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    Grimm's Fairy Tales
    Grimm's Fairy Tales
    Grimm's Fairy Tales
    Ebook275 pages5 hours

    Grimm's Fairy Tales

    By Brothers Grimm

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Beginning with their first stories published in 1812, fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm have delighted, terrified, and inspired generations of readers. Grimm's Fairy Tales brings together many of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s best-known and loved works, including “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Snow White and Rose Red.” Beloved by children and adults, these fairy tales have been adapted countless times for the stage and screen, and continue to inspire modern adaptations more than a century after their deaths.

    HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 1, 2013
    ISBN9781443432306
    Author

    Brothers Grimm

    Wilhelm Grimm and his brother Jacob are famous for their classical collection of folk songs and folktales, especially for Children’s and Household Tales, generally known as Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

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    Reviews for Grimm's Fairy Tales

    4/5

    1,441 ratings61 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The original versions not Disneyfied. Lots of deaths. Tricksters. Fools. Kindness rewarded. Cleverness rewarded. Some have morals. Some are just for fun to laugh at the foolishness.
    • 5/5
      Timeless stories, in all their bloody glory. :) My favorite is Rumpelstiltskin, when he rips himself in half. :D
    • 5/5
      (Original Review, 2005-11-16)In Genesis there is suddenly this sentence/observation about giants walking the Earth in them days... I always see those elderly male Jews in Babylon, staring glumly at some campfire, thinking about the good old days and thinking up revengeful plans to smite the enemy. They tell the stories of their tribes but there is that one quite senile idiot always going on about 'them giants' - so in the end they say, "Okay, we WILL put them in. Now shut up already!" I can see myself being the Giant Guy (if more all over the place) and I'm not sure the good campfire folks here need the distraction... I don't know if it is only about 'folk tales' per se, but I am with most people on the campfire and howling wolves. For me the atmospherics are very, very important. Our culture no longer has much in the way of campfires and wolves so our writers have had to incorporate them, figuratively, into the fictions themselves. The rest is literary history.I don't see fairytales simply as children's stories; that's a relatively recent- and, of late, receding- viewpoint. There is a vast quantity of material around beyond Grimm and Andersen and little of it aimed at children. Perrault or Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy were writing for the amusement of adults, and the Arabian Nights were not exactly suitable bedtime reading for under-5's, while Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen achieved almost occult-like effects in her wondrous tales, which float somewhere between Baghdad and Copenhagen.Fairytales are most powerful when they access the taboo, the suppressed, or the deepest fears and desires within us. And they do so often. Your "children's rituals" and "simple messages" are really only the tip of the iceberg. For that matter, “The talented Mr. Ripley” (LINK) fulfills a similar role - a very wicked and challenging little tale full of deliciously gratuitous moments, the enjoyment of which made me at least think long and hard about my own morality.I was raised on the standard stuff: Grimm and Andersen mostly. There is obviously darkness there - and taboos, yes. (It's interesting that in the stories where children are imperiled the original versions had 'mother' and the later versions 'stepmothers'.) The ones I and probably most children end(ed) up with are the simpler, safer ones though, don't you think? I love Angela Carter's “Bloody Chamber” but most kids will be more likely to see Disney as the centre of the fairytale universe - which truly is a disservice to fairytales, of course.I am no longer that interested in stories where the characters are merely there to move things alone. Like standard puppets that can be used and reused for all kinds of similar types of stories. As I mentioned elsewhere, that goes for all kinds of stories, including movies. What I find fascinating about the early stories passed along (mutating on the way) is more that they give us some kinds of fleeting glimpse of the origin story of stories. Because most of the early part of that origins stories is/was in an oral form we can never really know how stories began and evolved. There are no helpful fossils - or