DEADLY TALES THE BROTHERS GRIMM ILLUSTRATED BY JULLIANNA ECKARDT
Written by James and Wilhelm Grimm Translated by D.L. Ashliman Illustrated by Jullianna Eckardt
Choose Your Deadly Tale
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Death’s Messengers
10
The Juniper Tree
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The Robber Bridegroom
32
Fitcher’s Bird
40
God Father Death
DEATH’S MESSENGERS
In ancient times a giant was wandering along the highway when suddenly a stranger jumped toward him and shouted, “Stop! Not one step further!”“What?” said the giant. “You, a creature that I could crush between my fingers, you want to block my way? Who are you that you dare to speak so boldly?” “I am Death,” answered the other one. “No one resists me, and you too must obey my orders.” But the giant refused, and began to wrestle with Death. It was a long, violent battle, and finally the giant got the upper hand, and knocked Death down with his fist, causing him to collapse by a stone. The giant went on his way, and Death lay there conquered, so weak that he could not get up again.
“What is to come of this?” he said. “If I stay lying here in a corner, no one will die in the world, and it will become so filled with people that they won’t have room to stand beside one another.” Meanwhile a young man came down the road. Vigorous and healthy, he was singing a song and looking this way and that. Seeing the halfconscious individual, he approached him with compassion, raised him up, gave him a refreshing drink from his flask, and waited until he regained his strength. “Do you know,” asked the stranger, as he stood up, “who I am, and whom you have helped onto his legs again?”
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DEATH’S MESSENGERS
“No,” answered the youth, “I do not know you.” “I am Death,” he said. “I spare no one, nor can make an exception with you. However, so you may see that I am grateful, I promise you that I will not attack you without warning, but instead will send my messengers to you before I come and take you away.” “Good,” said the youth. “It is to my benefit that I shall know when you are coming, and that I will be safe from you until then.”
Then he went on his way, and was cheerful and carefree, and lived one day at a time. However, youth and good health did not last long. Soon came sickness and pain, which tormented him by day and deprived him of his rest by night. “I shall not die,” he said to himself, “for Death will first send his messengers, but I do wish that these wicked days of sickness were over.”
DEATH’S MESSENGERS
Regaining his health, he began once more to live cheerfully. Then one day someone tapped on his shoulder. He looked around, and death was standing behind him, who said, “Follow me. The hour of your departure from this world has come.” “What?” replied the man. “Are you breaking your word? Did you not promise me that you would send your messengers to me before you yourself would come? I have not seen a one of them.” “Be still!” answered Death. “Have I not sent you one messenger after another? Did not fever come and strike you, and shake you, and throw you down? Has not dizziness numbed your head? Has not gout pinched your limbs? Did your ears not buzz? Did toothache not bite into your cheeks? Did your eyes not darken? And furthermore, has not my own brother Sleep reminded you every night of me? During the night did you not lie there as if you were already dead?” The man did not know how to answer, so he surrendered to his fate and went away with Death.
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DEATH’S MESSENGERS
THE JUNIPER TREE
Long ago, at least two thousand years, there was a rich man who had a beautiful and pious wife, and they loved each other dearly. However, they had no children, though they wished very much to have some, and the woman prayed for them day and night, but they didn’t get any, and they didn’t get any. In front of their house there was a courtyard where there stood a juniper tree. One day in winter the woman was standing beneath it, peeling herself an apple, and while she was thus peeling the apple, she cut her finger, and the blood fell into the snow. “Oh,” said the woman. She sighed heavily, looked at the blood before her, and was most unhappy. “If only I had a child as red as blood and as white as snow.” And as she said that, she became quite contented, and felt sure that it was going to happen.
Then she went into the house, and a month went by, and the snow was gone. And two months, and everything was green. And three months, and all the flowers came out of the earth. And four months, and all the trees in the woods grew thicker, and the green branches were all entwined in one another, and the birds sang until the woods resounded and the blossoms fell from the trees. Then the fifth month passed, and she stood beneath the juniper tree, which smelled so sweet that her heart jumped for joy, and she fell on her knees and was beside herself.
