Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm

by Jacob Grimm

  On the third day of the festivities, once her parents and sisters were gone, Cinderella went to her mother’s grave and said to the tree:

  “Dear little tree, quiver and quaver,

  Be my lifesaver.”

  Whereupon the birds tossed down a gown more glamorous and glittering than any garment anyone had ever worn and slippers woven of gold. And when she arrived at the ball draped in this gown she looked so lovely everyone was speechless. The prince danced only with her, and when someone asked to take a spin, he said, “She’s my dance partner.”

  Come evening, Cinderella prepared to leave, and the prince wanted to accompany her home, but she slipped away so swiftly he could not follow. But this time the prince was sly and had the stairway coated with pitch, so as she scampered down, the girl’s left slipper stayed stuck to it. The prince held on to it – it was small and dainty and woven all of gold. The next day he went to the man, Cinderella’s father, and said to him, “No one else will be my bride but she whose foot fits in this slipper.”

  The stepsisters were overjoyed, for they had lovely feet. The eldest took the shoe into her room to try it on with her mother standing by. But she could not fit in her big toe, the shoe was just too small. So her mother handed her a knife. “Hack off your toes – once you’re queen, you’ll never have to go anywhere on foot again.”

  The girl cut off her toes, swallowed the pain, and went out to greet the prince. Whereupon he lifted her onto his horse and rode off with her as his bride. But they had to ride past the grave, where two doves sat on the treetop and called out:

  “Coo, caroo, coo,

  There’s blood in the shoe:

  The shoe is too tight,

  The bride is not right.”

  Whereupon the prince looked at her foot and saw blood spurting out. He turned his horse around, brought the false bride back home, said she was a fraud and that the other sister should try on the shoe.

  Then her sister took the shoe to her room to try to squeeze her toes in, but her heel stuck out. Her mother handed her a knife and said, “Hack off a piece of your heel – once you’re queen, you’ll nevermore have to go anywhere on foot.”

  So the second sister cut off a piece of her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed her pain, and went out to see the prince. And he took her as his bride and rode off with her. As they went riding by the tree, two doves called out:

  “Coo, caroo, coo,

  There’s blood in the shoe:

  The shoe is too tight,

  The bride is not right.”

  The prince looked down at her foot and saw blood spurting out, and that her white stockings were stained red. He turned his horse around and brought the false bride back. “She’s not the right one either,” he said. “Don’t you have another daughter?”

  “No,” said the man, “except for Cinderella, a filthy little ragamuffin, born of my dead wife – but she couldn’t possibly be your bride.”

  The prince said to send her out. But the stepmother replied, “Oh no, she’s much too filthy. Such a creature dare not be seen.”

  But the prince insisted, and Cinderella was called in. First she washed her hands and face, then she came forth and bowed before the prince, who held out the golden slipper. Whereupon she sat down on a stool, pulled her left foot out of her heavy wooden clog, and slipped it into the slipper, which fit like it had been made to measure. And when she stood up and the prince looked her in the face, he immediately recognized the lovely girl who had danced with him and cried out, “This is my true bride!”

  The stepmother and the two stepsisters were horrified and turned green with envy. But the prince took Cinderella on his horse and rode off with her. When they passed the tree beside her mother’s grave, the two white doves called out:

  “Coo, caroo, coo,

  No blood in the shoe:

  The shoe is not too small,

  She’s your true bride you met at the ball.”

  And once they’d finished cooing, they flew down and sat themselves on Cinderella’s shoulders, one on her right, the other on her left, and there they stayed perched.

  When the wedding was to be celebrated, the two false sisters hoped to curry favor with Cinderella and share her happiness. But when the bride and groom entered the church, the eldest sister to Cinderella’s right, the youngest to her left, the doves flew down and pecked their eyes out. And so they were punished for their baseness and deceit and were blind until their dying days.

  SNOW WHITE

  Once in the dead of winter, when the snowflakes fell like feathers from the sky, a queen sat sewing at her window, framed in black ebony. And as she sewed and happened to glance up at the snow, she pricked her finger with the sewing needle and three drops of blood stained the snow on the window ledge. And because the red looked so lovely against the white snow, she thought to herself, If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of my window frame. Not long after that she did indeed give birth to a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony, and so she called her Snow White. But no sooner was the child born than the queen died.

  A year later the king took another wife. She was a lovely woman, but she was proudhearted and haughty, and could not bear anyone being more beautiful than herself. She had a wondrous mirror, and when she approached and admired herself in the reflection, she said,

  “Little mirror, little mirror, hanging on my wall,

  Tell me, won’t you, who in the land is the loveliest of all?”

  To which the mirror promptly replied,

  “Your majesty, you are the loveliest in the land.”

  The queen was happy to hear it, since she knew that the mirror spoke the truth.

  But Snow White grew lovelier day by day, and when she turned seven she was lovelier than the dawn and lovelier even than the queen.

