Mr. Fix-and-Finish

 16. Mr. Fix-and-Finish (Herr Fix und Fertig)

Fix-and-Finish had been a soldier for a long time, but because the war was over and there was nothing more to do than the same thing every day, he took his leave and wanted to become a footman for a great gentleman. There were clothes trimmed with gold, a lot to do, and always something new. So he set off and came to a strange court, where he saw a gentleman walking in the garden. Fix-and-Finish didn't think twice, but stepped up to him and said, "Sir, I'm looking for a job with a great gentleman. it's Yours. If your Majesty is like that, I can do it. I know everything that goes with it, and can do it as ordered."

The lord replied, "Alright, my son, I'd like that. Tell me what's my desire right now?"

Fix-and-Finish without answering turned around hurriedly, and came back with a pipe and tobacco.

"That's right, my son. You're now my servant, but now I'll give you the job of finding Princess Nomini for me, as she is the most beautiful woman in the world, and I want her for my wife."

"That's a simple task for me, and you'll soon have her. Give me only a carriage drawn by six horses, a coachman, guards, runners, lackeys, and a cook in complete states. I need princely clothes for myself, and everyone must obey my commands."

Well, they drove off, the servant sat in the carriage and went to the royal court where the beautiful princess was. When the road ended, they drove into the field and soon came to a large forest that was full of many thousands of birds. There was loud singing, which sounded magnificent in the blue air.

"Stop! Stop!" shouted Fix-and-Finish. "Don't disturb the birds! They praise their creator and will serve me someday. Turn left!”

So the coachman had to turn around and drive around the forest. After that it wasn't long before they came to a large field where about a thousand million ravens were sitting, crying loudly for food.

"Stop! Stop!" cried Fix-and-Finish. "Untie one of the horses in front, lead it into the field, and stab it to death so that the ravens are fed. They shall not suffer from hunger because of me."

After the ravens had their fill, the journey continued and they came to a body of water in which there was a fish, which lamented pitifully, “For God's sake! I have no food in this poor swamp. Place me in running water, and I will serve you someday."

Before he had even finished talking, Fix-and-Finish cried, "Cook, put him in your apron. Coachman, drive to the river."

Fix-and-Finish himself got out and the fish into the river, and the fish wagged its tail with joy. Then Mr. Fix-and-Finish said, "Now let the horses run quickly so that we can still be to the place by evening."

When he arrived at the royal residence he drove straight to the best inn, and the innkeeper and all his people came out, received him in the best way, and thought that a foreign king had arrived, even though he was only a gentleman's servant. Fix-and-Finish was immediately registered at the royal court, where he tried to make himself popular, and asked for the princess.

"My son," said the king, "Many suitors like you have already been turned away because nobody could do what I had asked them to do to win my daughter."

"All right," said Fix-and-Finish, "Give me a task."

So the king said, "I have had a quarter measure of poppy seeds sown. Can you bring them back for me so that not a single grain is missing? If so, you shall have the princess for your bride."

"That's a simple task for me," said Fix-and-Finish. Then he took a measuring tool, a sack, and snow-white cloths, and went out and spread the cloths beside the sown field. It wasn't long before the birds, which had not been disturbed in their singing in the forest, came and picked up the seeds, grain by grain, and carried them to the white cloths. When they had picked everything up, Fix-and-Finish threw all the grains into the sack, took the measuring tool under his arm, went to the king, and measured out the seeds. Now he thought the princess was his – but not yet.

"One more thing, my son," said the king. "My daughter lost her golden ring, and you must first get it back for me before you can have her."

"Majesty, just show me the river and the bridge where the ring was lost, and it shall soon be brought back."

When he got there, he looked down, and the fish that he had put into the river on his journey swam up, stretched its head out of the water, and said, "Wait a few minutes, and I will go down. A whale has the ring under its fin, and I'll get it."

He soon came back and threw it ashore. Fix-and-Finish brought it to the king, who said, "Now one more task. In the forest there is a unicorn, which has already done a lot of damage. If you can kill it, then there will be no more tasks."

Fix-and-Finish did not worry much, and went straight into the forest. There were the ravens which he had fed, and they said to him, "Be patient for a little while. The unicorn is lying down and sleeping, but not on the side where it can see. When it turns over we will peck out the one good eye it has. Then it will be blind and in its rage run against the trees which it will impale with its horn. Then it will be trapped and you can easily kill it."

Soon the animal rolled over a few times in its sleep and lay on its other side, and the ravens flew down and pecked out its good eye. As soon as it felt the pain, it jumped up and ran madly about in the forest, and soon it was stuck in a thick oak tree. So Fix-and-Finish sprang up, cut off his head, and brought it to the king, could no longer deny him his daughter. She was handed over to Fix-and-Finish, who immediately in full dress, as he had come, sat in the carriage with her, drove to his master, and brought him the loving princess. There he was well received, and the wedding was held in all splendor. And that's how Fix-and-Finish became the prime minister.

Everyone in the company where this story was told also wished to be at the party. One wanted to be a maid, one a cloakroom maid, one a valet, one a cook, etc.

My Notes

• This story only appeared in the original 1812 edition of the Grimms' collection and was removed from later editions.

Hansel and Gretel

 15. Hansel and Gretel (Haensel und Gretel)

Once upon a time there dwelt on the outskirts of a large forest a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children; the boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had always little enough to live on, and once, when there was a great famine in the land, he couldn’t even provide them with daily bread. One night, as he was tossing about in bed, full of cares and worry, he sighed and said to his wife: “What’s to become of us? how are we to support our poor children, now that we have nothing more for ourselves?” “I’ll tell you what, husband,” answered the woman; “early to-morrow morning we’ll take the children out into the thickest part of the wood; there we shall light a fire for them and give them each a piece of bread; then we’ll go on to our work and leave them alone. They won’t be able to find their way home, and we shall thus be rid of them.” “No, wife,” said her husband, “that I won’t do; how could I find it in my heart to leave my children alone in the wood? The wild beasts would soon come and tear them to pieces.” “Oh! you fool,” said she, “then we must all four die of hunger, and you may just as well go and plane the boards for our coffins”; and she left him no peace till he consented. “But I can’t help feeling sorry for the poor children,” added the husband.

The children, too, had not been able to sleep for hunger, and had heard what their step-mother had said to their father. Gretel wept bitterly and spoke to Hansel: “Now it’s all up with us.” “No, no, Gretel,” said Hansel, “don’t fret yourself; I’ll be able to find a way to escape, no fear.” And when the old people had fallen asleep he got up, slipped on his little coat, opened the back door and stole out. The moon was shining clearly, and the white pebbles which lay in front of the house glittered like bits of silver. Hansel bent down and filled his pocket with as many of them as he could cram in. Then he went back and said to Gretel: “Be comforted, my dear little sister, and go to sleep: God will not desert us”; and he lay down in bed again.

At daybreak, even before the sun was up, the woman came and woke the two children: “Get up, you lie-abeds, we’re all going to the forest to fetch wood.” She gave them each a bit of bread and said: “There’s something for your luncheon, but don’t you eat it up before, for it’s all you’ll get.” Gretel took the bread under her apron, as Hansel had the stones in his pocket. Then they all set out together on the way to the forest. After they had walked for a little, Hansel stood still and looked back at the house, and this maneuver he repeated again and again. His father observed him, and said: “Hansel, what are you gazing at there, and why do you always remain behind? Take care, and don’t lose your footing.” “Oh! father,” said Hansel, “I am looking back at my white kitten, which is sitting on the roof, waving me a farewell.” The woman exclaimed: “What a donkey you are! that isn’t your kitten, that’s the morning sun shining on the chimney.” But Hansel had not looked back at his kitten, but had always dropped one of the white pebbles out of his pocket on to the path.

When they had reached the middle of the forest the father said: “Now, children, go and fetch a lot of wood, and I’ll light a fire that you may not feel cold.” Hansel and Gretel heaped up brushwood till they had made a pile nearly the size of a small hill. The brushwood was set fire to, and when the flames leaped high the woman said: “Now lie down at the fire, children, and rest yourselves: we are going into the forest to cut down wood; when we’ve finished we’ll come back and fetch you.” Hansel and Gretel sat down beside the fire, and at midday ate their little bits of bread. They heard the strokes of the axe, so they thought their father was quite near. But it was no axe they heard, but a bough he had tied on a dead tree, and that was blown about by the wind. And when they had sat for a long time their eyes closed with fatigue, and they fell fast asleep. When they awoke at last it was pitch dark. Gretel began to cry, and said: “How are we ever to get out of the wood?” But Hansel comforted her. “Wait a bit,” he said, “till the moon is up, and then we’ll find our way sure enough.” And when the full moon had risen he took his sister by the hand and followed the pebbles, which shone like new threepenny bits, and showed them the path. They walked on through the night, and at daybreak reached their father’s house again. They knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it she exclaimed: “You naughty children, what a time you’ve slept in the wood! we thought you were never going to come back.” But the father rejoiced, for his conscience had reproached him for leaving his children behind by themselves.

