The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (10 page)

“Dearest child,” she said, “go into the forest with your eleven brothers. Stay there, and don't come home. One of you should keep watch on a tree and look over here toward the tower. If I give birth to a little son, I'll raise a white flag on top of the tower. However, if it's a little daughter, I'll raise a red flag. If you all see that it's red, then save yourselves. Flee into the wide world, and may our dear Lord protect you. I'll get up every night and pray that you won't freeze in the winter and are able to warm yourselves by a fire and that when it's hot in the summer, you can rest in a cool forest and sleep.”

After she gave her blessing to her sons, they went out into the forest, where they frequently looked toward the tower. One of them had to sit on top of a high tree and constantly keep watch. Soon a flag was hoisted, but it wasn't a white one. It was a blood-red flag that foreshadowed their doom. As soon as the brothers caught sight of it, they all became angry and cried out: “Why should we lose our lives because of a girl?”

Then they all swore to remain in the middle of the forest and to keep on their guard, and if a maiden were to appear, they would kill her without mercy.

Soon after this they searched for a cave where the forest was the darkest, and that's where they began to live. Every morning eleven of the brothers went off to hunt. One of them had to remain home, cook, and keep house. Whenever they encountered a maiden, she was treated without mercy and lost her life. This is how they lived for many years.

In the meantime their little sister grew up and was the only child left at home. One day there was a large amount of washing to do, and among the clothes there were twelve shirts for boys.

“Whose shirts are these?” the princess asked the washerwoman. “They're much too small for my father.”

It was then that the washerwoman told her that she had once had twelve brothers, but they had mysteriously gone away. Nobody knew where because the king had wanted to have them killed, and the twelve shirts belonged to the twelve brothers. The little sister was astonished that
she had never heard of her twelve brothers, and during the afternoon as the clothes were drying and she was sitting in the meadow, she recalled the words of the washerwoman. After giving considerable thought to what she had heard, she stood up, took the twelve shirts, and went into the forest where her brothers were living.

The little sister made her way straight to the cave that served as her brothers' dwelling. Eleven of them were out hunting, and only one of them who had to cook was at home. When he caught sight of the maiden, he composed himself and drew his sword.

“Kneel down! Your red blood will flow this very second!”

But the maiden pleaded: “Dear sir, let me live. I'll stay with you and serve you honestly. I'll cook and keep house.”

She spoke these words to the youngest brother, and he took pity on her because of her beauty and spared her life. Later, when his eleven brothers returned home and were astonished to find a maiden alive in their cave, he said to them: “Dear brothers, this girl came to our cave, and when I wanted to cut her to pieces, she pleaded for her life so much and said that she would serve us faithfully and keep house that I spared her life.”

The others thought that this would be a great benefit to them because now all twelve of them could go hunting, and they were satisfied with this arrangement. Then the maiden showed them the twelve shirts and told them that she was their sister. Indeed, they were all very happy about this and were glad that they hadn't killed her.

Now the little sister took over all the household chores, and when the brothers went out hunting, she gathered wood and herbs, kept the fire going, made up the beds nice and white and clean, and did everything with zeal and without getting tired.

One day, when she was finished with all the work, she took a walk in the woods and came to a place where there were twelve large beautiful white lilies. Since they pleased her so much, she plucked all twelve of them. No sooner did she do this than an old woman stood before her.

“Oh, my daughter,” she said, “why didn't you let the twelve budding flowers just stand there? They're your twelve brothers. Now they've been changed into ravens and are lost forever.”

The little sister began to weep and said, “Isn't there any way that I can save them?”

“No, there isn't any way in the world except one that's so difficult you won't be able to rescue them. You must spend the next twelve years without speaking. If you say one single word, even if there's only an hour left, everything will be in vain, and your brothers will die that very moment.”