not enough to have more than (slightly) informed theories.Did stories start as parts of religious/ceremonial chants? Were they like cave paintings: meant to magically influence the outcome of the hunt? Where did fiction start to make an entrance, if the earliest stories were mostly a sort of remembering (the deeds and wisdom of) dead tribe members? All endlessly fascinating to me - and no more than useless musings in the end.Back to fairytales for a moment. They may no longer really work for me as entertainment but the reason they don't is in a way part of their strength. That they are predictable is partly why they work so well as stories. They warn us about the evils of the world but they are also almost like a church service: a repeated ritual to explain the world. They bring order to what basically is a chaotic system. Which is of course also why they are so enduringly popular with children, who like rituals and the idea of safety-through-repetition. I like my stories, like “Grimms Märchen,” more complex but it is easy to see how stories that carve simple messages out of the complex narrative of the world will be as enduring as the world. In that way they are exactly like religion (for me at least). The Grimms, despite their initial attempt to be "invisible" curators of folklore, began increasingly to modify and colour the tales they transcribed. Italo Calvino discusses this phenomenon at length in the introduction to Italian Fables, his own attempt to replicate the Grimms' work in Italy.
    • 5/5
      Timeless stories, in all their bloody glory. :) My favorite is Rumpelstiltskin, when he rips himself in half. :D
    • 5/5
      The brothers Grimm. Required reading for all children. Required reading auf deutsch for anyone who is studying German.
    • 5/5
      Classic stories. It is interesting how these stories have been altered through the years. Another reminder that life isn't always a "happy ending."
    • 2/5
      I'm glad I finally read this collection, but it was not very impressive. Most of the tales were very repetitive--maybe one element was changed in the new tale. Some of the tales were inane and ridiculous, but not in a good way. The best tales were already snagged by Disney to turn into movies. It was interesting reading the original versions of those stories, though. Again, I'm glad I read it, but won't be reading it twice.
    • 4/5
      Every book nerd should have a copy of the Grimms' tales. If you haven't delved any further than Disney, you should definitely get a copy of the complete tales right away.
    • 2/5
      I must have been the only person who didn't realize that many of Disney's stories were straight from the Grimm brothers. I found many of the stories contained throughout the book to be similar. Three brothers, princesses, people turned into animals, after a while everything blended together. After you've read the first five stories you can just stop, because everything else is very repetitious.
    • 4/5
      These are not your children’s fairy tales. The Brothers Grimm were not shy about using violence and vivid imagery to graphically depict the trials and travails of their characters. And, given the number of evildoers in these stories, gritty and disturbing ends are not at all uncommon. But once it is understood that these are fairy tales for adults, they are very entertaining. The only issue with having all 200+ stories collected in one volume is they are incredibly repetitive. In many of their volumes, the brothers merged and combined stories that were similar but there are still many themes and circumstances that are repeated in their fairy tales. For example, there are countless tales of a young man who attempts to win the king’s daughter and must complete several tasks which would be completely impossible had he not saved a talking animal in the past who can do the task for the young man. That is the plot summary for roughly a dozen of the stories and it can become annoying reading what seems like the same story again and again. Repetitiveness aside, Grimm’s fairy tales are an entertaining bunch. Reading the entire book from cover to cover is not recommended, but the stories are brief enough that they can be consumed in chunks of four or five without requiring a significant time commitment. Ultimately, this collection is worth having if only for the older interpretations of what are considered classic fairy tales: Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, etc. These stories are often quite different from their modern Disney counterparts and are well worth the read.
    • 5/5
      Your favorites from childhood are here, and a bunch of tales you probably never heard. But these are NOT the sugar-coated, Disney versions. The damsels don't always survive, the hero doesn't always win, and some downright evil and twisted things happen to innocent people.Fairy tales are not always nice. But it's still worth reading.