Not long afterward there was again great dearth in the land, and the children heard their mother address their father thus in bed one night: “Everything is eaten up once more; we have only half a loaf in the house, and when that’s done it’s all up with us. The children must be got rid of; we’ll lead them deeper into the wood this time, so that they won’t be able to find their way out again. There is no other way of saving ourselves.” The man’s heart smote him heavily, and he thought: “Surely it would be better to share the last bite with one’s children!” But his wife wouldn’t listen to his arguments, and did nothing but scold and reproach him. If a man yields once he’s done for, and so, because he had given in the first time, he was forced to do so the second.

But the children were awake, and had heard the conversation. When the old people were asleep Hansel got up, and wanted to go out and pick up pebbles again, as he had done the first time; but the woman had barred the door, and Hansel couldn’t get out. But he consoled his little sister, and said: “Don’t cry, Gretel, and sleep peacefully, for God is sure to help us.”

At early dawn the woman came and made the children get up. They received their bit of bread, but it was even smaller than the time before. On the way to the wood Hansel crumbled it in his pocket, and every few minutes he stood still and dropped a crumb on the ground. “Hansel, what are you stopping and looking about you for?” said the father. “I’m looking back at my little pigeon, which is sitting on the roof waving me a farewell,” answered Hansel. “Fool!” said the wife; “that isn’t your pigeon, it’s the morning sun glittering on the chimney.” But Hansel gradually threw all his crumbs on the path. The woman led the children still deeper into the forest farther than they had ever been in their lives before. Then a big fire was lit again, and the mother said: “Just sit down there, children, and if you’re tired you can sleep a bit; we’re going into the forest to cut down wood, and in the evening when we’re finished we’ll come back to fetch you.” At midday Gretel divided her bread with Hansel, for he had strewn his all along their path. Then they fell asleep, and evening passed away, but nobody came to the poor children. They didn’t awake till it was pitch dark, and Hansel comforted his sister, saying: “Only wait, Gretel, till the moon rises, then we shall see the bread-crumbs I scattered along the path; they will show us the way back to the house.” When the moon appeared they got up, but they found no crumbs, for the thousands of birds that fly about the woods and fields had picked them all up. “Never mind,” said Hansel to Gretel; “you’ll see we’ll find a way out”; but all the same they did not. They wandered about the whole night, and the next day, from morning till evening, but they could not find a path out of the wood. They were very hungry, too, for they had nothing to eat but a few berries they found growing on the ground. And at last they were so tired that their legs refused to carry them any longer, so they lay down under a tree and fell fast asleep.

On the third morning after they had left their father’s house they set about their wandering again, but only got deeper and deeper into the wood, and now they felt that if help did not come to them soon they must perish. At midday they saw a beautiful little snow-white bird sitting on a branch, which sang so sweetly that they stopped still and listened to it. And when its song was finished it flapped its wings and flew on in front of them. They followed it and came to a little house, on the roof of which it perched; and when they came quite near they saw that the cottage was made of bread and roofed with cakes, while the window was made of transparent sugar. “Now we’ll set to,” said Hansel, “and have a regular feast. I’ll eat a bit of the roof, and you, Gretel, can eat some of the window, which you’ll find a sweet morsel.” Hansel stretched up his hand and broke off a little bit of the roof to see what it was like, and Gretel went to the casement and began to nibble at it. Thereupon a shrill voice called out from the room inside:

  “Nibble, nibble, little mouse,
  Who’s that nibbling at my house?”
 

The children answered:

  “Tis Heaven’s own child,
  The tempest wild,”
 

and went on eating, without putting themselves about. Hansel, who thoroughly appreciated the roof, tore down a big bit of it, while Gretel pushed out a whole round window-pane, and sat down the better to enjoy it. Suddenly the door opened, and an ancient dame leaning on a staff hobbled out. Hansel and Gretel were so terrified that they let what they had in their hands fall. But the old woman shook her head and said: “Oh, ho! you dear children, who led you here? Just come in and stay with me, no ill shall befall you.” She took them both by the hand and let them into the house, and laid a most sumptuous dinner before them—milk and sugared pancakes, with apples and nuts. After they had finished, two beautiful little white beds were prepared for them, and when Hansel and Gretel lay down in them they felt as if they had got into heaven.

The old woman had appeared to be most friendly, but she was really an old witch who had waylaid the children, and had only built the little bread house in order to lure them in. When anyone came into her power she killed, cooked, and ate him, and held a regular feast-day for the occasion. Now witches have red eyes, and cannot see far, but, like beasts, they have a keen sense of smell, and know when human beings pass by. When Hansel and Gretel fell into her hands she laughed maliciously, and said jeeringly: “I’ve got them now; they shan’t escape me.” Early in the morning, before the children were awake, she rose up, and when she saw them both sleeping so peacefully, with their round rosy cheeks, she muttered to herself: “That’ll be a dainty bite.” Then she seized Hansel with her bony hand and carried him into a little stable, and barred the door on him; he might scream as much as he liked, it did him no good. Then she went to Gretel, shook her till she awoke, and cried: “Get up, you lazy-bones, fetch water and cook something for your brother. When he’s fat I’ll eat him up.” Gretel began to cry bitterly, but it was of no use; she had to do what the wicked witch bade her.

So the best food was cooked for poor Hansel, but Gretel got nothing but crab-shells. Every morning the old woman hobbled out to the stable and cried: “Hansel, put out your finger, that I may feel if you are getting fat.” But Hansel always stretched out a bone, and the old dame, whose eyes were dim, couldn’t see it, and thinking always it was Hansel’s finger, wondered why he fattened so slowly. When four weeks had passed and Hansel still remained thin, she lost patience and determined to wait no longer. “Hi, Gretel,” she called to the girl, “be quick and get some water. Hansel may be fat or thin, I’m going to kill him to-morrow and cook him.” Oh! how the poor little sister sobbed as she carried the water, and how the tears rolled down her cheeks! “Kind God help us now!” she cried; “if only the wild beasts in the wood had eaten us, then at least we should have died together.” “Just hold your peace,” said the old hag; “it won’t help you.”

Early in the morning Gretel had to go out and hang up the kettle full of water, and light the fire. “First we’ll bake,” said the old dame; “I’ve heated the oven already and kneaded the dough.” She pushed Gretel out to the oven, from which fiery flames were already issuing. “Creep in,” said the witch, “and see if it’s properly heated, so that we can shove in the bread.” For when she had got Gretel in she meant to close the oven and let the girl bake, that she might eat her up too. But Gretel perceived her intention, and said: “I don’t know how I’m to do it; how do I get in?” “You silly goose!” said the hag, “the opening is big enough; see, I could get in myself,” and she crawled toward it, and poked her head into the oven. Then Gretel gave her a shove that sent her right in, shut the iron door, and drew the bolt. Gracious! how she yelled, it was quite horrible; but Gretel fled, and the wretched old woman was left to perish miserably.

Gretel flew straight to Hansel, opened the little stable-door, and cried: “Hansel, we are free; the old witch is dead.” Then Hansel sprang like a bird out of a cage when the door is opened. How they rejoiced, and fell on each other’s necks, and jumped for joy, and kissed one another! And as they had no longer any cause for fear, they went in the old hag’s house, and here they found, in every corner of the room, boxes with pearls and precious stones. “These are even better than pebbles,” said Hansel, and crammed his pockets full of them; and Gretel said: “I too will bring something home,” and she filled her apron full. “But now,” said Hansel, “let’s go and get well away from the witch’s wood.” When they had wandered about for some hours they came to a big lake. “We can’t get over,” said Hansel; “I see no bridge of any sort or kind.” “Yes, and there’s no ferry-boat either,” answered Gretel; “but look, there swims a white duck; if I ask her she’ll help us over,” and she called out:

  “Here are two children, mournful very,
  Seeing neither bridge nor ferry;
  Take us upon your white back,
  And row us over, quack, quack, quack!”

The duck swam toward them, and Hansel got on her back and bade his little sister sit beside him. “No,” answered Gretel, “we should be too heavy a load for the duck: she shall carry us across separately.” The good bird did this, and when they were landed safely on the other side, and had gone for a while, the wood became more and more familiar to them, and at length they saw their father’s house in the distance. Then they set off to run, and bounding into the room fell on their father’s neck. The man had not passed a happy hour since he left them in the wood, but the woman had died. Gretel shook out her apron so that the pearls and precious stones rolled about the room, and Hansel threw down one handful after the other out of his pocket. Thus all their troubles were ended, and they lived happily ever afterward.

Sing everyone,

My story is done,
And look! round the house
There runs a little mouse,
He that can catch her before she scampers in,

May make a large fur cap out of her skin.

