The Grimm Reader

by Maria Tatar

  RUMPELSTILTSKIN

  nce upon a time there lived a miller who was very poor but who had a beautiful daughter. One day it happened that he was given an audience with the king, and in order to appear as a person of some importance, he said to him: “I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.”

  “Now there’s a talent worth having,” the king said to the miller. “If your daughter is as clever as you say she is, bring her to my palace tomorrow. I will put her to the test.”

  When the girl arrived at the palace, he put her into a room full of straw, gave her a spinning wheel and a spindle, and said: “Get to work right away. If you don’t succeed in spinning this straw into gold by tomorrow morning, then you shall die.” And the king locked the door after he went out and left her all alone inside.

  The poor miller’s daughter sat there in the room and was completely perplexed. She didn’t have the slightest idea how she was going to spin straw into gold. She felt so miserable that she started crying. Suddenly the door opened and a little gnome walked right in and said: “Good evening, Little Miss Miller’s Daughter. Why are you in tears?”

  “Oh dear,” the girl answered. “I’m supposed to spin that straw into gold, and I have no idea how it’s done.”

  The gnome asked: “What will you give me if I do it for you?”

  “My necklace,” the girl replied.

  The gnome took the necklace, sat down at the spinning wheel, and whirr, whirr, whirr, the wheel spun three times and the bobbin was full. Then he put another bundle of straw up, and whirr, whirr, whirr, the wheel spun three times and the second bobbin was full. He worked on until dawn, and by then the straw had been spun and all the bobbins were full of gold.

  At the crack of dawn, the king made his way to the room. When he saw all that gold, he was astonished and filled with joy, but now he lusted more than ever for that precious metal. He ordered the miller’s daughter to go to a much larger room, one that was also filled with straw, and he told her that if she valued her life she would spin it all into gold by dawn. The girl had no idea what to do, and she began to cry. The door opened, as before, and the gnome reappeared and asked: “What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?”

  “I’ll give you the ring on my finger,” the girl replied. The gnome took the ring, began to whirl the wheel around, and by dawn he had spun all of the straw into glittering gold. The king was pleased beyond measure at the sight of the gold, but his greed was still not satisfied. This time he ordered the miller’s daughter to go into an even larger room filled with straw and said: “You have to spin this to gold in one night. If you succeed, you will become my wife.”

  “She may just be a miller’s daughter,” he thought, “but I could never find a richer wife if I were to search for one the world over.”

  When the girl was all by herself again, the gnome appeared for the third time and asked: “What will you give me if I spin the straw for you again?”

  “I have nothing left to give you,” the girl replied.

  “Then promise to give me your first child, after you become queen.”

  “Who knows what may happen before that?” thought the miller’s daughter. Since she was desperate to find a way out, she promised the gnome what he had demanded, and, once again, he set to work and spun the straw into gold.

  When the king returned in the morning and found everything as he wished it to be, he made the wedding arrangements, and the beautiful miller’s daughter became a queen.

  A year later, the miller’s daughter gave birth to a beautiful child. She had forgotten all about the gnome, but one day he suddenly appeared in her room and said: “Give me what you promised.”

  The queen was horrified, and she offered the gnome the entire wealth of the kingdom if only he would let her keep the child. But he replied: “I prefer a living creature to all the treasures in the world.” The queen’s tears and sobs were so heartrending that the gnome took pity on her. “I will give you three days,” he declared. “If by then you can guess my name, you can keep your child.”

  All night long the queen racked her brains, thinking of all the names she had ever heard. She dispatched a messenger to inquire throughout the land if there were any names she had forgotten. When the little man returned the next day, she began with Casper, Melchior, and Balthasar and recited every single name she had ever heard. But at each one the little man said: “That’s not my name.”

  The next day she sent the messenger out to inquire about the names of all the people in the neighborhood, and she tried out the most unusual and bizarre names on the little man: “Do you happen to be called Ribfiend or Muttonchops or Spindleshanks?” But each time he replied: “That’s not my name.”

  On the third day the messenger returned and said: “I couldn’t find a single new name, but when I rounded a bend in the forest at the foot of a huge mountain, a place so remote that the foxes and hares bid each other goodnight, I came across a little hut. A fire was burning right in front of the hut, and a really strange little man was dancing around the fire, hopping on one foot and chanting:

  ‘Tomorrow I brew, today I bake,

  Soon the child is mine to take.

  Oh what luck to win this game,

  Rumpelstiltskin is my name.’ ”

  You can imagine how happy the queen was to hear that name. The gnome returned and asked: “Well, Your Majesty, who am I?”

  The queen replied: “Is your name Conrad?”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Is your name Harry?”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Could your name possibly be Rumpelstiltskin?”

  “The devil told you that, the devil told you!” the little man screamed, and in his rage he stamped his right foot so hard that it went into the ground right up to his waist. Then in his fury he seized his left foot with both hands and tore himself in two.