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THE JUNIPER TREE
And when the sixth month was over, the fruit was thick and large, and then she was quite still. And after the seventh month she picked the juniper berries and ate them greedily. Then she grew sick and sorrowful. Then the eighth month passed, and she called her husband to her, and cried, and said, “If I die, then bury me beneath the juniper tree.” Then she was quite comforted and happy until the next month was over, and then she had a child as white as snow and as red as blood, and when she saw it, she was so happy that she died. Her husband buried her beneath the juniper tree, and he began to cry bitterly. After some time he was more at ease, and although he still cried, he could bear it. And some time later he took another wife. He had a daughter by the second wife, but the first wife’s child was a little son, and he was as red as blood and as white as snow. When the woman looked at her daughter, she loved her very much, but then she looked at the little boy, and it pierced her heart, for she thought that he would always stand in her way, and she was always thinking how she could get the entire inheritance for her daughter. And the Evil One filled her mind with this until she grew very angry with the little boy, and she pushed him from one corner to the other and slapped him here and cuffed him there, until the poor child was always afraid, for when he came home from school there was nowhere he could find any peace. One day the woman had gone upstairs to her room, when her little daughter came up too, and said, “Mother, give me an apple.” “Yes, my child,” said the woman, and gave her a beautiful apple out of the chest. The chest had a large heavy lid with a large sharp iron lock. “Mother,” said the little daughter, “is brother not to have one too?” This made the woman angry, but she said, “Yes, when he comes home from school.”
When from the window she saw him coming, it was as though the Evil One came over her, and she grabbed the apple and took it away from her daughter, saying, “You shall not have one before your brother.”
THE JUNIPER TREE
She threw the apple into the chest, and shut it. Then the little boy came in the door, and the Evil One made her say to him kindly, “My son, do you want an apple?” And she looked at him fiercely. “Mother,” said the little boy, “how angry you look. Yes, give me an apple.”
Then it seemed to her as if she had to persuade him. “Come with me,” she said, opening the lid of the chest. “Take out an apple for yourself.” And while the little boy was leaning over, the Evil One prompted her,
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THE JUNIPER TREE
and crash! she slammed down the lid, and his head flew off, falling among the red apples. Then fear overcame her, and she thought, “Maybe I can get out of this.” So she went upstairs to her room to her chest of drawers, and took a white scarf out of the top drawer, and set the head on the neck again, tying the scarf around it so that nothing could be seen. Then she set him on a chair in front of the door and put the apple in his hand. After this Marlene came into the kitchen to her mother, who was standing by the fire with a pot of hot water before her which she was stirring around and around. “Mother,” said Marlene, “brother is sitting at the door, and he looks totally white and has an apple in his hand. I asked him to give me the apple, but he did not answer me, and I was very frightened.” “Go back to him,” said her mother, “and if he will not answer you, then box his ears.”
So Marlene went to him and said, “Brother, give me the apple.” But he was silent, so she gave him one on the ear, and his head fell off. Marlene was terrified, and began crying and screaming, and ran to her mother, and said, “Oh, mother, I have knocked my brother’s head off,” and she cried and cried and could not be comforted. “Marlene,” said the mother, “what have you done? Be quiet and don’t let anyone know about it. It cannot be helped now. We will cook him into stew.” Then the mother took the little boy and chopped him in pieces, put him into the pot, and cooked him into stew. But Marlene stood by crying and crying, and all her tears fell into the pot, and they did not need any salt. Then the father came home, and sat down at the table and said, “Where is my son?” And the mother served up a large, large dish of stew, and Marlene cried and could not stop.
THE JUNIPER TREE
Then the father said again, “Where is my son?” “Oh,” said the mother, “he has gone across the country to his mother’s great uncle. He will stay there awhile.” “What is he doing there? He did not even say good-bye to me.” “Oh, he wanted to go, and asked me if he could stay six weeks. He will be well taken care of there.” “Oh,” said the man, “I am unhappy. It isn’t right. He should have said good-bye to me.” With that he began to eat, saying, “Marlene, why are you crying? Your brother will certainly come back.” Then he said, “Wife, this food is delicious. Give me some more.” And the more he ate the more he wanted, and he said, “Give me some more. You two shall have none of it. It seems to me as if it were all mine.” And he ate and ate, throwing all the bones under the table, until he had finished it all.