My Notes

• This is the translation of May Sellar from Andrew Lang's "The Blue Fairy Book," with minor corrections. The translation of the rhyme at the end is taken from Lucy Crane's translation of the story.
• This is tale type 327A.
• In the original 1810 manuscript, the tale was called "Little Brother and Little Sister," which was used for the title of a different tale in the collection. This leads to the two stories sometimes being confused.
• The female protagonist's name can be variously translated as "Gretel," Grettel," and "Grethel."
• This story was present in all seven editions of Grimms' collection, and was always placed as the fifteenth tale. However, the story was greatly expanded upon as various edits were made, most notably by changing the mother into a stepmother, and adding the adventure with the duck at the end.

1812 version

On the outskirts of a large forest lived a poor woodcutter who had nothing to bite or to break, and hardly any daily bread for his wife and his two children, Hansel and Gretel. One day he was no longer able to manage that either, and didn't know what to do in his distress. As he tossed and turned in bed with worry in the evening, his wife said to him, "Listen, husband. Take the two children tomorrow morning, give each of them a piece of bread, then take them out into the middle of the forest where it is thickest, light them a fire, and then go away and leave them there, for we can feed them no longer."

"No, wife, said the man. "I cannot bring myself to lead my own dear children to the wild beasts that they would soon tear them to pieces"

"If you don't do it," said the woman, "we'll all die of starvation together." And she wouldn't let him rest until he said yes.

The two children were still awake from hunger and had heard everything that their mother had said to their father. Gretel thought it was all over and began to cry miserably, but Hansel said, "Be quiet, Gretel, and don't be sad, I have a plan."

With that he got up, put on his little coat, and opened the lower door and snuck out. The moon shone brightly and the white pebbles shone like silver coin. Hansel bent down and filled his coat pocket with as many pebbles as he could fit, then he went back into the house. "Comfort yourself, Gretel, and sleep peacefully," he said before he lay back on the bed and fell asleep.

Early in the morning, before the sun had even risen, the mother came and woke them both, saying, "Get up, you children, we are going into the forest. He is a piece of bread for each of you, but save it for midday.”

Gretel put the bread under her apron because Hansel had the pebbles in his pocket, and they set off into the forest. After they had walked for a while, Hansel stood still and looked back at the house, and continued to do so again and again.

"Hansel, why are you stopping and looking back?" asked the father. "Take care and march on."

"Oh, father," said Hansel, "I'm looking after my white kitten, who is sitting up on the roof and wants to say goodbye to me."

"Fool," said the mother. "That's not your kitten. That's the morning sun shining on the chimney."

But Hansel hadn't looked after the kitten, but had always thrown one of the shiny pebbles out of his pocket onto the path.

When they came to the middle of the forest, the father said, "Now gather wood, children. I will light a fire so we don't freeze."

Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood up into a small pile. They lit it, and when the flame was burning bright, the mother said, "Now lie down by the fire and go to sleep. We are going to cut wood in the forest. Wait until we come back and fetch you."

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire until noon, when they each ate their little piece of bread, and then again until evening, but father and mother stayed away and nobody came to fetch them. As the night grew dark, Gretel began to cry, but Hansel said, "Wait a little while, until the moon has risen."

And when the moon had risen, he took Gretel's hand, and there lay the pebbles shimmering like newly minted coins showing them the way. So they walked through the whole night, and when it was morning they came back to their father's house. The father was very happy when he saw his children again, for he had hated to leave them alone. The mother also pretended to be happy, but secretly she was angry.

Not long afterwards, there was again no bread in the house, and Hansel and Gretel heard their mother say to their father in the evening, "The children found their way back one time, and I let it be, but now there is only half a loaf of bread left in the house, so tomorrow you must lead them deeper into the forest so that they cannot come home again. Otherwise there is no help for us."

The man's heart fell heavily and he thought it would be better if if they shared the last morsel with the children, but because he had done so before, he could not say no. Hansel and Gretel overheard their parents talking, and Hansel got up and tried to gather up more pebbles, but when he got to the door his mother had locked it. But he comforted Gretel and said, "Just go to sleep, dear Gretel, for God will help us."

In the morning they received their piece of bread, even smaller than before. On the way Hansel crumbled it in his pocket, and repeatedly stood still to throw a crumb on the ground.

"Why do you always stop and look around, Hansel," said the father. "Keep up with us."

"Oh!" said Hansel. "I'm looking after my little dove, who is sitting on the roof and wants to bid me farewell."

"You fool," said the mother. "That's not your dove. That's the morning sun shining on the chimney."

But Hansel crumbled all his bread and threw the crumbs onto the road.

The mother led them even deeper into the forest, where they had never been in their lives, where they were told to fall asleep again by a big fire, and in the evening their parents would come and fetch them. At noon Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, because he had scattered all of his on the road, Noon passed and evening passed, but no one came to fetch the poor children. Hansel comforted Gretel and said, "Wait until the moon rises, then I will see the crumbs of bread that I have scattered, and they will show us the way home."

The moon rose, but when Hansel looked for the crumbs they were gone, because the thousands of little birds in the forest had found them and picked them up. Hansel still  thought he could find his way home and took Gretel with him, but they soon got lost in the great wilderness and walked all night and all day, and fell asleep from exhaustion. They went on again the next day, but they did not come out of the forest, and were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but a few little berries that were left on the ground.

On the third day they walked again until noon, and came to a little house built entirely of bread and covered with cakes, and the windows were of white sugar.

"Let's sit down and eat our fill," said Hansel. "I'll eat from the roof, and you can eat from the window, Gretel, as it will be sweet for you."

Hansel had already eaten a good piece of the roof and Gretel had already eaten a few round window panes and just broke out a new one when they heard her a thin voice calling out from within:

"Nibble, nibble, little mouse,

Who's that nibbling at my house?“

Hansel and Gretel were so frightened that they dropped what they were holding, and immediately afterwards they saw a little old woman walking out of the door . She shook her head and said, "Hello, dear children, where did you run from? Come into the house with me, and you shall have good food."

She took them both by the hand and led them into her little house. Good food was served, milk and pancakes with sugar, apples and nuts, and then two beautiful little beds were prepared, and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them and thought they were in Heaven.

But the old woman was a wicked witch, who ambushed children and had built her little bread house to lure them, and if one came into her power, she killed it, boiled it and ate it, and it was a feast day for her. So she was really happy when Hansel and Gretel came to her.

Early in the morning, before they were awake, she got up and went to the little beds, and when she saw the two resting so lovely, she was happy and thought, "This will be a good meal for you."

She grabbed Hansel and put him in a little stable, and when he woke up he was surrounded by a grating like the ones used to lock up young hens and could only walk a few steps. Then the witch shook Gretel and cried, "Get up, you slacker! Fetch water and go to the kitchen and cook a good meal, your brother is locked in a stable, and I plan to make him fat. When he's fat I will eat him, and you shall be the one to feed him."

Gretel was startled and wept, but had to do what the witch asked. Every day the best food was cooked for Hansel so that he should get fat, but Gretel got nothing but crab shells, and every day the old woman came to Hansel and said, "Hansel, stretch out your fingers so that I can feel if you'll soon be fat enough."

But Hansel kept sticking out a little bone for her, and she was amazed that he didn't gain weight at all.

Four weeks later she said to Gretel one evening, "Be quick; go and bring water! Your little brother may or may not be fat enough, but tomorrow I will kill and boil him, and I will prepare the dough so that we can bake!"

Gretel went with a sad heart and carried the water in which Hansel was to be boiled. Gretel had to get up early in the morning, light the fire and hang up the kettle with water. "Now watch until it boils," said the witch, "and I will light the oven and put the bread in it."

Gretel stood in the kitchen and cried bloody tears, and  said to herself, "I would have preferred if the wild animals in the forest had eaten us. Then we would have died together and and wouldn't have such heartache, and I would not myself have to boil the water for my dear brother's death. Dear God, please help us poor children to get out of this trouble!"

Then the old woman said, "Gretel, come over here to the oven,"

When Gretel came, the old woman said, "Look inside and see if the bread is brown and finished. My eyes are weak, and I can't see that far, and if you can't either, sit down on the board and I will push you in, so that you can walk around inside the oven and have a look."

But once Gretel was inside it, she planned to shut the door and bake Gretel in the hot oven, because she wanted to eat her up as well. That's what the wicked witch planned, and that's why she had called Gretel. But God gave Gretel an idea and she said, "I don't know how to do it. Show me first. Sit on it, and I'll push you on it."

So the old woman sat on the board, and, because she was light, Gretel pushed her into the oven as far as she could, and then she quickly shut the door and fastened the iron bolt. The old woman began to scream and cry in the hot oven, but Gretel ran away and she left her to burn miserably.

She ran to Hansel, opened his little door for him, and Hansel jumped out. They kissed each other and were happy. The whole house was full of precious stones and pearls, so they filled their pockets, went away, and found their way home. The father was happy to see them again, because he had not had a happy day since his children were away, and now he became a rich man. But the mother had died.

