TRANSLATED BY TORSTEN SCHWANKE
SNOW WHITE
Once upon a time in the middle of winter, snowflakes fell like feathers from the sky. There was a queen sitting at a window with a frame of black ebony, sewing. And as she sewed and looked up at the snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell into the snow. And because the red looked so beautiful in the white snow, she thought to herself, „If I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood and as black as the wood on the frame!“ Soon afterwards she had a little daughter, who was as white as snow, as red as blood and as black as ebony, and was therefore called Snow White. And as the child was born, the queen died. Over a year the king took another wife. It was a beautiful woman, but she was proud and high-spirited and could not stand that she should be surpassed in beauty by anyone else. She had a wonderful mirror when she stepped in front of it and looked at herself, she said:
„Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?“
then replied the mirror:
„Lady Queen, you are the fairest in the land.“
Then she was satisfied because she knew that the mirror was telling the truth. But Snow White grew up and became more and more beautiful, and when she was seven years old, she was as beautiful as the clear day and more beautiful than the queen herself. When she once asked her mirror:
„Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?“
he replied:
„Lady Queen, you are the fairest one here,
But Snow White is a thousand times more beautiful than you.“
Then the queen was frightened and became yellow and green with envy. From that moment on, when she saw Snow White, her heart was turned inside out, she hated the girl. And envy and pride grew higher and higher in her heart like weeds, so that she had no rest day or night. Then she called a hunter and said: „Take the child out into the woods, I don't want to see her before my eyes. You shall kill her and bring me lungs and liver to the landmark.“ The hunter obeyed and led her out, and when he had pulled the deer and wanted to pierce Snow White's innocent heart, she began to cry and said, „Oh, dear hunter, give me my life! I will run into the wild forest and never return home again.“ And because she was so beautiful, the hunter felt sorry for her and said: „So run away, you poor child!“ The wild animals will soon have eaten you, he thought, and yet it was as if a stone had been rolled from his heart because he did not need to kill her. And just as a young roebuck jumped in, he stabbed him, took out his lungs and liver, and brought them back as an emblem for the queen. The cook had to boil them in salt, and the mischievous woman ate them up, thinking that she had eaten Snow White's lungs and liver.
Now the poor child was all alone in the great forest, and was so frightened that she looked at all the leaves on the trees and did not know how to help herself. Then she began to run and run over the sharp stones and through the thorns, and the wild animals jumped after her, but they did not hurt her. She ran as long as only her feet could go, until it would soon be evening. Then she saw a little house and went inside to rest. Everything in the little house was small, but so delicate and clean that it is impossible to tell. There stood a little white table with seven little plates, each plate with its spoon, seven little knives and broaches and seven little cups. On the wall were seven little beds side by side, and snow-white sheets were laid over them. Snow White, being so hungry and thirsty, ate a little of each plate of vegetables and bread, and drank a drop of wine from each cup, because she did not want to take everything away. Afterwards, because she was so tired, she lay down in a little bed, but none of them fitted; one was too long, the other too short, until finally the seventh was right; and in it she remained lying, commanded to God, and fell asleep.
When it had become very dark, the lords of the little house came, that was the seven dwarves, who were hacking and digging for ore in the mountains. They lit their seven little lights, and as it was now light in the little house, they saw that someone had been sitting in it, for not everything was in the order in which they had left it. The first said: „Who sat in my chair?“ The second said: „Who has eaten from my plate?“ The third said: „Who took from my bun?“ The fourth said: „Who has eaten from my vegetables?“ The fifth said: „Who poked my little fork?“ The sixth said: „Who cut with my knife?“ The seventh said: „Who drank from my cup?“ Then the first looked around and saw that there was a little dent on his bed, and he said, „Who has trodden on my little bed?“ The others came running and shouted, 2Someone in mine also has a bed!“ But the seventh one, looking into his bed, saw Snow White lying there and she was asleep. Then he called the others, who came running and they cried out in amazement, and took their seven little lights and illuminated Snow White. „Oh, my God! Oh, my God!“ they cried, „What a beautiful girl!“ And they were so happy that they did not wake her up, but let her sleep in her bed. But the seventh dwarf slept with his companions, one hour each, and the night was over. When it was morning, Snow White awoke, and as she saw the seven dwarfs, she was terrified. But they were kind and asked, „What is your name?“ - „My name is Snow White“, she replied. „How did you come to our house?2 the dwarves continued to speak. Then she told them that her stepmother had wanted to have killed her, but that the hunter had given her the life, and that she had been running all day until she finally found her little house. The dwarves said, „If you want to take care of our household, cook, make the bed, wash, sew and knit, and keep everything neat and clean, you can stay with us, and you shall want for nothing.“ - „Yes“, said Snow White, „with all my heart“, and stayed with them. She kept the house in order for them. In the morning they went to the mountains to look for ore and gold, and in the evening they came back, and their food was ready. All day long the girl was alone, and the good dwarfs warned her and said, „Beware of your stepmother, she will soon know that you are here; do not let anyone come in!“
But the queen, believing that she had eaten Snow White's lungs and liver, thought no other than that she was again the first and most beautiful, and stood before her mirror and spoke:
„Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?“
And the mirror replied:
„Lady Queen, you are the fairest one here,
But Snow White over the mountains
With the seven dwarfs
Is still a thousand times more beautiful than you.“
Then she was terrified, for she knew that the mirror was not untrue, and realized that the hunter had deceived her and that Snow White was still alive. And she thought and thought again how she would kill her, for as long as she was not the fairest of them all, envy would not leave her alone. And when she had finally thought of something, she dyed her face and dressed like an old shopkeeper and was completely unrecognizable. In this form she went over the seven mountains to the seven dwarves, knocked at the door and cried, „Beautiful goods, file, file!“ Snow White looked out the window and shouted, „Good day, dear lady! What do you have for sale?“ - „Nice goods“, she replied, „laces of all colours!“ And she pulled out one that was braided from coloured silk. I can let the honest woman in, thought Snow White, unlocked the door and bought the pretty lace. „Girl“, said the old woman, „what do you look like! Come, let me tie you up properly.“ Snow White had no trouble, stood in front of her and let herself be tied with the new lace. But the old woman quickly tied it up so tightly that Snow White lost her breath and fell down for dead. „Now you have been the most beautiful“, she said and hurried out. Not long afterwards, at evening time, the seven dwarves came home; but how frightened they were when they saw their dear Snow White lying on the ground, and she neither moved nor stirred as if she were dead. They lifted her up, and seeing that she was too tightly laced, they cut the lacing in two; she started to breathe a little and gradually came back to life. When the dwarves heard what had happened, they said: „The old merchant's wife was none other than the godless queen. Beware, and let no man enter unless we are with thee!“
But the wicked woman, when she had come home, went before the mirror and asked:
„Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?“
So he answered as usual:
„Lady Queen, you are the fairest one here,
But Snow White over the mountains
With the seven dwarfs
Is still a thousand times more beautiful than you.“
When she heard this, all blood ran to her heart, she was terrified, 'for she saw that Snow White had come back to life. „But now“, she said, „I want something to come out that will destroy you.“ And with witchcraft she understood, she made a poisonous comb. Then she disguised herself and took the form of another old woman. So she went over the seven mountains to the seven dwarves, knocked at the door and cried, „Nice goods, file, file!“ Snow White looked out and said, „Go on, I must let no one in!“ - „You will be allowed to look“, said the old woman, and pulled out the poisonous comb and held it up. Then the girl liked it so much that she let herself be beguiled and opened the door. When she agreed to buy it, the old woman said, „Now I will comb your hair properly.“ Poor Snow White thought of nothing, and let the old woman do as she pleased, but no sooner had she put the comb into her hair than the poison worked in it and the girl fell down without a moment's reflection. „You paragon of beauty“, said the wicked woman, „now it is done for you.“ And she went away. Fortunately, however, it was soon evening when the seven dwarfs came home. When they saw Snow White lying dead on the ground, they immediately suspected her stepmother, searched and found the poisonous comb. And as soon as they had pulled it out, Snow White came back to her senses and told them what had happened. So they warned her once again to be watchful and not to open the door.