    • 5/5
      The Grimm brothers were a twisted pair. Their fairy tales are incredible but hardly fit for children. Then again, at least these tales, unlike the movies, television, and games children today immerse themselves in, have lessons and morals to impart.
    • 5/5
      This is an extensive collection of 210 stories, fairy tales, and legends written by the Grimm Brothers and is 845 pages long. It includes a few of their more famous stories, like Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, and Cindarella, along with many that are not as well known.It's interesting to see how the versions of their famous stories in this book differ from the popular versions that are usually told.
    • 4/5
      This is a reprint of Friedrich Panzer's 1913 publication of the first edition of the fairy tale collection of the Brothers Grimm (from 1813). Although his introduction is quite dated, the real find are the fairy tales themselves, as many of the tales are slightly different from the later editions (most modern editions of the tales are of the seventh or final edition from 1857). For example, in the 1813 version of Rapunzel Rapunzel is sent into the wilderness by Mrs. Gothel (the fairy) because she is obviously pregnant, a fact that is not mentioned in the 1857 version of the tale. And in the original tale of Snow White, the heroine was pursued by her jealous mother, only later was the jealous mother turned into an evil stepmother. While I would probably not recommend this edition for casual reading, as even some of the language and orthography are somewhat old-fashioned, it is a very interesting and enlightening addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in the genesis and development of Grimms' fairy tales. It is, however, in German, and I do not know if an English translation of the 1813 edition even exists.
    • 4/5
      These were hit and miss tales. Yet, there was so much to gain from reading some of the better ones that it augmented the rating significantly. These are classics, through and throughout, and they touch on the simpler, more moralistic sense of storytelling and manage to convey so much with so little. Overall, it was well worth reading and I feel I am all the better for it.4 stars!
    • 5/5
      Awesome. So many stories. Not enough time!
    • 4/5
      I think every person should read a fairy tale anthology. Grimm's is a good choice. Not all the stories all good, and there is a lot of repetition - one element from here, another there, to make a different story. But - it is interesting to see the stories as told originally to the Grimm brothers, before Disney got hold of it and changed the story. In this book, there are a few good witches, many more bad witches, but no fairy godmothers granting wishes.What I found most interesting is that these stories change from teller to teller, and for the circumstance. There is many references to Christianity (tricking the Devil, Angels, Churches, etc) so I think that they were changed from pagan to accommodate the changing beliefs.I wonder where all the royalty comes from, it seems that every story has a peasant marrying a royal after some sort of trial, or royalty marrying other royalty after a trial - is this a wish fulfillment or something else by the story teller?Even though these stories are fiction and were created to entertain, they show an element of life at the time they were spoken - lots of hard work, very little money, and a world that is supernatural, not tamed by science.
    • 5/5
      What a great thing to reread all these old tales again, most of them as if for the first time! I'd forgotten how much simpler and purer many of these are than their Disney versions (although I do appreciate those also) such as Rumpelstiltskin and how explicitly Christian many of them are such as Our Lady's Child, my favorite, from which Tomie Depaola's classic "Clown of God" obviously draws from. I think the translation is one of the most readable I've seen, keeping a touch of old world flavor without sounding too foreign to modern ears. Great collection.
    • 4/5
      These are the unabridged tales of the Brothers Grimm, which means death and envy and not-nice endings. These are old German tales, which can bring back rather Teutonic visions of paganism and malicious parents. One can understand the superstition of the Germanic population and how many of these tales originated during the Thirty Years' War, when entire families and villages vanished in flames. I suppose if I had to survive during those times, my mind would have created wondrous stories that focused on retribution and survival. While the Grimms collected these tales in the 19th Century, the horrors of the previous centuries come through loud and clear.