Hateful Flax Spinning/The Three Spinning Women

 14. The Three Spinning Women (Die drei Spinnerinnen)

There was once a girl who was idle and would not spin, and let her mother say what she would, she could not bring her to it. At last the mother was once so overcome with anger and impatience, that she beat her, on which the girl began to weep loudly. Now at this very moment the Queen drove by, and when she heard the weeping she stopped her carriage, went into the house and asked the mother why she was beating her daughter so that the cries could be heard out on the road? Then the woman was ashamed to reveal the laziness of her daughter and said, “I cannot get her to leave off spinning. She insists on spinning for ever and ever, and I am poor, and cannot procure the flax.” Then answered the Queen, “There is nothing that I like better to hear than spinning, and I am never happier than when the wheels are humming. Let me have your daughter with me in the palace. I have flax enough, and there she shall spin as much as she likes.” The mother was heartily satisfied with this, and the Queen took the girl with her. When they had arrived at the palace, she led her up into three rooms which were filled from the bottom to the top with the finest flax. “Now spin me this flax,” said she, “and when thou hast done it, thou shalt have my eldest son for a husband, even if thou art poor. I care not for that, thy indefatigable industry is dowry enough.” The girl was secretly terrified, for she could not have spun the flax, no, not if she had lived till she was three hundred years old, and had sat at it every day from morning till night. When therefore she was alone, she began to weep, and sat thus for three days without moving a finger. On the third day came the Queen, and when she saw that nothing had been spun yet, she was surprised; but the girl excused herself by saying that she had not been able to begin because of her great distress at leaving her mother’s house. The queen was satisfied with this, but said when she was going away, “To-morrow thou must begin to work.”

When the girl was alone again, she did not know what to do, and in her distress went to the window. Then she saw three women coming towards her, the first of whom had a broad flat foot, the second had such a great underlip that it hung down over her chin, and the third had a broad thumb. They remained standing before the window, looked up, and asked the girl what was amiss with her? She complained of her trouble, and then they offered her their help and said, “If thou wilt invite us to the wedding, not be ashamed of us, and wilt call us thine aunts, and likewise wilt place us at thy table, we will spin up the flax for thee, and that in a very short time.” “With all my heart,” she replied, “do but come in and begin the work at once.” Then she let in the three strange women, and cleared a place in the first room, where they seated themselves and began their spinning. The one drew the thread and trod the wheel, the other wetted the thread, the third twisted it, and struck the table with her finger, and as often as she struck it, a skein of thread fell to the ground that was spun in the finest manner possible. The girl concealed the three spinners from the Queen, and showed her whenever she came the great quantity of spun thread, until the latter could not praise her enough. When the first room was empty she went to the second, and at last to the third, and that too was quickly cleared. Then the three women took leave and said to the girl, “Do not forget what thou hast promised us,—it will make thy fortune.”

When the maiden showed the Queen the empty rooms, and the great heap of yarn, she gave orders for the wedding, and the bridegroom rejoiced that he was to have such a clever and industrious wife, and praised her mightily. “I have three aunts,” said the girl, “and as they have been very kind to me, I should not like to forget them in my good fortune; allow me to invite them to the wedding, and let them sit with us at table.” The Queen and the bridegroom said, “Why should we not allow that?” Therefore when the feast began, the three women entered in strange apparel, and the bride said, “Welcome, dear aunts.” “Ah,” said the bridegroom, “how comest thou by these odious friends?” Thereupon he went to the one with the broad flat foot, and said, “How do you come by such a broad foot?” “By treading,” she answered, “by treading.” Then the bridegroom went to the second, and said, “How do you come by your falling lip?” “By licking,” she answered, “by licking.” Then he asked the third, “How do you come by your broad thumb?” “By twisting the thread,” she answered, “by twisting the thread.” On this the King’s son was alarmed and said, “Neither now nor ever shall my beautiful bride touch a spinning-wheel.” And thus she got rid of the hateful flax-spinning.

My Notes

• This is the translation of  Margaret Hunt.
• This is tale type 501.
• This story was originally titled "Von dem boesen Flachsspinnen" (Hateful Flax Spinning) in the original 1812 edition of the collection, but was present in all seven editions, and was always placed as the fourteenth tale. The story was heavily revised and expanded.

1812 version (Hateful Flax Spinning)

Once upon a time there lived a king who liked nothing better than spinning flax, and the queen and his daughters had to spin all day, and if he didn't hear the wheels whirring, he was angry.

One day he had to go on a journey, and before he said goodbye he gave the queen a large box of flax and said, "It must be spun before I return."

The princesses became sad and wept, saying, "If we are to spin all of this, we must sit all day and won't be allowed to get up even once."

But the queen said, "Comfort yourselves, and I will help you."

There were three particularly ugly maids in the country; the first had such a large lower lip that it hung down over the chin, the second's right-hand index finger so thick and broad that you could have made three other fingers out of it, and the third had a thick, wide, flat foot, as wide as half a cake board. The queen summoned these three women, and on the day the king was to come home, she sat all three side by side in her room, gave them their spinning wheels where they had to spin, and she also told each one how to answer the king's questions.

When the king arrived, and heard the whirring of the wheels from afar, was heartily happy, and thought of praising his daughters. But when he came into the room and saw the three ugly maids sitting there, he got a fright, and he went up to the first and asked where she got her terribly large lower lip from.

"From licking, from licking!" she answered.

Then he asked the second how she got such a large finger.

"From twisting from the thread, from twisting the thread!" she answered, and she let the thread twist around her finger a few times.

Finally he asked the third where her large foot came from.

"From peddling, from peddling!" she answered.

When the king heard this, he commanded the queen and the princesses never to touch a spinning wheel ever again, and so they were relieved of their torment.

The Three Little Men in the Wood

 13. The Three Little Men in the Wood (Die drei Maennlein im Walde)

There was once a man, whose wife was dead, and a woman, whose husband was dead; and the man had a daughter, and so had the woman. The girls were acquainted with each other, and used to play together sometimes in the woman's house. So the woman said to the man's daughter,

"Listen to me, tell your father that I will marry him, and then you shall have milk to wash in every morning and wine to drink, and my daughter shall have water to wash in and water to drink."

The girl went home and told her father what the woman had said. The man said,

"What shall I do! Marriage is a joy, and also a torment."

At last, as he could come to no conclusion, he took off his boot, and said to his daughter,

"Take this boot, it has a hole in the sole; go up with it into the loft, hang it on the big nail and pour water in it. If it holds water, I will once more take to me a wife; if it lets out the water, so will I not."

The girl did as she was told, but the water held the hole together, and the boot was full up to the top. So she went and told her father how it was. And he went up to see with his own eyes, and as there was no mistake about it, he went to the widow and courted her, and then they had the wedding.

The next morning, when the two girls awoke, there stood by the bedside of the man's daughter milk to wash in and wine to drink, and by the bedside of the woman's daughter there stood water to wash in and water to drink.

On the second morning there stood water to wash in and water to drink for both of them alike. On the third morning there stood water to wash in and water to drink for the man's daughter, and milk to wash in and wine to drink for the woman's daughter; and so it remained ever after. The woman hated her step-daughter, and never knew how to treat her badly enough from one day to another. And she was jealous because her step-daughter was pleasant and pretty, and her real daughter was ugly and hateful.

Once in winter, when it was freezing hard, and snow lay deep on hill and valley, the woman made a frock out of paper, called her step-daughter, and said,

"Here, put on this frock, go out into the wood and fetch me a basket of strawberries; I have a great wish for some."

"Oh dear," said the girl, "there are no strawberries to be found in winter; the ground is frozen, and the snow covers everything. And why should I go in the paper frock? it is so cold out of doors that one's breath is frozen; the wind will blow through it, and the thorns will tear it off my back!"

"How dare you contradict me!" cried the step-mother, "be off, and don't let me see you again till you bring me a basket of strawberries."

Then she gave her a little piece of hard bread, and said,

"That will do for you to eat during the day," and she thought to herself, "She is sure to be frozen or starved to death out of doors, and I shall never set eyes on her again."

So the girl went obediently, put on the paper frock, and started out with the basket. The snow was lying everywhere, far and wide, and there was not a blade of green to be seen. When she entered the wood she saw a little house with three little men peeping out of it. She wished them good day, and knocked modestly at the door. They called her in, and she came into the room and sat down by the side of the oven to warm herself and eat her breakfast. The little men said,

"Give us some of it."

"Willingly," answered she, breaking her little piece of bread in two, and giving them half. They then said,

"What are you doing here in the forest this winter time in your little thin frock?"

"Oh," answered she, "I have to get a basket of strawberries, and I must not go home without them."

When she had eaten her bread they gave her a broom, and told her to go and sweep the snow away from the back door. When she had gone outside to do it the little men talked among themselves about what they should do for her, as she was so good and pretty, and had shared her bread with them.

Then the first one said, "She shall grow prettier every day."

The second said, "Each time she speaks a piece of gold shall fall from her mouth."