At home, the queen stood in front of the mirror and spoke:
„Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?“
So he answered as before:
„Lady Queen, you are the fairest one here,
But Snow White over the mountains
With the seven dwarfs
Is still a thousand times more beautiful than you.“
When she heard the mirror talk like that, she trembled and shook with rage. „Snow White shall die“, she cried, „even if it costs my own life!“ Then she went into a completely hidden, lonely chamber where no one could get in, and made a poisonous apple there. It looked beautiful on the outside, white with red cheeks, so that everyone who saw it would want it, but anyone who ate a piece of it had to die. When the apple was finished, she coloured her face and dressed up as a peasant's wife, and so she went over the seven mountains to the seven dwarves. She knocked. Snow White stuck her head out of the window and said, „I am not allowed to let anyone in, the seven dwarves have forbidden me!“ - „Fine with me too“, replied the farmer's wife, „I want to get rid of my apples. Here, I will give you one.“ - „No“, said Snow White, „I must not accept anything!“ - „Are you afraid of poison?“ said the old woman, „you see, I'm cutting the apple in two; you are eating the red cheek, I will eat the white one.“ But the apple was so artificially made that the red cheek alone was poisoned. Snow White lusted at the beautiful apple, and when she saw that the farmer's wife was eating from it, she could no longer resist, she reached out and took the poisonous half. But no sooner had she had a bite of it in her mouth than she fell dead to the ground. Then the queen looked at her with horrible looks and laughed out loud and said, „White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony! This time the dwarves cannot awaken you again.“
And when she asked the mirror at home:
„Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?“
he finally replied:
„Lady Queen, you are the fairest in the land.“
Then her envious heart was at rest, as well as an envious heart can be at rest.
The dwarfs, as they came home in the evening, found Snow White lying on the ground, and there was no breath left from her mouth, and she was dead. They picked her up, looking for something poisonous, untied her, combed her hair, washed her with water and wine, but it was of no use; the dear girl was dead and remained dead. They laid her on a stretcher and sat all seven of them on it and wept over her and wept for three days. Then they wanted to bury her, but she still looked as fresh as a living person and still had her beautiful red cheeks. They said, „We cannot bury her in the black earth“, and had a transparent coffin made of glass, so that she could be seen from all sides, and put her inside and wrote her name on it in gold letters, and that she was a king's daughter. Then they put the coffin outside on the mountain, and one of them always stayed with it and guarded it. And the animals also came and wept for Snow White, first an owl, then a raven, and finally a dove. Now Snow White lay in the coffin for a long, long time, and did not decay, but looked as if she was asleep, for she was still as white as snow, as red as blood, and black-haired as ebony.
And it came to pass that a king's son went into the forest and came to the dwarf's house to spend the night there. He saw on the mountain the coffin and the beautiful Snow White in it, and read what was written on it in golden letters. Then he said to the dwarves, „Leave me the coffin, I will give you what you want for it.“ But the dwarves answered, 2We will not give it for all the gold in the world.“ Then he said, „So give it to me, for I cannot live without seeing Snow White, I will honour and cherish her as my darling.“ As he spoke, the good dwarfs took pity on him and gave him the coffin. The king's son now had his servants carry him away on their shoulders. Then they stumbled over a bush, and from the shaking the poisonous apple juice that Snow White had bitten off came out of her throat. And not long afterwards, she opened her eyes, lifted the lid of the coffin and stood up, and was alive again. „Oh God, where am I?“ she shouted. The king's son said joyfully, „You are with me“, and told what had happened, saying, „I love you more than anything in the world; come with me to my father's castle, you shall be my bride.“ So Snow White was good to him and went with him, and her wedding was arranged with great splendour and glory.
But Snow White's godless stepmother was also invited to the feast. As she had now dressed herself in beautiful clothes, she stood before the mirror and spoke:
„Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?“
The mirror replied:
„Lady Queen, you are the fairest one here,
But the young queen
Is a thousand times more beautiful than you.“
Then the wicked woman cast a curse and was so afraid, so afraid that she did not let herself be. At first she did not want to come to the wedding at all, but it did not leave her alone, she had to leave and see the young queen. And as she stepped inside, she recognized Snow White, and she stood there in fear and terror, unable to move. But iron slippers had already been placed over a coal fire, and were carried in with tongs and placed in front of her. Then she had to step into her red-hot shoes and dance until she fell to the ground dead.
LITTLE BROTHER AND LITTLE SISTER
Little brother took his little sister by the hand and said, „Since our mother died, we have not had a good hour. The stepmother beats us every day, and when we come to her, she pushes us away with her feet. The hard crusts of bread that are left over are our food, and the little dog under the table is better, she sometimes throws a good bite at him. God have mercy! If our mother knew that! Come, let's go out into the wide world together!“
All day long they walked over meadows, fields and stones, and when it rained, the little sister said: „God and our hearts, they cry together!“ In the evening they came to a large forest and were so tired from misery, hunger and the long walk that they sat down in a hollow tree and fell asleep.
The next morning when they woke up, the sun was already high in the sky and shone hot into the tree. Then the little brother said, „Sister, I am thirsty! If I know of a little well, I went and watered once; I mean, I hear a rushing sound.“ Little brother stood up, took little sister by the hand, and they went to look for the fountain.
But the wicked stepmother, who was a witch, had seen the two children leave, and had followed them, and had sneaked after them as the witches sneaked, and had cursed all the wells in the forest. When they found a fountain that jumped so glittering over the stones, the little brother wanted to drink from it. But the little sister heard it speak in a murmur, „Whoever drinks from me will become a tiger, whoever drinks from me will become a tiger.“ Then the little sister cried out, „I beg you, little brother, do not drink, or you will become a wild animal and tear me to pieces!“ The little brother did not drink, even though he was so thirsty, and said, „I will wait until the next spring.“ When they came to the second fountain, the little sister heard how this one also spoke, „Whoever drinks from me will become a wolf; whoever drinks from me will become a wolf.“ Then the little sister cried out, „Brother, I beg you, do not drink, or you will become a wolf and eat me!“ The little brother did not drink and said, „I will wait until we come to the next spring, but then I must drink, you may say what you like, my thirst is even too great.“ And when they came to the third fountain, the little sister heard it speak in a murmur, „Whoever drinks from me will become a deer; whoever drinks from me will become a deer.“ The little sister said, „Oh, brother, I beg you, do not drink, or you will become a deer and run away from me.“ But the little brother had kneeled down at the fountain, bent down and drank the water, and as the first drops came to his lips, he lay there as a little roe deer.
Now the little sister was crying over the poor cursed little brother, and the little roe deer was also crying and sat so sadly beside her. Then the girl finally said, „Hush, dear little deer, I will never leave you.“ Then she took off her golden garter, put it around the deer's neck, plucked rushes and made a soft rope out of them. Then she tied the rope around the deer's neck and led him further and further into the forest. And when they had gone a long, long way, they finally came to a little house, and the girl looked inside, and because it was empty, she thought: Here we can stay and live. So she looked for leaves and moss for the deer, and every morning she went out and gathered roots, berries and nuts, and brought tender grass for the deer, which he ate out of her hand, and was happy and played around in front of her. In the evening, when little sister was tired and had said her prayer, she laid her head on the back of the little roe deer, this was her pillow on which she fell asleep gently. And if the little brother had only had his human form, it would have been a wonderful life.
It took a while for them to be so alone in the wilderness. But it happened that the king of the land held a great hunt in the forest. The sound of horns, the barking of dogs, and the merry cries of the hunters came through the trees, and the little deer heard it and would have loved to be there. „Oh“, he said to his sister, „let me out into the hunt, I can't stand it any longer“, and asked until she agreed. „But“, she said to him, „come back to me in the evening, I will close my door to the wild hunters; and so that I may know you, knock and say: My little sister, let me in! And if you do not say so, I will not unlock my door.“ Now the little deer jumped out, and was so happy and was so amused in the open air. The king and his hunters saw the beautiful animal and went after it, but they could not catch it, and when they thought they had, it jumped over the bushes and disappeared. When it was dark, it ran to the cottage, knocked and said: „My little sister, let me in!“ Then the little door was opened for him, he jumped in and rested all night on his soft bed. The next morning the hunt began again, and when the little deer heard the bugle and the hunter's Ho-Ho, he had no rest and said: „Sister, open the door for me, I must go out.“ The little sister opened the door for him and said, „But you must be back at evening and say your little saying.“ When the king and his hunters saw the little roe deer with the golden collar again, they all chased after him, but it was too fast and nimble for them. This lasted all day, but finally the hunters had surrounded it in the evening, and one of them wounded it a little in the foot, so that it had to limp and ran away slowly. Then a hunter crept after him to the cottage, and heard him cry out, „My little sister, let me in“, and saw that the door was opened for him and immediately closed again. The hunter kept all this in mind and went to the king and told him what he had seen and heard. Then the king said, „Tomorrow there will be another hunt!“
But the little sister was terrified when she saw that his little roe deer was wounded. She washed off his blood, put on herbs and said, „Go to your bed, dear little deer, that you may be healed.“ But the wound was so minor that the little roe deer did not feel it anymore in the morning. And when he heard the hunt again outside, he said, „I can't stand it, I have to be there; no one will get me so soon!“ The little sister wept and said, „Now they will kill you, and I am here alone in the forest and am forsaken by all the world. I will not let you out.“ - „I will die of sorrow here“, answered the little deer, „when I hear the bugle, I think I must jump out of my shoes!“ So the little sister couldn't help herself, and with a heavy heart she unlocked the door for him, and the little deer jumped into the forest, healthy and happy. When the king saw it, he said to his hunters, „Now hunt for him all day long until nightfall, but do not let anyone harm him!“ As soon as the sun had set, the king said to the hunter, „Now come and show me the little forest house!“ And when he came to the door, he knocked and cried out, „Dear little sister, let me in!“ Then the door opened and the king came in, and there stood a girl as beautiful as he had never seen before! The girl was terrified when she saw that it was not his little deer that came in, but a man with a golden crown on his head. But the king looked at her kindly, reached out his hand and said, „Will you come with me to my castle and be my dear wife?“ - „Oh, yes“, the girl replied, „but the little deer must come too, I'm not leaving him.“ The king said, „He shall remain with you as long as you livest, and shall want for nothing.“ When he jumped in, she tied the little brother back to the rush rope, took him in her own hand and left the little forest house with him.