Marlene went to her chest of drawers, took her best silk scarf from the bottom drawer, and gathered all the bones from beneath the table and tied them up in her silk scarf, then carried them outside the door, crying tears of blood. She laid them down beneath the juniper tree on the green grass, and after she had put them there, she suddenly felt better and did not cry anymore. Then the juniper tree began to move. The branches moved apart, then moved together again, just as if someone were rejoicing and clapping his hands. At the same time a mist seemed to rise from the tree, and in the center of this mist it burned like a fire, and a beautiful bird flew out of the fire singing magnificently, and it flew high into the air, and when it was gone, the juniper tree was just as it had been before, and the cloth with the bones was no longer there. Marlene, however, was as happy and
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THE JUNIPER TREE
contented as if her brother were still alive. And she went merrily into the house, sat down at the table, and ate. Then the bird flew away and lit on a goldsmith’s house, and began to sing: My mother, she killed me, My father, he ate me, My sister Marlene, Gathered all my bones, Tied them in a silken scarf, Laid them beneath the juniper tree, Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I. The goldsmith was sitting in his workshop making a golden chain, when he heard the bird sitting on his roof and singing. The song seemed very beautiful to him. He stood up, but as he crossed the threshold he lost one of his slippers. However, he went right up the middle of the street with only one slipper and one sock on. He had his leather apron on, and in one hand he had a golden chain and in the other his tongs. The sun was shining brightly on the street. He walked onward, then stood still and said to the bird, “Bird,” he said, “how beautifully you can sing. Sing that piece a gain for me.” “No,” said the bird, “I do not sing twice for nothing. Give me the golden chain, and then I will sing it again for you.” The goldsmith said, “Here is the golden chain for you. Now sing that song again for me.” Then the bird came and took the golden chain in his right claw, and went and sat in front of the goldsmith, and sang: My mother, she killed me, My father, he ate me, My sister Marlene, Gathered all my bones, Tied them in a silken scarf, Laid them beneath the juniper tree, Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I.
Then the bird flew away to a shoemaker, and lit on his roof and sang:
THE JUNIPER TREE
My mother, she killed me, My father, he ate me, My sister Marlene, Gathered all my bones, Tied them in a silken scarf, Laid them beneath the juniper tree, Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I. Hearing this, the shoemaker ran out of doors in his shirtsleeves, and looked up at his roof, and had to hold his hand in front of his eyes to keep the sun from blinding him. “Bird,” said he, “how beautifully you can sing.” Then he called in at his door, “Wife, come outside. There is a bird here. Look at this bird. He certainly can sing.” Then he called his daughter and her children, and the journeyman, and the apprentice, and the maid, and they all came out into the street and looked at the bird and saw how beautiful he was, and what fine red and green feathers he had, and how his neck was like pure gold, and how his eyes shone like stars in his head. “Bird,” said the shoemaker, “now sing that song again for me.” “No,” said the bird, “I do not sing twice for nothing. You must give me something.”
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THE JUNIPER TREE
“Wife,” said the man, “go into the shop. There is a pair of red shoes on the top shelf. Bring them down.” Then the wife went and brought the shoes. “There, bird,” said the man, “now sing that piece again for me.” Then the bird came and took the shoes in his left claw, and flew back to the roof, and sang: My mother, she killed me, My father, he ate me, My sister Marlene, Gathered all my bones, Tied them in a silken scarf, Laid them beneath the juniper tree, Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I. When he had finished his song he flew away. In his right claw he had the chain and in his left one the shoes. He flew far away to a mill, and the mill went clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack. In the mill sat twenty miller’s apprentices cutting a stone, and chiseling chip-chop, chip-chop, chip-chop. And the mill went clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack. Then the bird went and sat on a linden tree which stood in front of the mill, and sang: My mother, she killed me, Then one of them stopped working. My father, he ate me, Then two more stopped working and listened, My sister Marlene, Then four more stopped, Gathered all my bones, Tied them in a silken scarf, Now only eight only were chiseling, Laid them beneath Now only five, the juniper tree,
THE JUNIPER TREE
Now only one, Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I. Then the last one stopped also, and heard the last words. “Bird,” said he, “how beautifully you sing. Let me hear that too. Sing it once more for me.” “No,” said the bird, “I do not sing twice for nothing. Give me the millstone, and then I will sing it again.” “Yes,” he said, “if it belonged only to me, you should have it.” “Yes,” said the others, “if he sings again he can have it.” Then the bird came down, and the twenty millers took a beam and lifted the stone up. Yo-heave-ho! Yo-heave-ho! Yo-heave-ho! The bird stuck his neck through the hole and put the stone on as if it were a collar, then flew to the tree again, and sang: My mother, she killed me, My father, he ate me, My sister Marlene, Gathered all my bones, Tied them in a silken scarf, Laid them beneath the juniper tree, Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I. When he was finished singing, he spread his wings, and in his right claw he had the chain, and in his left one the shoes, and around his neck the millstone. He flew far away to his father’s house. In the room the father, the mother, and Marlene were sitting at the table. The father said, “I feel so contented. I am so happy.” “Not I,” said the mother, “I feel uneasy, just as if a bad storm were coming.”