The third said, "A king shall come and take her for his wife."

In the meanwhile the girl was doing as the little men had told her, and had cleared the snow from the back of the little house, and what do you suppose she found? fine ripe strawberries, showing dark red against the snow! Then she joyfully filled her little basket full, thanked the little men, shook hands with them all, and ran home in haste to bring her step-mother the thing she longed for. As she went in and said, "Good evening," a piece of gold fell from her mouth at once. Then she related all that had happened to her in the wood, and at each word that she spoke gold pieces fell out of her mouth, so that soon they were scattered all over the room.

"Just look at her pride and conceit!" cried the step-sister, "throwing money about in this way!" but in her heart she was jealous because of it, and wanted to go too into the wood to fetch strawberries. But the mother said,

"No, my dear little daughter, it is too cold, you will be frozen to death."

But she left her no peace, so at last the mother gave in, got her a splendid fur coat to put on, and gave her bread and butter and cakes to eat on the way.

The girl went into the wood and walked straight up to the little house. The three little men peeped out again, but she gave them no greeting, and without looking round or taking any notice of them she came stumping into the room, sat herself down by the oven, and began to eat her bread and butter and cakes.

"Give us some of that," cried the little men, but she answered,

"I've not enough for myself; how can I give away any?"

Now when she had done with her eating, they said,

"Here is a broom, go and sweep all clean by the back door."

"Oh, go and do it yourselves," answered she; "I am not your housemaid."

But when she saw that they were not going to give her anything, she went out to the door. Then the three little men said among themselves,

"What shall we do to her, because she is so unpleasant, and has such a wicked jealous heart, grudging everybody everything?"

The first said, "She shall grow uglier every day."

The second said, "Each time she speaks a toad shall jump out of her mouth at every word."

The third said, "She shall die a miserable death."

The girl was looking outside for strawberries, but as she found none, she went sulkily home. And directly she opened her mouth to tell her mother what had happened to her in the forest a toad sprang out of her mouth at each word, so that every one who came near her was quite disgusted.

The step-mother became more and more set against the man's daughter, whose beauty increased day by day, and her only thought was how to do her some injury. So at last she took a kettle, set it on the fire, and scalded some yarn in it. When it was ready she hung it over the poor girl's shoulder, and gave her an axe, and she was to go to the frozen river and break a hole in the ice, and there to rinse the yarn. She obeyed, and went and hewed a hole in the ice, and as she was about it there came by a splendid coach, in which the King sat. The coach stood still, and the King said,

"My child, who art thou, and what art thou doing there?" She answered,

"I am a poor girl, and am rinsing yarn."

Then the King felt pity for her, and as he saw that she was very beautiful, he said,

"Will you go with me?"

"Oh yes, with all my heart," answered she; and she felt very glad to be out of the way of her mother and sister.

So she stepped into the coach and went off with the King; and when they reached his castle the wedding was celebrated with great splendour, as the little men in the forest had foretold.

At the end of a year the young Queen had a son; and as the step-mother had heard of her great good fortune she came with her daughter to the castle, as if merely to pay the King and Queen a visit. One day, when the King had gone out, and when nobody was about, the bad woman took the Queen by the head, and her daughter took her by the heels, and dragged her out of bed, and threw her out of the window into a stream that flowed beneath it. Then the old woman put her ugly daughter in the bed, and covered her up to her chin. When the King came back, and wanted to talk to his wife a little, the old woman cried,

"Stop, stop! she is sleeping nicely; she must be kept quiet to-day."

The King dreamt of nothing wrong, and came again the next morning; and as he spoke to his wife, and she answered him, there jumped each time out of her mouth a toad instead of the piece of gold as heretofore. Then he asked why that should be, and the old woman said it was because of her great weakness, and that it would pass away.

But in the night, the boy who slept in the kitchen saw how something in the likeness of a duck swam up the gutter, and said,—

"What does the King, I pray you tell,Is he awake or sleeps he well?"

But there was no answer. Then it said,

"And all my guests, are they asleep?"

So the kitchen-boy answered,

"Yes, one and all they slumber deep"

It asked again,

"And what about my baby dear?"

And he answered,

"Oh, it sleeps soundly, never fear."

Then the duck took the shape of the Queen and went to the child, and gave him to drink, smoothed his little bed, covered him up again, and then, in the likeness of a duck, swam back down the gutter. In this way she came two nights, and on the third she said to the kitchen-boy,

"Go and tell the King to brandish his sword three times over me on the threshold!"

Then the kitchen-boy ran and told the King, and he came with his sword and brandished it three times over the duck, and at the third time his wife stood before him living, and hearty, and sound, as she had been before.

The King was greatly rejoiced, but he hid the Queen in a chamber until the Sunday came when the child was to be baptized. And after the baptism he said,

"What does that person deserve who drags another out of bed and throws him in the water?"

And the old woman answered,

"No better than to be put into a barrel with iron nails stuck through it, and to be rolled in it down the hill into the water."

Then said the King,

"You have spoken your own sentence;" and he ordered a barrel to be fetched, and the old woman and her daughter were put into it, and the top hammered down, and the barrel was rolled down the hill into the river.

My Notes

• This is the translation of Lucy Crane, with minor corrections.
• This is tale type 480 (The Kind and Unkind Girls). Other famous tales of this type include the Russian folk tale "The Twelve Months," Perrault's "The Fairies" (also known as "Diamonds and Toads"), the English folktale "The Three Heads of the Well," and Grimms' "Mother Holle."
• This story was present in all seven editions of Grimms' collection, and was always placed as the twelfth tale. However, the story was greatly expanded upon as various edits were made.

1812 version

A man's wife died and he wasn't sure if he should marry again or not. Finally he took off his boot, which had a hole in the sole, and said to his daughter, his only child, "Take this boot, carry it to the loft where there is a big nail, hang it on it, then fetch water and pour it in. If he holds the water, I will marry again, but if it leaks, I will remain unmarried."

The girl did as she was told, but the water closed the hole and the boot was filled to the brim. The man checked himself to see if it was true, then he said, "I guess I have to marry."

So he went and wooed a widow. She also brought into the house a daughter by her first husband, and when she saw that her stepchild was beautiful and everyone loved her, she hated her.

One day, in the middle of winter, when the snow was deep, she made a dress from thin paper, and when it was finished she called the stepchild and said, "I want to eat some strawberries. Put on the dress, go into the forest, and look for the basketful. Don't you dare come home until you've filled it!"

The girl cried bitterly and said, "In winter strawberries don't grow in the forest, and even if they did there would be snow on top of them. How am I supposed to find them? It's so cold outside that my breath will freeze. And how can I go in this paper dress? The wind will blow through it and the thorns will tear it off me."

"Not another word," said mother. "Go out at once and look for the strawberries!" In her envious heart she thought that the girl would freeze to death and never come home; that's why she had made her the thin paper dress.

The girl obediently put on the paper dress and went into the forest, but there was nothing but snow and not a single green blade to be seen anywhere. She went on and on, and when she got to the middle of the forest she saw a small house with three little men looking out of it. She said hello to them, and, because she greeted them so politely, they asked why she was was wearing the thin paper dress and searching in the forest in wintertime.

"Oh!" she said, "I'm supposed to look for a basketful of strawberries and I mustn't come home until I bring it with me."

The three men then said, "Go behind our house and clear away the snow, that's where the strawberries have had shelter and have grown, so you will find them there."

The girl thanked them and did as she was told. While she was clearing away the snow and picking the strawberries, the three little men said among themselves, "What should we give her, because she has been so nice to us and is so beautiful?"

"She will be even more beautiful," said the first.

"Gold coins will fall out of her mouth when she speaks," said the second.

"A king will come and marry her," said the third.

Then girl again came to them again and they gave their gifts to her, and, when she tried to say thank you, gold coins fell out of her mouth. She went home and the stepmother was amazed at the strawberries she brought, and was even more amazed when she saw the gold coins falling out of her mouth. And it was not long before a king came and fetched her, and she became his wife.

Now the mother wanted her daughter to also receive such great happiness. So she made her a splendid fur coat and told her to go out into the forest and ask the little men for a present. But the men saw that she had a bad heart, and instead of good presents they gave her bad ones. The first, that she would freeze in her fur coat as if it were made of paper. The second, that she would become uglier each day. The third, that she would die a miserable death.

The daughter came home shivering with cold and told her mother what had happened to her, and when the mother saw that the three men's curses were beginning to come true, she thought only of revenge. She went to her stepdaughter, the queen, and behaved in a friendly and affectionate way. She she was well received and given her own dwelling. Soon afterwards the queen gave birth to a prince, and when she was alone, recovering from her pregnancy at night, the wicked woman and her daughter lifted her out of bed, and they carried her out to the river and threw her in. The next morning they told the king that the queen had died in the night.

The following night the kitchen boy saw a duck swimming down the gutter into the kitchen. And the duck asked:

"All my guests, are they asleep?"