The king took the beautiful girl on his horse and led her to his castle, where the wedding was celebrated with great splendour, and when she was the queen's wife, they lived happily together for a long time. But the wicked stepmother, for whose sake the children had entered the world, meant no other than that little sister had been torn apart by the wild beasts of the forest, and that little brother had been shot to death by the hunters as a deer. When she heard that they were so happy, and that they were doing so well, envy and resentment arose in her heart and left her no peace, and she had no other thought than how she might bring misfortune on them after all. Her right daughter, who was ugly as the night and had only one eye, reproached her and said, „To become a queen, happiness would have been mine.“ - „Just be quiet“, said the old woman and made her happy, „when the time comes, I want to be at hand.“ When the time was near and the queen had given birth to a beautiful baby boy, and the king was hunting, the old witch took the form of a chambermaid, and entered the room where the queen lay, and said to the sick woman, „Come, the bath is ready, it will do you good and give you fresh strength. Hurry, before it gets cold!“ Her daughter was also at hand, they carried the weak queen into the bathroom and put her in the tub, then they locked the door and ran away. But in the bathroom they had lit a hellfire that soon made the beautiful young queen suffocate.
When this was done, the old woman took her daughter, put a bonnet on her and put her to bed at the queen's place. She also gave her the shape and appearance of the queen; only the lost eye could not be restored to her. But so that the king would not notice, she had to lie on her side where she had no eye. In the evening, when he came home and heard that a little son had been born to him, he rejoiced heartily, and wanted to go to his dear wife's bed and see what she was doing. Then the old woman cried quickly, „Do not move, keep the curtains closed, the queen must not yet look into the light and must be at rest!“ The king went back and did not know that a false queen was lying in the bed.
But when it was midnight and all were asleep, the nanny, who was sitting in the nursery next to the cradle and still awake alone, saw the door open and the right queen enter. She took the child out of the cradle, put him in her arms and gave him something to drink. Then she shook his little pillow, put it back in it and covered it with the duvet. But she did not forget the little deer either, went into the corner where it lay and stroked its back. Then she silently went out the door again, and the next morning the nanny asked the guards if anyone had gone to the castle during the night. But they replied, „No, we didn't see anyone.“
So she came many nights and never said a single word in the process; the nanny always saw her, but she did not dare to say anything to anyone.
Now when such a time had passed, the queen began to speak in the night and spoke,
„What is my child doing? What does my deer do?
Now I shall come twice more and then never again.“
The nanny did not answer her, but when she had disappeared again, she went to the king and told him everything. The king said, „Oh God! What is this? I will watch over the child the next night.“ In the evening he went to the nursery, but at midnight the queen appeared again and spoke:
„What is my child doing? What does my deer do?
Now I shall come again, and then never again.“
And then sshe nursed the child as she usually did before she disappeared. The king did not dare to address her, but he woke the following night. She spoke again,
„What is my child doing? What does my deer do?
Now I will come again this time and then never again.“
So the king could not hold back and jumped to her and said, „You cannot be anyone else but my dear wife!“ Then she replied, „Yes, I am your wife“, and at that moment, by God's grace, she had regained life, was fresh, rosy and healthy. Then she told the king the iniquity that the wicked witch and her daughter had committed against her. The king had them both brought before the court, and judgment was passed upon them. The daughter was led into the forest where the wild beasts tore her to pieces, but the witch was set on fire and burned with sorrow. And as she was burnt to ashes, the little roe deer was transformed and regained its human form; but little sister and little brother lived happily together until the end of time.
DINAH
Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who had been wishing for a child for a long time in vain. Finally the woman hoped that the good Lord would fulfil her wish. The people had a small window in their back house, from which one could see into a splendid garden full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs; but it was surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to enter because it belonged to a sorceress who had great power and was feared by all the world. One day the woman stood by this window and looked down into the garden, and there she saw a bed planted with the most beautiful Dinah-plant; and she looked so fresh and green that she was lustful and felt the greatest desire to eat of the Dinah-plant. The desire increased every day, and knowing that she could not have any of them, she fell off completely, looking pale and miserable. Then the man was startled and asked, „What is wrong with you, dear woman?“ - „Oh“, she replied, „if I don't get the Dinah-plant from the garden behind our house, I'll die.“ The man who loved her thought, „Before you let your wife die, you'll get her Dinah-fruits from the Dinah-plant, it may cost what it wants.“ So at dusk he climbed over the wall into the sorceress' garden, hurriedly pricked a handful of Dinah-fruits and took them to his wife. She immediately made a salad of them and ate them in full lust. But she had tasted them so good, so good, that she was three times as hungry the next day. If she was to have peace and quiet, the man had to go into the garden again. So he descended again at dusk, but when he had climbed down the wall, he was terrified, for he saw the sorceress standing before him. „How dare you“, she said with an angry look, „to climb into my garden and steal my Dinah-fruits like a thief? It shall not do you good.“ - „Oh“, he replied, „let Mercy do the right thing, I only decided to do this out of necessity: my wife looked out of the window and felt such a great desire for your Dinah-plant that she would die if she did not get food from it.“ Then the sorceress let up in her anger and said to him, „If it is as you say, I will allow you to take Dinah-fruits as much as you want, but I make a condition: You must give me the child that your wife will give birth to. I want her to be well, and I want to take care of her like a mother.“ The man agreed to everything in fear, and when the woman came in labour, the sorceress appeared immediately, gave the child the name Dinah and took her away with her.
Dinah became the most beautiful girl under the sun! When she was twelve years old, the enchantress locked her in a tower in a forest, which had neither stairs nor doors, only a small window at the top. When the enchantress wanted to enter, she would stand up and call out:
„Dinah, Dinah,
„Let your golden hair down!“
Dinah had long magnificent hair, fine as spun gold! When she heard the sorceress' voice, she untied her braids, wrapped them around a window hook at the top, and then her golden hair fell down twenty cubits, and the sorceress climbed up it.
After a few years it happened that the king's son rode through the forest and passed the tower. Then he heard a song, so sweet that he kept still and listened. It was Dinah, who in her loneliness was passing the time to let her sweet voice resound. The king's son wanted to climb up to her and looked for a door of the tower, but there was none to be found. He rode home, but the singing had touched his heart so much that he went out into the forest every day and listened. Once, standing behind a tree like that, he saw a sorceress approaching and heard her calling up,
„Dinah, Dinah,
Let your golden hair down!“
Then Dinah let down the golden hair, and the sorceress climbed up to her. „If this is the ladder to climb, I'll try my luck one day.“ And the following day, when it began to get dark, he went up to the tower and shouted,
„Dinah, Dinah,
Let your golden hair down!“
Immediately the hair fell down and the king's son rose up.