      There are many patterns throughout the stories with the numbers 3 and 7 being very popular. Three sons venture into the world, seven brothers are turned into swans, three puzzles must be solved by the potential groom, seven years must be served under the Devil...and so forth and so on. Wives and mothers do not come out well here, either being selfish or witches or both. Hansel and Gretel still resonates, more so after reading the original version (as in, parents not wanting the kids).

      I took my time reading this over several months, so I could enjoy each story. There are many favorites but the one I enjoyed the most was the shortest:MISFORTUNE, which quickly tells the tale of a man who couldn't win, even as he was being saved (crushed by a wall).

      When misfortune pursues any one, it will find him out into whatever corner he may creep, or however far he may flee over the world.

      Book Season = Autumn (season of the witch)
    • 5/5
      I read this over and over again as a kid (obviously not the "kindle" edition, but it was one big volume.)
    • 4/5
      This a is great little story that shows you can never receive something without expecting to have to give something in return.
    • 3/5
      This was a hard book to read. Not because these stories weren't interesting. No, it was the sheer amount of stories to get through and the repetitive nature of the stories and how they were organized in this book. All the stories that were similar were lumped together so that by the time you'd gotten through fifty pages of Cinderella versions you could hardly read anything more. The repetitive nature makes sense sine these tale were originally oral tales and had to be easily remembered. Beyond the language however, there was a repetitiveness to the story-lines as well. The wolf creatures were always getting their belly's cut open to have their meals jump out unharmed and well, and there are always three siblings and it's always the youngest sibling who accomplished the goal and came out on top. Things like that. But beyond the chore of getting through more than a few pages at a time, it was interesting to read this short stories and discover a life lesson people of old would tell their children to make them aware of the world. I have to admit however that I ended up scanning towards the end of the book because it was such a chore to read. This book has been a long time on my desk. I think as an alternative I would recommend finding the original Grimm's stories for those classic stories you want to hear about - Cinderella, Rapunzel, etc and not worrying about the rest of the small tales unless you really want to.
    • 4/5
      The one thing I would change about this book is to add more color to the illustrations in the stories. This way it would be more appealing to the students than just a black and white illustration.
    • 5/5
      With love from Mummy and Daddy Xmas 1959, I was three and the words and pictures have never left me. A rock on which the rest of my life was built. The book records a moment in time and place, defined by stories, marked on every page by the history of the world, cousin to other stories in other places all over the world and full of the expectancy of the ever changing future.
    • 4/5
      These are Stories I have read and loved as a child and Adult.
    • 5/5
      Classic book of many traditional fairy tales and more. I would use this for upper level elementary students when discussing how the same story can be told in different ways.This is really a great read for third grade on up.
    • 4/5
      It is always interesting to read non-Disney-fied versions of fairy tales. This collection has a good number of the more popular tales compiled by the Brothers Grimm.
    • 3/5
      It's hard to read and repetitive. Every story is a variation of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty. There's lots of long paragraphs, little dialogue, and the narrative does little to evoke imagination. Everything happens in sets of threes, and I know nothing is going to happen the first two times, so I would just skip to the third.Every story is the same. Someone goes out into the world to seek fortune, marry someone, or defeat evil. He/she collects some magic artifacts. Something happens based on wordplay or puns. Then he's told not to do something, and inevitably, he does it. Because where would the plot be if anyone actually followed directions? Otherwise we wouldn't have "Gremlins". Go see the Disney versions.
    • 4/5
      There are alot of good fairy tales, but alot depends on the editor or the edition, and going for "The Complete" isn't always the best choice. Repeating a story simply because it was told in the past isn't always a good idea-- it's a bit like turning on the TV and watching something simply because it's being aired. After a certain point, editing is required, whether you admit it or not, after all, there are infinite possible variations to every story, some of which have even made it into writing. So calling any collection "The Complete" is an illusion, and a damaging one, I think. If they simply mean that it's a translation of the "original"-- in terms of the written word-- Brothers Grimm collection of the 1810s, they could simply indicate that in some way. Perhaps-- 'Grimm's Fairy Tales-- Children's and Household Tales', or something like that. I suppose that even of this type of translation there are different versions, and the edition I have (Arthur Rackham as [mediocre] illustrator), doesn't have an introduction (which can be good as well as bad), and doesn't really explain the name-jokes when they come up-- "Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie"..... I mean, if you're not going to do something like that well, then maybe you shouldn't include it at all.... should you stuff it in there, just because you have this illusion that there can ever be a "complete" book of fairy tales? In the end this is to me more like a mine from which good stories can be picked, rather than a really good version in itself; my favorite collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales at this point is a google book's version with Edna Henry Lee Turpin as editor, from about a hundred years ago, although there are probably also other good versions, actually meant to be read by, I don't know, children and householders. (I don't want to get into specifics, but if you glance at the list of stories, even, you'll find at least one that clearly you wouldn't read to people of today.... which is why it only makes sense to edit it, as any story-teller modifies what he or she receives from the past....) In the end, the *average* quality of *all* these stories is simply that-- average. It could be better, although it could be worse, too. That's my take. (8/10)
    • 5/5
      As a child, I loved to read fairy tales more than anything else. My grandmother had a collection of Grimms’ fairy tales and Andersen’s fairy tales, and I grabbed one or the other off of her bookshelf at the first opportunity on each visit. I had never read anything like Ralph Manheim’s translation of Grimms’ fairy tales. It reads like exactly what it is – a transcription of oral stories and legends, with the voice of the teller unobscured by an editor. Some stories have multiple variations with slight differences between them. This collection makes it clear that the stories had a social purpose and were used to encourage positive character traits and discourage negative character traits. Manheim’s translation belongs in the libraries of all readers with more than a casual interest in fairy tales and legends.

