The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (75 page)

38. Mrs. Fox (Von der Frau Füchsin). Source: Based on a tale remembered by Jacob Grimm.

39. The Elves (Von den Wichtelmännern” Source: Henriette Dorothea Wild provided all three tales.

About the Shoemaker for Whom They Did the Work (Von dem Schuster, dem sie die Arbeit gemacht).

About a Servant Girl Who Acted as Godmother (Von einem Dienstmädchen, das Gevatter bei ihnen gestanden).

About a Woman Whose Child They Had Exchanged (Von einer Frau, der sie das Kind vertauscht haben).

40. The Robber Bridegroom (Der Räuberbräutigam). Source: Marie Hassenpflug.

41. Herr Korbes (Herr Korbes). Source: Johanna Isabella Hassenpflug.

42. The Godfather (Der Herr Gevatter). Source: Amalie Hassenpflug.

The Grimms note that the motif of the witch's horns led them to recall another tale which has the following plot:

A witch had a young maiden living with her and trusted her with all the keys in the house, but she forbade her to enter one particular room (as in “Bluebeard”). However, due to her curiosity, the maiden opened the door one day and saw the witch sitting there with two very large horns on her head. The witch became furious and locked the maiden in a very high tower. There was no door to the tower in which she was imprisoned. When the witch brought her food, the maiden had to let down her long hair from the window, and the witch used the hair, which was twenty yards long, to climb up to the window. (From this point on, the tale is similar to “Rapunzel.”)

43. The Strange Feast (Die wunderliche Gasterei). Source: Amalie Hassenpflug.

44. Godfather Death (Der Gevatter Tod). Source: Marie Elisabeth Wild.

The Grimms point to the significance of older versions for the development of this tale type. They cite versions from the sixteenth century and one by Johannes Praetorius from the seventeenth century. Most important is their discussion of Jacob Ayer's Shrovetide play,
Der Baur mit seiem Gevatter Tod
(1620).

45. The Wandering of Thumbling, the Tailor's Son (Des Schneiders Daumerling Wanderschaft). Source: Marie Hassenpflug.

The Grimms note that this tale is related to a Danish version, “Svend Tommling,” published in a folk book in 1796 by Nyerup, Iris, and Hebe. In this story a man, no bigger than a thumb, wants to marry a woman five feet five inches tall. He was born into the world with a hat and dagger on his side. He knows how to use a plow and is captured by a landowner, who keeps him in his snuffbox. “Tommling” hops out of the snuffbox and falls upon a pig, which becomes his saddlehorse.

The Grimms write that Benjamin Tabart published another version in his English series of fairy tales in 1809. It was called “The Life and Adventures of Tom Thumb,” and the Grimms summarized it as follows:

The son of a tailor, this figure is simply Tom Thumb and as such undertakes many adventures and has fine qualities. When his mother goes to milk the cow and it is a windy day, she ties Tom with a thread on a thistle so that he won't blow away. However, the cow eats the thistle. This is only one of the many adventures Tom experiences. What makes this story so mythical and even more remarkable is that “Tom Thumb” seems to be connected to other English and Scottish tales about Tamerlane, Tomlin, and even to Thomas, the mythical poet.

46. Fitcher's Bird (Fitchers Vogel). Source: Friederike Mannel and Henriette Dorothea Wild.

47. The Juniper Tree (Van den Machandel-Boom). Source: Philipp Otto Runge and Daniel Runge.

The Grimms note two different verses sung by the bird, one of which stems from Goethe's
Faust
. In addition they discuss motifs such as the evil stepmother, the gathering of the bones, and the resurrection of the son who was murdered. In this regard they make connections with the myths of Osris, Orpheus, and the legend of Adalbert.

48. Old Sultan (Der alte Sultan). Source: Johann Friedrich Krause.

49. The Six Swans (Die sechs Schwäne). Source: Henriette Dorothea Wild.

The Grimms consider this tale type as having ancient roots that extend back to the Greco-Roman myths; similar motifs can be found in French and Nordic oral traditions. They cite a tale, “Die sieben Schwäne,” from the anonymous
Feen-Mährchen
(1801), in which the sister is supposed to sit seven years in a tree without speaking. Each year, after she is married to the prince, she is to finish sewing a shirt and never to shed a tear. But when she gives birth to her third child and the baby is taken away from her, she sheds a tear. Consequently, when she is saved by her seven brothers, the last one is missing an eye.

