The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (73 page)

3.   The Virgin Mary's Child (Marienkind). Source: Margarete Marianne Wild.

The Grimms cite similarities to the legend about Saint Ottilie—in particular, how the story was recounted in Benedikte Naubert's
Neue Volksmährchen der Deutschen
(
New German Tales
, 1789–93). In addition, they discuss the motif of the forbidden door, which one can find in numerous tales such as “Bluebeard” and “The Little Shroud” or in Giambattista Basile's “Marchetta.” Finally, they provide an interesting variant, which reads as follows:

A poor man cannot provide for his children and goes into the forest where he intends to hang himself. All at once a black coach drawn by four black horses arrives, and a lady dressed in black climbs out of the coach and tells him that he will find a sack with money in a bush in front of his house. In exchange for this money he is to give her whatever is hidden in the house. The man agrees and finds the money. However, that which is hidden is the child in his wife's body. And when the child is born, the lady comes and wants to fetch the baby. But since the mother pleads so much with her, the lady permits her to keep the child until she turns twelve. Then, however, she takes the maiden away to a black castle, where everything is splendid. The young girl is allowed to go wherever she wants and enter all the rooms except for one particular chamber. The maiden obeys for four years, but then she can no longer resist the torment of curiosity and looks through a crack in the door. She sees four ladies dressed in black, who are absorbed in reading books. At that moment her foster mother appears and frightens her. She takes the maiden and says to her: “I must banish you. What do you prefer to lose most of all?” “Speech,” the maiden answers. Then the lady slaps her on her mouth so that blood gushes forth, and the lady drives the maiden away. The young girl must spend the night beneath a tree, and in the morning a prince finds her, takes her with him, and marries the beautiful mute maiden against his mother's wishes. When she gives birth to her first child, the wicked mother-in-law throws the baby into a river, splashes blood on the sick young queen, and claims that the queen had eaten her own child. This happens with two more children, and the innocent young queen, who cannot defend herself, is to be burned at the stake. She is already standing in the fire when suddenly the black coach comes, and the lady steps out. She goes directly into the flames, which die down. Finally, she walks up to the young queen and slaps her on the mouth, thereby returning the power of speech to her. The three other ladies dressed in black bring the queen's three children, whom they had saved from the river. The mother-in-law's treachery is revealed, and she is stuck into a barrel filled with snakes and poisonous vipers. Then she is rolled down a hill in the barrel.

4.   Good Bowling and Card Playing (Gut Kegel- und Kartenspiel). Source: Based on a ballad in Philippine Engelhard's
Spukenmährchen
(Ghost Tales, 1782).

This unusual story was replaced by “A Tale about the Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was” in the 1819 edition.

5.   The Wolf and the Seven Kids (Der Wolf und die sieben jungen Geißlein). Source: Hassenpflug family.

The Grimms note that this tale has deep roots in France, and they cite Jean de La Fontaine's fables, published between 1668 and 1694 as well as Gilles Corrozet's earlier version “Le loup, la chevre et le chevreau,” in
Les fables du très ancien Esope, mises en rithme françoise
(1542), in which the wolf is never allowed to gain entrance into the house of the goats. However, the Grimms explain that this animal tale is much older and can be found in Ulrich Bonner's
Edelstein
(ca. 1350). In addition, they trace the origins of the tale to the great tradition of fables in the Greco-Roman period.

6. The Nightingale and the Blindworm (Von der Nachtigall und der Blindschleiche). Source: Thomas Philippe-Légier,
Mémoires de l'Académie celtique
(1808).

The Grimms translated this animal tale and later omitted it from their collection because of its French origins.

7. The Stolen Pennies (Von dem gestohlenen Heller). Source: Margarete Marianne Wild.

8. The Hand with the Knife (Die Hand mit dem Messer). Source: Anne Grant of Laggan,
Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland
(1811).

Jacob Grimm translated and adapted one of Grant's folk tales (songs) and quotes her: “One of these (stories) that I have heard sung by children at a very early age, and that is just to them the Babes in the wood, I can never forget. The affecting simplicity of the tune, the strange wild imagery and the marks of remote antiquity in the little narrative, gave it the greatest interest to me, who delight in tracing back poetry to its infancy.”

9. The Twelve Brothers (Die zwölf Brüder). Source: Julia and Charlotte Ramus.

The Grimms cite Giambattista Basile's “Li sette palommielle” (The Seven Little Doves) in
Il Pentamerone
(1632–34).