And he answered:

"Yes, one and all they slumber deep"

"And what about my baby dear?"

"Oh, it sleeps soundly, never fear."

So she went up to the baby in the form of a queen, gave him something to drink, tended to him, made his cradle for him, covered him up, and swam away again through the gutter as a duck when morning came. She came again the next night, and on the third night she said to the kitchen boy, "Go to the king and tell him to swing his sword three times on the over me."

So the king swung his sword over her three times, and the queen stood before him alive again. The falsehood of the stepmother and her daughter was exposed, and they were thrown to the wild beasts of the forest to eat.

Rapunzel

 12. Rapunzel (Rapunzel)

Once upon a time there lived a man and his wife who were very unhappy because they had no children, but the wife soon began to hope that God was about to grant her desire. These good people had a little window at the back of their house, which looked into the most lovely garden, full of all manner of beautiful flowers and vegetables; but the garden was surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to enter it, for it belonged to a witch of great power, who was feared by the whole world. One day the woman stood at the window overlooking the garden, and saw there a bed full of the finest rapunzel lettuce: the leaves looked so fresh and green that she longed to eat them. The desire grew day by day, and just because she knew she couldn’t possibly get any, she pined away and became quite pale and wretched. Then her husband grew alarmed and said:

‘What ails you, dear wife?’

‘Oh,’ she answered, ‘if I don’t get some rapunzel to eat out of the garden behind the house, I know I shall die.’

The man, who loved her dearly, thought to himself, ‘Come! rather than let your wife die you shall fetch her some rapunzel, no matter the cost.’ So at dusk he climbed over the wall into the witch’s garden, and, hastily gathering a handful of rapunzel leaves, he returned with them to his wife. She made them into a salad, which tasted so good that her longing for the forbidden food was greater than ever. If she were to know any peace of mind, there was nothing for it but that her husband should climb over the garden wall again, and fetch her some more. So at dusk over he got, but when he reached the other side he drew back in terror, for there, standing before him, was the old witch.

‘How dare you,’ she said, with a wrathful glance, ‘climb into my garden and steal my rapunzel like a common thief? You shall suffer for your foolhardiness.’

‘Oh!’ he implored, ‘pardon my presumption; necessity alone drove me to the deed. My wife saw your rapunzel from her window, and conceived such a desire for it that she would certainly have died if her wish had not been gratified.’ Then the Witch’s anger was a little appeased, and she said:

‘If it’s as you say, you may take as much rapunzel away with you as you like, but on one condition only—that you give me the child your wife will shortly bring into the world. All shall go well with it, and I will look after it like a mother.’

The man in his terror agreed to everything she asked, and as soon as the child was born the Witch appeared, and having given it the name of Rapunzel, she carried it off with her.

Rapunzel was the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was twelve years old the Witch shut her up in a tower, in the middle of a great forest, and the tower had neither stairs nor doors, only high up at the very top a small window. When the old Witch wanted to get in she stood underneath and called out:

‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your golden hair,’

for Rapunzel had wonderful long hair, and it was as fine as spun gold. Whenever she heard the Witch’s voice she unloosed her plaits, and let her hair fall down out of the window about twenty yards below, and the old Witch climbed up by it.

After they had lived like this for a few years, it happened one day that a Prince was riding through the wood and passed by the tower. As he drew near it he heard someone singing so sweetly that he stood still spell-bound, and listened. It was Rapunzel in her loneliness trying to while away the time by letting her sweet voice ring out into the wood. The Prince longed to see the owner of the voice, but he sought in vain for a door in the tower. He rode home, but he was so haunted by the song he had heard that he returned every day to the wood and listened. One day, when he was standing thus behind a tree, he saw the old Witch approach and heard her call out:

‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your golden hair.’

Then Rapunzel let down her plaits, and the Witch climbed up by them.

‘So that’s the staircase, is it?’ said the Prince. ‘Then I too will climb it and try my luck.’

So on the following day, at dusk, he went to the foot of the tower and cried:

‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your golden hair,’

and as soon as she had let it down the Prince climbed up.

At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man came in, for she had never seen one before; but the Prince spoke to her so kindly, and told her at once that his heart had been so touched by her singing, that he felt he should know no peace of mind till he had seen her. Very soon Rapunzel forgot her fear, and when he asked her to marry him she consented at once. ‘For,’ she thought, ‘he is young and handsome, and I’ll certainly be happier with him than with Dame Gothel.’ So she put her hand in his and said:

‘Yes, I will gladly go with you, only how am I to get down out of the tower? Every time you come to see me you must bring a skein of silk with you, and I will make a ladder of them, and when it is finished I will climb down by it, and you will take me away on your horse.’

They arranged that till the ladder was ready, he was to come to her every evening, because the old woman was with her during the day. The old Witch, of course, knew nothing of what was going on, till one day Rapunzel, not thinking of what she was about, turned to the Witch and said:

‘How is it, Dame Gothel, that you are so much harder to pull up than the young Prince? He is always with me in a moment.’

‘Oh! you wicked child,’ cried the Witch. ‘What is this I hear? I thought I had hidden you safely from the whole world, and in spite of it you have managed to deceive me.’

In her wrath she seized Rapunzel’s beautiful hair, wound it round and round her left hand, and then grasping a pair of scissors in her right, snip snap, off it came, and the beautiful plaits lay on the ground. And, worse than this, she was so hard-hearted that she took Rapunzel to a lonely desert place, and there left her to live in loneliness and misery.

But on the evening of the day in which she had driven poor Rapunzel away, the Witch fastened the plaits on to a hook in the window, and when the Prince came and called out:

‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your golden hair,’

she let them down, and the Prince climbed up as usual, but instead of his beloved Rapunzel he found the old Witch, who fixed her evil, glittering eyes on him, and cried mockingly:

‘Ah, ah! you thought to find your lady love, but the pretty bird has flown and its song is mute; the cat caught it, and will scratch out your eyes too. Rapunzel is lost to you for ever—you will never see her more.’

The Prince was beside himself with grief, and in his despair he jumped right down from the tower, and, though he escaped with his life, the thorns among which he fell pierced his eyes out. Then he wandered, blind and miserable, through the wood, eating nothing but roots and berries, and weeping and lamenting the loss of his lovely bride. So he wandered about for some years, as wretched and unhappy as he could well be, and at last he came to the desert place where Rapunzel was living with the twins she had given birth to, a boy and a girl. He heard a voice which seemed strangely familiar to him. He walked eagerly in the direction of the sound, and when he was quite close, Rapunzel recognized him and fell on his neck and wept. But two of her tears touched his eyes, and in a moment they became quite clear again, and he saw as well as he had ever done. Then he led her to his kingdom, where they were received and welcomed with great joy, and they lived happily ever after.

My Notes

• This is the translation of May Sellar from Andrew Lang's "The Red Fairy Book," with minor corrections.
• This is tale type 310 (The Maiden in the Tower).
• This story was present in all seven editions of Grimms' collection, and was always placed as the twelfth tale. However, the story was greatly expanded upon as various edits were made, most notably changing the fairy to a witch, and toning down the subject of Rapunzel's pregnancy.

1812 version

Once upon a time there was a man and his wife who had wanted a child for a long time, and never got one. But finally the woman became pregnant. These people had a small window in back of their house, from which they could see a fairy's garden, which was full of flowers and herbs of all kinds, but no one dared to enter the garden.

One day the woman was standing at this window and looking down and she saw a beautiful bed of rapunzel lettuce and began to greatly crave for it, knowing that she could not get any of it, so that she became ill and miserable. Her husband finally got frightened and asked why. She answered, "Oh, if I don't get any of the rapunzel from the garden behind our house to eat, I'll die."

The man, who loved her very much, thought, no matter what the cost, he would get her some, and he climbed over the high wall one evening and in a hurry cut up a handful of rapunzel, which he took to his wife. The woman immediately made a salad out of it and ate it with ravenous hunger. But they had tasted so good to her, so good, that she craved it three times as much the next day.

The man saw that there was no rest, so he went back into the garden, but he was terribly frightened when the fairy stood there and scolded him violently for daring to come into her garden and steal from it. He apologized and mentioned his wife's pregnancy, about how dangerous it would be to refuse her, and finally the fairy said, "I will be satisfied and allow you to take as much rapunzel with you as you want, provided that you will give me the child which your wife is now pregnant with.”

In his fear, the man agreed to everything, and when the woman gave birth a few weeks later, the fairy appeared at once, named the little girl Rapunzel, and took her away with her .

Rapunzel became the most beautiful child under the sun, but when she was twelve years old, the fairy locked her in a high tower, which had neither door nor stairs, only a small window at the top. When the fairy wanted to go in, she stood below and cried:

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel!

Let down your golden hair!"

Rapunzel had magnificent hair, as fine as spun gold, and when the fairy called out, she untied it, wrapped it around the window hook at the top, and then the hair fell twenty cubits down and the fairy climbed up it.

