The Brothers Grimm Volume II: 110 Grimmer Fairy Tales

Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, Margaret Hunt

• Publisher: Canterbury Classics
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781607108559
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Classici

Terrifying tales and frightening fables at their finest! We all know the stories--or do we? We know who Snow White is, but what about Rose Red? And what happens to an all-too willful child? Learn more intriguing stories about "Wise Folks, " "The King's Son Who Feared Nothing, " and... well... "Donkey Cabbages"--to name a few. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were well-known nineteenth-century German storytellers, academics, linguists, and cultural researchers who did not hold back when telling terrifying tales, including parables and fables designed to teach and entertain readers of all ages. * The Brothers Grimm Volume 2: 110 Grimmer Fairy Tales contains more than a hundred stores and fables. The Brothers Grimm Volume 2: 110 Grimmer Fairy Tales is perfect for the short story lover, and offers many entertaining tales to delight--and fright--literature lovers.

1. The Willow Wren and the Bear

Once in summertime the bear and the wolf were walking in the forest, and the bear heard a bird singing so beautifully that he said, “Brother wolf, what bird is it that sings so well?”

“That is the King of birds,” said the wolf, “before whom we must bow down.” It was, however, in reality the willow wren (Zaunkönig).

“If that’s the case,” said the bear, “I should very much like to see his royal palace; come, take me there.”

“That is not done quite as you seem to think,” said the wolf; “you must wait until the Queen comes.”

Soon afterward, the Queen arrived with some food in her beak, and the lord King came too, and they began to feed their young ones. The bear would have liked to go at once, but the wolf held him back by the sleeve, and said, “No, you must wait until the lord and lady Queen have gone away again.” So they observed the hole in which was the nest, and trotted away.

The bear, however, could not rest until he had seen the royal palace, and when a short time had passed, again went to it. The King and Queen had just flown out, so he peeped in and saw five or six young ones lying in it. “Is that the royal palace?” cried the bear. “It is a wretched palace, and you are not King’s children, you are disreputable children!”

When the young wrens heard that, they were frightfully angry, and screamed, “No, that we are not! Our parents are honest people! Bear, you will have to pay for that!”

The bear and the wolf grew uneasy, and turned back and went into their holes. The young willow wrens, however, continued to cry and scream, and when their parents again brought food they said, “We will not so much as touch one fly’s leg, no, not if we were dying of hunger, until you have settled whether we are respectable children or not; the bear has been here and has insulted us!”

Then the old King said, “Be easy, he shall be punished,” and he at once flew with the Queen to the bear’s cave, and called in, “Old Growler, why have you insulted my children? You shall suffer for it—we will punish you by a bloody war.” Thus war was announced to the Bear, and all four-footed animals were summoned to take part in it, oxen, asses, cows, deer, and every other animal the earth contained. And the willow wren summoned everything which flew in the air, not only birds, large and small, but midges, and hornets, bees and flies had to come.

When the time came for the war to begin, the willow wren sent out spies to discover who was the enemy’s commander-in-chief. The gnat, who was the most crafty, flew into the forest where the enemy was assembled, and hid herself beneath a leaf of the tree where the watchword was to be given. There stood the bear, and he called the fox before him and said, “Fox, you are the most cunning of all animals, you shall be general and lead us.”

“Good,” said the fox, “but what signal shall we agree upon?” No one knew that, so the fox said, “I have a fine long bushy tail, which almost looks like a plume of red feathers. When I lift my tail up quite high, all is going well, and you must charge; but if I let it hang down, run away as fast as you can.” When the gnat had heard that, she flew away again, and revealed everything, with the greatest minuteness, to the willow wren. When day broke, and the battle was to begin, all the four-footed animals came running up with such a noise that the earth trembled. The willow wren also came flying through the air with his army with such a humming, and whirring, and swarming that everyone was uneasy and afraid, and on both sides they advanced against each other. But the willow wren sent down the hornet, with orders to get beneath the fox’s tail, and sting with all his might. When the fox felt the first sting, he started so that he drew up one leg, in pain, but he bore it, and still kept his tail high in the air; at the second sting, he was forced to put it down for a moment; at the third, he could hold out no longer, and screamed out and put his tail between his legs. When the animals saw that, they thought all was lost, and began to fly, each into his hole and the birds had won the battle.

Then the King and Queen flew home to their children and cried, “Children, rejoice, eat and drink to your heart’s content, we have won the battle!”

But the young wrens said, “We will not eat yet, the bear must come to the nest, and beg for pardon and say that we are honorable children, before we will do that.”

