Brothers Grimm

King Grisly-Beard

A great king of a land far away in the East had a daughter who was very beautiful, but so proud and

haughty and conceited, that none of the princes who came to ask for her hand in marriage was good enough for her. All she ever did was make fun of them.

Once upon a time the king held a great feast and invited all her suitors. They all sat in a row, ranged according to their rank -- kings and princes

and dukes and earls and counts and barons and knights. When the princess came in, as she passed by them, she had something spiteful to say to each

one.

The first was too fat: 'He's as round as a tub,' she said.

The next was too tall: 'What a maypole!' she

said.

The next was too short: 'What a dumpling!' she said.

The fourth was too pale, and she called him 'Wallface.'

The fifth was too red, so she called him

'Coxcomb.'

The sixth was not straight enough; so she said he was like a green stick that had been laid to dry over a baker's oven. She had some joke to crack

about every one. But she laughed most of all at a good king who was there.

'Look at him,' she said; 'his beard is like an old

mop; he shall be called Grisly-beard.' So the king got the nickname of Grisly-beard.

But the old king was very angry when he saw

how his daughter behaved and how badly she treated all his guests. He vowed that, willing or unwilling, she would marry the first man that came to the door.

Two days later a travelling fiddler came by the castle. He began to play under the window and begged for money and when the king heard him,

he said, 'Let him come in.'

< 2 >

So, they brought the dirty-looking fellow in

and, when he had sung before the king and the princess, he begged for a gift.

The king said, 'You have sung so well that I will

give you my daughter to take as your wife.'

The princess begged and prayed; but the king

said, 'I have sworn to give you to the first man who came to the door, and I will keep my word.'

Words and tears were to no avail; the parson was sent for, and she was married to the fiddler.

When this was over, the king said, 'Now get ready to leave -- you must not stay here -- you must travel with your husband.'

So the fiddler left the castle, and took the princess with him.

Soon they came to a great wood.

'Pray,' she said, 'whose is this wood?'

'It belongs to King Grisly-beard,' he answered; 'hadst thou taken him, all would have been thine.'

'Ah! unlucky wretch that I am!' she sighed;

'would that I had married King Grisly-beard!'

Next they came to some fine meadows.

'Whose are these beautiful green meadows?'

she said.

'They belong to King Grisly-beard, hadst thou taken him, they would all have been thine.'

'Ah! unlucky wretch that I am!' she said; 'would

that I had married King Grisly-beard!'

Then they came to a great city. 'Whose is this noble city?' she said.

'It belongs to King Grisly-beard; hadst thou

taken him, it would all have been thine.'

< 3 >

'Ah! wretch that I am!' she sighed; 'why did I not marry King Grisly-beard?'

'That is no business of mine,' said the fiddler, 'why should you wish for another husband? Am I

not good enough for you?'

At last they came to a small cottage. 'What a paltry place!' she said; 'to whom does that little

dirty hole belong?'

The fiddler said, 'That is your and my house, where we are to live.'

'Where are your servants?' she cried.

'What do we want with servants?' he said; 'you must do for yourself whatever is to be done. Now make the fire, and put on water and cook my

supper, for I am very tired.'

But the princess knew nothing of making fires

and cooking, and the fiddler was forced to help her.

When they had eaten a very scanty meal they went to bed; but the fiddler called her up very

early in the morning to clean the house.

They lived like that for two days and when they had eaten up all there was in the cottage, the man

said, 'Wife, we can't go on thus, spending money and earning nothing. You must learn to weave baskets.'

Then the fiddler went out and cut willows, and brought them home, and she began to weave; but it made her fingers very sore.

'I see this work won't do,' he said, 'try and

spin; perhaps you will do that better.'

So she sat down and tried to spin; but the threads cut her tender fingers until the blood ran.

'See now,' said the fiddler, 'you are good for nothing; you can do no work. What a bargain I

have got! However, I'll try and set up a trade in

pots and pans, and you shall stand in the market and sell them.'

< 4 >

'Alas!' she sighed, 'if any of my father's court

should pass by and see me standing in the market, how they will laugh at me!'

But her husband did not care about that, and said she would have to work if she did not want to

die of hunger.