At first Dinah was terrified when a man came in to her as her eyes had never seen one before, but the king's son began to talk to her in a very friendly way and told her that his heart had been so moved by her singing that it had left him no peace and he had had to see her himself. Then Dinah lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him to be her husband, and she saw that he was young and beautiful, she thought, „He will prefer me to the old woman Lilith“, and said yes, and put her hand in his hand. She said, „I would like to go with you, but I do not know how I can come down. When you come, each time bring a skein of silk with you, and I will weave a ladder from it, and when it is finished I will come down and you will take me on your horse.“ They agreed that he should come to her every evening until then, because the old woman came by day. The sorceress didn't notice either, until one day Dinah started and said to her, „Tell me, Lilith, how does it come, she will be much harder to pull me up than the young king's son, he will be with me in a moment.“ - „Oh you godless girl“, cried the sorceress, „what do I need to hear from you, I thought I had divorced you from all the world, and yet you have betrayed me!“ In her rage she grabbed Dinah's beautiful hair, slapped it a few times around her left hand, grabbed a pair of scissors with her right, and rip, rip they were cut off, and the beautiful curls lay on the ground. And she was so merciless that she took poor Dinah to a desert where she had to live in great misery and sorrow.
But the same day that she had cast Dinah out, in the evening the sorceress fixed the cut-off curls at the top of the window hook, and when the king's son came calling, she was so merciless that she took him to the desert,
„Dinah, Dinah,
Let your golden hair down!“
So Lilith let her red hair down. The king's son climbed up, but he did not find his dearest Dinah up there, but the sorceress who looked at him with evil and poisonous glances. „Ah“, she shouted mockingly, „you want to fetch the dearest lady, but the beautiful bird is no longer sitting in the nest and no longer sings, the cat has fetched her and will scratch your eyes out, too. For you Dinah is lost, you will never see her again!“ The king's son was beside himself with pain, and in desperation he jumped down the tower: he brought life from it, but the thorns in which he fell, scratched out his eyes. So he wandered blindly in the forest, eating nothing but roots and berries, and doing nothing but moaning and crying over the loss of his dearest bride! So he wandered around in misery for several years and finally ended up in the desert where Dinah lived miserably with the twins she had given birth to, a boy and a girl. He heard a voice, and it sounded so familiar to him, so he walked towards it, and as he approached, Dinah recognised him and fell around his neck and wept. But two of her tears wet his eyes, then they became clear again, and he could see with them as usual. He led her into his kingdom, where she was received with joy, and they lived happily and cheerfully for a long, long time.
CINDERELLA
A rich man, his wife became ill, and when she felt that her end was near, she called her only daughter to her bed and said, „Dear child, remain pious and good, and the good Lord will always be with you, and I will look down on you from heaven, and will be around you.“ Then she closed her eyes and passed away. Every day the girl went out to her mother's grave and wept, and remained pious and good. When winter came, the snow covered the grave with a white cloth, and when the sun came down in spring, the man took another wife.
This woman had brought two daughters into the house, beautiful and white in appearance, but nasty and black in heart. This was a bad time for the poor stepchild. „Let the silly goose sit with us in the parlour“, they said, „if you want to eat bread, you must earn: take the kitchen maid out!“ They took away her beautiful clothes, put her into a grey old coat and gave her wooden shoes. „Look at the proud princess, how she is cleaned!“ they shouted, laughed and took her into the kitchen. There she had to do hard work from morning till evening, get up early before day, carry water, light a fire, cook and wash. The sisters did all kinds of sensual heartache to her, mocked her and poured the peas and lentils into her ashes, so that she had to sit and pick them out again. In the evening, when she had worked herself tired, she did not get into bed, but had to lie down beside the cooker in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.
It happened that the father wanted to go to the market once, so he asked the two stepdaughters what he should bring them. „Beautiful dresses“, said one, „pearls and precious stones“, said the second. „But you, Cinderella“, he said, „what will you have?“ - „Father, the first rice that hits your hat on your way home, that break for me!“ He now bought beautiful dresses, pearls and precious stones for the two stepsisters, and on the way back, as he was riding through a green bush, a hazelnut rice grazed him and knocked his hat off. Then he broke off the rice and took it with him. When he came home, he gave the stepdaughters what they had wished for, and to Cinderella he gave the rice from the hazel bush. Cinderella thanked him, and went to her mother's grave and planted the rice on it, and wept so much that tears fell on it and watered it. But it grew and became a beautiful tree. Cinderella went down there three times every day, weeping and praying, and each time a white bird came up to the tree, and when she made a wish, the bird threw down what she wished for.
And it came to pass that the king arranged a feast to last three days, and all the fair maidens of the land were invited to it, so that his son might choose a bride. The two stepsisters, when they heard that they were also to attend, were in good spirits, and called Cinderella and said, „Comb our hair, brush our shoes, and fasten our buckles, and we will go to the wedding at the king's castle.“ Cinderella obeyed, but cried, because she would have liked to go to the dance, and asked her stepmother to allow her. „Cinderella“, she said, „ise full of dust and dirt, and want to go to the wedding? You have no clothes and no shoes, and want to dance!“ But when she stopped with pleading, she finally said, „So I have poured a bowl of lentils into your ashes, and when you have finished picking the lentils in two hours, you shall go with me.“ The girl went through the back door to the garden and called out, „You tame doves, you turtledoves, all you birds under the sky, come and help me read,
Put the good ones in the potty,
The bad ones go down the drain.“
Then two white doves came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtle doves, and at last all the birds swarmed and swarmed in under the sky and settled around the ashes. And the doves nodded their heads and started picking, picking, picking, and then the rest of them started picking, picking, picking, and put all the good grains into the bowl. Hardly an hour had passed before they were ready and flew everyone out again. Then the girl brought the bowl to her stepmother, rejoiced and thought that she could now go to the wedding. But she said, „No, Cinderella, you have no clothes, and you cannot dance: you will only be laughed at.“ As she wept, she said, „If you can read two bowls of lentils from the ashes in an hour, you shall go with me“, and thought, She can never do that again. When she had poured the two bowls of lentils into the ashes, the girl went through the back door to the garden and cried out, „You tame doves, you turtledoves, all you birds under heaven, come and help me read,
Put the good ones in the potty,
The bad ones go down the drain.“
Then two white doves came in through the kitchen window and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds under the sky swarmed in and settled around the ashes. And the doves nodded their heads and started picking, picking, picking, and then the rest of them started picking, picking, picking, and put all the good grains into the bowls. And before half an hour had passed, they were done, and flew everyone out again. Then the girl carried the bowls to her stepmother, rejoiced and thought that now she could go to the wedding. But she said, „It will not help you: you will not come, for you have no clothes and cannot dance; we should be ashamed of you.“ Then she turned her back to her and hurried away with her two proud daughters.
When there was no one left at home, Cinderella went to her mother's grave under the hazel tree and called out,
„Little tree, shake and shake,
Throw gold and silver upon me!“
Then the bird threw down a golden and silver dress and slippers embroidered with silk and silver. In all haste she put on the dress and went to the wedding. But her sisters and her stepmother did not know it and thought it must be a strange king's daughter, so beautiful she looked in the golden dress. They did not think of Cinderella at all, and thought she was sitting at home in the dirt, looking for the lentils from the ashes. The king's son came to meet her, took her by the hand and danced with her. He did not want to dance with anyone else either, so he did not let go of his hand, and when another came to ask him, he said, „This is my dancer.“
She danced until evening, when she wanted to go home. But the king's son said, 2I will go with you and accompany you“, for he wanted to see to whom the beautiful girl belonged. But she escaped him and jumped into the dove-cote. Now the king's son waited until the father came, and told him that the strange girl had jumped into the dovecote. The old man thought, „Should it be Cinderella?“ And they had to bring him an axe and a pickaxe so that he could cut the dove-cote in two; but there was no one in it. And when they came into the house, Cinderella lay in her dirty clothes in the ashes, and a dim oil lamp was burning in the chimney; for Cinderella had jumped down quickly from the dove-cote at the back, and had run to the little hazel tree: there she had taken off her fine clothes and laid them on the grave, and the bird had taken them away again, and then she had sat down in her grey coat in the kitchen among the ashes.
The next day, when the feast had begun again and the parents and stepsisters had left, Cinderella went to the hazel tree and spoke,
„Little tree, shake and shake,
Throw gold and silver upon me!“
Then the bird threw down a much prouder dress than the day before. And when she appeared at the wedding with this dress, everyone was amazed at her beauty. But the king's son, who had waited until she came, took her by the hand and danced with her alone. When the others came and asked him, he would say, „This is my dancer.“ When evening came, she wanted to leave, and the king's son went after her to see which house she was going to: but she jumped away and into the garden behind the house. There was a beautiful big tree in it, with the most beautiful pears hanging from it; she climbed between the branches as nimbly as a squirrel, and the king's son did not know where she had gone. But he waited until the father came and said to him, „The strange girl got away from me and I think she jumped onto the pear tree.2 The father thought, should it be Cinderella? And he let the axe be taken and cut down the tree, but there was no one on it. And when they came into the kitchen, Cinderella was lying there in the ashes, as usual, because she had jumped down from the tree on the other side, had brought back the beautiful clothes of the bird on the hazel tree and put on her grey smock.