    Book preview

    Grimm's Fairy Tales - Brothers Grimm

    The Golden Bird

    A certain king had a beautiful garden, and in the garden stood a tree which bore golden apples. These apples were always counted, and about the time when they began to grow ripe it was found that every night one of them was gone. The king became very angry at this, and ordered the gardener to keep watch all night under the tree. The gardener set his eldest son to watch, but about midnight he fell asleep, and in the morning another of the apples was missing. Then the second son was ordered to watch and at midnight he too fell asleep, and in the morning another apple was gone. Then the third son offered to keep watch but the gardener at first would not let him, for fear some harm should come to him, but at last he consented, and the young man laid himself under the tree to watch. As the clock struck twelve he heard a rustling noise in the air, and a bird came flying that was of pure gold. As it was snapping at one of the apples with its beak, the gardener’s son jumped up and shot an arrow at it. But the arrow did the bird no harm. It only dropped a golden feather from its tail, and then flew away. The golden feather was brought to the king in the morning, and all the council was called together. Everyone agreed that it was worth more than all the wealth of the kingdom, but the king said, ‘One feather is of no use to me, I must have the whole bird.’

    Then the gardener’s eldest son set out and thought to find the golden bird easily, and when he had gone but a little way, he came to a wood, and by the side of the wood he saw a fox sitting, so he took his bow and made ready to shoot at it. Then the fox said, ‘Do not shoot me, for I will give you good counsel. I know what your business is, and that you want to find the golden bird. You will reach a village in the evening and when you get there, you will see two inns opposite to each other, one of which is very pleasant and beautiful to look at. Go not in there, but rest for the night in the other, though it may appear to you to be very poor and mean.’ But the son thought to himself, ‘What can such a beast as this know about the matter?’ So he shot his arrow at the fox, but he missed it, and it set up its tail above its back and ran into the wood. Then he went his way, and in the evening came to the village where the two inns were. People were singing, and dancing, and feasting in one—but the other looked very dirty, and poor. ‘I should be very silly,’ he said, ‘if I went to that shabby house, and left this charming place,’ so he went into the smart house, and ate and drank at his ease, and forgot the bird, and his country too.

    Time passed on, and as the eldest son did not come back, and no tidings were heard of him, the second son set out, and the same thing happened to him. He met the fox, who gave him the good advice, but when he came to the two inns, his eldest brother was standing at the window where the merrymaking was, and called to him to come in. He could not withstand the temptation, so went in, and forgot the golden bird and his country in the same manner.

    Time passed on again, and the youngest son too wished to set out into the wide world to seek for the golden bird, but his father would not listen to it for a long while, for he was very fond of his son, and was afraid that some ill luck might happen to him also, and prevent his coming back. However, at last it was agreed he should go, for he would not rest at home, and as he came to the wood, he met the fox, and heard the same good counsel. But he was thankful to the fox, and did not attempt his life as his brothers had done, so the fox said, ‘Sit upon my tail, and you will travel faster.’ So he sat down, and the fox began to run, and away they went over stock and stone so quick that their hair whistled in the wind.