Well, the little sister responded by climbing a tall tree in the forest, where she took a place. She wanted to sit there twelve years without saying a word to free her brothers. But it so happened that a king was out riding and hunting in the forest, and as he rode by the tree, his dog stood still and barked. So the king stopped, looked up, and was very amazed by the princess's beauty. He called to her and asked her whether she wanted to become his wife. However, she remained silent and only nodded a bit with her head. So the king himself dismounted, helped her down from the tree, and lifted her up before him onto his horse. Then he brought her home to his castle. Meanwhile the princess did not utter one word, and the king thought that she was mute. They would have lived happily with one another if it hadn't been for the king's mother, who began to slander the young queen in front of her son.

“She's a common beggar that you've dug up from nowhere, and she's doing the most disgraceful things behind your back!”

Since the young queen couldn't defend herself, the king was led astray and finally believed what his mother said. So, he sentenced his wife to death, and a enormous fire was built in the courtyard, where she was to be burned to death.

Soon the queen was standing in the flames that grazed the fringes of her dress. One minute was left before the twelve years of her silence would be completed. There was a noise in the air, and twelve ravens swooped down into the courtyard. As soon as they touched the ground, they became twelve handsome princes who instantly put out the fire's flames and led their sister to safety. Then she spoke once again and told the king how everything had happened and how she had to save her twelve brothers. Indeed, they were all pleased that everything turned out so well.

Now they had to decide what they should to with the evil mother-in-law. Well, they stuck her into a barrel full of boiling oil and poisonous snakes, and she died a ghastly death.

10

RIFFRAFF

The rooster said to the hen, “The nuts are ripe. Let's go up the hill and for once eat our fill of nuts before the squirrel hauls them all away.”

“Yes,” responded the hen. “Let's go and have a good time together.”

So they went up the hill, and since it was such a bright day, they stayed till evening. Now, I don't know whether it was because they had stuffed themselves too much, or whether they had become too high and mighty, but they didn't want to return home on foot. So the rooster had to build a small carriage made out of nut shells. When it was finished, the hen got in and said to the rooster, “Now you can just harness yourself to it.”

“No,” said the rooster. “You have some nerve! I'd rather go home by foot than let myself be harnessed to this carriage. No, that wasn't part of our bargain. I'd gladly be coachman and sit on the box, but I refuse to pull the carriage!”

As they were quarreling, a duck came by quacking and pouted, “You thieves! Who said you could come up on my nut hill? Just you wait! You'll pay for this!”

She charged at the rooster with a wide-open beak, but the rooster was on his toes and threw himself at the duck's body nice and hard. Then he dug his spurs into her so violently that the duck begged for mercy and willingly let herself be harnessed to the carriage as punishment. Now the rooster sat down on the box as coachman, and off they went in a gallop.

“Duck, run as fast as you can!” cried the rooster.

After they had gone some distance, they encountered two travelers on foot, a needle and a pin, who called and asked them to stop. They said it would soon be very dark, and they wouldn't be able to go one step farther. Besides, the road was dirty. So they asked if they could have a ride. They
had been at the tailor's tavern outside the town gate and had had one beer too many, which made them late as well.

Since they were thin and didn't take up much room, the rooster let them both get in, but they had to promise not to step on his or the hen's feet. Later that evening they came to an inn, and since they didn't want to travel any farther, and since the duck was not walking well but swayed from side to side, they decided to stop there. At first the innkeeper raised a lot of objections and said his inn was already full. Moreover, he thought they were not a very distinguished-looking group. However, they used some sweet talk and offered him the egg that the hen had laid along the way and told him that he could also keep the duck, who laid an egg a day. So finally he relented and said they could spend the night. Now they ordered some good hot food and had a merry time of it.

Early the next morning, as the sun was rising and everyone was asleep, the rooster woke the hen, fetched the egg, pecked it open, and together they devoured it. After throwing the shells on the hearth, they went to the needle, who was still asleep, grabbed him by the head, and stuck him into the innkeeper's easy chair. Then they stuck the pin into the innkeeper's towel. Finally, without much ado, they flew away over the heath.

