The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (13 page)

“Fine, my son,” the lord said. “I'd be pleased to have you. First tell me, what do I desire right now?”

Without answering, Fix-It-Up spun around, rushed away, and returned with a pipe and tobacco.

“Fine, my son. You are hired as my servant, but now I'm going to command you to get Princess Nomini, the most beautiful maiden in the world. I want to have her for my wife.”

“All right,” said Fix-It-Up. “That's a trifle for me. Your Majesty shall soon have her. Just give me a coach drawn by six horses, a coachman, guards, couriers, servants, and a cook, all in full dress. I myself must have princely garments, and everyone must obey my commands.”

Soon they departed. Fix-It-Up, the servant, sat inside the coach, which headed straight toward the beautiful princess's court. When the road came to an end, they drove into a field and soon reached the edge of a large forest filled with many thousands of birds. A boisterous song soared splendidly into the blue air.

“Stop! Stop!” exclaimed Fix-It-Up. “Don't disturb the birds. They are praising their creator and will serve me some other time. Let's go to the left.”

So the coachman had to turn and drive around the forest. Soon after, they came to a large field, where close to a thousand million ravens were sitting and crying shrilly for food.

“Stop! Stop!” exclaimed Fix-It-Up. “Untie one of the horses way up front. Lead it into the field and slaughter it so that the ravens can eat. I don't want them to suffer from hunger.”

After the ravens had eaten, the journey continued, and they came to a pond with a fish in it that was moaning and groaning: “For God's sake, I have nothing to eat in this terrible swamp. Throw me into a running river, and I'll repay your deed one day.”

Before the fish could even finish speaking, Fix-It-Up had exclaimed, “Stop! Stop! Cook, put the fish in your apron. Coachman, drive it to a running river.”

Fix-It-Up himself got out and threw the fish into the water, and the fish flapped its tail in joy.

“Now, get the horses going,” said Fix-It-Up. “We must arrive at the designated spot by evening.”

When he reached the royal residence, he drove straight to the best inn, where the innkeeper and all his people came out and welcomed him in their best manners, thinking that a foreign king had arrived, though it was only a servant. Fix-It-Up had himself announced at the royal court, where he endeavored to make a good impression and court the princess.

“My son,” said the king, “many such suitors have already been turned away because they couldn't perform the tasks I assigned them to win my daughter.”

“All right,” said Fix-It-Up, “set any kind of hard task that you want me to do.”

“I've ordered a quarter of a liter of poppy seeds to be sown in a field. If you can gather them so that not one kernel is missing, you shall have the princess for your wife.”

“Hoho!” Fix-It-Up thought, “that's not much for me.” He then took a measuring cup, a sack, and snow-white sheets, went out to the field, and spread the sheets next to the field where the seeds had been sown. Soon after, those birds whose singing he had left undisturbed in the forest arrived, and they picked up the seeds, kernel after kernel, and carried them to the white sheets. When the birds had picked up all of them, Fix-It-Up poured them into the sack, took the measuring cup under his arm, went to the king, and measured out the poppy seeds for him. Now he thought the princess was already his—but he was wrong.

“One thing more, my son,” said the king. “My daughter has recently lost her golden ring. You must return it to me before you can have her.”

Fix-It-Up did not get upset. “Let Your Majesty show me the river and bridge where the ring was lost, then I shall soon return it to you.”

When Fix-It-Up was brought there, he looked down, and there he saw the fish that he had thrown into the river. It stuck its head out into the air and said, “Wait a moment. I'll dive below. A whale has the ring underneath its fins, and I'll fetch it.”

Indeed, the fish soon returned and tossed the ring onto the shore. Fix-It-Up brought it to the king, but the latter replied, “Now, just one more thing. There's a unicorn in the forest, and it's been causing a great deal of damage. If you can kill it, there's nothing more you'll have to do.”

Fix-It-Up did not get very upset here either. Instead, he went straight into the forest, where he came across the ravens whom he had once fed.

“Just have a little more patience,” they said. “The unicorn is lying down and sleeping, but it's not on the side where you can see its eye. When it turns over, we'll peck out its good eye. Then it'll be blind and run furiously against trees and get itself stuck with its horn. That's when you'll be able to kill it easily.”

Soon the beast tossed itself around a few times and lay on its other side. All at once the ravens swooped down and pecked out its good eye. When it felt the pain, it jumped up and ran wildly around the forest. After it got its horn stuck in a thick oak tree, Fix-It-Up jumped out, cut off its head, and brought it to the king, who could no longer deny him his daughter. She was delivered to Fix-It-Up, who took a seat next to her in the coach. He was in full dress, just as he had come, and immediately drove off and brought the lovely princess to his lord. Fix-It-Up was given a fine reception, and the lord's wedding with the princess was celebrated in great splendor. Then Fix-It-Up was appointed prime minister.

Everyone in the company to whom this tale was told wished to be at the celebration. One person wanted to be chambermaid; the other, wardrobe attendant. Someone wanted to be a chamber servant; another, the cook, and so on.

