Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm(53)

To which the king replied, “I will search far and wide, and not eat or drink until I find my beloved wife and little son, if they have not already died of hunger.”

Whereupon the king set out, and for seven long years he searched for her in vain on every cliff and in every cave, and thought for sure she must have perished. He did not eat or drink during that whole time, but God looked after him. Finally he came to a big, wild wood in which he found a little house with a little sign that said: “All are free to enter.”

Then the maiden in white emerged, took him by the hand, led him in, and said, “Welcome, Your Majesty!” And she asked him where he came from.

“I have wandered a full seven years in search of my wife and child, but I cannot find them.”

The angel bid him eat and drink, but he declined and only wished to rest for a while. Then he lay down to sleep and she covered his face with a cloth.

Then the angel went into the room where sat the queen and her son, whom she called Son of Misery. And the angel said to her, “Go out with your child – your husband has come.”

Then the woman went to where he lay, and the cloth fell from his face. And she said to the boy, “Son of Misery, pick up the cloth from the floor and put it back over your father’s face.”

The child picked it up and put it back over the king’s face.

The king heard all this in his half slumber and gladly let the cloth fall again.

Then the little boy grew impatient and said, “Dear Mother, how can I cover my father’s face when I have no father in this world? I learned to pray ‘Our Father who art in heaven,’ and you told me my father was in heaven, and he was God Himself – so how am I to recognize this wild-eyed man?”

As soon as the king heard these words, he sat up and asked who the woman was.

“I am your wife,” she said, “and that is your boy, Son of Misery.”

Then he saw her flesh-and-blood hands and said, “My wife has silver hands.”

And she replied, “God in His mercy let me grow back the real ones.”

And the angel went into the room next door and fetched the silver hands and showed them to him.

Then the king knew for sure that it was his beloved wife and his dear child, and overjoyed, he kissed them and said, “A heavy stone has fallen from my heart.”

Then the angel of God fed them again, and they went back home to the king’s old mother. And there was great joy in the kingdom, and the king and queen celebrated a second wedding, and they lived together in happiness to a ripe old age.





RUMPELSTILZCHEN





Once upon a time there was a poor miller who had a lovely daughter. Now it came to pass that he happened to speak to the king, and to give himself airs, he said, “I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.”

The king said to the miller, “That’s an art that strikes my fancy. If your daughter is indeed as skillful as you say, bring her to my castle, and I’ll put her to the test.” When the girl was brought to him he led her to a room filled to the rafters with straw, gave her a spinning wheel and a reel, and said, “Now get to work, and if by morning you haven’t spun this straw into gold, you will die.” Whereupon he shut her in and left her alone.

So the poor miller’s daughter sat there and did not for the life of her know what to do. She had no idea how to spin straw into gold, and she was soon in such a tizzy that she started to cry. Then all at once the door flew open and in stepped a little man who said, “Good evening, Miss Miller, why are you crying your eyes out?”

“Oh,” replied the girl, “I’m supposed to spin straw into gold and have no idea how to do it.”



Said the little man, “What will you give me if I do it for you?”

“I’ll give you my necklace,” said the girl.

The little man took her necklace, sat himself before the wheel, and lickety-split, in no time at all, the spool was full. Then he inserted more straw, and lickety-split, in no time at all the second one was full too – and so it went until morning, when all the straw was spun and all the spools were full of gold. At daybreak the king came by, stunned and delighted at the sight of all that gold. But his heart was greedy for more. He had the miller’s daughter brought to a bigger room full of straw, and ordered her, if she valued her life, to spin it all into gold. The girl was so distraught that she started crying again, and once again the door flew open, and the little man appeared and said, “What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold?”

“I’ll give you the ring from my finger,” she replied.

So the little man took the ring, and once again started spinning the wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into gold.