One day a young king's son came through the forest where the tower stood, saw the beautiful Rapunzel standing at the window, and heard her singing in such a sweet voice that he fell completely in love with her. But since there was no door in the tower and no ladder could reach so high, he became desperate, but he went into the forest every day until one day he saw the fairy coming and saying:

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel!

Let down your golden hair!"

Then he saw well on which ladder one could get into the tower. He had well noted the words that had to be spoken, and the next day when it was dark he went to the tower and said up towards the window:

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel!

Let down your golden hair!"

Then she let down her hair, and he fastened himself to it and was pulled up.

Rapunzel was frightened at first, but soon she liked the young prince so much that she arranged with him that he should come every day and be pulled up. So they lived very happily for a long time, and the fairy didn't know of it until one day Rapunzel slipped and said to her, "Tell me, Dame Gothel, why my clothes are getting so tight and don't fit anymore."

"Oh, you godless child," said the fairy. "What am I hearing from you?" She realized at once how she had been deceived and was very upset. She took Rapunzel's beautiful hair, wrapped it around her left hand a few times, grabbed a pair of scissors with her right hand and snip, snip, it was cut off. She then sent Rapunzel to a desert where she fared very poorly, and after a while she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

But on the same day that she had cast out Rapunzel, the fairy tied the hair that she had cut off to the hook at the top, and when the king's son came and said:

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel!

Let down your golden hair!"

she let the hair down, but how shocked the prince was when he found the fairy above instead of his beloved Rapunzel. "You know what?" said the angry fairy. "Rapunzel is lost to you forever, you villain!"

Then the king's son became very depressed and immediately threw himself down from the tower. He survived, but both his eyes went out. He wandered sadly about in the forest, eating nothing but grass and roots and doing nothing but cry.

A few years later he ended up in the desert where Rapunzel lived miserably with her children, and her voice sounded so familiar to him. At the same moment she recognized him and threw her arms around his neck. Two of her tears fell into his eyes, and they become clear again, allowing him to be able to see as well as he had before.

Little Brother and Little Sister

 11. Little Brother and Little Sister (Bruederchen und Schwesterchen)

Little brother took his little sister by the hand and said: ‘Look here; we haven’t had one single happy hour since our mother died. That stepmother of ours beats us regularly every day, and if we dare go near her she kicks us away. We never get anything but hard dry crusts to eat—why, the dog under the table is better off than we are. She does throw him a good morsel or two now and then. Oh dear! if our own dear mother only knew all about it! Come along, and let us go forth into the wide world together.’

So off they started through fields and meadows, over hedges and ditches, and walked the whole day long, and when it rained sister said:

‘God and our hearts are weeping together.’

Towards evening they came to a large forest, and were so tired out with hunger and their long walk, as well as all their trouble, that they crept into a hollow tree and soon fell fast asleep.

Next morning, when they woke up, the sun was already high in the heavens and was shining down bright and warm into the tree. Then said brother:

‘I’m so thirsty, sister; if I did but know where to find a little stream, I’d go and have a drink. I do believe I hear one.’ He jumped up, took sister by the hand, and they set off to hunt for the brook.

Now their cruel stepmother was in reality a witch, and she knew perfectly well that the two children had run away. She had crept secretly after them, and had cast her spells over all the streams in the forest.

Presently the children found a little brook dancing and glittering over the stones, and brother was eager to drink of it, but as it rushed past sister heard it murmuring:

‘Who drinks of me will be a tiger! who drinks of me will be a tiger!’

So she cried out, ‘Oh! dear brother, pray don’t drink, or you’ll be turned into a wild beast and tear me to pieces.’

Brother was dreadfully thirsty, but he did not drink.

‘Very well,’ said he, ‘I’ll wait till we come to the next spring.’

When they came to the second brook, sister heard it repeating too:

‘Who drinks of me will be a wolf! who drinks of me will be a wolf!’

And she cried, ‘Oh! brother, pray don’t drink here either, or you’ll be turned into a wolf and eat me up.’

Again brother did not drink, but he said:

‘Well, I’ll wait a little longer till we reach the next stream, but then, whatever you may say, I really must drink, for I can bear this thirst no longer.’

And when they got to the third brook, sister heard it say as it rushed past:

‘Who drinks of me will be a roe! who drinks of me will be a roe!’

And she begged, ‘Ah! brother, don’t drink yet, or you’ll become a roe and run away from me.’

But her brother was already kneeling by the brook and bending over it to drink, and, sure enough, no sooner had his lips touched the water than he fell on the grass transformed into a little Roebuck.

Sister cried bitterly over her poor bewitched brother, and the little Roe wept too, and sat sadly by her side. At last the girl said:

‘Never mind, dear little fawn, I will never forsake you,’ and she took off her golden garter and tied it round the Roe’s neck.

Then she plucked rushes and plaited a soft cord of them, which she fastened to the collar. When she had done this she led the Roe farther and farther, right into the depths of the forest.

After they had gone a long, long way they came to a little house, and when the girl looked into it she found it was quite empty, and she thought ‘perhaps we might stay and live here.’

So she hunted up leaves and moss to make a soft bed for the little Roe, and every morning and evening she went out and gathered roots, nuts, and berries for herself, and tender young grass for the fawn. And he fed from her hand, and played round her and seemed quite happy. In the evening, when sister was tired, she said her prayers and then laid her head on the fawn’s back and fell sound asleep with it as a pillow. And if brother had but kept his natural form, really it would have been a most delightful kind of life.

They had been living for some time in the forest in this way, when it came to pass that the King of that country had a great hunt through the woods. Then the whole forest rang with such a blowing of horns, baying of dogs, and joyful cries of huntsmen, that the little Roe heard it and longed to join in too.

‘Ah!’ said he to sister, ‘do let me go off to the hunt! I can’t keep still any longer.’

And he begged and prayed till at last she consented.

‘But,’ said she, ‘mind you come back in the evening. I shall lock my door fast for fear of those wild huntsmen; so, to make sure of my knowing you, knock at the door and say, “My sister dear, open; I’m here.” If you don’t speak I shan’t open the door.’

So off sprang the little Roe, and he felt quite well and happy in the free open air.

The King and his huntsmen soon saw the beautiful creature and started in pursuit, but they could not come up with it, and whenever they thought they were sure to catch it, it bounded off to one side into the bushes and disappeared. When night came on it ran home, and knocking at the door of the little house cried:

‘My sister dear, open; I’m here.’ The door opened, and he ran in and rested all night on his soft mossy bed.

Next morning the hunt began again, and as soon as the little Roe heard the horns and the ‘Ho! ho!’ of the huntsmen, he could not rest another moment, and said:

‘Sister, open the door, I must get out.’

So sister opened the door and said, ‘Now mind and get back by nightfall, and say your little rhyme.’

As soon as the King and his huntsmen saw the Roe with the golden collar they all rode off after it, but it was far too quick and nimble for them. This went on all day, but as evening came on the huntsmen had gradually encircled the Roe, and one of them wounded it slightly in the foot, so that it limped and ran off slowly.

Then the huntsman stole after it as far as the little house, and heard it call out, ‘My sister dear, open; I’m here,’ and he saw the door open and close immediately the fawn had run in.

The huntsman remembered all this carefully, and went off straight to the King and told him all he had seen and heard.

‘To-morrow we will hunt again,’ said the King.

Poor sister was terribly frightened when she saw how her little Fawn had been wounded. She washed off the blood, bound up the injured foot with herbs, and said: ‘Now, dear, go and lie down and rest, so that your wound may heal.’

The wound was really so slight that it was quite well next day, and the little Roe did not feel it at all. No sooner did it hear the sounds of hunting in the forest than it cried:

‘I can’t stand this, I must be there too; I’ll take care they shan’t catch me.’

Sister began to cry, and said, ‘They are certain to kill you, and then I shall be left all alone in the forest and forsaken by everyone. I can’t and won’t let you out.’

‘Then I shall die of grief,’ replied the Roe, ‘for when I hear that horn I feel as if I must jump right out of my skin.’

So at last, when sister found there was nothing else to be done, she opened the door with a heavy heart, and the Roe darted forth full of glee and health into the forest.

As soon as the King saw the Roe, he said to his huntsman, ‘Now then, give chase to it all day till evening, but mind and be careful not to hurt it.’

When the sun had set the King said to his huntsman, ‘Now come and show me the little house in the wood.’

And when he got to the house he knocked at the door and said, ‘My sister dear, open; I’m here.’ Then the door opened and the King walked in, and there stood the loveliest maiden he had ever seen.

The girl was much startled when instead of the little Roe she expected she saw a man with a gold crown on his head walk in. But the King looked kindly at her, held out his hand, and said, ‘Will you come with me to my castle and be my dear wife?’

‘Oh yes!’ replied the maiden, ‘but you must let my Roe come too. I could not possibly forsake it.’

‘It shall stay with you as long as you live, and shall want for nothing,’ the King promised.