  THE GOLDEN BIRD

  long time ago there lived a king who had a beautiful garden of delights right behind his castle. In it grew a tree that bore golden apples. As soon as the apples became ripe, they were counted, but the very next morning one of them was missing. The king heard about it right away, and he gave orders to have the tree guarded at night.

  The king had three sons, and he sent the oldest into the garden at nightfall. Around midnight, however, the boy was overcome by sleep, and the next morning another apple was missing. On the following night, the second son kept watch, but he fared no better. When the clock struck midnight, he fell asleep, and the next morning another apple was missing. Now it was the turn of the third son to keep watch. He was willing and eager, but the king didn’t have a great deal of faith in him and felt sure that he would do even worse than his brothers. Finally, however, he gave his permission.

  The boy stretched out under the tree, kept watch, and fought off going to sleep. When the clock struck twelve, something began stirring in the air, and he caught sight of a bird flying toward him. Its golden feathers glittered in the moonlight when it landed on the tree. The bird had just plucked an apple from the tree when the boy shot an arrow at it. The bird managed to escape, but the arrow grazed it, and one of its golden feathers fell to the ground. The boy picked it up, brought it to the king the next morning, and told him what had happened that night. The king summoned his councilors, and they all agreed that a feather like that was worth more than the entire kingdom. “If the feather is indeed that valuable,” the king said, “then a single one just isn’t enough. I have to get my hands on that bird, and I’ll do anything to catch it.”

  The eldest of the three sons set out in search of the bird. He was a clever fellow, and so he was sure that the golden bird would soon be in his possession. After traveling for a while, he caught sight of a fox at the edge of a forest, and he raised his gun and took aim. The fox cried out: “Hold your fire! I can give you some good
advice if you don’t shoot. I know that you’re searching for the golden bird. Tonight you’re going to reach a village where there are two inns on opposite sides of the road. One of them will be lit up brightly, and you’ll see people having a good time. But don’t spend the night there. Stay at the other one, even though it may not look inviting.”

  “How can a dimwitted animal like that give sensible advice!” the prince thought, and he pulled the trigger. But he missed the fox, who stretched out his tail and sped off into the forest. Then he continued on his journey, and in the evening he reached the village where there were two inns on opposite sides of the street. In one there was singing and dancing; the other one looked gloomy and dilapidated.

  “I would be a fool to stay at the shabby old inn and to pass up the nice one,” he thought. And so he went into the inn where things were festive, lived it up, and completely forgot about the bird, about his father, and about every piece of advice he’d ever gotten.

  After some time had passed, and it became evident that the eldest son was not going to return home, the second set out to look for the golden bird. Like the eldest, he too met the fox, and he received the same good advice that he then disregarded. He reached the two inns and saw his brother at the window of the one in which there was much carousing. When his brother called out to him, he couldn’t resist, and once he was inside, he got lost in a life of pleasure.

  More time went by, and now the youngest son wanted to go out and try his luck, but the king was dead set against it. “It’s no use,” he declared. “He has even less of a chance than his brothers of finding the golden bird, and if something happens to him, he won’t know how to manage, for he’s never been the brightest.” But finally, since the boy gave him no peace, he let him go.

  The fox was there again, at the edge of the forest. He pleaded for his life and offered good advice in exchange for it. The boy had always been good-natured, and he said: “Don’t worry, little fox, I would never think of harming you.”

  “You won’t regret it,” the fox replied, “and if you climb up on my tail, I can get you where you’re going much faster.” The fox raced off as soon as the boy was on his back, and away they went up hill and down dale, so swiftly that the wind began to whistle through the boy’s hair.

  When they got to the village, the boy alighted, and he followed the advice given by the fox. Without pondering it for a moment, he decided to stay in the shabby inn, where he got a good night’s rest.

  The next morning, when he left the village, he saw the fox again, who said: “I’m going to tell you what you have to do next. If you keep walking down this road, you’ll reach a castle. There will be a whole company of soldiers lying on the ground, but don’t pay any attention to them, because they’ll just be sleeping and snoring away. Just walk right through their ranks and go straight into the castle. When you walk through all the rooms, you’ll reach a chamber where there will be a golden bird in a wooden cage. Next to the cage there’ll be an empty golden cage hanging there just for show. But watch out! Don’t take the bird out of its plain cage and put it in the splendid-looking one. You’ll run into trouble if you do.” With these words, the fox stretched his tail out, and the prince climbed back on it. They raced up hill and down dale, so swiftly that the wind began to blow through the boy’s hair.

  When the prince got to the castle, he found that everything was exactly as the fox had told him. He walked into the chamber and found the golden bird sitting in a wooden cage. Next to it was a golden cage. Three golden apples were scattered around the room. Thinking that it would be ridiculous to leave the beautiful bird in the plain and ugly cage, he opened the door, grabbed the bird, and put it into the golden cage. That instant the bird let loose a piercing scream. The soldiers were roused from their sleep and came rushing in. They took the boy off to prison. The next day he was brought to trial, and when he confessed to everything, he was sentenced to death. But the king promised to spare his life under one condition: He would have to bring him a golden horse that was said to run faster than the wind. If he managed to bring him the horse, the golden bird would be his reward.