10. Riffraff (Das Lumpengesindel). Source: August von Haxthausen.

11. Little Brother and Little Sister (Brüderchen und Schwesterchen). Source: Marie Hassenpflug.

The Grimms relate that they also knew a fragmentary version:

One day a brother and sister go into the forest, and since the sun is so hot and the trail so long, the brother becomes thirsty. Brother and sister search for water and arrive at a spring where there is a sign that reads: “Whoever drinks from me will become a tiger if he is a man, or a lamb if she is a woman.” Immediately the maiden says: “Oh, dear brother, don't drink from this spring, otherwise you'll become a tiger and tear me to pieces.” The brother responds by saying that he will wait until they reach the next spring even though he is suffering from thirst. However, when
they come to the next spring, there is another sign that reads: “Whoever drinks from me will become a wolf.” Once again the maiden says: “Dear, oh dear brother, don't drink, otherwise you'll eat me.” And the brother replies: “Once more I shall control my thirst, but I can't do this for much longer.” And they come to a third spring where there is a sign that reads: “Whoever drinks from me will become a golden deer if it is a man. If it is a maiden, she will become full grown and beautiful.” All at once the brother leans over and drinks and is changed into a golden deer. The maiden also drinks and becomes even more beautiful and all grown-up. Then she ties a rope around the deer and leads him away. The king sees the wonderful deer and has him captured. The maiden stays with him and is overheard one time by the king as she is speaking with the deer. He learns that she is the sister of the golden deer. Then the king marries her. However, the king's mother is jealous and wants to ruin her life. She transforms the maiden so that she becomes ugly and has her killed, and she also has the deer slaughtered by a butcher. However, the maiden's innocence is revealed. The mother-in-law is placed into a barrel with sharp knives and rolled down a hill.

12. Rapunzel (Rapunzel). Source: Friedrich Schulz, “Rapunzel,” in
Kleine Romane
(1790).

This tale was edited by Jacob Grimm, and there may be some influence by Giambattista Basile's “Petrosinella” (
Il Pentamerone
, 1634), which the Grimms mention in their note. The Grimms believed that Schulz's tale derived from the oral tradition. However, it is clear that he may have taken some motifs from the French writer Mlle de la Force's “Persinette” in
Les contes des contes
(1698).

13. The Three Little Men in the Forest (Die drei Männlein im Walde). Source: Henriette Dorothea Wild.

The Grimms also refer to a similar motif of three little men in an anonymous Danish song.

14. Nasty Flax Spinning (Von dem bösen Flachsspinnen. Source: Jeanette Hassenpflug.

The literary source was a tale in Johannes Praetorius's
Der abentheuerliche Glückstopf
(1669). The Grimms summarized Praetorius's tale in their notes this way:

A mother cannot motivate her daughter to spin, and because of this she often slaps her. One time a man sees the mother slapping her daughter and asks why she is doing this. The mother answers: “Oh, I can't stop her from spinning. She spins more flax than I can produce.” The man says: “Well then, let me marry her. I'll certainly be satisfied with her untiring hard work, even if there's not much of a dowry.” The mother is very glad to do this and is content, and the bridegroom brings his bride immediately to a large supply of flax. The maiden is horrified by this, but she accepts the supply of flax and brings it into her chamber, where she ponders what
she should do. At that moment three old women pass by her window: one whose behind is so wide that she can't fit through the door to the room, the second has a gigantic nose, the third has a thick thumb. They offer the maiden their services and promise to spin the flax for her only if the bride doesn't show that she is ashamed of them on her wedding day and pretends that they are her aunts and allows them to sit at her table. The maiden agrees to the conditions. The women spin the flax, and the bridegroom praises the bride. When the day of the wedding arrives, the three repulsive women are also present. The bride honors them and calls them her aunts. The bridegroom is astonished and asks how she could have struck up a friendship with such horrible women. “Oh,” says the bride, “all three of them have become the way they are through spinning. One of them developed a big rear through sitting. The second licked her lips so much that they wasted away. That's why her nose sticks out so much. The third turned the spindle much too much with her thumb.” Upon hearing this the bridegroom becomes gloomy and says to his bride that she is not to spin anymore thread for the rest of her life to prevent her from becoming a monster like the three women.

The Grimms also remark that they knew a similar oral tale that was told in Corvey.