In the meantime the Roe came bounding in, and sister tied the rush cord once more to its collar, took the end in her hand, and so they left the little house in the forest together.

The King lifted the lonely maiden on to his horse, and led her to his castle, where the wedding was celebrated with the greatest splendour. The Roe was petted and caressed, and ran about at will in the palace gardens.

Now all this time the wicked stepmother, who had been the cause of these poor children’s misfortunes and trying adventures, was feeling fully persuaded that sister had been torn to pieces by wild beasts, and brother shot to death in the shape of a Roe. When she heard how happy and prosperous they were, her heart was filled with envy and hatred, and she could think of nothing but how to bring some fresh misfortune on them. Her own daughter, who was as hideous as night and had only one eye, reproached her by saying, ‘It is I who ought to have had this good luck and been Queen.’

‘Be quiet, will you,’ said the old woman; ‘when the time comes I shall be at hand.’

Now after some time it happened one day when the King was out hunting that the Queen gave birth to a beautiful little boy. The old witch thought here was a good chance for her; so she took the form of the lady in waiting, and, hurrying into the room where the Queen lay in her bed, called out, ‘The bath is quite ready; it will help to make you strong again. Come, let us be quick, for fear the water should get cold.’ Her daughter was at hand, too, and between them they carried the Queen, who was still very weak, into the bath-room and laid her in the bath; then they locked the door and ran away.

They took care beforehand to make a blazing hot fire under the bath, so that the lovely young Queen might be suffocated.

As soon as they were sure this was the case, the old witch tied a cap on her daughter’s head and laid her in the Queen’s bed. She managed, too, to make her figure and general appearance look like the Queen’s, but even her power could not restore the eye she had lost; so she made her lie on the side of the missing eye, in order to prevent the King’s noticing anything.

In the evening, when the King came home and heard the news of his son’s birth, he was full of delight, and insisted on going at once to his dear wife’s bedside to see how she was getting on. But the old witch cried out, ‘Take care and keep the curtains drawn; don’t let the light get into the Queen’s eyes; she must be kept perfectly quiet.’ So the King went away and never knew that it was a false Queen who lay in the bed.

When midnight came and everyone in the palace was sound asleep, the nurse who alone watched by the baby’s cradle in the nursery saw the door open gently, and who should come in but the real Queen. She lifted the child from its cradle, laid it on her arm, and nursed it for some time. Then she carefully shook up the pillows of the little bed, laid the baby down and tucked the coverlet in all round him. She did not forget the little Roe either, but went to the corner where it lay, and gently stroked its back. Then she silently left the room, and next morning when the nurse asked the sentries if they had seen any one go into the castle that night, they all said, ‘No, we saw no one at all.’

For many nights the Queen came in the same way, but she never spoke a word, and the nurse was too frightened to say anything about her visits.

After some little time had elapsed the Queen spoke one night, and said:

‘Is my child well? Is my Roe well?
I’ll come back twice and then farewell.’

The nurse made no answer, but as soon as the Queen had disappeared she went to the King and told him all. The King exclaimed, ‘Good heavens! what do you say? I will watch myself to-night by the child’s bed.’

When the evening came he went to the nursery, and at midnight the Queen appeared and said:

‘Is my child well? Is my Roe well?
I’ll come back once and then farewell.’

And she nursed and petted the child as usual before she disappeared. The King dared not trust himself to speak to her, but the following night he kept watch again.

That night when the Queen came she said:

‘Is my child well? Is my Roe well?
I’ve come this once, and now farewell.’

Then the King could restrain himself no longer, but sprang to her side and cried, ‘You can be no one but my dear wife!’

‘Yes,’ said she, ‘I am your dear wife!’ and in the same moment, by the grace of God, she was restored to life, and was as fresh and well and rosy as ever. Then she told the King all the cruel things the wicked witch and her daughter had done. The King had them both arrested at once and brought to trial, and they were condemned to death. The daughter was led into the forest, where the wild beasts tore her to pieces, and the old witch was burnt at the stake.

As soon as she reduced to ashes the spell was taken off the little Roe, and he was restored to his natural shape once more, and so brother and sister lived happily ever after.

My Notes

• This is the translation of May Sellar from Andrew Lang's "The Red Fairy Book," with minor corrections.
• This is tale type 450. It is sometimes confused with Grimms' tale "Hansel and Gretel," which contains this same title in the 1810 manuscripts of the Grimms' collection.
• This story was present in all seven editions of Grimms' collection, and was always placed as the eleventh tale. However, the story was greatly expanded upon as various edits were made.

1812 version

Little brother took his little sister by the hand and said, "Since mother died we haven't had a good hour. Stepmother beats us every day and when we come to her she kicks us away. She gives us nothing to eat but hard crusts of bread. The little dog under the table is doing better, as she sometimes throws him something nice, God have mercy, if our mother only knew! Come, let's go away together.”

They went away together and came to a large forest, where they were so sad and so tired that they sat in a hollow tree and wanted to starve to death. They fell asleep together, and when they awoke in the morning the sun had long risen and was shining hot into the hollow tree.

"Little sister," said the little brother after a while, "I'm so thirsty. If I knew there was a little fountain nearby, I'd go and have a drink, I think I heard one rippling."

"What's the use?" answered Sister. "Why do you want to drink  when we want to die of starvation?”

But the little brother was silent and climbed out, and because he always held the sister's hand firmly, she had to climb out with him. But the wicked stepmother was a witch, and when she saw the two children leaving, she had followed them and made a clear little fountain spring out of the rock near the tree, which was supposed to cause the children to be tempted to drink, and whoever drank it would be turned into a fawn.

Little brother soon came to the little fountain with his little sister, and when he saw it trickling so glitteringly over the stones, his desire grew more and more, and he wanted to drink from it. But the little sister was afraid, she thought the little fountain was talking in a rushing noise and saying, “Whoever drinks me becomes a little fawn; whoever drinks me becomes a little fawn!”

The little sister begged him not to drink from the water. "I hear nothing," said the little brother, "but the water is rippling so sweetly, just let me drink!" With that he lay down, bent down and drank, and as soon as the first drop had fallen on his lips, there lay a little fawn at the fountain.

The little sister cried and cried, but the witch was angry that she couldn't get her to drink too. After weeping for three days, the sister got up and gathered the rushes in the forest and braided them into a soft rope. Then she tied the fawn to it and led him away. She also found a cave, carried moss and leaves into it, and made him a soft bed. In the morning she went out with him to where there was tender grass and gathered the most beautiful blades, which he ate out of her hand, and the fawn was then merry and played on the hills. But in the evening, when little sister was tired, she laid her head on the fawn's back,  which she used as a pillow, and fell asleep. If the little brother had only had his human form, that would have been a glorious life.

So they lived in the forest for many years. One day the king was hunting and got lost in it. Then he found the girl with the little animal in the forest and was amazed at her beauty. He lifted her onto his horse and took her with him, and the fawn ran alongside on the rope. All honor was done for her at the royal court. Beautiful maidens had to wait on her, but she was herself more beautiful than all the others The fawn she never let go, and did everything good for him. The queen died soon after, and the little sister was married to the king and lived happily.

But the stepmother had heard of the good fortune that befell the poor little sister; she thought that the children had long since been eaten by the wild beasts in the forest, but they had done nothing to them, and now the sister was queen in the kingdom. The witch was so angry that all she could think of was how to spoil her happiness. When the queen had given birth to a handsome prince, and the king was out hunting, the witch entered the room in the guise of the maid-in-waiting, where the queen lay recovering.

"The bath has been prepared for you," she said. "It will do you good and strengthen you, so come before it gets cold."

Then she led her into the bathing room; When the queen entered, the witch locked the door behind her. A terrible fire had been lit inside, and the beautiful queen was left to suffocate. The witch had her real daughter, to whom she gave the outward appearance of the queen, lay in the bed in place of the queen.

The king came home in the evening and did not know that he had the wrong wife. But in the middle of the night the nursemaid saw the real queen come into the room, go to the cradle, take out her child, lift him to her breast, and give him a drink. Then she fluffed his bed for him, put him back in, and covered him with the blankets, and she went to the corner where the fawn was sleeping and stroked his back. So she came and went every night without saying a word.

But one night she came in again and said,

"Is my child well? Is my Fawn well?

I’ll come back twice and then farewell."

and did everything as she had on the other nights. But the nurse woke the king and told him secretly. The king kept watch the next night, and he also saw the queen coming and heard her words clearly:

"Is my child well? Is my Fawn well?

I’ll come back once and then farewell."

But he didn't dare speak to her. The next night he kept watch again, and the queen said:

"Is my child well? Is my Fawn well?

I’ve come this once, and now farewell."

The king could not contain himself any longer, and jumped up and embraced her, and when he touched her, she came to life again, healthy and rosy. The false queen was led into the forest, where the wild beasts devoured her, but the wicked stepmother was burned, and as the fire consumed her, the fawn was transformed, and the little brother and sister were together again and lived happily ever after.