Grimm's Household Tales

There was once a young huntsman who went into the forest to lie in wait. He had a fresh and joyous heart, and as he was going there, whistling on a leaf, an ugly old crone came up and spoke to him. She said, “Good day, dear huntsman. Truly you are merry and contented, but I am suffering from hunger and thirst. Please give me alms.” The huntsman had compassion on the poor old creature, felt in his pocket, and gave her what he could afford. He was then about to go on, but the old woman stopped him and said, “Listen, dear huntsman, to what I tell you. I will make you a present in return for your kindness. Go on your way now, but in a little while you will come to a tree on which nine birds are sitting. They have a cloak in their claws and are plucking at it. Take your gun and shoot into the middle of them. They will let the cloak fall down to you, but one of the birds will be hurt and will drop down dead. Take the cloak with you. It is a wishing cloak. When you throw it over your shoulders, you only have to wish to be in a certain place, and you will be there in the twinkling of an eye. Take out the heart of the dead bird and swallow it whole, and early every morning, when you get up, you will find a gold piece under your pillow.” The huntsman thanked the wise woman and thought to himself, “Those are fine things that she has promised me, if only all of it comes true.” And sure enough, when he had walked about a hundred paces, he heard in the branches above him such a screaming and twittering that he looked up and saw a crowd of birds tearing a piece of cloth about with their beaks and claws, tugging and fighting as if each wanted to have it all to itself. “Well,” said the huntsman, “this is wonderful. It has really come to pass just as the old woman foretold!” He took the gun from his shoulder, aimed, and fired right into the middle of them, so that the feathers flew about. The birds instantly took flight with loud cries, but one dropped down dead, and the cloak fell at the same time. Then the huntsman did as the old woman had directed him. He cut open the bird, looked for the heart, swallowed it, and took the cloak home with him.

The next morning, when he awoke, the promise occurred to him, and he wanted to see whether it, too, had been fulfilled. When he lifted up the pillow, the gold piece shone in his eyes, and the next day he found another, and so it went on every time he got up. He gathered together a heap of gold, but at last he thought, “What good is all my gold to me if I stay at home? I will go out and see the world.”

He then took leave of his parents, buckled on his huntsman’s pouch and gun, and went out into the world. One day it happened that he was traveling through a dense forest, and when he came to the end of it, a fine castle stood in the plain before him. An old woman and a wonderfully beautiful maiden were standing at one of the windows, looking out. The old woman, however, was a witch, and she said to the maiden, “There comes someone out of the forest who has a wonderful treasure in his body. We must steal it from him, my dear daughter. It is more suitable for us than for him. He has a bird’s heart about him, through which a gold piece lies under his pillow every morning.” She told her what she was to do to get it and what part she had to play, and finally she threatened her and said with angry eyes, “And if you do not pay attention to what I say, it will be the worse for you.” Now when the huntsman came nearer, he saw the maiden and said to himself, “I have traveled about for such a long time. I will take a rest for once and enter that beautiful castle. I certainly have money enough.” Nevertheless, the real reason was that he had caught sight of the pretty girl.

He entered the house and was well received and courteously entertained. Before long he was so much in love with the young witch that he no longer thought of anything else, saw things only as she saw them, and did what she desired. The old woman then said, “Now we must have the bird’s heart. He will never miss it.” She prepared a drink, and when it was ready, she poured it into a cup and gave it to the maiden, who was to present it to the huntsman. The maiden did so, saying, “Now, my dearest, drink to me.” So he took the cup, and when he had swallowed the drink, he vomited up the heart of the bird. The girl had to take it away secretly and swallow it herself, because the old woman insisted on it. From then on he found no more gold under his pillow. It lay instead under the maiden’s pillow, from which the old woman fetched it away every morning. But he was so much in love and so completely fooled that he thought of nothing but passing his time with the girl.

Then the old witch said, “We have the bird’s heart, but we must also take the wishing cloak away from him.” The girl answered, “We will leave him that. He has lost his wealth.” The old woman was angry and said, “Such a mantle is a wonderful thing and is seldom to be found in this world. I must and will have it!” She gave the girl several blows and said that if she did not obey, it would go badly for her. So the girl did the old woman’s bidding, placed herself at the window, and looked out on the distant country as if she were very sorrowful. The huntsman asked, “Why do you stand there so sorrowfully?” “Ah, my beloved,” was her answer, “over there lies the Garnet Mountain, where the precious stones grow. I long for them so much that when I think of them, I feel quite sad, but who can get them? Only the birds. They fly and can reach them, but a man never can.” “Do you have nothing else to complain about?” said the huntsman. “I will soon remove that burden from your heart.” With that he drew her under his mantle, wished himself on the Garnet Mountain, and in the twinkling of an eye they were sitting on it together. Precious stones were glistening on every side, so that it was a joy to see them, and together they gathered the finest and costliest of them. Now, the old woman had, through her sorceries, made the huntsman’s eyes grow heavy. He said to the maiden, “We will sit down and rest for a while. I am so tired that I can no longer stand on my feet.” Then they sat down, and he laid his head in her lap and fell asleep. When he was asleep, she unfastened the mantle from his shoulders, wrapped herself in it, picked up the garnets and stones, and wished herself back at home with them.

