The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (64 page)

The old king was so horrified by this that he almost fainted, for she was his only daughter. After some deliberation, they decided to send the miller's beautiful daughter in her place. They led the maiden into the forest, gave her a knife, and told her to scrape away at the iron stove. She scraped for twenty-four hours but couldn't make the slightest dent. At daybreak a voice called out from the iron stove, “It seems to me that it's dawn outside.”

“It seems so to me, too,” she answered. “I think I hear the clattering of my father's mill.”

“So, you're a miller's daughter! Then get out of here at once, and tell them to send the king's daughter.”

She returned to the castle and told the old king that the man in the stove didn't want her, he wanted his daughter. The old king was horrified, and his daughter began to weep. However, they still had the swineherd's daughter, who was even more beautiful than the miller's daughter. They agreed to give her a nice sum of money to go to the iron stove in place of the king's daughter. So she was taken into the forest, and she too had to scrape for twenty-four hours, but she couldn't get anything off. At daybreak a voice cried out from the stove, “It seems to me that it's dawn outside.”

“It seems so to me, too,” she answered. “I think I hear my father blowing his horn.”

“So, you're a swineherd's daughter! Get out of here at once, and have them send the king's daughter. Tell her that bad things will happen to her the way I promised, and if she doesn't come, the whole kingdom will collapse and be demolished, and not one stone will be left standing.”

When the king's daughter heard that, she began to cry. But there was nothing she could do: she had to keep her promise. So she took leave of her father, put a knife in her pocket, and went to the iron stove in the forest. When she got there, she started scraping, and the iron gave way. After two hours she had managed to scrape a small hole. When she looked inside, she saw oh such a handsome prince glimmering in gold and jewels that her heart was swept away! She continued her scraping until she had made a hole large enough for him to crawl through.

“You are mine,” he said, “and I am yours. You're my bride and have set me free.”

Now, she requested permission to see her father one more time before leaving with him, and the prince granted it, but she was not to say more than three words to her father, and then she was to return to the prince. So she went home, but she spoke more than three words, whereupon the iron stove vanished immediately and was carried far away over glass mountains
and sharp swords. Yet the prince had been released and was no longer locked up in the stove.

After this happened, the princess said good-bye to her father and took some money with her, though not much, and went back into the large forest to look for the iron stove, which was not to be found. For nine days she searched, until her hunger became so great that she didn't know what to do since she had nothing more to live on. When evening came, she climbed a small tree and sat down. She planned to spend the night there because she was afraid of the wild animals. Then, at midnight, she saw a little light in the distance and thought, “Oh, I think I'd be safe there.” She climbed down the tree and went toward the light, praying along the way. Finally, she came to an old cottage with a great deal of grass growing around it and a small pile of wood in front. “Oh, where have you landed?” she thought. She looked through the window and saw nothing but small fat toads, and yet there was also a nicely covered table with wine and a roast, and the plates and cups were made of silver. So she summoned her courage and knocked on the door. The fat toad replied at once:

“Maiden, maiden, green and small,

hop to it, hoptoad, and don't you fall.

Hoptoad's dog,

hop back and forth,

and quickly see who's at the door.”

Then a small toad went to the door and opened it. When the princess entered, they all welcomed her and made her sit down while they asked, “Where have you come from? Where are you going?”

She told them everything that had happened to her and how she had disobeyed the prince's command not to say more than three words, which had caused the stove along with the prince to disappear, and now she intended to search over hill and valley until she found him. Then the fat old toad said:

“Maiden, maiden, green and small,

hop to it, hoptoad, and don't you fall.

Hoptoad's dog,

hop back and forth and do it sprightly.

Fetch me the box as quick as can be.”

After the small toad left and then came back with the box, they gave her food and drink and took her to a nicely made bed that was like silk and velvet. She lay down on it and slept with God's blessing. When morning came, she got up, and the old toad gave her three needles from the box, which she was to take with her. She would need them because she had to cross over a high glass mountain, three sharp swords, and a great lake. If she could manage to do all that, then she would regain her beloved. The toad also gave her three objects that she was to guard very carefully—namely, three big needles, a plow wheel, and three nuts. Upon receiving them, she departed, and when she came to the glass mountain, which was very slick, she stuck the three needles first beneath her feet and then ahead of them, and this was the way she managed to get over it. When she was on the other side, she hid them in a place that she marked carefully. Next she came to the three sharp swords, and she seated herself on the plow wheel and rolled over them. Finally, she came to the great lake, and after crossing it, she arrived at a large, beautiful castle. She went inside and sought work as if she were a poor maiden who wanted to hire herself out. She knew, in fact, that the prince whom she had rescued from the iron stove in the big forest was in this castle. So the princess was taken on as a kitchen maid at low wages. The prince, in the meantime, had already found another maiden whom he wanted to marry, for he thought that the princess had long since died.

That evening, after she had finished washing up and was through with her work, the kitchen maid searched in her pocket and found the three nuts the old toad had given her. She bit one open and was going to eat the kernel when—lo and behold!—she discovered a splendid royal dress inside. When the bride heard about it, she came and asked if she could buy the dress. Indeed, she said that it was not fit for a servant girl. But the kitchen maid replied that she wouldn't sell it, rather the bride could have it if she would allow the maid to sleep one night in the bridegroom's chamber. The bride consented because she didn't have a dress that beautiful.
When evening came, she said to her bridegroom, “That silly kitchen maid wants to sleep in your room.”

“If you don't mind,” he said, “neither do I.”

Nonetheless, the bride gave him a glass of wine with a sleeping potion in it. Then the bridegroom and the kitchen maid went into the chamber to sleep, but he slept so soundly that she couldn't wake him, which made her weep the entire night: “I rescued you from the wild forest and the iron stove,” she lamented. “I searched for you and went across a glass mountain, three sharp swords, and a great lake until I found you. And now you won't listen to me.”

