The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (9 page)

4

GOOD BOWLING AND CARD PLAYING

Once upon a time there was an old king who had the most beautiful daughter in the world. One day he announced: “Whoever can keep watch in my old castle for three nights can have the princess for his bride.”

Now, there was a young man from a poor family who thought to himself, “Why not risk my life? I've got nothing to lose, and a lot to win. What's there to think about?”

So he appeared before the king and offered to keep watch in the castle for three nights.

“You may request three things to take with you into the castle, but they have to be lifeless objects,” the king said.

“Well, I'd like to take a carpenter's bench with a knife, a lathe, and fire.”

All of these things were carried into the castle for him. When it turned dark, he himself went inside. At first everything was quiet. He built a fire, placed the carpenter's bench with the knife next to it, and sat down at the lathe. Toward midnight, however, a rumbling could be heard, first softly, then more loudly: “
Bif! Baf! Hehe! Holla ho!
”

It became more dreadful, and then it was somewhat quiet. Finally, a leg came down the chimney and stood right before him.

“Hey, there!” the young man cried out. “How about some more? One is too little.”

The noise began once again. Another leg fell down the chimney and then another and another, until there were nine.

“That's enough now. I've got enough for bowling, but there are no balls. Out with them!”

There was a tremendous uproar, and two skulls fell down the chimney. He put them in the lathe and turned them until they were smooth. “Now they'll roll much better!”

Then he did the same with the legs and set them up like bowling pins.

“Hey, now I can have some fun!”

Suddenly two large black cats appeared and strode around the fire. “Meow! Meow!” they screeched. “We're freezing! We're freezing!”

“You fools! What are you screaming about? Sit down by the fire and warm yourselves.”

After the cats had warmed themselves, they said, “Good fellow, we want to play a round of cards.”

“All right,” he replied, “but show me your paws. You've got such long claws that I've got to give them a good clipping before we begin.”

Upon saying this, he grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks and lifted them to the carpenter's bench. There he fastened them to the vise and beat them to death. Afterward he carried them outside and threw them into a pond that lay across from the castle. Just as he returned to the castle and wanted to settle down and warm himself by the fire, many black cats and dogs came out of every nook and cranny, more and more, so that he couldn't hide himself. They screamed, stamped on the fire, and kicked it about so that the fire went out. So he grabbed his carving knife and yelled, “Get out of here, you riffraff!”

And he began swinging the knife. Most of the cats and dogs ran away. The others were killed, and he carried them out and threw them into the pond. Then he went back inside to the fire and blew the sparks so that the fire began again and he could warm himself.

After he had warmed himself, he was tired and lay down on a large bed that stood in a corner. Just as he wanted to fall asleep, the bed began to stir and raced around the entire castle.

“That's fine with me. Just keep it up!”

So the bed drove around as though six horses were pulling it over stairs and landings: “
Bing bang!
”

It turned upside down, from top to bottom, and he was beneath it. So he flung the blankets and pillows into the air and jumped off.

“Anyone who wants a ride can have one!”

Then he lay down next to the fire until dawn.

In the morning the king arrived, and when he saw the young man lying asleep, he thought he was dead and said, “What a shame.”

But when the young man heard these words, he awoke, and as soon as he saw the king, he stood up. Then the king asked him how things had gone during the night.

“Quite well. One night's gone by smoothly, the other two will go by as well.”

Indeed, the other nights were just like the first. But he already knew what to do, and so on the fourth day, he was rewarded with the king's beautiful daughter.

5

THE WOLF AND THE SEVEN KIDS

A goat had seven young kids, whom she loved very much and carefully protected from the wolf. One day, when she had to go and fetch some food, she called them all together and said, “Dear children, I must go out to find some food. So be on your guard against the wolf and don't let him inside. Pay close attention because he often disguises himself, but you can recognize him right away by his gruff voice and black paws. Protect yourselves. If he gets into the house, he'll eat you all up.”

Upon saying this, the goat went on her way, but it was not long before the wolf arrived at the door and called out, “Open up, dear children. I'm your mother and have brought you some beautiful things.”

But the seven kids said: “You're not our mother. She has a lovely, soft voice, and yours is gruff. You're the wolf, and we're not going to open the door.”

The wolf went away to a shopkeeper and bought a big piece of chalk, which he ate, and it made his voice soft. Then he returned to the house door of the seven kids and called out with a soft voice: “Dear children, let me in. I'm your mother, and I've brought something for each of you.”

But the wolf had put his paw on the windowsill, and when the children saw it, they said, “You're not our mother. She doesn't have a black paw like yours. You're the wolf. We're not going to open the door for you!”

So the wolf ran to a baker and said, “Baker, put some dough on my paws for me.”

And after that was done, the wolf went to the miller and said, “Sprinkle some white flour on my paws.”

The miller said no.

“If you don't do it, I'll eat you up!”

So the miller had to do it.

Now the wolf went once again to the house door of the seven kids and said, “Dear children, let me in. I'm your mother, and I've brought something for each of you.”

The seven kids wanted to see the paws first, and when they saw that they were snow white and heard the wolf speak so softly, they thought he was their mother and opened the door. Once the wolf entered, however, they recognized him and quickly hid themselves as best they could. The first kid slid under the table, the second hid in the bed, the third in the oven, the fourth in the kitchen, the fifth in the cupboard, the sixth under the large washbasin, and the seventh in the clock case. However, the wolf found them all and swallowed them, except for the youngest in the clock case, who remained alive.