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THE JUNIPER TREE
But Marlene just sat and cried and cried. Then the bird flew up, and as it seated itself on the roof, the father said, “Oh, I feel so truly happy, and the sun is shining so beautifully outside. I feel as if I were about to see some old acquaintance again.” “Not I,” said the woman, “I am so afraid that my teeth are chattering, and I feel like I have fire in my veins.” And she tore open her bodice even more. Marlene sat in a corner crying. She held a handkerchief before her eyes and cried until it was wet clear through. Then the bird seated itself on the juniper tree, and sang: My mother, she killed me, The mother stopped her ears and shut her eyes, not wanting to see or hear, but there was a roaring in her ears like the fiercest storm, and her eyes burned and flashed like lightning. My father, he ate me, “Oh, mother,” said the man, “that is a beautiful bird. He is singing so splendidly, and the sun is shining so warmly, and it smells like pure cinnamon.” My sister Marlene, Then Marlene laid her head on her knees and cried and cried, but the man said, “I am going out. I must see the bird up close.” “Oh, don’t go,” said the woman, “I feel as if the whole house were shaking and on fire.” But the man went out and looked at the bird. Gathered all my bones, Tied them in a silken scarf, Laid them beneath the juniper tree, Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I. With this the bird dropped the golden chain, and it fell right around the man’s neck, so exactly around it that it fit beautifully. Then the man went in and said, “Just look what a beautiful bird that is, and what a beautiful golden chain he has given me, and how nice it looks.” But the woman was terrified. She fell down on the floor in the room,
THE JUNIPER TREE
and her cap fell off her head. Then the bird sang once more: My mother killed me. “I wish I were a thousand fathoms beneath the earth, so I would not have to hear that!” My father, he ate me, Then the woman fell down as if she were dead. My sister Marlene, “Oh,” said Marlene, “I too will go out and see if the bird will give me something.” Then she went out. Gathered all my bones, Tied them in a silken scarf, He threw the shoes down to her. Laid them beneath the juniper tree, Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I. Then she was contented and happy. She put on the new red shoes and danced and leaped into the house. “Oh,” she said, “I was so sad when I went out and now I am so contented. That is a splendid bird, he has given me a pair of red shoes.” “No,” said the woman, jumping to her feet and with her hair standing up like flames of fire, “I feel as if the world were coming to an end. I too, will go out and see if it makes me feel better.” And as she went out the door, crash! the bird threw the millstone on her head, and it crushed her to death. The father and Marlene heard it and went out. Smoke, flames, and fire were rising from the place, and when that was over, the little brother was standing there, and he took his father and Marlene by the hand, and all three were very happy, and they went into the house, sat down at the table, and ate.
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THE JUNIPER TREE
THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM
Once upon a time there was a miller who had a beautiful daughter. When she came of age he wished that she was provided for and well married. He thought, “If a respectable suitor comes and asks for her hand in marriage, I will give her to him.” Not long afterward a suitor came who appeared to be very rich, and because the miller could find no fault with him, he promised his daughter to him. The girl, however, did not like him as much as a bride should like her bridegroom. She did not trust him, and whenever she saw him or thought about him, she felt within her heart a sense of horror. One time he said to her, “You are engaged to marry me, but you have never once paid me a visit.”