  And when, as she was wont, the queen once again inquired of her mirror,

  “Little mirror, little mirror, hanging on my wall,

  Tell me, won’t you, who in the land is the loveliest of all?”

  The mirror replied,

  “Your majesty, you are the loveliest here, it’s true,

  But Snow White is a thousand times lovelier than you.”

  Whereupon the queen turned yellow and green with envy. From then on her heart sank to her stomach whenever she set eyes on Snow White – she hated the girl. Envy and haughtiness grew like weeds in the garden of her heart, for day and night she could think of nothing else. So she called for a hunter and said to him, “Take that child to the deepest wood. I don’t want to see her again. You must kill her and bring me back her lungs and liver as proof.”

  The hunter did as he was told and led the girl into the deepest wood, and as he drew his hunting knife to pierce her innocent heart, Snow White started crying and said, “Dear hunter, let me live. I’ll run into the heart of the forest and never come out again.”

  And as the girl was so lovely, the hunter took pity and said, “Run then, you poor child!” The wild animals will soon tear you to shreds, he thought, but still, it was as if a stone fell from his heart, because he did not have to kill her. And when a baby boar came leaping by, he killed it, cut out its lungs and liver, and brought these as proof to the queen. She bid the cook salt and sauté them, and the evil wench devoured them, believing they were the lungs and liver of Snow White.

  Now the poor child found herself all alone in the deep dark woods, and seeing all the leaves trembling on the trees, felt so afraid that she didn’t know what to do. So she started running and ran over the sharp pointed stones and through the thorns, and wild animals leapt past her, but they did her no harm. She kept on running as long as her feet held out, until it grew dark, and there before her she saw a little house and went inside to rest.

  In this little house everything was small, but so dainty and tidy she could not believe her eyes. There was a little table bedecked with a white tablecloth and seven little
plates, each plate with its own little spoon, as well as seven little knives and forks and goblets. Against the wall, seven little beds stood one beside another, all covered with snow-white bedspreads. Because she was so hungry and so thirsty, Snow White nibbled a little greens and a little bread from each plate and drank a drop of wine from every goblet, for she did not want to take everything from just one. Once she was done eating and drinking, since she was so tired, she lay herself down in a little bed, but none of them quite fit. One was too long, the other was too short, but finally she lay down in the seventh bed and it was just right, and there she lay, commended her soul to God, and fell asleep.

  In the dark of night the residents of the little house returned. They were seven dwarfs who dug and hammered for ore in the mountains. They lit their seven little lanterns, and in the flickering light they saw that someone had been there, for things were not quite as they’d left them.

  The first one asked, “Who sat in my little chair?”

  The second asked, “Who ate from my little plate?”

  The third: “Who nibbled at my bread?”

  The fourth: “Who sampled my greens?”

  The fifth: “Who poked with my little fork?”

  The sixth: “Who cut with my little knife?”

  And the seventh asked, “Who drank from my little goblet?”

  Then the first one looked around, noticed a sag in his bedcover, and said, “Who lay in my little bed?”

  The others came running and cried, “Someone lay in my bed too.”

  But when the seventh one looked over at his bed and spotted Snow White lying there fast asleep, he called to the others. They all came running over and cried out in amazement, fetched their seven little lanterns, and illuminated the sleeping child. “God in heaven! God in heaven!” they exclaimed. “That child is so lovely!” They were so struck by the sight of her that they didn’t wake her but let her go right on sleeping. The seventh dwarf went from bed to bed, spending an hour sleeping under the covers of each of his comrades, and so the night elapsed.

  The next morning Snow White awakened, and when she saw the seven dwarfs she took fright. But they were friendly and asked, “What is your name?”

  “My name is Snow White,” she replied.

  “How did you come to our house?” the dwarfs inquired.

  Whereupon she told them that her stepmother wanted to have her killed, but the hunter charged with the deed spared her life, and she ran all day until she finally found their little house.

  The dwarfs said, “If you will keep house for us, cook, make our beds, wash, sew and darn our socks, and make sure everything is clean and tidy, you can stay with us and you will lack for nothing.”

  “Yes,” said Snow White, “very gladly,” and she stayed with them.

  She kept their house in order. In the morning they went off to the mountains to search for ore and gold, and in the evening when they came back, their dinner had to be ready. But all day long the girl was alone and the kindhearted dwarfs warned her: “Beware of your stepmother, she will soon find out that you’re here. Don’t let anybody in.”

  But after eating what she thought was Snow White’s lungs and liver, the queen thought of nothing else but that she was once again the loveliest in the land, and went to her mirror and said,

  “Little mirror, little mirror, hanging on my wall,

  Tell me, won’t you, who in the land is the loveliest of all?”

  To which the mirror replied,

  “Your majesty, you are the loveliest here, it’s true,

  But Snow White who lives with the little men

  Over yonder hill and glen

  Is a thousand times lovelier than you.”