Then the willow wren flew to the bear’s hole and cried, “Growler, you are to come to the nest to my children, and beg their pardon, or else every rib of your body shall be broken.” So the bear crept there in the greatest fear, and begged their pardon. And now at last the young wrens were satisfied, and sat down together and ate and drank, and made merry till quite late into the night.

2. Sweet Porridge

There was a poor but good little girl who lived alone with her mother, and they no longer had anything to eat. So the child went into the forest, and there an aged woman met her who was aware of her sorrow, and presented her with a little pot, which when she said, “Cook, little pot, cook,” would cook good, sweet porridge, and when she said, “Stop, little pot,” it ceased to cook. The girl took the pot home to her mother, and now they were freed from their poverty and hunger, and ate sweet porridge as often as they chose.

Once on a time when the girl had gone out, her mother said, “Cook, little pot, cook.” And it did cook and she ate till she was satisfied, and then she wanted the pot to stop cooking, but did not know the word. So it went on cooking and the porridge rose over the edge, and still it cooked on until the kitchen and whole house were full, and then the next house, and then the whole street, just as if it wanted to satisfy the hunger of the whole world, and there was the greatest distress, but no one knew how to stop it. At last when only one single house remained, the child came home and just said, “Stop, little pot,” and it stopped and gave up cooking, and whoever wished to return to the town had to eat his way back.

3. Wise Folks

One day a peasant took his good hazel stick out of the corner and said to his wife, “Trina, I am going across country, and shall not return for three days. If during that time the cattle dealer should happen to call and want to buy our three cows, you may strike a bargain at once, but not unless you can get two hundred thalers for them; nothing less, do you hear?”

“For heaven’s sake just go in peace,” answered the woman, “I will manage that.”

“You, indeed,” said the man. “You once fell on your head when you were a little child, and that affects you even now; but let me tell you this, if you do anything foolish, I will make your back black and blue, and not with paint, I assure you, but with the stick that I have in my hand, and the coloring shall last a whole year, you may rely on that.” And having said that, the man went on his way.

Next morning the cattle dealer came, and the woman had no need to say many words to him. When he had seen the cows and heard the price, he said, “I am quite willing to give that, honestly speaking, they are worth it. I will take the beasts away with me at once.”

He unfastened their chains and drove them out of the barn, but just as he was going out of the door, the woman clutched him by the sleeve and said, “You must give me the two hundred thalers now, or I cannot let the cows go.”

“True,” answered the man, “but I have forgotten to buckle on my money belt. Have no fear, however, you shall have security for my paying. I will take two cows with me and leave one, and then you will have a good pledge.”

The woman saw the force of this, and let the man go away with the cows, and thought to herself, “How pleased Hans will be when he finds how cleverly I have managed it!”

The peasant came home on the third day as he had said he would, and at once inquired if the cows were sold. “Yes, indeed, dear Hans,” answered the woman, “and as you said, for two hundred thalers. They are scarcely worth so much, but the man took them without making any objection.”

“Where is the money?” asked the peasant.

“Oh, I have not got the money,” replied the woman; “he had happened to forget his money belt, but he will soon bring it, and he left good security behind him.”

“What kind of security?” asked the man.

“One of the three cows, which he shall not have until he has paid for the other two. I have managed very cunningly, for I have kept the smallest, which eats the least.”

The man was enraged and lifted up his stick, and was just going to give her the beating he had promised her. Suddenly he let the stick fall and said, “You are the stupidest goose that ever waddled on God’s earth, but I am sorry for you. I will go out into the highways and wait for three days to see if I find anyone who is still stupider than you. If I succeed in doing so, you shall go scot-free, but if I do not find him, you shall receive your well-deserved reward without any discount.”

He went out into the great highways, sat down on a stone, and waited for what would happen. Then he saw a peasant’s wagon coming toward him, and a woman was standing upright in the middle of it, instead of sitting on the bundle of straw which was lying beside her, or walking near the oxen and leading them. The man thought to himself, “That is certainly one of the kind I am in search of,” and jumped up and ran backward and forward in front of the wagon like one who is not very wise.

“What do you want, my friend?” said the woman to him; “I don’t know you, where do you come from?”

“I have fallen down from heaven,” replied the man, “and don’t know how to get back again, couldn’t you drive me up?”

“No,” said the woman, “I don’t know the way, but if you come from heaven you can surely tell me how my husband, who has been there these three years, is. You must have seen him?”

“Oh, yes, I have seen him, but all men can’t get on well. He keeps sheep, and the sheep give him a great deal to do. They run up the mountains and lose their way in the wilderness, and he has to run after them and drive them together again. His clothes are all torn to pieces too, and will soon fall off his body. There is no tailor there, for Saint Peter won’t let any of them in, as you know by the story.”