At first the trade went well because many people, seeing such a beautiful woman, went to

buy her wares and paid their money without even thinking of taking away the goods. They lived on this as long as it lasted and then her husband

bought a fresh lot of pots and pans, and she sat herself down with it in the corner of the market.

However, soon a drunken soldier soon came by and rode his horse against her stall and broke all

her goods into a thousand pieces.

She began to cry, and did not know what to do. 'Ah! what will become of me?' she said; 'what will

my husband say?' So she ran home and told him everything.

'Who would have thought you would have been

so silly,' he said, 'as to put an earthenware stall in the corner of the market, where everybody passes? But let us have no more crying; I see you are not fit for this sort of work, so I have been to

the king's palace, and asked if they did not want a

kitchen-maid; and they say they will take you, and

there you will have plenty to eat.'

So the princess became a kitchen-maid and helped the cook to do all the dirtiest work. She was allowed to carry home some of the meat that was

left over, and they lived on that.

She had not been there long before she heard that the king's eldest son was passing by, on his

way to get married. She went to one of the windows and looked out. Everything was ready and all the pomp and brightness of the court was there.

Seeing it, she grieved bitterly for the pride and folly that had brought her so low. The servants gave her some of the rich meats and she put them into her basket to take home.

< 5 >

All of a sudden, as she was leaving, in came

the king's son in his golden clothes. When he saw such a beautiful woman at the door, he took her by the hand and said she should be his partner in the dance. She trembled with fear because she saw

that it was King Grisly-beard, who was making fun of her. However, he kept hold of her, and led her into the hall. As she entered, the cover of the

basket came off, and the meats in it fell out. Everybody laughed and jeered at her and she was so ashamed that she wished she were a thousand

feet deep in the earth. She sprang over to the door

so that she could run away but on the steps King Grisly-beard overtook her, brought her back and said:

'Fear me not! I am the fiddler who has lived

with you in the hut. I brought you there because I truly loved you. I am also the soldier that overset your stall. I have done all this only to cure you of

your silly pride, and to show you the folly of your ill-treatment of me. Now it is all over: you have learnt wisdom, and it is time to hold our marriage

feast.'

Then the chamberlains came and brought her the most beautiful robes. Her father and his whole court were already there, and they welcomed her

home. Joy was in every face and every heart. The feast was grand; they danced and sang; everyone was merry; and I only wish that you and I had

been there.

Brothers Grimm The Twelve Dancing Princesses

There was a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. They slept in twelve beds all in one room and when they went to bed, the doors were shut and locked up. However, every morning their shoes were found to be quite worn through as if they had been danced in all night. Nobody could find out how it happened, or where the princesses had been.

So the king made it known to all the land that if any person could discover the secret and find out where it was that the princesses danced in the night, he would have the one he liked best to take as his wife, and would be king after his death. But whoever tried and did not succeed, after three days and nights, they would be put to death.

A king's son soon came. He was well entertained, and in the evening was taken to the chamber next to the one where the princesses lay in their twelve beds. There he was to sit and watch where they went to dance; and, in order that nothing could happen without him hearing it, the door of his chamber was left open. But the king's son soon fell asleep; and when he awoke in the morning he found that the princesses had all been dancing, for the soles of their shoes were full of holes.

The same thing happened the second and third night and so the king ordered his head to be cut off.

After him came several others; but they all had the same luck, and all lost their lives in the same way.

Now it happened that an old soldier, who had been wounded in battle and could fight no longer, passed through the country where

this king reigned, and as he was travelling through a wood, he met an old woman, who asked him where he was going.

'I hardly know where I am going, or what I had better do,' said the soldier; 'but I think I would like to find out where it is that the princesses dance, and then in time I might be a king.'

< 2 >

'Well,' said the old woman, 'that is not a very hard task: only take care not to drink any of the wine which one of the princesses will bring to you in the evening; and as soon as she leaves you pretend to be fast asleep.'

Then she gave him a cloak, and said, 'As soon as you put that on you will become invisible, and you will then be able to follow the princesses wherever they go.' When the soldier heard all this good advice, he was determined to try his luck, so he went to the king, and said he was willing to undertake the task.

He was as well received as the others had been, and the king ordered fine royal robes to be given him; and when the evening came he was led to the outer chamber.