50. Briar Rose (Dornröschen). Source: Marie Hassenpflug.

The Grimms refer to Charles Perrault's “La Belle au bois dormant,”
Histoires ou contes du temps passé
(1697), and to Giambattista Basile's “Sole, Luna e Talia,”
Il Pentamerone
(1634). They also allude to Siegfried's rescue of Brünhilde when he penetrates a wall of flames.

51. The Foundling (Vom Fundevogel). Source: Friederike Mannel.

52. King Thrushbeard (König Droßelbart). Source: Hassenpflug family and Henriette Dorothea Wild.

The Grimms explain that the name “Droßelbart” is otherwise “Bröselbart” (Crumbbeard) because breadcrumbs often hang on a man's beard after eating, and this is what offends the princess. Other names, Drossel, Drussel, and Rüssel, are associated with the mouth, nose, or lips. In one version cited by the Grimms, the princess announces that she will wed the man who can solve the riddle about a stretched animal skin without a head and feet, and she wants to know what animal the skin comes from and the gender. Bröselbart knows the secret answer—a female wolf—but he purposely guesses the wrong answer. Later, he returns as a beggar and provides the right answer. The Grimms allude to another version Giambattista Basile's “La Soperbia castecata” in
Il Pentamerone
(1634).

53. Little Snow White (Sneewittchen [Schneeweißchen]). Source: Ferdinand Grimm and Marie Hassenpflug.

The Grimms provide several different versions or summaries of other tales in their note:

a. A count and a countess drove by three mounds of white snow, and the count said: “I wish we had a little girl as white as this snow.” Soon thereafter they went by
three graves with red blood, and the count spoke again: “I wish we had a little girl with cheeks as red as this blood.” Finally, three black ravens flew above them, and he wished for a girl “with hair as black as these ravens.” As they continued traveling for some time, they came upon a girl as white as snow, as red as blood, and with hair as black as the ravens, and that was Snow White. The count had her take a seat in the coach right away and was very fond of her, while the countess did not take to her kindly at all. She only thought of how she might get rid of the girl. Finally, she let her glove fall out of the coach and ordered Snow White to go and look for it. As the girl did this, the coachman was ordered to drive on quickly. Now Snow White was alone and came to the dwarfs, and so on.

b. In another version, the queen travels into the forest and asks Little Snow White to pick some roses from the flowers standing along the side of the road and to make a bouquet. While Little Snow White is picking the flowers, the queen drives off and leaves her alone.

c. In the third version, a king loses his wife with whom he had an only daughter, Little Snow White. Then he takes a second wife with whom he has three daughters. The queen hates the stepdaughter because she is so wonderfully beautiful and treats her badly whenever she can. In the forest seven dwarfs live in a cave and kill any maiden who comes near them. The queen knows this, and since she herself doesn't exactly want to kill the maiden, she hopes to get rid of her by driving her out to the cave, where she tells her: “Go inside and wait there for me until I return.” Then she departs while Little Snow White rests in the cave and doesn't suspect anything. The dwarfs come, and initially, they want to kill her, but because she is so beautiful, they let her live, and in exchange for their mercy they say that she should keep house for them.

Now Little Snow White had owned a dog called Mirror, and after she had left the castle, he lies there sadly beneath a bench, and the queen asks him:

“Mirror, Mirror, lying on the mat,

Look all over, look in our land,

Who's the most beautiful in Engelland?”