On the third day, when the parents and sisters were gone, Cinderella went back to her mother's grave and spoke to the little tree,
„Little tree, shake and shake,
Throw gold and silver upon me!“
Now the bird threw him a dress that was more splendid and shining than any that had ever been worn, and the slippers were all gold. When she came to the wedding in that dress, none of them knew what to say in amazement. The king's son danced with her all alone, and when someone asked him, he said, „This is my dancer.“
When evening came, Cinderella wanted to leave, and the king's son wanted to accompany her, but she came out of him so quickly that he could not follow. But the king's son had used a trick, and had had the whole staircase covered with pitch: there, when she jumped down, the girl's left slipper got caught. The king's son picked it up, and it was small and delicate and all golden. The next morning he took it to the man and said to him, „No one else shall be my wife but the one to whose foot this golden shoe fits.“ So the two sisters were happy, because they had beautiful feet. The oldest went into the chamber with the shoe and wanted to try it on, and her mother stood there. But she couldn't get in with her big toe, and the shoe was too small for her, so the mother handed her a knife and said, „Cut off that toe: when you are queen, you needn't walk any more.“ The girl cut off the toe, squeezed her foot into the shoe, was full of pain and went out to the king's son. Then he took her on his horse as his bride and rode off with her. But they had to pass by the grave, where the two doves sat on the hazel tree and cried out,
„Look, look, look,
Blood is in the shoe:
The shed is too small,
The right bride is still sitting at home.“
Then he looked at her foot and saw the blood pouring out. He turned his horse around and brought the wrong bride back home, saying that this was not the right one, and that the other sister should put on the shoe. So she went into the chamber and happily put her toes into the shoe, but the heel was too big. Then her mother handed her a knife and said, „Cut off a piece of the heel: when you are queen, you need not walk any more.“ The girl cut off a piece of the heel, squeezed the foot into the shoe, was full of pain and went out to the king's son. Then he took her on his horse as his bride and rode off with her. As they passed the little hazel tree, the two doves sat on it and called out,
„Look, look, look,
Blood is in the shoe.
The barn is too small,
The right bride is still sitting at home.“
He looked down at her foot and saw the blood pouring out of her shoe and running all red from her white stockings. Then he turned his horse around and brought the fake bride back home. „This is not the right one either“, he said, „have you no other daughter?“ - „No“, said the man, „there is only a little Cinderella left of my late wife, who is still alive: that cannot possibly be the right bride.“ The king's son said he should send her up, but the mother replied, „Oh no, she is much too dirty, she must not be seen.“ But he wanted it, and Cinderella had to be called. So she washed her hands and face first, then went and bowed down before the king's son, who handed her the golden shoe. Then she sat down on a stool, pulled her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, which was like a cast on. And when she looked up and the king looked at her face, he recognised the beautiful girl who had danced with him and cried out, „This is the right bride.“ The stepmother and the two sisters were frightened and became pale with anger: but he took Cinderella on his horse and rode off with him. As they passed the little hazel tree, the two white doves cried out,
„Jerk the look, jerk the look,
No blood in the shoe.
The shoe is not too small,
The right bride, he takes her home.“
And when they had called that, they both flew down and sat down on Cinderella's shoulders, one on the right, the other on the left, and remained sitting there.
When the wedding with the king's son was to be held, the wrong sisters came and wanted to ingratiate themselves and share in her happiness. When the bride and groom went to the church, the oldest was on the right and the youngest on the left: the doves pecked out each one's eye. Afterwards, when they went out, the oldest was on the left and the youngest on the right: the doves pecked out each other's eyes. And so they were punished for their wickedness and falsehood with blindness for the rest of their lives.
LADY HELL
A widow had two daughters, one of them beautiful and hard-working, the other ugly and lazy. But she had the ugly and lazy one, because she was her right-hand daughter, much dearer, and the other one had to do all the work and be the Cinderella of the house. The poor girl had to sit down every day on the big street by a well, and had to spin so much that blood jumped out of her fingers. When she was about to do so, she bent down to wash it off in the well, but it jumped out of her hand and fell down. she cried, and ran to her stepmother and told her the misfortune. But she scolded her so violently and was so merciless that she said, „If you let the spool fall down, bring it up again.“ Then the girl went back to the well and did not know what to do; and in her heart's desire she jumped into the well to get the coil. She lost consciousness, and when she awoke and came to herself again, she was in a beautiful meadow where the sun was shining and many thousands of flowers were standing. In this meadow she went away and came to an oven full of bread, but the bread cried, „Oh, pull me out, pull me out, otherwise I'll burn: I'm already baked out.“ Then she came over here and took out one by one with the bread pusher. Then she went on and came to a tree, which was full of apples, and called out to her, „Oh, shake me, shake me, we apples are all ripe together.“ Then she shook the tree, so that the apples fell as if they were raining, and shook until no one was left on top; and when she had put them all in a heap, she went on again. At last she came to a small house, from which an old woman looked out, but because she had such big teeth, she was afraid, and she wanted to run away. But the old woman called after her, „What are you afraid of, dear child? Stay with me, if you want to do all the work in the house properly, you shall do well. All you have to do is make sure that you make my bed well, and shake it well, that the feathers fly, and then the world will have snow; I am Lady Hell.“ Because the old woman spoke so well to her, the girl took heart, agreed and went into her service. She did everything to her satisfaction, and shook her bed so much that the feathers flew around like snowflakes; but she had a good life with her, no evil words, and something cooked and fried every day. Now she was for a time in Lady Hell's house, when she was sad, and at first she did not know what was missing, at last she realized that it was homesickness; whether it was much better here than at home, she had a longing for it. At last she said to her, „I've got the misery back home, and however well I am doing down here, I can't stay any longer, I must go back up to my own people.“ Lady Hell said, „I like it that you are longing to go home again, and because you have served me so faithfully, I will take you up again myself.“ She then tookhert by the hand and led her to a large gate. The gate was opened, and as the girl was standing just below it, a huge shower of gold fell, and all the gold stuck to her, so that she was covered over and over. „You shall have this because you have been so diligent“, said Lady Hell, and gave her back the spool that had fallen into the well. Then the gate was locked, and the girl was up in the world, not far from her mother's house; and when she came into the courtyard, the cock sat on the well and called out,
„Cock-a-doodle-doo,
Our golden maiden is here again.“
Then she went inside to her mother, and because she arrived covered in gold, she was well received by her mother and her sister.
The girl told her everything that had happened to her, and when the mother heard how the great wealth had come about, she wanted to give the other, ugly and lazy daughter the same happiness. She had to sit by the well and spin; and so that her bobbin became bloody, she pricked her fingers and thrust her hand into the thorn hedge. Then she threw the bobbin into the well and jumped in herself. She came, like the other, to the beautiful meadow and continued on the same path. When she reached the oven, the bread cried out again, „Oh, pull me out, pull me out, or I'll burn, I'm already baked out.“ But the lazy woman answered, „I wouldn‘t like to get dirty“, and went away. Soon she came to the apple tree, which cried, „Oh, shake me, shake me, we apples are all ripe together.“ But she replied, „You're all right with me, someone might fall on my head“, and went on. When she came in front of Lady Hell‘s house, she was not afraid because she had already heard about her big teeth, and immediately committed herself to her. On the first day she was violent, diligent, and followed Lady Hell when she said something to her, for she thought of all the gold she would give her; but on the second day she began to laze about, and on the third day even more so, because she did not want to get up in the morning. Nor did she make the bed for Lady Hell as she should have done, and did not shake it, so that the feathers flew. Lady Hell soon got tired of this and told her to go on duty. The lazy woman was satisfied with this and thought that now the laburnum was coming; Lady Hell led her to the gate, but when she stood under it, a large cauldron of pitch was poured out instead of gold. „This is a reward for your service“, said Lady Hell and closed the gate. Then the lazy woman came home, but she was covered with pitch, and the cock on the well, when he saw her, cried out,
„Cock-a-doodle-doo,
Our dirty virgin is here again.“
But pitch stuck with her and would not go away for as long as she lived.