Just as he was going to lie down, the eldest of the princesses brought him a cup of wine; but the soldier threw it all away secretly, taking care not to drink a drop. Then he laid himself down on his bed, and in a little while began to snore very loudly as if he was fast asleep.

When the twelve princesses heard this they laughed heartily; and the eldest said, 'This fellow too might have done a wiser thing than lose his life in this way!' Then they rose and opened their drawers and

boxes, and took out all their fine clothes, and dressed themselves at the mirror, and skipped about as if they were eager to begin dancing.

But the youngest said, 'I don't know why it is, but while you are so happy I feel very uneasy; I am sure some mischance will befall us.'

'You simpleton,' said the eldest, 'you are always afraid; have you forgotten how many kings' sons have already watched in vain? And as for this soldier, even if I had not given him his sleeping draught, he would have slept soundly enough.'

< 3 >

When they were all ready, they went and looked at the soldier; but he snored on, and did not stir hand or foot: so they thought they were quite safe.

Then the eldest went up to her own bed and clapped her hands, and the bed sank into the floor and a trap-door flew open. The soldier saw them going down through the trap-door one after another, the eldest leading the way; and thinking he had no time to lose, he jumped up, put on the cloak which the old woman had given him, and followed them.

However, in the middle of the stairs he trod on the gown of the youngest princess, and she cried out to her sisters, 'All is not right; someone took hold of my gown.'

'You silly creature!' said the eldest, 'it is nothing but a nail in the wall.'

Down they all went, and at the bottom they found themselves in a most delightful grove of trees; and the leaves were all of silver, and glittered and sparkled beautifully. The soldier wished to take away

some token of the place; so he broke off a little branch, and there came a loud noise from the tree. Then the youngest daughter said again, 'I am sure all is not right -- did not you hear that noise? That never happened before.'

But the eldest said, 'It is only our princes, who are shouting for joy at our approach.'

They came to another grove of trees, where all the leaves were of gold; and afterwards to a third, where the leaves were all glittering diamonds. And the soldier broke a branch from each; and every time there was a loud noise, which made the youngest sister tremble with fear. But the eldest still said it was only the princes, who were crying for joy.

They went on till they came to a great lake; and at the side of the lake there lay twelve little boats with twelve handsome princes in them, who seemed to be waiting there for the princesses.

< 4 >

One of the princesses went into each boat, and the soldier stepped into the same boat as the youngest. As they were rowing over the lake, the prince who was in the boat with the youngest princess and the soldier said, 'I do not know why it is, but though I am rowing with all my might we do not get on so fast as usual, and I am quite tired: the boat seems very heavy today.'

'It is only the heat of the weather,' said the princess, 'I am very warm, too.'

On the other side of the lake stood a fine, illuminated castle from which came the merry music of horns and trumpets. There they all

landed, and went into the castle, and each prince danced with his princess; and the soldier, who was still invisible, danced with them too. When any of the princesses had a cup of wine set by her, he drank it all up, so that when she put the cup to her mouth it was empty. At this, too, the youngest sister was terribly frightened, but the eldest always silenced her.

They danced on till three o'clock in the morning, and then all their shoes were worn out, so that they were obliged to leave. The princes rowed them back again over the lake (but this time the soldier placed himself in the boat with the eldest princess); and on the opposite shore they took leave of each other, the princesses promising to come again the next night.

When they came to the stairs, the soldier ran on before the princesses, and laid himself down. And as the twelve, tired sisters slowly came up, they heard him snoring in his bed and they said, 'Now all is quite safe'. Then they undressed themselves, put away their fine clothes, pulled off their shoes, and went to bed.

In the morning the soldier said nothing about what had happened, but determined to see more of this strange adventure, and went again on the second and third nights. Everything happened just as before: the princesses danced till their shoes were worn to pieces, and then returned home. On the third night the soldier carried away one of the golden cups as a token of where he had been.

< 5 >

As soon as the time came when he was to declare the secret, he was taken before the king with the three branches and the golden cup;

and the twelve princesses stood listening behind the door to hear what he would say.

The king asked him. 'Where do my twelve daughters dance at night?'

The soldier answered, 'With twelve princes in a castle underground.' And then he told the king all that had happened, and showed him the three branches and the golden cup which he had brought with him.