The girl replied, “I don’t know where your house is.” Then the bridegroom said, “My house is out in the dark woods.” Looking for an excuse, she said that she would not be able to find the way there. The bridegroom said, “Next Sunday you must come out to me. I have already invited guests. I will make a trail of ashes, so that you can find your way through the woods.”
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THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM
When Sunday came, and it was time for the girl to start on her way, she became frightened, although she herself did not know exactly why. In order to mark the path, she filled both her pockets full of peas and lentils. At the entrance of the forest there was a trail of ashes, which she followed, but at every step she threw a couple of peas to the ground, to the right and to the left. She walked almost the whole day until she came to the middle of the woods, where it was the darkest, and there stood a solitary house. She did not like it, because it looked so dark and sinister. She went inside, but no one was there. It was totally quiet.
Suddenly a voice called out: Turn back, turn back, you young bride. You are in a murderer’s house.
The girl looked up and saw that the voice came from a bird, which was hanging in a cage on the wall. It cried out again: Turn back, turn back, you young bride. You are in a murderer’s house. Then the beautiful bride went from one room to another, walking through the whole house, but it was entirely empty, and not a human soul was to be found. Finally she came to the cellar. A very old woman was sitting there shaking her head. “Could you tell me,” said the girl, “if my bridegroom lives here?” “Oh, you poor child,” replied the old woman, “where did you come from? You are in a murderer’s den. You think you are a bride soon to be married, but it is death that you will be marrying. Look, they made me put a large kettle of water on the fire. When they have captured you, they will chop you to pieces without mercy, cook you, and eat you, for they are cannibals. If I do not show you compassion and save you, you are doomed.”
With this the old woman led her behind a large barrel where she could not be seen.
THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM
“Be quiet as a mouse.” she said. “Do not make a sound or move, or all will be over with you. Tonight when the robbers are asleep we will escape. I have long waited for an opportunity.” This had scarcely happened when the godless band came home. They were dragging with them another maiden. They were drunk and paid no attention to her screams and sobs. They gave her wine to drink, three glasses full, one glass of white, one glass of red, and one glass of yellow, which caused her heart to break. Then they ripped off her fine clothes, laid her on a table, chopped her beautiful body in pieces and sprinkled salt on it. The poor bride behind the barrel trembled and shook, for she saw well what fate the robbers had planned for her.
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THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM
One of them noticed a gold ring on the murdered girl’s little finger. Because it did not come off easily, he took an ax and chopped the finger off, but it flew into the air and over the barrel, falling right into the bride’s lap. The robber took a light and looked for it, but could not find it. Then another one said, “Did you look behind the large barrel?” But the old woman cried out, “Come and eat. You can continue looking in the morning. That finger won’t run away from you.” Then the robbers said, “The old woman is right.” They gave up their search and sat down to eat. The old woman poured a sleeping-potion into their wine, so that they soon lay down in the cellar and fell asleep, snoring. When the bride heard them snoring she came out from behind the barrel, and had to step over the sleepers, for they lay all in rows on the ground. She was afraid that she might awaken one of them, but God helped her, and she got through safely. The old woman went upstairs with her, opened the door, and they hurried out of the murderer’s den as fast as they could. The wind had blown away the trail of ashes, but the peas and lentils had sprouted and grown up, and showed them the way in the moonlight. They walked all night, arriving at the mill the next morning. Then the girl told her father everything, just as it had happened. When the wedding day came, the bridegroom appeared. The miller had invited all his relatives and acquaintances. As they sat at the table, each one was asked to tell something. The bride sat still and said nothing. Then the bridegroom said to the bride, “Come, sweetheart, don’t you know anything? Tell us something, like the others have done.” She answered: Then I will tell about a dream. I was walking alone through the woods, when finally I came to a house. Inside there was not a single
THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM
human soul, but on the wall there was a bird in a cage. It cried out: Turn back, turn back, you young bride. You are in a murderer’s house. Then it cried out the same thing again. Darling, it was only a dream. Then I went through all the rooms. They were all empty, and there was something so eerie in there. Finally I went down into the cellar, and there sat a very old woman, shaking her head. I asked her, “Does my bridegroom live in this house?” She answered, “Alas poor child, you have gotten into a murderer’s den. Your bridegroom does live here, but he intends to chop you to pieces and kill you, and then he intends to cook you and eat you.” Darling, it was only a dream. After that the old woman hid me behind a large barrel. I had scarcely hidden myself there when the robbers came home, dragging a girl with them. They gave her three kinds of wine to drink: white, red, and yellow, which caused her heart to stop beating. Darling, it was only a dream. After that they took off her fine clothes, and chopped her beautiful body to pieces on a table, then sprinkled salt on it. Darling, it was only a dream. Then one of the robbers saw that there was still a ring on her ring finger. Because it was hard to get the ring off, he took an ax and chopped off the finger. The finger flew through the air behind the large barrel, and fell into my lap. And here is the finger with the ring. With these words she pulled out the finger and showed it to everyone who was there. The robber, who had during this story become as white as chalk, jumped up and tried to escape, but the guests held him fast, and turned him over to the courts. Then he and his whole band were executed for their shameful deeds.
