Grimm's Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

by Brothers Grimm

  After the crows had thus talked with one another, they flew away, and the trusty John, who had perfectly understood all they had said, was from that time very quiet and sad; for if he concealed from his master what he had heard, misfortune would happen to him, and if he told him all he must give up his own life. But at last he thought “I will save my master, even if I destroy myself.”

  As soon as they came on shore it happened just as the crow had foretold, and an immense fox-red horse sprang up. “Capital!” said the King; “this shall carry me to my castle,” and he tried to mount; but the faithful John came straight up, and, swinging himself quickly on, drew the firearms out of the holster and shot the horse dead. Then the other servants of the King, who were not on good terms with the faithful John, exclaimed, “How shameful to kill the beautiful creature, which might have borne the King to the castle!” But the King replied, “Be silent, and let him go; he is my very faithful John—who knows the good he may have done?” Now they went into the castle, and there stood a dish in the hall, and the splendid bridal shirt lay in it, and seemed nothing else than gold and silver. The young King went up to it and wished to take it up, but the faithful John pushed him away, and, taking it up with his gloves on, bore it quickly to the fire and let it burn. The other servants thereupon began to murmur, saying, “See, now he is burning the King’s bridal shirt!” But the young King replied, “Who knows what good he has done? Let him alone—he is my faithful John.”

  Soon after, the wedding was celebrated, and a grand ball was given, and the bride began to dance. So the faithful John paid great attention, and watched her countenance; all at once she grew pale, and fell as if dead to the ground. Then he sprang up hastily, raised her up and bore her to a chamber, where he laid her down, kneeled beside her, and, drawing the three drops of blood out of her right breast, threw them away. As soon as she breathed again, she raised herself up; but the young King had witnessed every thing, and not knowing why the faithful John had done this, was very angry, and called out, “Throw him into prison!” The next morning the trusty John was brought up for trial, and led to the gallows; and as he stood upon them, and was about to be executed, he said, “Every one condemned to die may once before his death speak. Shall I also have that privilege?” “Yes,” answered the King, “it shall be granted to you.” Then the faithful John replied, “I have been unrighteously judged, and have always been true to you;” and he narrated the conversation of the crows which he heard at sea; and how, in order to save his master, he was obliged to do all he had done. Then the King cried out, “Oh, my most trusty John, pardon, pardon; lead him away!” But the trusty John had fallen down at the last word and was turned into stone.

  At this event both the King and the Queen were in great grief, and the King asked, “Ah, how wickedly have I rewarded his great fidelity!” and he had the stone statue raised up and placed in his sleeping chamber, near his bed; and as often as he looked at it he wept and said, “Ah, could I bring you back to life again, my faithful John!”

  After some time had passed the Queen bore twins, two little sons, who were her great joy. Once, when the Queen was in church, and the two children at home playing by their father’s side, he looked up at the stone statue full of sorrow, and exclaimed with a sigh, “Ah, could I restore you to life, my faithful John!” At these words the stone began to speak, saying, “Yes, you can make me alive again, if you will bestow on me that which is dearest to you.” The King replied, “All that I have in the world I will give up for you.” The stone spake again: “If you, with your own hand, cut off the heads of both your children and sprinkle me with their blood, I shall be brought to life again.” The King was terrified when he heard that he must himself kill his two dear children; but he remembered his servant’s great fidelity, and how the faithful John had died for him, and drawing his sword he cut off the heads of both his children with his own hand. And as soon as he had sprinkled the stone with blood the life came back to it, and the trusty John stood again alive and well before him, and said, “Your faith shall not go unrewarded;” and taking the heads of the two children he set them on again, and anointed their wounds with their blood, and thereupon they healed again in a moment, and the children sprang away and played as if nothing had happened.

  Now the King was full of happiness, and as soon as he saw the Queen coming he hid the faithful John and both the children in a great cupboard. As soon as she came in he said to her, “Have you prayed in the church?” “Yes,” she answered; “but I thought continually of the faithful John, who has come to such misfortune through us.” Then he replied, “My dear wife, we can restore his life again to him, but it will cost us both our little sons, whom we must sacrifice.” The Queen became pale and was terrified at heart, but she said, “We are guilty of his life on account of his great fidelity.” Then he was very glad that she thought as he did, and going up to the cupboard he unlocked it, brought out the children and the faithful John, saying, “God be praised! he is saved, and we have still our little sons;” and then he told her all that had happened. Afterwards they lived happily together to the end of their days.

  The Musicians of Bremen

  A certain man had an ass which had served him faithfully for many long years, but whose strength was so far gone that at last it was quite unfit for work. So his master was thinking how much he could make of the skin, but the Ass, perceiving that no good wind was blowing, ran away along the road to Bremen. “There,” thought he, “I can be town-musician.” When he had run some way, he found a Hound lying by the road-side, yawning like one who was very tired. “What are you yawning for now, you big fellow?” asked the Ass.

