Grimm's Household Tales

A young drummer went out quite alone one evening into the country and came to a lake, on the shore of which he saw three pieces of white linen lying. “What fine linen,” he said, and put one piece in his pocket. He returned home, thought no more of what he had found, and went to bed. Just as he was going to sleep, it seemed to him as if someone were saying his name. He listened and became aware of a soft voice that cried to him, “Drummer, drummer, wake up!” As it was a dark night, he could see no one, but it appeared to him that a figure was hovering about his bed. “What do you want?” he asked. “Give me back my dress,” answered the voice, “that you took away from me last evening by the lake.” “You will have it back again,” said the drummer, “if you tell me who you are.” “Ah,” replied the voice, “I am the daughter of a mighty king, but I have fallen into the power of a witch, and I am imprisoned on the glass mountain. I have to bathe in the lake every day with my two sisters, but I cannot fly back again without my dress. My sisters have gone away, but I have been forced to stay behind. I beg you to give me my dress back.” “Don’t worry, poor child,” said the drummer. “I will gladly give it back to you.” He took it out of his pocket and handed it to her in the dark. She snatched it in haste and wanted to go away with it. “Stop a moment. Perhaps I can help you.” “You can help me only by climbing the glass mountain and freeing me from the power of the witch. But you cannot come to the glass mountain, and indeed, if you were quite close to it, you could not climb it.” “When I want to do a thing, I can always do it,” said the drummer. “I am sorry for you, and I am afraid of nothing. But I do not know the way that leads to the glass mountain.” “The road goes through the great forest, in which the man-eaters live,” she answered, “and more than that I dare not tell you.” And then he heard her wings quiver as she flew away.

By daybreak the drummer got up, strapped on his drum, and went without fear straight into the forest. After he had walked for a while without seeing any giants, he thought to himself, “I must wake up the sluggards.” He hung his drum in front of him and beat such a reveille that the birds flew out of the trees with loud cries. It was not long before a giant who had been lying asleep in the grass rose up, as tall as a fir tree. “Wretch!” he cried. “What are you drumming here for, waking me out of my best sleep?” “I am drumming,” the drummer replied, “because I want to show the way to many thousands who are following me.” “What do they want in my forest?” demanded the giant. “They want to put an end to you and cleanse the forest of such a monster as you are!” “Oho!” said the giant. “I will trample you all to death like so many ants.” “Do you think you can do anything against us?” said the drummer. “If you stoop to take hold of one, he will jump away and hide, but when you are lying down and sleeping, they will come out from every thicket and creep up to you. Every one of them has a steel hammer in his belt, and with that they will beat in your skull.” The giant grew angry and thought, “If I meddle with these crafty folk, it might turn out badly for me. I can strangle wolves and bears, but I cannot protect myself from these earthworms.” “Listen, little fellow,” he said. “Go back again, and I promise you that from now on I will leave you and your comrades in peace, and if there is anything else you wish for, tell me, for I am quite willing to do something to please you.” “You have long legs,” said the drummer, “and you can run faster than I can. Carry me to the glass mountain, and I will give my followers a signal to go back, and they will leave you in peace this time.” “Come here, worm,” said the giant. “Sit on my shoulder, and I will carry you where you want to be.” The giant lifted him up, and the drummer began to beat his drum up there to his heart’s content. The giant thought, “That is the signal for the other people to turn back.”

After a while a second giant was standing in the road. He took the drummer from the first one and stuck him in his buttonhole. The drummer took hold of the button, which was as large as a dish, held on to it, and looked around merrily. Then they came to a third giant, who took him out of the buttonhole and set him on the rim of his hat. Then the drummer walked back and forth up above and looked over the trees, and when he saw a mountain in the blue distance, he thought, “That must be the glass mountain,” and so it was. The giant took only two more steps, and they reached the foot of the mountain, where the giant put him down. The drummer demanded to be put on the summit of the glass mountain, but the giant shook his head, growled something in his beard, and went back into the forest.

And now the poor drummer was standing before the mountain, which was as high as if three mountains were piled on top of each other and at the same time as smooth as a mirror, and he did not know how to get up it. He began to climb, but that was useless, for he always slipped back again. “If only I were a bird now,” he thought, but what good was wishing? No wings grew for him.