THE SIX SWANS
Once a king hunted in a large forest and chased an animal so eagerly that none of his people could follow him. As evening approached, he held still and looked around him, when he saw that he was lost. He looked for an exit but could not find one. Then he saw an old woman with a wobbly head coming towards him, but she was a witch.
„Dear woman“, he said to her, 2can't you show me the way through the forest?“
„Oh yes, King“, she replied, „I can do that, but there is one condition, if you do not fulfil it, you will never leave the forest and die of hunger.“
„What is that condition?“ asked the king.
„I have a daughter“, said the old woman, „who is as beautiful as you can find in the world, and who deserves to be your wife.“
The king in the fear of his heart agreed, and the old woman led him to her cottage where her daughter was sitting by the fire. She received the king as if she had been expecting him, and he saw that she was very beautiful, but he did not like her, and he could not look at her without secret horror. After he had lifted the girl onto his horse, the old woman showed him the way, and the king returned to his royal castle, where the wedding was celebrated.
The king had already been married once, and from his first wife he had seven children, six boys and one girl, whom he loved above all else in the world. Because he was afraid that his stepmother would not treat them well or even harm them, he took them to a lonely castle in the middle of a forest. It was so hidden, and the path was so hard to find, that he would not have found it himself if a wise woman had not given him a ball of yarn of a wonderful quality; when he threw it before him, it unwound by itself and showed him the way.
The king, however, went out to see his dear children so often that the queen noticed his absence; she became curious and wanted to know what he was doing outside all alone in the forest. She gave his servants a lot of money, and they told her the secret, and told her also of the tangle that alone could show the way. Now she had no rest until she had found out where the king kept the ball of thread, and then she made little white silk shirts, and since she had learned witchcraft from her mother, she sewed a spell into them. And once the king had gone hunting, she took the shirts and went into the forest, and the ball showed her the way. The children, who saw someone coming from afar, thought that their dear father was coming to them, and jumped towards him with joy. Then she threw one of the shirts over each of them, and as it touched their bodies, they turned into swans and flew over the forest. The queen went home, happy as a clam, and thought she had got rid of her stepchildren, but the girl had not run towards her with her brothers, and she knew nothing of her. The next day the king came to visit his children, but he found no one but the girl.
„Where are your brothers?“ asked the king.
„Oh, dear father“, she replied, „they have gone away and left me alone“, and told him that she had seen her brothers flying out of her little window like swans over the woods, and showed him the feathers that they had dropped in the yard, which she had picked up. The king mourned, but he did not think that the queen had done this evil deed, and because he feared that the girl would also be robbed from him, he wanted to take her away. But she was afraid of her stepmother and asked the king that she should only stay in the wood-castle for this night.
The poor girl thought, My staying is no longer here, I want to go and look for my brothers. And when night came, she escaped and went straight into the forest. She walked all night and all day long until she was so tired that she could not go on. Then she saw a hut, and went up and found a parlour with six little beds, but she did not dare to lie down in one, but crawled under one, and lay down on the hard floor and wanted to spend the night there. But when the sun was about to set, she heard a hissing sound and saw that six swans came flying in through the window. They sat down on the ground and blew on each other and blew off all their feathers, and their swan skin came off like a shirt. Then they looked at the girl and she recognized her brothers, and rejoiced and crawled out from under the bed. The brothers were no less pleased when they saw their little sister, but their joy was short-lived.
„This is no place for you to stay“, they said to her, „this is an inn for robbers; if they come home and find you, they will kill you.“
„Can't you protect me?“ asked the little sister.
„No“, they replied, „for we can only take off our swan skins for a quarter of an hour every evening, and in that time we have our human form, but then we are turned into swans again.“ The little sister wept and said, „Can you not be redeemed?“
„Oh no“, they replied, „the conditions are too difficult. You are not allowed to speak or laugh for six years, and in that time you have to sew together six shirts for us out of starflowers. If a single word comes out of your mouth, all work is lost.“ And when the brothers had spoken this, the quarter-hour was over, and they flew out the window again as swans.
The girl, however, made the firm decision to redeem her brothers, even if it cost her life. She left the hut, went into the middle of the forest and sat down on a tree and spent the night there. The next morning she went out, collected starflowers and started sewing. She could not talk to anyone and did not feel like laughing; she just sat there and looked at her work. When she had been there for a long time, the king of the land went hunting in the forest and his hunters came to the tree on which the girl was sitting. They called her and said, „Who are you?“ But there was no answer. „Come down to us“, they said, „we mean you no harm.“ She just shook her head. As they continued to press her with questions, she threw down her golden necklace and thought to satisfy them. But they did not let go, so she threw down his belt, and when that did not help either, her garters, and little by little all that she had on and could spare, so that she kept nothing but her shirt. But the hunters were not repulsed by this, so they climbed up the tree, lifted the girl down and led her before the king.
The king asked, „Who are you? What are you doing in that tree?“ But she did not answer. He asked it in all the languages he knew, but she remained silent as a fish. But because she was so beautiful, the king's heart was touched and he fell in love with her. He put his cloak around her, took her on his horse and brought her to his castle. Then he had rich garments put on her, and she shone in her beauty like bright day, but not a word could be got out of her. He sat it down at table by her side, and her humble countenance and modesty pleased him so much that he said, „This is the woman I desire to marry and no other in the world“, and after a few days he married her.
But the king had a wicked mother who was unhappy with this marriage and spoke ill of the young queen. „Who knows where the harlot is from“, she said, „who cannot speak: She is not worthy of a king.“ More than a year after the queen gave birth to her first child, the old woman took it away from her and while she slept she covered her mouth with blood. Then she went to the king and accused her of being a cannibal. The king did not want to believe it and did not suffer any harm to her. But she sat steadily and sewed on her shirts and paid no attention to anything else. The next time she gave birth to another beautiful boy, the false mother-in-law perpetrated the same fraud, but the king could not decide to give credence to her speeches. He said, „She is too pious and good to do such a thing, and if she were not dumb and could defend herself, her innocence would be revealed.“ But when the third time the old woman robbed the newborn child and accused the queen, who did not speak a word in her defence, the king could not help himself; he had to hand her over to the court, and that condemned her to death by fire.
When the day approached where the sentence was to be carried out, there was also the last day of the six years in which she was not allowed to speak or to laugh, and she had freed her dear brothers from the power of magic. The six shirts had been finished, only the last one still lacked the left sleeve. Now when she was led to the stake, she put the shirts on her arm, and when she was standing on top and the fire was about to be lit, she looked around, and six swans came flying through the air. Then she saw that their salvation was near, and her heart was moved with joy.
The swans rushed to her and lowered themselves so that she could throw their shirts over them; and when they were touched by it, the swan skins fell off, and her brothers stood before her in the flesh and were fresh and beautiful; only the youngest was missing his left arm, and he had a swan's wing on his back for it. They hugged and kissed each other, and the queen went to the king, who was quite dismayed, and began to speak, saying, „Dearest husband, now may I speak and reveal to you that I am innocent and falsely accused“, and told him of the old woman's deceit, who had taken away and hidden her three children. Then they were summoned, to the king's great joy, and the wicked mother-in-law was bound at the stake and burnt to ashes as punishment. But the king and the queen and their six brothers lived in happiness and peace for many, many years.
SLEEPING BEAUTY
Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who said every day, „Oh, if only we had a child!“ and they always didn't get one. Then it happened that once, when the queen was sitting in the bath, a frog crawled out of the water onto land and said to her, „Your wish will be fulfilled before a year passes, you will give birth to a daughter.“
What the frog had said happened, and the Queen gave birth to a girl, it was so beautiful that the King was so happy that he decided to celebrate a great feast. He invited not only his relatives, friends and acquaintances, but also the wise women, so that they would be kind to the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but because he had only twelve golden plates to eat from, one of them had to stay at home.
The feast was celebrated in all its splendour, and when it was over, the wise women presented the child with their miraculous gifts: one with virtue, another with beauty, the third with wealth, and so with everything that could be desired in the world. When the eleventh had just done her sayings, the thirteenth suddenly came in. She wanted to take revenge for not being invited, and without greeting or even looking at anyone, she called out in a loud voice, „The king's daughter, in her fifteenth year, shall stab herself on a spindle and fall down dead.“ And without saying another word, she turned around and left the hall. All were terrified when the twelfth, who still had her wish left, came out, and because she could not override the evil saying, but only soften it, she said, „But it shall not be death, but a hundred years' deep sleep, into which the king's daughter shall fall.“
The king, who wanted to save his beloved child from the misfortune, issued the order that all the spindles in the whole kingdom be burned. But the wise women's gifts were all fulfilled in the girl, for she was so beautiful, modest, kind and understanding that anyone who looked at her had to love her. It happened that on the day she was fifteen years old, the king and queen were not at home and the girl was left all alone in the castle. So she went around the castle, looking at rooms and chambers as she pleased, and finally came to an old tower. She climbed up the narrow spiral staircase, and came to a small door. Inside the lock was a rusty key, and when she turned it around, the door opened, and there sat in a little room an old woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax.
