone outside, mounted the horse, and thrown off the
cloak. When they finally saw him out by the gate, they screamed for joy. So he dismounted and took the princess in his arms. She kissed him and said, “Now you've finally set me free.”

Soon thereafter they held the wedding and lived happily together.

8

THE CLEVER FARMER'S DAUGHTER

Once upon a time there was a poor farmer who had only a small house and one daughter but no land. One day the daughter said, “I think we should ask the king for a little piece of farming land.”

When the king learned about their poverty, he gave them a small field, which the farmer and his daughter cleared so they could sow a little wheat and plant some kind of fruit. After they had almost finished their work, they found a mortar of pure gold on the ground.

“Listen,” said the farmer to his daughter, “since the king was so gracious as to give us this field, we ought to give him this mortar in return.”

But the daughter didn't agree and said, “Father, if we give the mortar without the pestle, then we'll have to find the pestle as well. I think we'd be better off if we kept quiet about the whole thing.”

However, the farmer didn't listen to her. He took the mortar, carried it to the king, and said that he had found it on the heath. Now he wanted to offer it to the king in his honor. The king took the mortar and asked the farmer if he had found anything else.

“No,” replied the farmer.

Then the king asked him about the pestle and told him to bring it to him. The farmer replied that they hadn't found the pestle, but that was like talking to the wind. He was thrown into prison, where he was to stay until he produced the pestle. The servants brought him bread and water every day, the usual fare in prison, and every day they heard the farmer sighing, “Oh, if only I had listened to my daughter! Oh, if only I had listened to my daughter!”

Finally, the servants went to the king and told him how the prisoner kept crying, “Oh, if only I had listened to my daughter!” and how he
refused to eat and drink. The king ordered the servants to bring the prisoner before him, and he asked the farmer to tell him why he kept sighing, “Oh, if only I had listened to my daughter!”

“What did your daughter tell you?”

“Well, she told me not to bring you the mortar; otherwise, I'd have to bring you the pestle as well.”

“If you have such a clever daughter, I want to see her.”

So she had to appear before the king, who asked her if she really was so clever and said that he wanted to give her a riddle to solve, and that if she solved it, he would marry her. She replied right away that she would solve it. Then the king said, “Come to me, not dressed, not naked, not on horse, not by carriage, not on the road, not off the road, and if you do, I'll marry you.”

The farmer's daughter went home and got undressed until she was completely naked, so that she was not dressed. Next she took a large fishnet and wrapped it completely around her so that she was not naked. Then she took some money, leased a donkey, and tied the fishnet to its tail. The donkey had to drag her along so that she neither rode nor drove. And, since the donkey had to drag her along the wagon tracks, only her big toes could touch the ground so that she was neither on the road nor off it. Thus, when she appeared before the king this way, he said she had solved the riddle and had fulfilled all the conditions. He released her father from the prison, took her as his wife, and ordered her to look after all the royal possessions.

Now, some years went by, and one day, when the king was out reviewing his troops, a group of farmers happened to stop in front of his castle. They had been selling wood, and some of the wagons were drawn by horses, others by oxen. One of the farmers had three horses, and his mare gave birth to a foal that ran away and lay down between two oxen hitched to another farmer's wagon. When the two farmers came together, they started bickering, throwing things at each other, and making a lot of noise. The farmer with the oxen wanted to keep the foal and claimed that the oxen had given birth to it. The other said no, his horse had given birth to it, and the foal was his. The quarrel was taken before the king, and he declared that wherever the foal had laid itself down, there it should stay. So
the farmer with the oxen got the foal, even though it didn't belong to him. The other farmer went away, wept, and grieved over his foal. However, since he had heard that the queen came from a poor farmer's family and was compassionate, he went to her and asked whether she could help him get his foal back.

“Yes,” she said. “But you must promise not to tell that I've helped you. Now, here's what you have to do: Early tomorrow morning when the king goes out to review his guard, you're to place yourself in the middle of the road where he has to pass. Bring a large fishnet with you and pretend to fish with it. You're to keep fishing and shaking the net out as though it were full.”