  “Ah,” replied the Hound, “because every day I grow older and weaker; I cannot go any more to the hunt, and my master has well nigh beaten me to death, so that I took to flight; and now I do not know how to earn my bread.

  “Well! do you know,” said the Ass, “I am going to Bremen to be town-musician there; suppose you go with me and take a share in the music. I will play on the lute, and you shall beat the kettledrums.” The Dog was satisfied, and off they set.

  Presently they came to a Cat sitting in the middle of the path with a face like three rainy days! “Now then, old shaver, what has crossed you?” asked the Ass.

  “How can one be merry when one’s neck has been pinched like mine?” answered the Cat. “Because I am growing old, and my teeth are all worn to stumps, and because I would rather sit by the fire and spin, than run after mice, my mistress wanted to drown me; and so I ran away. But now, good advice is dear, and I do not know what to do.”

  “Go with us to Bremen. You understand nocturnal music, so you can be a town-musician.” The Cat consented, and went with them. The three vagabonds soon came near a farm-yard, where upon the barn-door the Cock was sitting crowing with all his might. “You crow through marrow and bone,” said the Ass; “what do you do that for?”

  “That is the way I prophesy fine weather,” said the Cock; “but, because grand guests are coming for the Sunday, the housewife has no pity, and has told the cookmaid to make me into soup for the morrow; and this evening my head will be cut off. Now I am crowing with a full throat as long as I can.”

  “Ah, but you, Red-comb,” replied the Ass, “rather come away with us. We are going to Bremen, to find there something better than death; you have a good voice, and if we make music together, it will have full play.”

  The Cock consented to this plan, and so all four travelled on together. They could not however reach Bremen in one day, and at evening they came into a forest, where they meant to pass the night. The Ass and the Dog laid themselves down under a large tree, the Cat and the Cock climbed up into the branches, but the latter flew right to the top, where he was most safe. Before he went to sleep, he looked all round the four quarters, and soon thought he saw a little spark in the distance; so, calling his companions, he said they were not far from a house, for he saw a light. The Ass said, “If it is so, we had better get up and go further, f
or the pasturage here is very bad;” and continued the Dog, “Yes, indeed! a couple of bones with some meat on, would also be very acceptable!” So they made haste towards the spot where the light was, which shone now brighter and brighter, until they came to a well-lighted robbers’ cottage. The Ass, as the biggest, went to the window and peeped in. “What do you see, Gray-horse?” asked the Cock. “What do I see!” replied the Ass; “a table laid out with savoury meats and drinks; with robbers sitting around enjoying themselves.”

  “That were the right sort of thing for us,” said the Cock.

  “Yes, yes, I wish we were there,” replied the Ass. Then these animals took counsel together how they should contrive to drive away the robbers, and at last they thought of a way. The Ass had to place his fore-feet upon the window-ledge, the Hound got on his back, the Cat climbed up upon the Dog, and lastly the Cock flew up and perched upon the head of the Cat. When this was accomplished, at a given signal they commenced together to perform their music; the Ass brayed, the Dog barked, the Cat mewed, and the Cock crew! and they made such a tremendous noise, and so loud, that the panes of the window were shivered! Terrified at these unearthly sounds, the robbers got up with great precipitation, thinking nothing less than that some spirits had come, and fled off into the forest. The four companions immediately sat down at the table, and quickly ate up all that was left, as if they had been fasting for six weeks.

  As soon as the four players had finished, they extinguished the light, and each sought for himself a sleeping place, according to his nature and custom. The Ass laid himself down upon some straw, the Hound behind the door, the Cat upon the hearth near the warm ashes, and the Cock flew up upon a beam which ran across the room. Weary with their long walk they soon went to sleep.

  At midnight, the robbers perceived from their retreat that no light was burning in their house, and all appeared quiet; so the captain said, “We need not to have been frightened into fits;” and, calling one of the band, he sent him forward to reconnoiter. The messenger finding all still, went into the kitchen to strike a light, and, taking the glistening fiery eyes of the Cat for live coals, he held a lucifer-match to them, expecting it to take fire. But the Cat, not understanding the joke, flew in his face, spitting and scratching, which dreadfully frightened him, so that he made for the back-door; but the Dog, who lay there, sprung up and bit his leg; and as soon as he limped upon the straw whereupon lay the Ass, it gave him a powerful kick with its hind foot. This was not all, for the Cock, awaking at the noise, stretched himself, and cried from the beam, “Cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle-doo!”