The dog answers: “Little Snow White is more beautiful in the cave of the seven dwarfs than the queen her majesty with her three daughters.” All at once the queen realizes that Little Snow White is still alive and makes a poisoned lace for a corset. She takes it with her to the cave, calls Little Snow White and tells her to open up. Little Snow White doesn't want to do this because the seven dwarfs have forbidden her not to let anyone enter the cave, even her stepmother, because the queen wants to bring about her ruin. However, the queen tells Little Snow White that she doesn't have her daughters anymore because a knight had kidnapped them. So she wants to
live with Little Snow White and help her clean. Little Snow White takes pity on her and lets her enter. Then she ties the corset with the poisoned lace around Little Snow White so that she falls down dead to the ground. At this point the queen leaves the cave. Soon after the seven dwarfs come, take a knife, and cut the lace in two, and Little Snow White is revived. At the castle the queen asks Mirror lying beneath the bench who's the most beautiful in Engelland, and the dog gives her the same answer he gave before. So she makes a poisoned ribbon, travels to the cave, and talks to Little Snow White in such a persuasive way so that the maiden lets the queen enter again. And, once again, the queen ties the ribbon in Little Snow White's hair, and she falls down dead. But the seven dwarfs return and see what has happened. They cut the ribbon from her hair, and Little Snow White is revived. For the third time the queen asks the dog the same question and receives the same answer. So now she travels to the cave with a poisoned apple. Despite the fact that the dwarfs have warned her very much, Little Snow White is moved by the queen's pleas, opens the door, takes a bite of the apple, and falls down dead. This time, when the dwarfs arrive, they can't help her. Mirror, lying beneath the bench, tells the queen that she is the most beautiful. Meanwhile, the seven dwarfs build a silver coffin, lay Little Snow White inside, and place it beneath a tree in front of their cave. A prince comes by and asks the dwarfs to give him the coffin. So he takes it with him, and once he is home, he has Little Snow White set on a bed and cleaned as if she were alive, and he loves her more than anything in the world. A servant must always keep watch over her, and one time he becomes angry because of this: “Why should we treat a dead maiden as if she were alive?!” He hits her on her back, and a piece of the apple flies out of her mouth, and Little Snow White is alive again.

The Grimms compare this version with Johann Karl August Musäus's “Richilde” in
Volksmährchen der Deutschen
(1782).

54. Simple Hans (Hans Dumm). Source: Hassenpflug sisters.

The Grimms point to parallels with Giovan Francesco Straparola's “Pietro Pazzo,”
Le piacevoli notti
(1550), and Giambattista Basile's “Pervonto,”
Il Pentamerone
(1634).

55. Rumpelstiltskin (Rumpelstilzchen). Source: Hassenpflug family and Henriette Dorothea Wild.

The Grimms report that the name
Rumpelstilzchen
is derived from a game in Johann Fischart's game index in his translation of
Gargantua
, which appeared in German under the title
Geschichtklitterung
(1575).

The Grimms remark that the “Rumpelstilzchen” story itself begins differently from their version, and they provide a brief summary:

A little maiden was given a bunch of straw, which she was supposed to spin into flax, but she could only spin gold thread out of it, and not one single thread of flax came out of her wheel. She became sad and sat down on the roof and spun and spun
three days, but she could spin nothing but gold thread. All at once a little man came and said: I'll help you out of your predicament. A young prince will be coming by and will marry you, but you must promise to give me your firstborn child, and so on. In addition, the little man is discovered in a different way. One of the queen's maids goes into the forest during the night. She sees the little man riding on a cooking spoon around a fire, and so on. At the end of the tale the little man flies out of the window on a cooking spoon.

The Grimms mention that “Rumpelstilzchen” reminds them of a Nordic story about Fenia and Menia, who could grind everything that one wanted, and King Frode, who had them grind peace and gold.

In another summary that the Grimms provide, a woman walks by a garden in which there are beautiful cherries hanging from a tree. She has a craving to eat some and climbs into the garden and eats some. But a black man emerges from the earth, and she must promise her firstborn baby to him because of her theft. When the child is born, he pushes his way through all the guards that the husband had ordered to protect his wife, and the man will only let the woman keep her child if she guesses his name. Now the husband follows him and sees how the black man climbs into a cave that has cooking spoons hung all around it and hears that the man is called
Fleder Flitz
.

The Grimms also cite the important French tale “L'Histoire de Ricdin-Ricdon,” in Marie-Jean L'Héritier de Villandon's
La Tour tenébreuse et les jours lumineux
(1705).

56. Sweetheart Roland (Der liebste Roland). Source: Henriette Dorothea Wild or Johanna Christiane Fulda.

According to the Grimms, there is another version in which the two lovers stick a bean in a cake that is lying on the stove and is baking. When the stepmother awakes and calls her daughter, the bean answers every question for the daughter and says that the daughter is in the kitchen and is cooking. The bean does this just as long as the cake is still baking. When the cake is done, the bean becomes quiet. Its power is gone, and the mother becomes aware of what has been happening and finds her dead daughter.