The king called for the princesses, and asked them whether what the soldier said was true and when they saw that they were discovered, and that it was of no use to deny what had happened, they confessed it all.

So the king asked the soldier which of the princesses he would choose for his wife; and he answered, 'I am not very young, so I will have the eldest.' -- and they were married that very day, and the soldier was chosen to be the king's heir.

Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin

Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the king,

and in order to make himself appear important he said to him, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold."

The king said to the miller, "That is an art which pleases me well, if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to-morrow to my palace, and I will put her to the test."

And when the girl was brought to him he took her into a room which was quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and a reel, and said, "Now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw into gold during the night, you must die."

Thereupon he himself locked up the room, and left her in it alone. So there sat the poor miller's daughter, and for the life of her could not tell what to do, she had no idea how straw could be spun into gold, and she grew more and more frightened, until at last she began to weep.

But all at once the door opened, and in came a little man, and said, "Good evening, mistress miller, why are you crying so?"

"Alas," answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it."

"What will you give me," said the manikin, "if I do it for you?"

"My necklace," said the girl.

The little man took the necklace, seated himself in front of the wheel, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three turns, and the reel was full, then he put another on, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three times round, and the second was full too. And so it went on until the morning, when all the straw was spun, and all the reels were full of gold.

< 2 >

By daybreak the king was already there, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart became only more greedy. He had the miller's daughter taken into another room full of straw, which was much larger, and commanded her to spin that also in one night if she valued her life. The girl knew not how to help herself, and was crying, when the door opened again, and the little man appeared, and said, "What will you give me if I spin that straw into gold for you?"

"The ring on my finger," answered the girl.

The little man took the ring, again began to turn the wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into glittering gold.

The king rejoiced beyond measure at the sight, but still he had not gold enough, and he had the miller's daughter taken into a still larger room full of straw, and said, "You must spin this, too, in the course of this night, but if you succeed, you shall be my wife."

Even if she be a miller's daughter, thought he, I could not find a richer wife in the whole world.

When the girl was alone the manikin came again for the third time, and said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time also?"

"I have nothing left that I could give," answered the girl.

"Then promise me, if you should become queen, to give me your first child."

Who knows whether that will ever happen, thought the miller's daughter, and, not knowing how else to help herself in this strait, she promised the manikin what he wanted, and for that he once more spun the straw into gold.

And when the king came in the morning, and found all as he had wished, he took her in marriage, and the pretty miller's daughter became a queen.

< 3 >

A year after, she brought a beautiful child into the world, and she never gave a thought to the manikin. But suddenly he came into her room, and said, "Now give me what you promised."

The queen was horror-struck, and offered the manikin all the riches of the kingdom if he would leave her the child. But the manikin said, "No, something alive is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world."

Then the queen began to lament and cry, so that the manikin pitied her.

"I will give you three days, time," said he, "if by that time you find out my name, then shall you keep your child."

So the queen thought the whole night of all the names that she had ever heard, and she sent a messenger over the country to inquire, far and wide, for any other names that there might be. When the manikin came the next day, she began with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and said all the names she knew, one after another, but to every one the little man said, "That is not my name."

On the second day she had inquiries made in the neighborhood as to the names of the people there, and she repeated to the manikin the most uncommon and curious. Perhaps your name is Shortribs, or Sheepshanks, or Laceleg, but he always answered, "That is not my name."

On the third day the messenger came back again, and said, "I have not been able to find a single new name, but as I came to a high mountain at the end of the forest, where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, there I saw a little house, and before the house a fire was burning, and round about the fire quite a ridiculous little man was jumping, he hopped upon one leg, and shouted -

'To-day I bake, to-morrow brew,

< 4 >

the next I'll have the young queen's child.

Ha, glad am I that no one knew

that Rumpelstiltskin I am styled.'"

You may imagine how glad the queen was when she heard the name. And when soon afterwards the little man came in, and asked, "Now, mistress queen, what is my name?"

At first she said, "Is your name Conrad?"

"No."

"Is your name Harry?"

"No."

"Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?"

"The devil has told you that! The devil has told you that," cried the little man, and in his anger he plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg went in, and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard with both hands that he tore himself in two.

Hans Christian Andersen

The Princess and the Pea Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he

came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.