17

THE WHITE SNAKE

Every day at noon a covered dish was placed on the king's table. Then, after everyone left, the king would eat alone from this dish, and nobody in the entire realm knew what kind of food was in it. One of the servants became curious and wanted to know what the dish contained. On one occasion, after the king had ordered him to take the dish away, he could no longer restrain himself. So he took the dish to his room and uncovered it. As he lifted the cover, he found a white snake lying inside, and once he laid his eyes on it, he felt a great desire to taste some of it. So he cut off a piece and began eating it. No sooner did his tongue touch the flesh of the snake than he understood the language of animals and heard what the birds on the window sill were saying to each other.

On this very same day the queen lost one of her most beautiful rings, and the suspicion fell on him. The king also said that if he was not able to find the thief by morning, he himself would be punished as if he had been the guilty person. The servant became sad and went down into the courtyard, where some ducks were resting in the water. As he was watching them, he heard one of them say, “There's something heavy in my stomach. I ate a ring that the queen has lost.”

The servant took the duck and carried it to the cook, “Kill this one. It's fat enough.”

So the cook cut off the duck's neck, and when he began cleaning it, the queen's ring was lying in its stomach. The servant brought it to the king, who was astonished and happy. Since he was sorry that he had treated the servant unjustly, he said, “Demand whatever you would like and whatever position of royal honor you would like.”

However, the servant declined every offer even though he was young and handsome. His heart was sad, and he didn't want to remain at the court any longer. So he asked only for a horse and for money to travel and see the world. Well, he was provided with everything in the very best way.

The next morning he rode off and came to a pond where three fish were trapped in the reeds and were wailing that they'd have to die if they couldn't get back into the water. So he dismounted, took them out of the reeds, and put them back into the water. Then the fish cried out: “We'll remember you, and one day we'll repay you.”

He rode on, and a while later he heard an ant king crying out: “Get away from us! Your enormous beast is trampling us with his large hooves!”

The young man looked down to the ground and saw that his horse had stepped on an ant hill. So he turned his horse away, and the ant king called out: “We'll remember you, and one day we'll repay you.”

Soon the servant entered a forest where two ravens were throwing their young ones out of their nests. They said that their tiny ones were now big enough and could feed themselves.

The young birds lay on the ground and screamed that they would die from starvation because their wings were still too small, and they couldn't fly yet and search for food. So the young man dismounted, killed his horse with his sword, and threw the horse to the young ravens. They hopped over to the horse, ate their fill, and said, “We'll remember this, and one day we'll repay you.”

The young man moved on and came to a large city, where he heard a proclamation that whoever wanted to marry the king's daughter would have to perform a task given by her, and if he didn't complete it successfully, he would forfeit his life. Many princes had already been there and had lost their lives, so there was nobody any more who dared to try. This is why the princess had the proclamation issued again. The servant
thought about it and decided to declare himself as a suitor. So he was led out to the sea, where a ring was thrown into it. He was to fetch it, and if he came out of the water without it, he'd be pushed back into the sea and would have to die in the water. As he was standing on the shore, the three fish that he had taken from the reeds and thrown into the water came swimming toward him. One of the fish held a shell in its mouth, and the ring was in the shell. The fish set it down on the beach at the feet of the young man, who was full of joy. So he brought the ring to the king and demanded the princess. However, when the princess heard that he wasn't a prince, she refused to accept him. Instead, she scattered ten sacks full of millet seeds in the grass. He was to pick them all up before sunrise the next day, and every single grain was to be gathered or else he'd lose his life. All at once the ant king came with all his ants whom the young man had protected, and they picked up the millet seeds during the night and poured them back into the sacks. By morning they had finished the task. When the princess saw that the sacks had been filled, she was astonished, and the young man was brought before her. Since he was handsome, she liked him but demanded that he perform a third task: he was to fetch an apple from the Tree of Life. As he stood there and thought about how he might get it, one of the ravens whom he had fed with his horse came and brought the apple in its beak. This is how he became the princess's husband, and, when her father died, he became king of the entire country.

18

THE JOURNEY OF THE STRAW, THE COAL, AND THE BEAN

A straw, a coal, and a bean came together and wanted to take a great journey. They had already gone through many countries when they reached a brook without a bridge and couldn't cross. Finally, straw came up with a good idea. He laid himself across the brook, and the others were to cross over him, first coal, then bean. Coal took wide steps and slowly crossed the straw, while bean toddled after. When coal got to the middle of straw,
however, straw began to burn and burned through and through. Coal fell fizzling into the water and died. Straw broke into two pieces and flowed away. Bean, who was somewhat behind, slipped and fell into the water but managed to help herself a little by swimming. Finally, bean had to drink so much water that she burst and was driven to shore in this condition. Fortunately, a tailor was sitting there. He was resting while taking a hike in the woods. Since he had a needle and thread in his sack, he sewed bean together. Ever since this time all the beans have a seam.

According to another story bean was the first to make it across the straw. She reached the other side safely and looked back at coal on the other side and how he was crossing. In the middle of the way coal burned through straw, fell into the water, and fizzled. When bean saw this, she laughed so hard that she burst. The tailor, who was sitting on the shore, sewed her up but only had black thread. This is why all the beans have a black seam.