  Then the robber ran back as well as he could to his captain, and said, “Ah, my master, there dwells a horrible witch in the house, who spat on me and scratched my face with her long nails; and then before the door stands a man with a knife, who chopped at my leg; and in the yard there lies a black monster, who beat me with a great wooden club; and, besides all, upon the roof sits a judge, who called out, ‘Bring the knave up, do!’ so I ran away as fast as I could.”

  After this the robbers dared not again go near their house; but every thing prospered so well with the four town-musicians of Bremen, that they did not forsake their situation! And there they are to this day, for any thing I know!

  The Twelve Brothers

  O nce upon a time there lived happily together a Queen and a King, who had twelve children, all boys. One day the King said to his consort, “If the thirteenth child, whom you are about to bring into the world, should be a girl, then shall the twelve boys die, that her riches may be great, and that the kingdom may fall to her alone.” He then ordered twelve coffins to be made, which were filled with shavings, and in each a pillow was placed, and, all of them having been locked up in a room, he gave the key thereof to the Queen, and bade her tell nobody about the matter.

  But the mother sat crying the whole day long, so that her youngest child, who was always with her, and whom she had named Benjamin, said to her, “Mother dear, why are you so sorrowful?” “My dearest child,” she replied, “I dare not tell you.” But he let her have no peace until she went and unlocked the room and showed him the twelve coffins filled with shavings. Then she said, “My dearest Benjamin, these coffins your father has had prepared for yourself and your eleven brothers, for, if I bring a little girl into the world, you will be all killed together and buried in them.” And, as she wept while she spoke these words, the son comforted her, saying, “Do not cry, dear mother; we will help ourselves and go away.” But she said, “Go with your eleven brothers into the woods, and let one of you climb into the highest tree which is to be found, and keep watch, looking towards the tower of the castle here. If I bear a little son, I will hang out a white flag, and you may venture home again; but if I bear a little daughter I will hang out a red flag; and then flee away as quickly as you can, and God preserve you. Every night I will arise and pray for you; in winter, that you may have a fire to warm yourselves; and in summer, that you may not be melted with the heat.”

  Soon after she gave her blessing to all her sons, and they went away into the forest. Each kept watch in turn, sitting upon the highest oak-tree, and looking towards the tower. When eleven days had passed by, and it came to Benjamin’s turn, he perceived a flag hung out; but it was not the white but the red flag, which announced that they must all die. As the brothers heard this, they became very angry, and said, “Shall we suffer death on account of a maiden? Let us swear that we will avenge ourselves; wherever we find a maiden, her red blood shall flow.”

  Thereupon they went deeper into the forest, and in the middle, where it was most gloomy, they found a little charmed cottage standing empty, and they said, “Here we will dwell, and you, Benjamin, as you are the youngest and the weakest, shall stop here, and keep house, while we go out to fetch meat.” So they set forth into the forest, and shot hares, wild fawns, birds, and pigeons, and what else they could find. These they brought home to Benjamin, who cooked them for them to appease their hunger. In this little cottage they lived ten years together, and the time passed very quickly.

  The little daughter, whom their mother, the Queen, had borne, was now grown up; she had a kind heart, was very beautiful, and always wore a golden star upon her brow. Once, when there was a great wash, she saw twelve boys’ shirts hanging up, and she asked her mother, “To whom do these twelve shirts belong, for they are much too small for my father?” Then she answered with a heavy heart, “My dear child, they belong to your twelve brothers.” The maiden replied, “Where are my twelve brothers? I have never yet heard of them.” The Queen answered, “God only knows where they are; they have wandered into the wide world.” Then she took the maiden, and unlocking the room, showed her twelve coffins with the shavings and pillows. “These coffins,” said she, “were ordered for your brothers, but they went away secretly, before you were born;” and she told her how every thing had happened. Then the maiden said, “Do not cry, dear mother; I will go forth, and seek my brothers;” and taking the twelve shirts, she set out at once straight into the great forest. All day long she walked on and on, and in the evening she came to the charmed house, into which she stepped. There she found a young lad, who asked her, “Whence dost thou come, and whither goest thou?” and he stood astonished to see how beautiful she was, and at the queenly robes she wore, and the star upon her brow. Then she answered, “I am a King’s daughter, and am seeking my twelve brothers, and will go as far as heaven is blue until I find them;” and she showed him the twelve shirts which belonged to them. Benjamin perceived at once that it was his sister, and he said, “I am Benjamin, thy youngest brother.” At his words she began to weep for joy, and Benjamin wept also, and they kissed and embraced one another with the greatest affection. Presently he said, “Dear sister, there is one terrible condition we have agreed together, that every maiden whom we meet shall die, because we were obliged to leave our kingdom on account of a maiden.”