    When they came to the village, the son followed the fox’s counsel, and without looking about him went to the shabby inn and rested there all night at his ease. In the morning came the fox again and met him as he was beginning his journey, and said, ‘Go straight forward, until you come to a castle, before which lie a whole troop of soldiers fast asleep and snoring. Take no notice of them, but go into the castle and pass on and on until you come to a room, where the golden bird sits in a wooden cage. Close by it stands a beautiful golden cage, but do not try to take the bird out of the shabby cage and put it into the handsome one, otherwise you will repent it.’ Then the fox stretched out his tail again, and the young man sat himself down, and away they went over stock and stone until their hair whistled in the wind.

    Before the castle gate all was as the fox had said, so the son went in and found the chamber where the golden bird hung in a wooden cage, and below stood the golden cage, and the three golden apples that had been lost were lying close by it. Then thought he to himself, ‘It will be a very droll thing to bring away such a fine bird in this shabby cage,’ so he opened the door and took hold of it and put it into the golden cage. But the bird set up such a loud scream that all the soldiers woke, and they took him prisoner and carried him before the king. The next morning the court sat to judge him and when all was heard, it sentenced him to die, unless he should bring the king the golden horse which could run as swiftly as the wind, and if he did this, he was to have the golden bird given him for his own.

    So he set out once more on his journey, sighing, and in great despair, when suddenly his friend the fox met him, and said, ‘You see now what has happened on account of not listening to my counsel. I will still, however, tell you how to find the golden horse, if you will do as I bid you. You must go straight on until you come to the castle where the horse stands in his stall. By his side will lie the groom fast asleep and snoring. Take away the horse quietly, but be sure to put the old leathern saddle upon him, and not the golden one that is close by it.’ Then the son sat down on the fox’s tail, and away they went over stock and stone until their hair whistled in the wind.

    All went right, and the groom lay snoring with his hand upon the golden saddle. But when the son looked at the horse, he thought it a great pity to put the leathern saddle upon it. ‘I will give him the good one,’ he said. ‘I am sure he deserves it.’ As he took up the golden saddle the groom woke and cried out so loud, that all the guards ran in and took him prisoner, and in the morning he was again brought before the court to be judged, and was sentenced to die. But it was agreed, that, if he could bring thither the beautiful princess, he should live, and have the bird and the horse given him for his own.

    Then he went his way sorrowfully, but the old fox came and said, ‘Why did not you listen to me? If you had, you would have carried away both the bird and the horse, yet will I once more give you counsel. Go straight on, and in the evening you will arrive at a castle. At twelve o’clock at night the princess goes to the bathing house. Go up to her and give her a kiss, and she will let you lead her away. Take care you do not suffer her to go and take leave of her father and mother.’ Then the fox stretched out his tail, and so away they went over stock and stone until their hair whistled again.

    As they came to the castle, all was as the fox had said, and at twelve o’clock the young man met the princess going to the bath and gave her the kiss, and she agreed to run away with him, but begged with many tears that he would let her take leave of her father. At first he refused, but she wept still more and more, and fell at his feet, until at last he consented, but the moment she came to her father’s house the guards woke and he was taken prisoner again.

    Then he was brought before the king, and the king said, ‘You will never have my daughter unless in eight days you dig away the hill that stops the view from my window.’ Now this hill was so big that the whole world could not take it away, and when he had worked for seven days, and had done very little, the fox came and said. ‘Lie down and go to sleep. I will work for you.’ And in the morning he woke and the hill was gone, so he went merrily to the king, and told him that now that it was removed he must give him the princess.

    Then the king was obliged to keep his word, and away went the young man and the princess, and the fox came and said to him, ‘We will have all three, the princess, the horse, and the bird.’

    ‘Ah!’ said the young man, ‘that would be a great thing, but how can you contrive it?’

    ‘If you will only listen,’ said the fox, ‘it can be done. When you come to the king, and he asks for the beautiful princess, you must say, Here she is! Then he will be very joyful, and you will mount the golden horse that they are to give you, and put out your hand to take leave of them. Shake hands with the princess last. Then lift her quickly on to the horse behind you, clap your spurs to his side, and gallop away as fast as you can.’