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THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM
FITCHER’S BIRD
Once upon a time there was a sorcerer who disguised himself as a poor man, went begging from house to house, and captured beautiful girls. No one knew where he took them, for none of them ever returned.
One day he came to the door of a man who had three beautiful daughters. He appeared to be a poor, weak beggar, and he carried a pack basket on his back, as though he wanted to collect some benevolent offerings in it. He asked for a bit to eat, and when the oldest daughter came out to give him a piece of bread, he simply touched her, and she was forced to jump into his pack basket. Then he hurried away with powerful strides and carried her to his house, which stood in the middle of a dark forest. Everything was splendid in the house, and he gave her everything that she wanted. He said, “My dear, you will like it here with me. You will have everything that your heart desires.” So it went for a few days, and then he said to her, “I have to go away and leave you alone for a short time. Here are the house keys. You may go everywhere and look at everything except for the one room that this little key here unlocks. I forbid you to go there on the penalty of death.” He also gave her an egg, saying, “Take good care of this egg. You should carry it with you at all times, for if you should loose it great misfortune would follow.” She took the keys and the egg, and promised to take good care of everything. 34
FITCHER’S BIRD
As soon as he had gone she walked about in the house from top to bottom examining everything. The rooms glistened with silver and gold, and she thought that she had never seen such splendor. Finally she came to the forbidden door. She wanted to pass it by, but curiosity gave her no rest. She examined the key. It looked like any other one. She put it into the lock and twisted it a little, and then the door sprang open. What did she see when she stepped inside? A large bloody basin stood in the middle, inside which there lay the cut up parts of dead girls. Nearby there was a wooden block with a glistening ax lying on it. She was so terrified that the egg, which she was holding in her hand, fell into the basin. She got it out again and wiped off the blood, but it was to no avail, for it always came back. She wiped and scrubbed, but she could not get rid of the stain. Not long afterward the man returned from his journey, and he immediately asked for the key and the egg. She handed them to him, shaking all the while, for he saw from the red stain that she had been in the blood chamber. “You went into that chamber against my will,” he said, “and now against your will you shall go into it once again. Your life is finished.”
He threw her down, dragged her by her hair into the chamber, cut off her head on the block, then cut her up into pieces, and her blood flowed out onto the floor. Then he threw her into the basin with the others. “Now I will go get the second one,” said the sorcerer, and, again disguised as a poor man, he went to their house begging. The second sister brought him a piece of bread, and, as he had done
FITCHER’S BIRD
to the first one, he captured her by merely touching her, and he carried her away. It went with her no better than it had gone with her sister. She let herself be led astray by her curiosity, opened the blood chamber and looked inside. When he returned she paid with her life. Then he went and captured the third sister, but she was clever and sly. After he had given her the keys and the egg, and had gone away, she carefully put the egg aside, and then examined the house, entering finally the forbidden chamber.
Oh, what she saw! He two dear sisters were lying there in the basin, miserably murdered and chopped to pieces. In spite of this she proceeded to gather their parts together, placing them back in order: head, body, arms, and legs. Then, when nothing else was missing, the parts began to move. They joined together, and the two girls opened their eyes and came back to life. Rejoicing, they kissed and hugged one another.