15. Hansel and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel). Source: Based on various anonymous stories from Hesse and possibly an oral tale told by Henriette Dorothea Wild.

However, it is clear from their note that the Grimms were also aware of two literary tales: Giambattista Basile's “Ninnillo and Nennella,”
Pentamerone
(1634), and Charles Perrault's “Le Petit Poucet,”
Histoires ou contes du temps passé
(1697).

16. Herr Fix-It-Up (Herr Fix und Fertig). Source: Johann Friedrich Krause.

The Grimms discuss a similar tale, Giovan Francesco Straparola's “Livoret,”
Le piacevoli Notti
(1550).

17. The White Snake (Die weiße Schlange). Source: Hassenpflug family.

The Grimms wrote in their note that “the tales about talking birds that give advice to humans and announce their fate are too numerous to be dealt with here. Humans learn the language of the birds generally in two ways: (1) through eating the heart of a dragon, for example, Siegfried; or (2) through eating the heart of a white snake as depicted here and in a strange Hanoverian tale from Seeburg that we shall publish elsewhere. Another appropriate version that completely belongs here is an old Nordic tale about Kraka and her two sons, Roller and Erich.”

18. The Journey of the Straw, the Coal, and the Bean (Strohhalm, Kohle und Bohne auf der Reise). Source: From Kassel, perhaps Dorothea Catharina Wild.

The Grimms mention a medieval Latin poem from a manuscript in Strasbourg. In this story a mouse and a piece of coal travel together on a pilgrimage to confess their sins in a church. When they cross a little brook, the coal falls into the water, hisses, and expires. They also allude to Aesop's fable about the thorn bush, diver, and bat.

19. The Fisherman and His Wife (Von den Fischer und siine Fru). Source: Philipp Otto Runge's tale written in a Pomeranian dialect.

The Grimms were also aware of and influenced by other versions in the works of Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching, Albert Ludwig Grimm, and Karl Philipp Conz. They summarize a version that was popular in Hesse as follows:

The tale concerns the little man Dominé (also called Hans Dudeldee) and his little wife Dinderlindé. Dominé complains about his misfortune and goes out to the sea, where a little fish sticks its head out of the water.

“What's the matter with you my little man Dominé?”

“Oh, it really hurts to live in a piss pot.”

“Well, then wish for something else.”

“First I've got to tell all this to my wife.”

So he goes home.

“Wish us a better house,” says Dinderlindé.

When he returns to the sea, Dominé cries out:

“Little fish, little fish in the sea!”

“What do you want little man Dominé?”

Now the wishing begins, and there are many. First the house, then a garden, an ox and a cow, fields, and so on. Then all the treasures of the world. When they have wished for everything possible, the little man says: “Now I'd like to be the dear lord God himself and my wife the mother of God.”

Then the little fish sticks its head out of the water and cries out:

“If you want to be the dear lord God,

Go back and live once more in your piss pot.”

The Grimms note that the motif of the wife who pushes her husband to higher honors and ranks is certainly ancient—Eve, and from the Etruscan Tanaquil (Livius) up to Lady Macbeth.

20. A Story about a Brave Tailor (Von einem tapfern Schneider). Source: The first version was taken from Martin Montanus's
Wegkürzer
(1557), and the second fragmentary tale is an oral tale from the Hassenpflug family.

The Grimms knew several other versions, and they printed the complete text of a Dutch tale, “Van kleyn Kobisje,” in their note.

21. Cinderella (Aschenputtel). Source: This tale was obtained orally from a female patient in the Elisabeth-Hospital in Marburg and written down by the wife of the director of the hospital.

The Grimms note that the tale is among the most popular tales in Europe and was told everywhere. They spend a goodly amount of time discussing the different ways that Cinderella (dirty common girl) was referred to in dialect tales (Aschenpößel,
Asken pel, Askenpüster, Askenböel, Askenbüek, Aschen pöselken, Sudelsödelken, and Aschenpuddel) and in High German tales (Aschenpuddel, Aschenbrödel, and Aescherling). In the second part of the note, there are references to Giambattista Basile's “Cenerentola” (1634), Charles Perrault's “Cendrillon” (1697), and Madame d'Aulnoy's “Finette Cendron” (1698), as well as Polish and Slavic versions. Clearly, the Grimms were familiar with numerous versions that influenced the changes that they made in their tale over the years.