„Good day, old mother“, said the king's daughter, „what are you doing?“ - I'm spinning“, said the old woman, nodding her head. „What's that thing that jumps around so funny?“ said the girl, took the spindle and wanted to spin too. But no sooner had she touched the spindle than the spell was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it. But the moment she felt the prick, she fell down on the bed that stood there, and lay in a deep sleep.
And this sleep spread over the whole castle: the king and queen, who had just come home and entered the hall, began to fall asleep, and the whole court with them. Then also the horses in the stable, the dogs in the courtyard, the doves on the roof, the flies on the wall, yes, the fire that was flickering, became silent and fell asleep, and the roast stopped frying, and the cook, who wanted to pull the kitchen boy's hair because he had provided something, let go of him and slept. And the wind died down, and there were no more leaves on the trees in front of the castle. Around the castle, however, a hedge of thorns began to grow, growing higher every year, and finally the whole castle moved and grew beyond it, so that nothing of it could be seen, not even the flag on the roof.
But the legend of the beautiful Sleeping Beauty was told in the country, because that was the name of the king's daughter, so that from time to time king's sons came and tried to enter the castle through the hedge. But it was not possible for them, because the thorns, as if they had hands, held tightly together, and the young men got caught in them, could not get loose again and died a miserable death.
After many years a king's son once again came to the land, and heard an old man tell of the hedge of thorns, that there should be a castle behind it, in which a beautiful king's daughter, called Sleeping Beauty, had been sleeping for a hundred years, and with her the king and queen and the whole court. He also knew from his grandfather that many king's sons had come and tried to penetrate the thorny hedge, but they would have got stuck in it and died a sad death. Then the young man said, „I am not afraid, I want to go out and see the beautiful Sleeping Beauty.“ The good old man advised him not to do as he pleased, he did not listen to his words. But now the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when Sleeping Beauty would awaken again. When the king's son approached the hedge of thorns, it was full of big, beautiful flowers, they split apart and let him pass through unharmed, and behind him they reassembled as a hedge. In the courtyard of the palace he saw the horses and chequered hounds lying and sleeping, and on the roof the doves were sitting and had their heads under their wings. And when he came into the house, the flies were sleeping on the wall, the cook in the kitchen was still holding his hand as if he wanted to grab the boy, and the maid was sitting in front of the black chicken that was to be plucked.
Then he went on and saw the whole court lying and sleeping in the hall, and up by the throne lay the king and queen. Then he walked on still further, and everything was so quiet that one could hear his breath, and finally he came to the tower and opened the door to the little room where Sleeping Beauty was sleeping. There she lay, and she was so beautiful that he couldn't take his eyes off her, and he bent down and gave her a kiss.
As he had touched hert with the kiss, Sleeping Beauty opened her eyes, woke up and looked at him in a very friendly way. Then they went down together, and the king awoke, and the queen, and the whole court, and looked at one another with big eyes. And the horses in the courtyard rose and shook themselves; the hounds jumped and wagged; the doves on the roof pulled out their heads from under the wing, looked around and flew into the field; the flies on the walls continued to crawl; the fire in the kitchen rose, flickered and cooked the meal; the roast began to sizzle again; and the cook slapped the boy that he cried out; and the maid plucked the chicken ready.
And then the wedding of the king's son with Sleeping Beauty was celebrated in all its glory, and they lived happily ever after.
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
Once upon a time there was a sweet little girl who was loved by everyone who just looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, who didn't know what to give to the child. Once she gave her a little hood of red velvet, and because it suited her so well and she didn't want to wear anything else, she called her Little Red Riding Hood. One day her mother said to her, „Come, Little Red Riding Hood, you have a piece of cake and a bottle of wine, take it outside to your grandmother; she is sick and weak and will feast on it. Get up before it gets hot, and when you come out, walk gracefully and do not stray from the path, or you will fall and break the glass, and the grandmother will have nothing. And when you come into her parlour, do not forget to say good morning and do not look around in every corner!“
„I want to do everything right“, Little Red Riding Hood said to her mother, and gave her a hand. But the grandmother lived out in the forest, half an hour from the village. As Little Red Riding Hood came into the forest, the wolf met her. Little Red Riding Hood, however, did not know what this evil animal was and was not afraid of him. „Good afternoon, Little Red Riding Hood!“ he said. 2Thank you very much, wolf!“ - „Where out so early, Little Red Riding Hood?“ - „To Grandma.“ - „What are you wearing under your apron?“ - „Cake and wine. Yesterday we baked a cake for the sick and weak grandmother.“ - „Little Red Riding Hood, where does your grandmother live?“ - „A good quarter of an hour more in the woods, under the three big oak trees, there is her house, down below are the nut hedges, you will know that“, said Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf thought to himself, That young, tender thing, that's a fat bite, it will taste even better than the old one. You have to start it cunningly so that you catch them both. So he walked next to Little Red Riding Hood for a while, and then he said, „Little Red Riding Hood, look at the beautiful flowers that are all around. Why don't you look around? I don't think you can hear the birds singing so sweetly? You go for youself as if you were at school, and you can have fun in the forest.“
Little Red Riding Hood opened her eyes, and when she saw the sun's rays dancing back and forth through the trees, and everything was full of beautiful flowers, she thought, If I bring a fresh bouquet for grandmother, she will be pleased; it is so early in the day that I am arriving at the right time. So she ran off the path into the forest and looked for flowers. And if she had broken one, she thought that there was a more beautiful one further out, and ran after it and got deeper and deeper into the forest. But the wolf went straight to the grandmother's house and knocked on the door. „Who is outside?“ - 2Little Red Riding Hood, that brings cake and wine, open up!“ - „Just press the handle“, cried the grandmother, „I'm too weak to get up.“ The wolf pressed the handle, the door opened and he went straight to the grandmother's bed without saying a word and swallowed her. Then he put on her clothes, put on her bonnet, lay down in her bed and drew the curtains.
Little Red Riding Hood, however, had been running around after the flowers, and when she had so much together that she couldn't carry any more, her grandmother came back to her mind, and she set off for her. She was surprised that the door was open, and as she entered the living room, she felt so strange in it that she thought, My God, how frightened I am today, and I love being with my grandmother! She shouted, „Good morning“, but got no answer. Then she went to the bed and drew back the curtains. There lay the grandmother, who had put the bonnet deep into her face and looked so strange. „Grandma, what big ears you have!“ - „So that I can hear you better!“ - „Why, Grandmother, what big eyes you have!“ - „So I can see you better!“ - „Grandma, what big hands you have!“ - „So I can grip you better!“ - „Why, Granny, what a big mouth you have!“ - „So I can eat you better!“ No sooner had the wolf said that, than he did a sentence from his bed and devoured poor Little Red Riding Hood.
As the wolf had satisfied his appetite, he lay back down in bed, fell asleep and began snoring out loud. The hunter just passed the house and thought, How the old woman snores! You must see if she's missing something. Then he entered the living room, and as he came in front of the bed, he saw that the wolf was lying there. „If I find you here, you old sinner“, he said, „I have been looking for you for a long time.“ Now he was about to put on his box, when he remembered that the wolf might have eaten the grandmother and she was still alive, he did not shoot, but took a pair of scissors and began to cut open the sleeping wolf's stomach. When he had made a few cuts, he saw the red cap glowing, and a few more cuts, the girl jumped out and shouted, „Oh, how I was frightened, how dark it was in the wolf's womb!“ And then the old grandmother came out alive and could hardly breathe. But Little Red Riding Hood quickly fetched large stones to fill the wolf's body, and when he woke up he wanted to jump away, but the stones were so heavy that he immediately sank down and died.
All three were happy. The hunter pulled off the wolf's fur and went home with it, and the grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine that Little Red Riding Hood had brought, and recovered. But Little Red Riding Hood thought, You don't want to spend your life running off the path into the woods alone again, if your mother has forbidden you to do so.