  The prince started out on his journey, but his spirits were low and he felt miserable. Where in the world was he going to get a golden horse? Just then he met up with his old friend the fox, who was right there on the road.

  “See what happens when you don’t pay attention to my advice! But all is not lost. I’m still going to help you, and I’ll tell you how to find the golden horse. You will have to keep going down this road until you come to a castle. There’ll be a stable there with the horse in it. In front of the stable, you’ll see grooms lying on the ground, but they will be sleeping and snoring away, so you can go right ahead and get the golden horse. But make sure that you put the plain leather saddle with wooden trim on the horse and not the golden one hanging nearby, or you’ll be in for trouble.” The fox stretched his tail out, and the prince climbed back on it. The two raced up hill and down dale, so swiftly that the wind began to blow through the boy’s hair.

  Everything happened as the fox said it would. The boy reached the stable where the golden horse was kept. He was about to put the plain saddle on the horse when he thought: “It would be a shame to put a plain saddle on a horse that really deserves better.” No sooner had the golden saddle touched the horse than the beast began to neigh. The grooms were roused from their sleep, and they seized the boy and threw him into prison. The next morning he was sentenced to death, but the king promised to spare his life and to give him the golden horse if he could just bring him the beautiful princess living in the golden castle.

  With a heavy heart, the boy got on the road again. To his great joy he met the faithful fox once again. “I should really leave you to your own devices,” the fox said, “but I feel sorry for you, and I’m going to help you beat your bad luck. If you follow this path, you will reach the golden castle. You will get there in the evening, and at night, when everything’s quiet, the beautiful princess will go into the bathhouse to take her evening bath. When she walks in, run over to her and give her a kiss. She’ll have to follow you, and you can take her with you. But you mustn’t let her take leave of her parents, or you’re in for trouble.”

  The fox stretched out his tail, and the prince got back on it. They went up hill and down dale until the wind went whistling through his hair. When he got to the golden castle, it was just as the fox said it would be. He waited until midnight when everyone was fast asleep, and then, when the beautiful maiden was on her way to the bathhouse, he jumped out and gave her a kiss. She told him that she would be glad to leave with him, but she wept and pleaded with him to let her say good-bye to her parents. At first he refused, but she just kept on weeping and fell to her knees, and finally he gave in. But just as the maiden was approaching her father’s bed, everyone else in the castle woke up and the boy was captured and thrown into prison.

  The next day the king said to him: “You have forfeited your life, but I’ll give you one chance at a pardon: You will have to get rid of the mountain that is blocking the view from my windows, and you will have to do it in a week. If you succeed, you shall have my daughter as your reward.”

  Right away the prince began digging and shoveling without pausing for a moment. But when he saw how little he had accomplished and how all his work was really in vain, he fell into a state of deep gloom and gave up hope.

  On the evening of the seventh day, the fox appeared and said: “You don’t really deserve my help, but never mind, and just go take a nap. I’ll do the work for you.”

  The next morning the prince woke up and looked out the window only to discover that the mountain had vanished. His heart was filled with joy, and he raced over to see the king to let him know that he had completed the task. Whether the king liked it or not, he had to keep his word and give him his daughter.

  The prince and the princess set out together, and before long th
ey met the faithful fox. “It’s true that you have won the real prize,” he said, “but the golden horse really ought to go with the princess from the golden castle.”

  “How can I manage that?” the boy asked.

  “I’ll tell you how,” the fox replied. “First of all, you’ll have to bring the beautiful maiden to the king who sent you to the golden castle. There will be great rejoicing, and they’ll be so happy to give you the golden horse that they’ll bring it right out. Mount the horse right away and be sure to shake hands with everyone as you’re taking leave. At the very end, shake the hand of the beautiful princess, and once her hand is in yours, swing her up to the saddle and gallop off. No one will be able to catch you, since you’ll be riding a horse that runs faster than the wind.”

  Everything went as planned, and the prince carried off the beautiful princess on the golden horse. The fox went with them and said to the boy: “Now I’m going to help you get the golden bird too. When you get near the castle where the bird is, let the princess dismount, and I’ll take care of her. Then you will want to ride on the golden horse into the courtyard of the castle. When they see you, they will be overjoyed, and they’ll bring out the golden bird. Once you have the cage in your hands, gallop back to us and come get the princess.”

  The plan went smoothly once again, and the prince was about to ride home with his treasures when the fox said: “And now you must reward me for my help.”

  “What do you wish for in return?”

  “When we reach the woods over there, just shoot me and chop off my head and paws.”

  “That would be real gratitude,” the prince said. “I’m afraid that I can’t possibly do as you wish.”

  “If you won’t do it, then I will have to leave you. But before I go, I’m going to give you one more good piece of advice. Be on your guard about two things: don’t buy any gallows meat and never sit down on the edge of a well.” And with that the fox ran into the forest.