“Who would have thought it?” cried the woman. “I tell you what, I will fetch his Sunday coat that is still hanging at home in the cupboard, he can wear that and look respectable. You will be so kind as to take it with you.”

“That won’t do very well,” answered the peasant; “people are not allowed to take clothes into heaven, they are taken away from one at the gate.”

“Then listen,” said the woman, “I sold my fine wheat yesterday and got a good lot of money for it, I will send that to him. If you hide the purse in your pocket, no one will know that you have it.”

“If you can’t manage it any other way,” said the peasant, “I will do you that favor.”

“Just sit still where you are,” said she, “and I will drive home and fetch the purse, I shall soon be back again. I do not sit down on the bundle of straw, but stand up in the wagon, because it makes it lighter for the cattle.”

She drove her oxen away, and the peasant thought, “That woman has a perfect talent for folly, if she really brings the money, my wife may think herself fortunate, for she will get no beating.” It was not long before she came in a great hurry with the money, and with her own hands put it in his pocket. Before she went away, she thanked him again a thousand times for his courtesy.

When the woman got home again, she found her son who had come in from the field. She told him what unlooked-for thin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1. The Willow Wren and the Bear
• 2. Sweet Porridge
• 3. Wise Folks
• 4. Stories about Snakes
• 5. The Poor Miller’s Boy and the Cat
• 6. The Two Travelers
• 7. Hans the Hedgehog
• 8. The Shroud
• 9. The Jew Among Thorns
• 10. The Skillful Hunter
• 11. The Flail from Heaven
• 12. The Two Kings’ Children
• 13. The Cunning Little Tailor
• 14. The Bright Sun Brings It to Light
• 15. The Blue Light
• 16. The Willful Child
• 17. The Three Army Surgeons
• 18. The Seven Swabians
• 19. The Three Apprentices
• 20. The King’s Son Who Feared Nothing
• 21. Donkey Cabbages
• 22. The Old Woman in the Wood
• 23. The Three Brothers
• 24. The Devil and His Grandmother
• 25. Ferdinand the Faithful
• 26. The Iron Stove
• 27. The Lazy Spinner
• 28. The Four Skillful Brothers
• 29. One-eye, Two-eyes, and Three-eyes
• 30. Fair Katrinelje and Pif-paf-poltrie
• 31. The Fox and the Horse
• 32. The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces
• 33. The Six Servants
• 34. The White Bride and the Black Bride
• 35. Iron John
• 36. The Three Black Princesses
• 37. Knoist and His Three Sons
• 38. The Maid of Brakel
• 39. Domestic Servants
• 40. The Lamb and the Little Fish
• 41. Simeli Mountain
• 42. Going A-Traveling
• 43. The Donkey
• 44. The Ungrateful Son
• 45. The Turnip
• 46. The Old Man Made Young Again
• 47. The Lord’s Animals and the Devil’s
• 48. The Beam
• 49. The Old Beggar Woman
• 50. The Three Sluggards
• 51. The Twelve Idle Servants
• 52. The Shepherd Boy
• 53. The Star Money
• 54. The Stolen Pennies
• 55. Brides on Trial
• 56. Odds and Ends
• 57. The Sparrow and His Four Children
• 58. The Tale of Cock-a-doodle
• 59. The Ditmars Tale of Lies
• 60. A Riddling Tale
• 61. Snow White and Rose Red
• 62. The Wise Servant
• 63. The Glass Coffin
• 64. Lazy Harry
• 65. The Griffin
• 66. Strong Hans
• 67. The Peasant in Heaven
• 68. Lean Lisa
• 69. The Hut in the Forest
• 70. Sharing Joy and Sorrow
• 71. The Willow Wren
• 72. The Flounder
• 73. The Bittern and the Hoopoe
• 74. The Owl
• 75. The Moon
• 76. The Duration of Life
• 77. Death’s Messengers
• 78. Master Pfriem (Master Cobbler’s Awl)
• 79. The Goose Girl at the Well
• 80. Eve’s Various Children
• 81. The Nix of the MillPond
• 82. The Little Folks’ Presents
• 83. The Giant and the Tailor
• 84. The Nail
• 85. The Poor Boy in the Grave
• 86. The True Bride
• 87. The Hare and the Hedgehog
• 88. The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle
• 89. The Peasant and the Devil
• 90. The Crumbs on the Table
• 91. The Mongoose
• 92. The Master Thief
• 93. The Drummer
• 94. The Ear of Corn
• 95. The Grave Mound
• 96. Old Rinkrank
• 97. The Crystal Ball
• 98. Maid Maleen
• 99. The Boots of Buffalo Leather
• 100. The Golden Key
• Children’s Legends