But when the huntsman had slept his fill and awoke and realized that his sweetheart had betrayed him and left him alone on the wild mountain, he said, “Oh, what treachery there is in the world!” and sat down there in worry and sorrow, not knowing what to do. But the mountain belonged to some wild and monstrous giants who lived there, and he had not sat long before he saw three of them coming toward him. So he lay down as if he were sunk in a deep sleep. Then the giants came up, and the first kicked him with his foot and said, “What sort of earthworm is lying curled up here?” The second said, “Step on him and kill him.” But the third said, “That would hardly be worth the trouble. Just let him live. He cannot remain here, and when he climbs higher, toward the summit of the mountain, the clouds will take hold of him and bear him away.” So saying, they passed by. But the huntsman had paid attention to their words, and as soon as they were gone, he rose and climbed up to the summit of the mountain. When he had sat there a while, a cloud floated toward him, caught him up, carried him away, and traveled about for a long time in the heavens. Then it sank lower and let itself down onto a great cabbage garden surrounded by walls, so that he came softly to the ground on cabbages and vegetables.

Then the huntsman looked about him and said, “If only I had something to eat! I am so hungry, and my hunger will grow as time goes on. But I see here neither apples nor pears nor any other sort of fruit—everywhere nothing but cabbages.” But at last he thought, “At a pinch I can eat some of the leaves. They do not taste particularly good, but they will refresh me.” With that he picked out a fine head of cabbage for himself and ate it, but scarcely had he swallowed a couple of mouthfuls when he felt very strange and quite different.

Four legs grew on him, along with a large head and two thick ears, and he saw with horror that he had been changed into a donkey. Still, as his hunger increased every minute, and as the juicy leaves suited his present nature, he went on eating with great zest. At last he came to a different kind of cabbage, but as soon as he had swallowed it, he again felt a change, and he resumed his former human shape.

Then the huntsman lay down and slept off his fatigue. When he awoke the next morning, he broke off one head of the bad cabbages and another of the good ones, and he thought to himself, “This will help me get back what is mine and punish treachery.” Then he took the cabbages with him, climbed over the wall, and set out to look for the castle of his sweetheart. After wandering about for a couple of days, he was lucky enough to find it again. He dyed his face brown so that his own mother would not have known him, and he begged for shelter. “I am so tired,” he said, “that I can go no farther.” The witch asked, “Who are you, countryman, and what is your business?” “I am a King’s messenger, and I was sent out to seek the most delicious salad that grows beneath the sun. I have even been so fortunate as to find it, and I am carrying it about with me, but the heat of the sun is so intense that the delicate cabbage threatens to wither, and I do not know if I can carry it any farther.”

When the old woman heard of the exquisite salad, she became greedy and said, “Dear countryman, let me just taste this wonderful salad.” “Why not?” he answered. “I have brought two heads with me and will give you one of them,” and he opened his pouch and handed her the bad cabbage. The witch suspected nothing amiss, and her mouth watered so for this new dish that she herself went into the kitchen and prepared it. When it was ready, she could not wait until it was set on the table. She took a couple of leaves at once and put them in her mouth, but hardly had she swallowed them when she was deprived of her human shape, and she ran out into the courtyard in the form of a donkey. Soon the maidservant entered the kitchen, saw the salad standing there ready, and was about to carry it up. But on the way, out of habit, she was seized by the desire to taste it, and she ate a couple of leaves. Instantly the magic power showed itself, and she likewise became a donkey and ran out to the old woman, and the dish of salad fell to the ground. Meanwhile the messenger sat beside the beautiful girl, and because no one came with the salad and she, too, was longing for it, she said, “I do not know what has become of the salad.” The huntsman thought, “The salad must have already taken effect,” and said, “I will go to the kitchen and inquire about it.” As he went down, he saw the two donkeys running about in the courtyard; the salad, however, was lying on the ground. “All right,” he said, “the two have taken their portion,” and he picked up the other leaves, laid them on the dish, and carried them to the maiden. “I bring you the delicate food myself,” he said, “so that you will not have to wait any longer.” Then she ate some of it and was immediately deprived of her human form like the others, and she ran out into the courtyard in the shape of a donkey.

After the huntsman had washed his face so that the transformed ones could recognize him, he went down into the courtyard and said, “Now you will receive the wages of your treachery.” He bound them together, all three with one rope, and drove them along until he came to a mill. He knocked at the window, and the miller put his head out and asked what he wanted. “I have three unmanageable beasts,” he answered, “that I do not want to keep any longer. Will you take them in, give them food and stable room, and manage them as I tell you? Then I will pay you what you ask.” The miller said, “Why not? But how am I to manage them?” The huntsman then said that he was to give three beatings and one meal daily to the old donkey, and that was the witch; one beating and three meals to the younger one, which was the servant girl; and to the youngest, which was the maiden, no beatings and three meals, for he could not bring himself to have the maiden beaten. After that he went back into the castle and found everything he needed there.

After a couple of days, the miller came and informed him that the old donkey, which had received three beatings and only one meal daily, was dead. “The two others,” he continued, “are certainly not dead, and they are fed three times daily, but they are so sad that they cannot last much longer.” The huntsman was moved to pity, put away his anger, and told the miller to drive them back to him. And when they came, he gave them some of the good salad, so that they became human again. The beautiful girl fell on her knees before him and said, “Ah, my beloved, forgive me for the evil I have done you. My mother drove me to it. It was done against my will, for I love you dearly. Your wishing cloak hangs in a cupboard, and as for the bird’s heart, I will take a vomiting potion.” But he thought otherwise and said, “Keep it. It is all the same, for I will take you as my true wife.” So the wedding was celebrated, and they lived happily together until they died.