Grimm's Household Tales

A poor servant girl was once traveling through a great forest with the family she worked for, and when they were in the middle of it, robbers came out of the thicket and murdered everyone they found. All perished together except the girl, who had jumped out of the carriage in a fright and hidden behind a tree. When the robbers had gone away with their loot, she came out and saw the terrible disaster. Then she began to weep bitterly and said, “What can a poor girl like me do now? I do not know how to get out of the forest. No human being lives in it, so I will certainly starve.” She walked about and looked for a road but could find none. When evening came, she sat down under a tree, placed herself in God’s keeping, and resolved to sit and wait there and not go away, whatever might happen. After she had sat there for a while, however, a white dove came flying to her with a little golden key in its mouth. It put the little key in her hand and said, “Do you see that great tree? In it is a little lock, and it opens with this tiny key. There you will find enough food and suffer no more hunger.” Then she went to the tree and opened it, and she found milk in a little dish and white bread to break into it, so that she could eat her fill. When she was satisfied, she said, “It is now the time when the hens at home go to roost. I am so tired that I could go to bed, too.” Then the dove flew to her again and brought another golden key in its bill and said, “Open that tree there, and you will find a bed.” So she opened it and found a beautiful white bed, and she prayed that God would protect her during the night, and she lay down and slept. In the morning the dove came for the third time and again brought a little key and said, “Open that tree there, and you will find clothes.” And when she opened it, she found garments studded with gold and jewels, more splendid than those of any king’s daughter. So she lived there for some time, and the dove came every day and provided her with all she needed, and it was a quiet, good life.

Once, however, the dove came and said, “Will you do something for my sake?” “With all my heart,” said the girl. Then the little dove said, “I will guide you to a small house. Enter it, and inside you will find an old woman sitting by the fire, who will say, ‘Good day.’ But on your life, give her no answer, whatever she does, and pass by her on the right side. Farther on there is a door. Open it, and you will enter a room where there is a quantity of rings of all kinds, among which are some magnificent ones with shining stones. Leave them where they are, however, and look for a plain one, which must also be among them, and bring it here to me as quickly as you can.” The girl went to the little house and came to the door. There sat an old woman who stared when she saw her and said, “Good day, my child.” The girl gave her no answer and opened the door. “Where are you going?” cried the old woman, and she seized her by the gown and wanted to hold her fast, saying, “This is my house, and no one can go in there if I choose not to allow it.” But the girl was silent, got away from her, and went straight into the room. Now there lay on the table an enormous quantity of rings, which gleamed and glittered before her eyes. She turned them over and looked for the plain one, but she could not find it. While she was searching, she saw the old woman stealing away and trying to get off with a birdcage that she had in her hand. So she went after her and took the cage out of her hand, and when she raised it and looked into it, there was a bird inside with the plain ring in its bill. Then she took the ring and ran home with it, quite joyfully, and thought that the little white dove would come and get the ring, but it did not. Then she leaned against a tree and decided to wait for the dove, and as she stood there, it seemed as if the tree were soft and pliant and were letting its branches down. Suddenly the branches twined around her and became two arms, and when she looked around, the tree had turned into a handsome man, who embraced and kissed her heartily and said, “You have delivered me from the power of the old woman, who is a wicked witch. She had changed me into a tree, and every day for two hours I was a white dove, and as long as she possessed the ring, I could not regain my human form.” Then his servants and his horses, likewise changed into trees, were also freed from the enchantment and stood beside him. And he led them to his kingdom, for he was a King’s son, and they married and lived happily.