When the wolf had satisfied his craving, he went off. Shortly thereafter, the mother goat came home, and oh, what a terrible sight! The wolf had been there and had devoured her dear children! She thought they were all dead, but then the youngest jumped out of the clock case and told her how everything had happened.

In the meantime, the wolf, who was stuffed, had gone to a green meadow, where he had lain himself down in the sun and had fallen into a deep sleep. The old goat thought she still might be able to save her children. Therefore, she said to the youngest kid: “Take the scissors, needle, and thread and follow me.”

After she left the house, she found the wolf lying on the ground in the meadow and snoring.

“There's that nasty wolf!” she said and inspected him from all sides. “There he is after eating my six children for supper. Give me the scissors! Oh, if only they're still alive inside him!”

Then she cut his belly open, and the six kids that had been swallowed whole by the gluttonous wolf jumped out and were unscathed. Immediately she ordered them to gather large and heavy stones and to bring them
to her. Then she filled his stomach with them, and the kids sewed him up again and hid behind a hedge.

When the wolf had finished sleeping, he felt that his stomach was very heavy and said: “It's rumbling and tumbling in my belly! It's rumbling and tumbling in my belly! And I've only eaten six kids!”

He thought he had better have a drink of fresh water to help himself, and he looked for a well, but when he leaned over, he couldn't stand straight because of the stones and fell into the water. When the seven kids saw this, they came running and danced joyfully around the well.

6

THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE BLINDWORM

Once upon a time there lived a nightingale and a blindworm, each with one eye. For a long time they lived together peacefully and harmoniously in a house. However, one day the nightingale was invited to a wedding, and she said to the blindworm, “I've been invited to a wedding and don't particularly want to go with one eye. Would you be so kind as to lend me yours? I'll bring it back to you tomorrow.”

The blindworm gave her the eye out of the kindness of her heart. But when the nightingale came home the following day, she liked having two eyes in her head and being able to see on both sides. So she refused to return the borrowed eye to the blindworm. Then the blindworm swore that she would avenge herself on the nightingale's children and the children of her children.

“Well,” replied the nightingale, “see if you can find me.

I'll build my nest in the linden, so high, so high, so high.

You'll never be able to find it, no matter how hard you try.”

Ever since that time all the nightingales have had two eyes, and all the blindworms, none. But wherever the nightingale builds her nest, a blindworm lives beneath it in the bushes and constantly tries to crawl up the tree, pierce the eggs of her enemy, and drink them up.

7

THE STOLEN PENNIES

One day a father was sitting at the table with his wife and children and a good friend who was visiting him, and they were having their noonday meal. As they were sitting there, the clock struck twelve, and the visitor saw the door open, and a pale child dressed in snow-white clothes entered. He didn't look around or say anything but went silently into the next room. Shortly thereafter he returned and went away just as quietly as he had entered. On the second and third day the child came again. Finally, the visitor asked the father who the beautiful child was that entered the room every day at noon. The father answered that he knew nothing about him. He hadn't seen anything.

The next day as the clock struck noon, the child entered again, and the visitor pointed the child out to the father, but he didn't see the boy. Neither did the mother nor the children. The visitor stood up, went to the door, opened it a little, and looked inside. There he saw the pale child sitting on the floor, digging and rummaging in the cracks of the boards. However, as soon as the child noticed the visitor, he disappeared. Now the visitor told the family what he had seen and gave an exact description of the boy. The mother was then able to recognize the child and said, “Alas, it's my own dear child who died four weeks ago.”

Then they ripped up the boards of the floor and found two pennies that the boy had received from his mother at one time to give to a poor man, but the child had thought, “You can buy yourself a biscuit for that.” Therefore, he had kept the pennies and had hidden them in the cracks of the floor. This is why he hadn't been able to rest in his grave and had come back every day at noon to look for the pennies. So the parents gave the money to a poor man, and after that the little child was never seen again.

8

THE HAND WITH THE KNIFE

There once was a little girl who had three brothers, and the boys meant the world to her mother. Yet the little girl was always neglected, treated
badly, and forced to go out early in the morning every day to dig up peat from the dry ground on the heath, which they used for making fires and cooking. To top it all off, she was given an old, blunt shovel to perform this nasty work.

But the little girl had an admirer who was an elf and lived in a hill near her mother's house. Whenever she went by the hill, he would stretch out his hand from the rocky slope and offer her a knife that had miraculous powers and could cut through anything. She used this knife to cut out the peat and would finish her work quickly. Then she would return home happily with the necessary load, and when she walked by the rocky slope, she would knock twice, and the hand would reach out and take back the knife.

When the mother noticed how swiftly and easily she came back home with the peat, she told the girl's brothers that there must be someone helping her; otherwise, it would be impossible for her to complete the work so fast. So the brothers crept after her and watched her receive the magic knife. They overtook her and forced her to give it to them. Then they returned to the rocky slope, knocked the way she had always done, and when the good elf stretched out his hand, they cut it off with his very own knife. The bloody arm drew back, and since the elf believed that his beloved had betrayed him, he was never seen after that.

9

THE TWELVE BROTHERS

Once upon a time there was a king who had twelve children, all boys. Moreover, he didn't want to have a daughter and said to his wife: “If you give birth to our thirteenth child, and it's a girl, I shall have the twelve boys killed. However, if it's a boy, then they'll all remain alive and stay together.”

The queen thought of talking him out of this, but the king refused to hear anything more about this topic.

“If everything turns out like I said, they must die. I'd rather chop off their heads myself than let a girl be among them.”

The queen was sad about this because she loved her sons with all her heart and didn't know how she could save them. Finally, she went to the youngest, who was her favorite, and revealed to him what the king had decided.