The duck, who liked to sleep in the open air and had spent the night in the yard, heard the flapping of their wings. So she roused herself, found a brook, and swam away. That went much faster than being harnessed to a carriage. A few hours later the innkeeper got out of bed, washed himself, and took the towel to dry himself. However, the pin scratched his face, leaving a red mark from ear to ear. Then he went into the kitchen and wanted to light his pipe. But, as he leaned over the hearth, the eggshells popped into his eyes.

“Everything's attacking my head this morning,” he said, and went to sit down in his easy chair to settle his bad mood, but he jumped up immediately and screamed, “Oww!” The needle had stuck him worse than the pin and not in the head. Now he was completely angry and suspected the guests who had arrived so late the night before. But when he went looking for them, they were gone. Then he swore he would never again let riffraff
stay at his inn, especially when they eat so much, pay nothing, and play mean tricks on top of it all.

11

LITTLE BROTHER AND LITTLE SISTER

A little brother took his little sister by the hand and said, “Ever since our mother died, we've not had one moment of happiness. Our stepmother beats us every day, and when we come near her, she kicks us away with her foot. We get nothing but hard crusts of bread, just leftovers for food, and the dog under the table is better off. At least he gets a good chunk of meat to eat every now and then. Lord have mercy on us, if our mother only knew! Come, let's go off together into the wide world.”

So they went away and came to a large forest, where they were so sad and so tired that they crept into a hollow tree and just wanted to die from hunger. Then they both fell asleep. When they woke the next morning, the sun was already high in the sky and warmed the hollow tree with its rays.

“Little sister,” said the little brother after a while, “I'm thirsty. If only I knew where to find a spring, I'd go and have a drink right away. Listen, I think I hear one trickling.”

“What good will that do?” the little sister answered. “Why do you want to drink when we just want to die from hunger?”

The little brother kept quiet and climbed out of the hollow tree, and since he always held his sister's hand tightly, she had to climb out with him.

Now, their evil stepmother was a witch, and when she had noticed that the two children had left, she followed them and caused a clear little stream near the tree to trickle from some rocks and form a spring. The trickling spring was intended to lure the children and make their mouths water. But whoever drank from the spring would be changed into a little fawn.

The little brother soon came to the spring with his sister, and when he saw the glittering water trickle over the stones into the spring, his thirst became even greater, and he wanted to drink some of the water. However, the little sister was fearful. She thought she heard the spring speak to her as it trickled: “Whoever drinks me will be changed into a fawn! Whoever
drinks me will be changed into a fawn!” So, she begged her little brother not to drink the water.

“I don't hear anything,” said the little brother. “I just hear how lovely the water is trickling. Let me go!”

Upon saying this he lay down on the ground, leaned over, and drank, and as soon as he felt the first drop of water on his lips, he was changed into a little fawn sitting beside the spring.

The little sister wept and wept. However, the witch was angry that she hadn't been able to lure the little sister to drink the water as well. After the girl wept for three days, she stood up, gathered some bulrushes, and wove them into a soft rope. Then she attached it to the little fawn and led him with her. She looked for a cave, and when she found one, she carried moss and foliage inside and made a soft bed for him. The next morning she went out with the fawn to a place with tender grass, and there she gathered the most beautiful grass, which he ate out of her hand. The fawn was delighted and romped about on the hills. In the evening when the little sister was tired, she laid her head on the back of the fawn. It was her pillow, and this is how she fell asleep. If only her brother could have retained his human form, it would have been a wonderful life.

For many years they lived like this in the forest. Then one day the king went out on a hunt, and when he became lost, he stumbled upon the maiden with the little animal in the forest and was amazed by her beauty. He lifted her up onto his horse and took her with him, while the fawn, attached by the rope, ran along side. At the royal court the maiden was treated with honor. Beautiful young women had to serve her, but she herself was more beautiful than any of the other ladies. She never let the fawn out of her sight, and she tended him with care. Shortly after her arrival the queen mother died, and the king wed the sister, and they lived together in great joy.