  Upon hearing the mirror’s pronouncement, the queen quaked and quivered with rage. “Snow White must die,” she cried, “even if it costs me my own life.”

  She then retired to a hidden chamber to which no one else had access, and there she prepared the potion for a poison apple. It looked lovely and luscious, firm and white inside and bright red on the outside, so that everyone who saw it longed to take a bite, but whoever swallowed a tiny piece was doomed to die. When the apple was ready, she made up her face, dressed as a peasant woman, and set out across the seven mountains to the home of the seven dwarfs.

  She knocked at the door, and Snow White looked out the window and said, “I dare not let anyone in, the seven dwarfs have forbidden it.”

  “As you like,” replied the peasant woman, “but I’m tired of carrying my apples around. I’ll gladly give you one.”

  “No,” said Snow White, “I cannot accept it.”

  “Are you afraid of poison?” the old woman said. “Look here, I’ll cut the apple in two. You eat the red part, I’ll eat the white.” But the apple was so artfully prepared that only the red part was poisoned. Snow White longed for a bite of the beautiful apple, and when she saw the peasant woman eat of it she couldn’t resist any longer, stuck her hand out, and took the poisoned half. No sooner did she take a bite than she fell down dead. Whereupon the queen regarded her with horrid grimaces, laughed out loud, and said, “As white as snow, as red as blood, as black as ebony! This time the dwarfs can wake you.”

  And when she got home and asked her mirror,

  “Little mirror, little mirror, hanging on my wall,

  Tell me, won’t you, who in the land is the loveliest of all?”

  The mirror finally replied,

  “Your majesty, you are the loveliest in the land.”

  Then at last her jealous heart rested easy, as easy as a jealous heart can rest.

  That evening when the dwarfs got home they found Snow White lying on the ground, no breath blew from her mouth, and she was dead. They picked her up in their arms, looked in her mouth to see if they could find anything poisonous, undid her dress, combed her hair, and washed her with water and wine, but nothing helped. The dear child was dead and stayed dead. They lay her on a funerary bier and all seven sat around her and wept and wept for three days. Then they wanted to bury her, but she looked so fresh, just like a living person, and still had such lovely red cheeks.

  So they said, “We cannot bury such loveliness in the black earth.” And they fashioned a glass casket you could see through from all sides, lay her in it, and inscribed her name in golden letters, and that she was a princess. Then they set the glass casket out on the mountain, and one of them always kept watch. And the wild animals came and wept for Snow White – first an owl, then a raven, and finally a dove.

  Snow White lay a long, long time in her casket and did not decay but rather looked like she was sleeping, for she was still as white as snow, with lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony. It so happened that a prince went riding through the woods and arrived at the dwarfs’ house where he hoped to spend the night. On the nearby mountaintop he saw the casket with lovely Snow White lying within and read the golden-lettered inscription. Then he said to the dwarfs, “Let me have the casket. I will give you whatever you wish for it.”

  But the dwarfs replied, “Not for all the gold in the world.”

  “Then please give it to me as a gift,” said the prince, “for I cannot live without looking at Snow White. I will honor and adore her as my beloved.”

  Hearing these words, the good-hearted dwarfs felt pity on him and gave him the casket. The prince had his servants carry it off on their shoulders. It so happened that the servants stumbled on a shrub and the vibrations made the piece of poisoned apple that Snow White had bitten off fall from her throat. It wasn’t long before she opened her eyes, lifted the casket lid, and sat up, alive again. “Dear God, where am I?” she cried.

  Overjoyed, the prince replied, “You are with me.” He told her what had happened and said, “I love you more than anything in this world. Come with me to my father’s castle, and you will be my bride.”

  Snow White was favorably inclined and agreed to go with him, and their wedding was planned with great pomp and splendor.

  But among
the invited guests was her godless stepmother. Once she had decked herself out in all her finery she stood before the mirror and said,

  “Little mirror, little mirror, hanging on my wall,

  Tell me, won’t you, who in the land is loveliest of all?”

  The mirror replied,

  “Your majesty, you are the loveliest here, it’s true,

  But the young queen is a thousand times lovelier than you.”

  In response to which the evil woman hissed a curse and was stricken with fear, so stricken she did not know what to do. At first she did not want to go to the wedding, but vain as she was, she simply had to go see the young queen. And when she entered the hall, Snow White immediately recognized her, and the evil queen was riveted to the spot by fear and trembling. But a pair of iron slippers was already heating on the coals. They were fetched with a pair of tongs and set before the evil queen, who had to put on the red-hot shoes and dance until she fell dead.

  LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

  There once was a sweet little girl. Everyone who set eyes on her immediately loved her. But her grandmother loved her the most of all. She showered the girl with gifts. One time she gave her a little hood made of red velvet, and because it suited her so well and she would wear nothing else, people took to calling her Little Red Riding Hood.