It is also said that once, when Little Red Riding Hood brought her old grandmother some baked goods, another wolf approached her and tried to divert her from the path. But Little Red Riding Hood took care and went straight on her way, telling her grandmother that she had met the wolf who had wished her good day, but had looked away from her eyes so angrily, „If it hadn't been on the open road, he would have eaten me.“ - „Come“, said the grandmother, „let's lock the door so he can't get in.“ Soon after, the wolf knocked and cried, „Open up, grandmother, I'm Little Red Riding Hood, I'll bring you some baked goods.“ But they were silent and did not open the door. So the grey-headed wolf crept around the house quite a few times, finally jumped up on the roof and wanted to wait until Little Red Riding Hood went home in the evening, then he wanted to sneak after her and eat her in the dark. But the grandmother noticed what he had in mind. Now there was a big stone trough in front of the house, so she said to the child, „Take the bucket, Little Red Riding Hood, yesterday I cooked sausages, so carry the water in which they are cooked into the trough!“ Little Red Riding Hood carried until the big, big trough was full. Then the smell of the sausages went up the wolf's nose. He sniffed and looked down, finally he made his neck so long that he could no longer hold on, and began to slide; so he slid down from the roof, straight into the big trough, and drowned. But Little Red Riding Hood went home happily, and from now on no one hurt her any more.
MARY'S CHILD
In front of a large forest lived a woodcutter with his wife, who had only one child, a girl of three years old. But they were so poor that they no longer had the daily bread and did not know what to give her to eat. One morning the woodcutter went out into the woods to work, full of worries, and as he was cutting wood there, a beautiful tall woman stood before him with a crown of shining stars on her head and said to him, „I am the Virgin MARY, the Mother of the Christ Child: you are poor, bring me your child, I will take her with me, be her mother and take care of her.“ The woodcutter obeyed, took his child and handed her over to the Virgin MARY, who took her up to heaven with her. She was well then, she ate carrots and drank sweet milk, and her clothes were of gold, and the angels played with her. When she was fourteen years old, once the Virgin MARY called her and said, „Dear child, I am about to make a great journey, and I want you to keep the keys to the thirteen doors of the kingdom of heaven: twelve of them you may unlock and see the glories inside, but the thirteenth, to which this little key belongs, is forbidden to you: do not unlock it, or you will be unhappy.“ The girl promised to be obedient, and now that the Virgin MARY was gone, she began to look at the dwellings of the Kingdom of Heaven: every day one unlocked, until the twelve were around. In each of them there sat an apostle, surrounded by great splendour, and she rejoiced in all the splendour and glory, and the angels who always accompanied her rejoiced with her. Now the forbidden door alone was left, and she felt a great desire to know what was hidden behind it, and said to the angels, „I do not want to open it completely, nor do I want to go in, but I will open it so that we can see a little through the crack.“ - „Oh no“, said the angels, „that would be a sin: the Virgin MARY has forbidden it, and it could easily become your misfortune.“ Then she was silent, but the desire in her heart was not silent, but gnawed and pecked at her and left her no peace. And once the angels had all gone out, she thought, Now I am all alone and could look inside, no one knows when I do. She looked for the key, and when she held it in her hand, she put it in the lock, and when she put it in, the door burst open, and she saw the Trinity sitting there in the fire and splendour. She stopped for a while and looked at everything with astonishment, then she touched the shine a little with her finger, and then the finger turned all golden. Immediately she felt a tremendous fear, slammed the door violently and ran away. The fear did not want to give way again, she wanted to start what she wanted, and the heart kept on beating and did not want to become calm: the gold also stayed on the finger and did not come off, she wanted to wash and rub as much as she wanted.
Not long after that, the Virgin MARY returned from her journey. She called the girl to herself and demanded the keys to heaven again. When she handed her the keys, the Virgin looked into her eyes and said, „Did you not open the thirteenth door?“ - „No“, she replied. Then she laid her hand on her heart and felt it knock and knock, and noticed that she had transgressed her covenant and unlocked the door. Then she said again, „Surely you did not do it?“ - „No“, said the girl for the second time. Then she saw the finger that had turned golden from the touch of the heavenly fire, saw that she had sinned, and said a third time, „Did you not do it?“ - „No“, said the girl for the third time. Then the Virgin MARY said, „You disobeyed me, and on top of that you lied, you are no longer worthy to be in heaven.“
Then the girl sank into a deep sleep, and when she awoke, she lay down on the ground in the middle of a wilderness. She wanted to call out, but she could not make a sound. She jumped up and wanted to run away, but wherever she turned, she was always held back by thick hedges of thorn that she could not break through. In the wasteland in which she was enclosed, there was an old hollow tree, this must be her dwelling. She crawled in there when night came and slept there, and when she rained and stormed she found shelter there: but it was a miserable life, and when she remembered how beautiful it had been in heaven, and how the angels had played with her, she wept bitterly. Roots and wild berries were hers only nourishment, which she sought as far as she could get. In autumn she gathered the fallen nuts and leaves and carried them into the cave, the nuts were her food in winter, and when snow and ice came, she crawled like a poor little animal into the leaves so that she did not freeze. Not long after, her clothes were torn and she fell off his body one by one. As soon as the sun shone warmly again, she went out and sat down in front of the tree, and her long hair covered her on all sides like a cloak. So she sat one year after another, feeling the misery of the world.
Once, when the trees were once again in fresh green, the king of the land hunted in the forest and pursued a deer, and because it had fled into the bushes that enclosed the forest place, he got off his horse, tore the undergrowth apart and cut a path with his sword. When he had finally penetrated through, he saw a beautiful girl sitting under the tree, sitting there, covered by her golden hair to her toes. He stood still and looked at her in astonishment, then he addressed her and said, „Who are you? Why are you sitting here in the wilderness?“ But there was no answer, for she could not open hers mouth. The king continued, „Will you come with me to my castle?“ Then she just nodded her head a little. The king took her in his arms, carried her on his horse and rode home with her, and when he came to the royal castle, he made her put on beautiful clothes and gave her everything in abundance. And though she could not speak at once, she was beautiful and sweet that he loved her dearly, and it was not long before he married her.
When about a year had passed, the queen gave birth to a son. Then, on the night when she was alone in her bed, the Virgin MARY appeared to her and said, „If you will speak the truth and confess that you have unlocked the forbidden door, I will open your mouth and give you back the language: but if you persist in sin and deny persistently, I will take your newborn child with me.“ Then the queen was given the authority to answer, but she remained stubborn and said, „No, I have not opened the forbidden door“, and the Virgin MARY took the newborn child from her arms and disappeared with it. The next morning, when the child could not be found, there was a murmur among the people that the queen was a cannibal and had killed her own child. She heard everything and could not say anything against it, but the king did not want to believe it because he loved her so much.
After a year the queen gave birth to a son again. During the night, the Virgin MARY came to her again and said, „If you will confess that you have opened the forbidden door, I will give you back your child and loosen your tongue: but if you persist in sin and deny, I will take this newborn with me.“ Then the queen said again, „No, I have not opened the forbidden door“, and the Virgin took the child from her arms and took it with her to heaven. In the morning, when the child had again disappeared, people said very loudly that the queen had devoured it, and the king's counsellors demanded that she be judged. But the king loved her so much that he did not want to believe it, and he ordered the councillors, under penalty of life and limb, to speak no more about it.
The next year the queen gave birth to a beautiful little daughter, and the Virgin MARY appeared to her for the third time at night and said, „Follow me!“ She took her by the hand and led her to heaven, and showed her there her two oldest children, who laughed at her and played with the globe. When the queen rejoiced, the Virgin MARY said, „Has not your heart softened yet? If you admit that you have opened the forbidden door, I will give you back your two little sons.“ But the queen replied for the third time, „No, I have not opened the forbidden door.“ Then she let the queen sink to the ground again and took the third child from her also.
The next morning, when it became known, all the people cried out loudly, „The queen is a man-eater, she must be condemned“, and the king could no longer refuse his counsels. A judgment was passed upon her, and because she could not answer or defend herself, she was condemned to die at the stake. The wood was gathered together, and when she was tied to a stake and the fire began to burn all around her, the hard ice of pride melted and her heart was moved with remorse, and she thought, Can I only confess before my death that I opened the door, and a voice came to her, crying out loud, „Yes, MARY, I did!“ And immediately the heavens began to rain and put out the flames of fire, and a light came down on her, and the Virgin MARY came down and had the two little sons on her sides and the newborn daughter in her arms. She spoke kindly to her, „Whoever repents of his sin and admits it, it is forgiven him“, and handed her the three children, loosened her tongue and gave her happiness for life.