One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.

It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.

Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.

On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.

"Oh, very badly!" said she. "I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!"

Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.

< 2 >

Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.

So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.

There, that is a true story.

Hans Christian Andersen

The Little Match-Seller

It was terribly cold and nearly dark on the last

evening of the old year, and the snow was falling

fast. In the cold and the darkness, a poor little girl,

with bare head and naked feet, roamed through

the streets. It is true she had on a pair of slippers

when she left home, but they were not of much

use. They were very large, so large, indeed, that

they had belonged to her mother, and the poor

little creature had lost them in running across the

street to avoid two carriages that were rolling

along at a terrible rate. One of the slippers she

could not find, and a boy seized upon the other and

ran away with it, saying that he could use it as a

cradle, when he had children of his own. So the

little girl went on with her little naked feet, which

were quite red and blue with the cold.

In an old apron she carried a number of matches,

and had a bundle of them in her hands. No one had

bought anything of her the whole day, nor had any

one given here even a penny. Shivering with cold

and hunger, she crept along; poor little child, she

looked the picture of misery. The snowflakes fell

on her long, fair hair, which hung in curls on her

shoulders, but she regarded them not.

Lights were shining from every window, and

there was a savory smell of roast goose, for it was

New-year's eve - yes, she remembered that. In a

corner, between two houses, one of which

projected beyond the other, she sank down and

huddled herself together. She had drawn her little

feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold;

and she dared not go home, for she had sold no

matches, and could not take home even a penny of

money. Her father would certainly beat her;

besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for

they had only the roof to cover them, through

which the wind howled, although the largest holes

had been stopped up with straw and rags.

Her little hands were almost frozen with the

cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some

good, if she could draw it from the bundle and

strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers.

< 2 >

She drew one out - "scratch!" how it sputtered as

it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little

candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a

wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she

was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished

brass feet and a brass ornament. How the fire

burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the

child stretched out her feet as if to warm them,

when, lo! the flame of the match went out, the

stove vanished, and she had only the remains of

the half-burnt match in her hand.

She rubbed another match on the wall. It burst

into a flame, and where its light fell upon the wall

it became as transparent as a veil, and she could see

into the room. The table was covered with a snowy

white table-cloth, on which stood a splendid

dinner service, and a steaming roast goose, stuffed

with apples and dried plums. And what was still

more wonderful, the goose jumped down from the

dish and waddled across the floor, with a knife

and fork in its breast, to the little girl. Then the

match went out, and there remained nothing but

the thick, damp, cold wall before her.

She lighted another match, and then she found

herself sitting under a beautiful Christmas-tree. It

was larger and more beautifully decorated than

the one which she had seen through the glass door

at the rich merchant's. Thousands of tapers were

burning upon the green branches, and colored

pictures, like those she had seen in the show-

windows, looked down upon it all. The little one

stretched out her hand towards them, and the

match went out.

The Christmas lights rose higher and higher, till

they looked to her like the stars in the sky. Then

she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak

of fire. "Some one is dying," thought the little girl,

for her old grandmother, the only one who had

ever loved her, and who was now dead, had told

her that when a star falls, a soul was going up to

God.

< 3 >

She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the

light shone round her; in the brightness stood her

old grandmother, clear and shining, yet mild and

loving in her appearance.

"Grandmother," cried the little one, "O take me

with you; I know you will go away when the

match burns out; you will vanish like the warm

stove, the roast goose, and the large, glorious

Christmas-tree."

And she made haste to light the whole bundle of

matches, for she wished to keep her grandmother

there. And the matches glowed with a light that

was brighter than the noon-day, and her

grandmother had never appeared so large or so

beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and

they both flew upwards in brightness and joy far

above the earth, where there was neither cold nor

hunger nor pain, for they were with God.

In the dawn of morning there lay the poor little

one, with pale cheeks and smiling mouth, leaning

against the wall; she had been frozen to death on

the last evening of the year; and the New-year's sun

rose and shone upon a little corpse! The child still

sat, in the stiffness of death, holding the matches

in her hand, one bundle of which was burnt.

"She tried to warm herself," said some.

No one imagined what beautiful things she had

seen, nor into what glory she had entered with her

grandmother, on New-year's day.