    All went well; then the fox said, ‘When you come to the castle where the bird is, I will stay with the princess at the door, and you will ride in and speak to the king. When he sees that it is the right horse, he will bring out the bird. You must sit still, and say that you want to look at it, to see whether it is the true golden bird, and when you get it into your hand, ride away.’

    This, too, happened as the fox said. They carried off the bird, the princess mounted again, and they rode on to a great wood. Then the fox came, and said, ‘Pray kill me, and cut off my head and my feet.’ But the young man refused to do it, so the fox said, ‘I will at any rate give you good counsel—beware of two things: ransom no one from the gallows, and sit down by the side of no river.’ Then away he went. ‘Well,’ thought the young man, ‘it is no hard matter to keep that advice.’

    He rode on with the princess, until at last he came to the village where he had left his two brothers. And there he heard a great noise and uproar. When he asked what was the matter, the people said, ‘Two men are going to be hanged.’ As he came nearer, he saw that the two men were his brothers, who had turned robbers, so he said, ‘Cannot they in any way be saved?’ But the people said ‘No,’ unless he would bestow all his money upon the rascals and buy their liberty. Then he did not stay to think about the matter, but paid what was asked, and his brothers were given up, and went on with him towards their home.

    And as they came to the wood where the fox first met them, it was so cool and pleasant that the two brothers said, ‘Let us sit down by the side of the river, and rest a while, to eat and drink.’ So he said, ‘Yes,’ and forgot the fox’s counsel, and sat down on the side of the river. While he suspected nothing, they came behind, and threw him down the bank, and took the princess, the horse, and the bird, and went home to the king their master, and said. ‘All this have we won by our labour.’ Then there was great rejoicing, but the horse would not eat, the bird would not sing, and the princess wept.

    The youngest son fell to the bottom of the river’s bed. Luckily it was nearly dry, but his bones were almost broken, and the bank was so steep that he could find no way to get out. Then the old fox came once more, and scolded him for not following his advice otherwise no evil would have befallen him. ‘Yet,’ he said, ‘I cannot leave you here, so lay hold of my tail and hold fast.’ Then he pulled him out of the river, and said to him, as he got upon the bank, ‘Your brothers have set watch to kill you, if they find you in the kingdom.’ So he dressed himself as a poor man, and came secretly to the king’s court, and was scarcely within the doors when the horse began to eat, and the bird to sing, and princess left off weeping. Then he went to the king, and told him all his brothers’ roguery, and they were seized and punished, and he had the princess given to him again, and after the king’s death he was heir to his kingdom.

    A long while after, he went to walk one day in the wood, and the old fox met him, and besought him with tears in his eyes to kill him, and cut off his head and feet. And at last he did so, and in a moment the fox was changed into a man, and turned out to be the brother of the princess, who had been lost for a great many years.

    Hans in Luck

    Some men are born to good luck. All they do or try to do comes right. All that falls to them is so much gain—all their geese are swans—all their cards are trumps—toss them which way you will, they will always, like poor puss, alight upon their legs, and only move on so much the faster. The world may very likely not always think of them as they think of themselves, but what care they for the world? what can it know about the matter?

    One of these lucky beings was neighbour Hans. Seven long years he had worked hard for his master. At last he said, ‘Master, my time is up. I must go home and see my poor mother once more, so please pay me my wages and let me go.’ And the master said, ‘You have been a faithful and good servant, Hans, so your pay will be handsome.’ Then he gave him a lump of silver as big as his head.

    Hans took out his pocket-handkerchief, put the piece of silver into it, threw it over his shoulder, and jogged off on his road homewards. As he went lazily on, dragging one foot after another, a man came in sight, trotting gaily along on a capital horse. ‘Ah!’ said Hans aloud, ‘what a fine thing it is to ride on horseback! There he sits as happy as if he was at home, in the chair by his fireside. He trips against no stones, saves shoe leather, and gets on he hardly knows how.’

    Hans did not speak so softly but the horseman heard it all, and said, ‘Well, friend, why do you go on foot then?’