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FITCHER’S BIRD
When the man returned home he immediately demanded the keys and the egg, and when he was unable to detect any trace of blood on them, he said, “You have passed the test. You shall be my bride.” He now had no more power over her and had to do whatever she demanded. “Good,” she answered, “but first you must take a basketful of gold to my father and mother. You yourself must carry it there on your back. In the meanwhile I shall make preparations for the wedding.” Then she ran to her sisters, whom she had hidden in a closet, and said, “The moment is here when I can rescue you. The evildoer himself shall carry you home. As soon as you have arrived at home send help to me.” She put them both into a basket, then covered them entirely with gold, so that nothing could be seen of them.
Then she called the sorcerer in and said, “Now carry this basket away, but you are not to stop and rest underway. Take care, for I shall be watching you through my little window.” The sorcerer lifted the basket onto his back and walked away with it. However, it pressed down so heavily on him that the sweat ran from his face. He sat down, wanting to rest, but immediately one of the girls in the basket called out, “I am looking through my little window, and I can see that you are resting. Walk on!” He thought that his bride was calling to him, so he got up again. Then he again wanted to sit down, but someone immediately called out, “I am looking through my little window, and I can see that you are resting. Walk on!” Every time that he stopped walking, someone called out, and he had to walk on until, groaning and out of breath, he brought the basket with the gold and the two girls to their parents’ house.
FITCHER’S BIRD
At home the bride was making preparations for the wedding feast, to which she had had the sorcerer’s friends invited. Then she took a skull with grinning teeth, adorned it with jewelry and with a wreath of flowers, carried it to the attic window, and let it look out. When everything was ready she dipped herself into a barrel of honey, then cut open the bed and rolled around in it until she looked like a strange bird, and no one would have been able to recognize her. Then she walked out of the house. Underway some of the wedding guests met her, and they asked, “You, Fitcher’s bird, where are you coming from?” “I am coming from Fitcher’s house.” “What is his young bride doing there?” “She has swept the house from bottom to top, and now she is looking out of the attic window.” Finally her bridegroom met her. He was slowly walking back home, and, like the others, he asked, “You, Fitcher’s bird, where are you coming from?” “I am coming from Fitcher’s house.” “What is my young bride doing there?” “She has swept the house from bottom to top, and now she is looking out of the attic window.” The bridegroom looked up. Seeing the decorated skull, he thought it was his bride, and he waved a friendly greeting to her.
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FITCHER’S BIRD
After he and all his guests had gone into the house, the bride’s brothers and relatives arrived. They had been sent to rescue her. After closing up all the doors of the house so that no one could escape, they set it afire, and the sorcerer, together with his gang, all burned to death.
GODFATHER DEATH
A poor man had twelve children and had to work day and night in order just to feed them. Thus when the thirteenth came into the world, not knowing what to do in his need, he ran out into the highway, intending to ask the first person whom he met to be the godfather. The first person who came his way was our dear God, who already knew what was in his heart, and God said to him, “Poor man, I pity you. I will hold your child at his baptism, and care for him, and make him happy on earth.” The man said, “Who are you?” “I am God.” “Then I do not wish to have you for a godfather,” said the man. “You give to the rich, and let the poor starve.”
Thus spoke the man, for he did not know how wisely God divides out wealth and poverty. Then he turned away from the Lord, and went on his way. Then the devil came to him and said, “What are you looking for? If you will take me as your child’s godfather, I will give him an abundance of gold and all the joys of the world as well.” The man asked, “Who are you?” “I am the devil.”
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“Then I do not wish to have you for a godfather,” said the man. You deceive mankind and lead them astray.” He went on his way, and then Death, on his withered legs, came walking toward him, and said, “Take me as your child’s godfather.” The man asked, “Who are you?” “I am Death, who makes everyone equal.” Then the man said, “You are the right one. You take away the rich as well as the poor, without distinction. You shall be my child’s godfather. Death answered, “I will make your child rich and famous, for he who has me for a friend cannot fail.”