While he was standing there, not knowing what to do, he saw, not far from him, two men who were struggling fiercely with each other. He went up to them and saw that they were disputing about a saddle that was lying on the ground before them and that both of them wanted to have. “What fools you are,” he said, “to quarrel about a saddle when you have no horse for it!” “The saddle is worth fighting about,” answered one of the men. “Whoever sits on it and wishes himself in any place, even if it is the very end of the earth, gets there the instant he has uttered the wish. The saddle belongs to us in common. It is my turn to ride on it, but that other man will not let me.” “I will soon settle the quarrel,” said the drummer, and he went a short distance away and stuck a white rod in the ground. Then he came back and said, “Now run to the goal, and whoever gets there first shall ride first.” Both broke into a trot, but they had hardly gone a couple of steps when the drummer swung himself onto the saddle and wished himself on the glass mountain, and before anyone could turn around, he was there. On the top of the mountain was a plain. There stood an old stone house, and in front of the house lay a great fishpond, but behind it was a dark forest. He saw neither men nor animals; everything was quiet. Only the wind rustled among the trees, and the clouds moved by quite close above his head. He went to the door and knocked. When he had knocked for the third time, an old woman with a brown face and red eyes opened the door. She had spectacles on her long nose and looked sharply at him. Then she asked what he wanted. “Entrance, food, and a bed for the night,” replied the drummer. “That you will have,” said the old woman, “if you perform three services in return.” “Why not?” he answered. “I am not afraid of any kind of work, however hard it may be.” The old woman let him go in and gave him some food and a good bed for the night. The next morning, when he had slept his fill, she took a thimble from her wrinkled finger, handed it to the drummer, and said, “Go to work now and empty out the pond with this thimble, but you must have it done before night, and you must have sought out all the fish that are in the water and laid them side by side, according to their kind and size.” “That is strange work,” said the drummer, but he went to the pond and began to empty it. He bailed all morning, but what can anyone do to a great lake with a thimble, even if he were to bail for a thousand years?

When it was noon, he thought, “It is all useless, and whether I work or not, it will come to the same thing.” So he gave it up and sat down. Then a maiden came out of the house, set a little basket of food before him, and said, “What is the matter, that you sit here so sadly?” He looked at her and saw that she was wonderfully beautiful. “Ah,” he said, “I cannot finish the first piece of work, so how will it go with the others? I came out to look for a king’s daughter who is said to live here, but I have not found her, and I will go farther.” “Stay here,” said the maiden. “I will help you out of your difficulty. You are tired. Lay your head in my lap and sleep. When you wake again, your work will be done.” The drummer did not need to be told that twice. As soon as his eyes were shut, she turned a wishing ring and said, “Rise, water. Fish, come out.” Instantly the water rose on high like a white mist and moved away with the other clouds, and the fish sprang onto the shore and laid themselves side by side, each according to its size and kind. When the drummer awoke, he saw with amazement that everything was done. But the maiden said, “One of the fish is not lying with those of its own kind but quite alone. When the old woman comes tonight and sees that everything she demanded has been done, she will ask you, ‘What is this fish lying alone for?’ Then throw the fish in her face and say, ‘This one is for you, old witch.’” In the evening the witch came, and when she had asked this question, he threw the fish in her face. She behaved as if she had not noticed it and said nothing, but looked at him with malicious eyes. The next morning she said, “Yesterday it was too easy for you, so I must give you harder work. Today you must cut down the whole forest, split the wood into logs, and pile them up, and everything must be finished by evening.” She gave him an ax, a mallet, and two wedges. But the ax was made of lead, and the mallet and wedges were made of tin. When he began to cut, the edge of the ax bent back, and the mallet and wedges were beaten out of shape. He did not know what to do, but at midday the maiden came once more with his dinner and comforted him. “Lay your head on my lap,” she said, “and sleep. When you wake, your work will be done.” She turned her wishing ring, and in an instant the whole forest fell down with a crash, the wood split and arranged itself in heaps, and it seemed just as if unseen giants were finishing the work. When he awoke, the maiden said, “Do you see that the wood is piled up and arranged? Only one bough remains. When the old woman comes this evening and asks you about that bough, give her a blow with it and say, ‘That is for you, you witch.’”

The old woman came. “There you see how easy the work was!” she said. “But for whom have you left the bough that is still lying there?”

“For you, you witch,” he replied, and gave her a blow with it. But she pretended not to feel it, laughed scornfully, and said, “Early tomorrow morning you must arrange all the wood in one heap, set fire to it, and burn it.” He got up at daybreak and began to pick up the wood, but how can a single man get a whole forest together? The work made no progress. The maiden, however, did not desert him in his need. She brought him his food at noon, and when he had eaten, he laid his head on her lap and went to sleep. When he awoke, the entire pile of wood was burning in one enormous flame, which stretched its tongues out into the sky. “Listen to me,” said the maiden. “When the witch comes, she will give you all kinds of orders. Do whatever she asks you without fear, and then she will not be able to get the better of you, but if you are afraid, the fire will take hold of you and consume you. At last, when you have done everything, seize her with both your hands and throw her into the midst of the fire.” The maiden went away, and the old woman came sneaking up to him. “Oh, I am cold,” she said, “but that is a fire that burns. It warms my old bones for me and does me good! But there is a log lying there that won’t burn. Bring it out for me. When you have done that, you are free and may go where you like. Come, go in willingly.”