The servants outside the bedroom door heard her weeping the entire night and told their master the next day. When the kitchen maid had finished washing up that evening, she bit open the second nut, and there was another dress, even more beautiful than the first one. The bride saw it and wanted to buy this one, too, but the kitchen maid didn't want money. She requested instead to sleep in the bridegroom's chamber again However, the bride gave the prince another sleeping potion, and he slept so soundly that he couldn't hear a thing. The kitchen maid wept the entire night and lamented: “I rescued you from the wild forest and the iron stove. I searched for you and went across a glass mountain, three sharp swords, and a great lake until I found you. And now you won't listen to me.”

The servants outside the bedroom door heard her weep the entire night and told their master about this in the morning. When the kitchen maid had finished washing up the third night and bit open the third nut, she found a dress lined with pure gold that was even more beautiful than the other two. When the bride saw it, she wanted to have it, but the kitchen maid would give it to her only if she was granted permission to sleep in the bridegroom's chamber a third night. This time, however, the bridegroom was alert and didn't drink the sleeping potion. When the kitchen maid began to weep and lament, “Dearest love, I rescued you from the cruel wild forest and the iron stove,” the prince jumped up and said, “You are the true bride! You are mine, and I am yours.”

That very night he got into a carriage with her, and they took away the false bride's dresses so that she couldn't get up. When they came to the
great lake, they sailed across it, and when they came to the three sharp swords, they sat down on the plow wheel, and when they came to the glass mountain, they stuck the three needles into it. At last they arrived at the old cottage, but when they entered, it became a large castle. The toads were released from a magic spell and turned out to be princes and princesses, and they were all very happy. Then the wedding was celebrated, and the prince and the princess remained in the castle, which was larger than the castle of the king's daughter. However, since the king complained of being left alone, they traveled to him and brought him back to their castle. Now they had two kingdoms and lived a happily married life.

42

THE LAZY SPINNER

A man and his wife lived in a village, and the wife was so lazy that she never wanted to do any work. Whenever her husband gave her something to spin, she never finished it, and whatever she did spin, she didn't wind it, but left it tangled on the bobbin. If her husband scolded her, she used her quick tongue and said, “How can I wind the yarn if I don't have a reel? You go into the forest first and fetch me one.”

“If that's the problem,” her husband replied, “then I'll go into the forest and get some wood for a reel.”

Upon hearing this, his wife became anxious because she'd have to wind the yarn and start spinning again if he found the wood to make a reel. So she gave the matter some thought and came up with a good idea. She secretly followed her husband into the forest, and just as he climbed up a tree to choose and cut the wood, she crawled into some bushes below him, where he couldn't see her, and cried out:

“He who chops wood for reels shall die.

She who winds yarn shall be ruined all her life.”

The husband listened, laid down his axe for a moment, and wondered what all this could possibly mean. “Oh, well,” he said, “I must have been hearing things. No need to get frightened. It's nothing.”

So he took his axe again and was about to begin chopping when he heard the voice from below once more:

“He who chops wood for reels shall die.

She who winds yarn shall be ruined all her life.”

He stopped again, and in his fear and terror, he tried to grasp what was happening. After some time had passed, his courage returned. He reached for his axe a third time and was about to chop when he heard the voice cry out loudly for a third time:

“He who chops wood for reels shall die.

She who winds yarn shall be ruined all her life.”

This was too much for him, and he lost all desire to chop the wood. He quickly climbed down the tree and made his way home. His wife ran as fast as she could via the byways to get home before he did. When he entered the living room, she acted innocent, as if nothing had happened, and said, “Well, did you bring me a nice piece of wood for a reel?”

“No,” he said, “I've realized that it makes no sense to wind,” and he told her what he had encountered in the forest, and from then on he left her in peace.

Yet some time later the husband began complaining again about the messy condition of the house. “Wife,” he said, “it's a disgrace the way you just leave your spun wool on the bobbin.”

“You know what?” she said. “Since we haven't managed to get a reel, you go up to the loft, and I'll stand here below. Then I'll throw the yarn up to you, and you throw it back down to me. That way we'll have a skein.”

“Yes, that'll work,” said her husband. So they did this, and when they were finished, he said, “We've got the yarn skeined, and now it needs to be boiled as well.”

His wife became uneasy again and said, “Yes, indeed, we'll boil it first thing tomorrow morning,” but she was really thinking up a new trick. Early the next morning she got up, made the fire, and set the kettle on it, but instead of putting the yarn in the kettle, she put in a clump of wool and let it boil. After this she went to her husband, who was still lying in
bed, and said to him, “I've got to go out awhile. So I want you to get up and look after the yarn that's in the kettle on the fire. Make sure you do this right away, and watch things closely, for if the cock crows and you're not taking care, the yarn will become wool.”

The husband agreed since he certainly didn't want anything to go wrong. He got up as fast as he could and went into the kitchen. But when he reached the kettle and looked inside, he was horrified to discover nothing but a clump of wool. Then the husband was as quiet as a mouse, for he thought that he had done something wrong and was to blame. In the future he left his wife in peace when it came to yarn and spinning.

43

THE LION AND THE FROG

There once lived a king and a queen, and they had a son and a daughter who loved each other dearly. The prince went hunting very often and sometimes remained in the forest a long time. However, one day he didn't return. His sister almost wept herself blind because of this. Finally, when she could no longer stand it, she went into the forest to search for her brother. After she had gone a long way, she was too tired to go any farther, and when she looked around her, a lion was standing nearby. He seemed friendly and very kind. So she sat down on his back, and the lion carried her away. As they went, he kept stroking her with his tail and cooling her cheeks.