The man said, “Next Sunday is the baptism. Be there on time.” Death appeared as he had promised, and served as godfather in an orderly manner. After the boy came of age his godfather appeared to him one day and asked him to go with him. He took him out into the woods and showed him an herb that grew there, saying, “Now you shall receive your godfather’s present. I will turn you into a famous physician. Whenever you are called to a sick person I will appear to you. If I stand at the sick person’s head, you may say with confidence that you can make him well again; then give him some of this herb, and he will recover. But if I stand at the sick person’s feet, he is mine, and you must say that he is beyond help, and that no physician in the world could save him. But beware of using this herb against my will, or something very bad will happen to you.” It was not long before the young man had become the most famous physician in the whole world. People said of him, “He only needs to look at the sick in order to immediately know their condition, whether they will regain their health, or are doomed to die.” And people came to him from far and wide, taking him to their sick, and giving him
GODFATHER DEATH
so much money that he soon became a wealthy man. Now it came to pass that the king became ill. The physician was summoned and was told to say if a recovery were possible. However, when he approached the bed, Death was standing at the sick man’s feet, and so no herb on earth would be able to help him. “If I could only deceive death for once,” thought the physician. “He will be angry, of course, but because I am his godson he will shut one eye. I will risk it.” He therefore took hold of the sick man and laid him the other way around, so that Death was now standing at his head. Then he gave the king some of the herb, and he recovered and became healthy again.
However, Death came to the physician, made a dark and angry face, threatened him with his finger, and said, “You have betrayed me. I will overlook it this time because you are my godson, but if you dare to do it again, it will cost you your neck, for I will take you yourself away with me.” Soon afterward the king’s daughter became seriously ill. She was his only child, and he cried day and night until his eyes were going blind. Then he proclaimed that whosoever rescued her from death should become her husband and inherit the crown. When the physician came to the sick girl’s bed he saw Death at her feet. He should have remembered his godfather’s warning, but he was so infatuated by the princess’s great beauty and the prospect of becoming her husband that he threw all thought to the winds. He did not see that Death was looking at him angrily, lifting his hand into the air, and threatening him with his withered fist. He lifted up the sick girl and placed her head where her feet had been. Then he gave her some of the herb, and her cheeks immediately turned red, and life stirred in her once again. Death, seeing that he had been cheated out of his property for a second time, approached the physician with long strides and said, “You are finished. Now it is your turn.”
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GODFATHER DEATH
Then Death seized him so firmly with his ice-cold hand that he could not resist, and led him into an underground cavern. There the physician saw how thousands and thousands of candles were burning in endless rows, some large, others medium-sized, others small. Every instant some died out, and others were re-lit, so that the little flames seemed to be jumping about in constant change.
“See,” said Death, “these are the life-lights of mankind. The large ones belong to children, the medium-sized ones to married people in their best years, and the little ones to old people. However, even children and young people often have only a tiny candle.” “Show me my life-light,” said the physician, thinking that it still would be very large.
GODFATHER DEATH
Death pointed to a little stump that was just threatening to go out, and said, “See, there it is.” “Oh, dear godfather,” said the horrified physician, “light a new one for me. Do it as a favor to me, so that I can enjoy my life, and become king and the husband of the beautiful princess.” “I cannot,” answered Death. “One must go out before a new one is lighted.” “Then set the old one onto a new one that will go on burning after the old one is finished,” begged the physician. Death pretended that he was going to fulfill this wish and took hold of a large new candle, but, desiring revenge, he purposely made a mistake in relighting it, and the little piece fell down and went out. The physician immediately fell to the ground, and he too was now in the hands of Death.
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Checklist Time! It’s up to you to check off what you learned
Be a giant to defeat death. If you get a cold, guess what, you’ve been warned. Helping people is good! So good luck if you’re helping death! Obviously don’t stick your head in crates. Birds won’t sing twice unless a gift is given. Don’t trust randomly made soup. Don’t let your father pick a random man. People don’t equal food. Don’t follow random ash trails in the woods please. Probably don’t hide under a ton of gold? It won’t work that well. Don’t snoop around with things in your hands. Actually, don’t snoop and just leave. Death isn’t coming to the family BBQ. If you get away with pranking death, good luck... Have fun candle shopping!
Familiar with Grimm’s Fairy Tales? Do you enjoy some humor on the side? Well, welcome to a warning-labelfilled series of stories featuring the famous Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales. So choose a story, strap in, and enjoy these deadly tales.