    ‘Ah!’ he said, ‘I have this load to carry. To be sure it is silver, but it is so heavy that I can’t hold up my head, and you must know it hurts my shoulder sadly.’

    ‘What do you say of making an exchange?’ said the horseman. ‘I will give you my horse, and you will give me the silver, which will save you a great deal of trouble in carrying such a heavy load about with you.’

    ‘With all my heart,’ said Hans. ‘But as you are so kind to me, I must tell you one thing—you will have a weary task to draw that silver about with you.’ However, the horseman got off, took the silver, helped Hans up, gave him the bridle into one hand and the whip into the other, and said, ‘When you want to go very fast, smack your lips loudly together, and cry Jip!’

    Hans was delighted as he sat on the horse, drew himself up, squared his elbows, turned out his toes, cracked his whip, and rode merrily off, one minute whistling a merry tune, and another singing,

    ‘No care and no sorrow,

    A fig for the morrow!

    We’ll laugh and be merry,

    Sing neigh down derry!’

    After a time he thought he should like to go a little faster, so he smacked his lips and cried ‘Jip!’ Away went the horse full gallop, and before Hans knew what he was about, he was thrown off, and lay on his back by the roadside. His horse would have ran off, if a shepherd who was coming by, driving a cow, had not stopped it. Hans soon came to himself, and got upon his legs again, sadly vexed, and said to the shepherd, ‘This riding is no joke, when a man has the luck to get upon a beast like this that stumbles and flings him off as if it would break his neck. However, I’m off now once for all. I like your cow now a great deal better than this smart beast that played me this trick, and has spoiled my best coat, you see, in this puddle, which, by the by, smells not very like a nosegay. One can walk along at one’s leisure behind that cow—keep good company, and have milk, butter, and cheese, every day, into the bargain. What would I give to have such a prize!’

    ‘Well,’ said the shepherd, ‘if you are so fond of her, I will change my cow for your horse. I like to do good to my neighbours, even though I lose by it myself.’

    ‘Done!’ said Hans, merrily. ‘What a noble heart that good man has!’ thought he. Then the shepherd jumped upon the horse, wished Hans and the cow good morning, and away he rode.

    Hans brushed his coat, wiped his face and hands, rested a while, and then drove off his cow quietly, and thought his bargain a very lucky one. ‘If I have only a piece of bread (and I certainly will always be able to get that), I can, whenever I like, eat my butter and cheese with it, and when I am thirsty I can milk my cow and drink the milk, and what can I wish for more?’ When he came to an inn, he halted, ate up all his bread, and gave away his last penny for a glass of beer. When he had rested himself he set off again, driving his cow towards his mother’s village. But the heat grew greater as soon as noon came on, until at last, as he found himself on a wide heath that would take him more than an hour to cross, he began to be so hot and parched that his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. ‘I can find a cure for this,’ he thought. ‘Now I will milk my cow and quench my thirst.’ So he tied her to the stump of a tree, and held his leathern cap to milk into, but not a drop was to be had. Who would have thought that this cow, which was to bring him milk and butter and cheese, was all that time utterly dry? Hans had not thought of looking to that.

    While he was trying his luck in milking, and managing the matter very clumsily, the uneasy beast began to think him very troublesome, and at last gave him such a kick on the head as knocked him down, where he lay a long while senseless. Luckily a butcher soon came by, driving a pig in a wheelbarrow. ‘What is the matter with you, my man?’ said the butcher, as he helped him up. Hans told him what had happened, how he was dry, and wanted to milk his cow, but found the cow was dry too. Then the butcher gave him a flask of ale, saying, ‘There, drink and refresh yourself. Your cow will give you no milk. Don’t you see she is an old beast, good for nothing but the slaughterhouse?’

    ‘Alas, alas!’ said Hans, ‘who would have thought it? What a shame to take my horse, and give me only a dry cow! If I kill her, what will she be good for? I hate cow-beef. It is not tender enough for me. If it were a pig now—like that fat gentleman you are driving along at his ease—one could do something with it. It would at any rate make sausages.’

    ‘Well,’ said the butcher, ‘I don’t like to say

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