The drummer did not reflect long. He sprang into the midst of the flames, but they did not hurt him and could not even singe a hair of his head. He carried the log out and laid it down. The wood had hardly touched the ground when it was transformed, and the beautiful maiden who had helped him in his need stood before him, and by the silken, shining golden garments that she wore, he knew very well that she was the king’s daughter. But the old woman laughed venomously and said, “You think you have her safe, but you do not have her yet!” Just as she was about to fall on the maiden and take her away, the youth seized the old woman with both hands, lifted her high, and threw her into the jaws of the fire, which closed over her as if it were delighted that an old witch was to be burned.

Then the king’s daughter looked at the drummer, and when she saw that he was a handsome youth and remembered how he had risked his life to rescue her, she gave him her hand and said, “You have ventured everything for my sake, and I too will do everything for your sake. Promise to be true to me, and you will be my husband. We will not lack riches; we will have enough with what the witch has gathered here.” She led him into the house, where there were chests and coffers crammed with the old woman’s treasures. The maiden left the gold and silver where it was and took only the precious stones. She would not stay any longer on the glass mountain, so the drummer said to her, “Sit by me on my saddle, and then we will fly down like birds.” “I do not like the old saddle,” she said. “I need only turn my wishing ring, and we will be at home.” “Very well, then,” answered the drummer, “then wish us in front of the town gate.” In the twinkling of an eye they were there, but the drummer said, “I will just go to my parents and tell them the news. Wait for me outside here; I will soon be back.” “Ah,” said the king’s daughter, “I beg you to be careful. When you arrive, do not kiss your parents on the right cheek, or else you will forget everything, and I will be left behind here outside, alone and deserted.” “How can I forget you?” he said, and he promised her that he would come back very soon, and they shook hands on it. When he went into his father’s house, he had changed so much that no one knew who he was, for the three days that he had spent on the glass mountain had been three years. Then he made himself known, and his parents threw their arms around his neck with joy, and his heart was so moved that he forgot what the maiden had said and kissed them on both cheeks. But when he had given them the kiss on the right cheek, every thought of the king’s daughter vanished from him. He emptied out his pockets and laid handfuls of the largest jewels on the table. The parents did not have the least idea what to do with the riches. Then the father built a magnificent castle, surrounded by gardens, woods, and meadows, as if a prince were going to live in it, and when it was ready, the mother said, “I have found a maiden for you, and the wedding will be in three days.” The son was content to do as his parents desired.

The poor king’s daughter had stood for a long time outside the town, waiting for the young man to return. When evening came, she said, “He must certainly have kissed his parents on the right cheek and has forgotten me.” Her heart was full of sorrow. She wished herself into a solitary little hut in a forest and would not return to her father’s court. Every evening she went into the town and passed the young man’s house. He often saw her, but he no longer knew her. At last she heard the people saying, “The wedding will take place tomorrow.” Then she said, “I will see if I can win his heart back.”

On the first day of the wedding ceremonies, she turned her wishing ring and said, “A dress as bright as the sun.” Instantly the dress lay before her, and it was as bright as if it had been woven of real sunbeams. When all the guests had assembled, she entered the hall. Everyone was amazed at the beautiful dress, and the bride most of all. Since pretty dresses were the things she delighted in most, the bride went to the stranger and asked whether the stranger would sell it to her. “Not for money,” the stranger answered, “but if I may spend the first night outside the door of the room where your betrothed sleeps, I will give it up to you.” The bride could not overcome her desire and consented, but she mixed a sleeping potion with the wine her betrothed drank at night, which made him fall into a deep sleep. When all had become quiet, the king’s daughter crouched down by the door of the bedroom, opened it just a little, and cried,

“Drummer, drummer, I beg you, hear!
Have you forgotten you held me dear,
That on the glass mountain we sat hour by hour,
That I rescued your life from the witch’s power?
Did you not swear to be true to me?
Drummer, drummer, listen to me!”

But it was all in vain. The drummer did not awake, and when morning dawned, the king’s daughter was forced to go back as she had come. On the second evening she turned her wishing ring and said, “A dress as silvery as the moon.” When she appeared at the feast in the dress, which was as soft as moonbeams, it again aroused the bride’s desire, and the king’s daughter gave it to her in exchange for permission to spend the second night also outside the door of the bedroom. Then in the stillness of the night she cried,

“Drummer, drummer, I beg you, hear!
Have you forgotten you held me dear,
That on the glass mountain we sat hour by hour,
That I rescued your life from the witch’s power?
Did you not swear to be true to me?
Drummer, drummer, listen to me!”

But the drummer, who was stupefied by the sleeping potion, could not be awakened. Sadly, the next morning, she went back to her hut in the forest. But the people in the house had heard the lament of the unknown maiden and told the bridegroom about it. They told him also that it had been impossible for him to hear anything of it, because the maiden he was going to marry had poured a sleeping potion into his wine.

On the third evening the king’s daughter turned her wishing ring and said, “A dress glittering like the stars.” When she showed herself in it at the feast, the bride was quite beside herself with the splendor of the dress, which far surpassed the others, and she said, “I must have it, and I will have it.” The maiden gave it to her, as she had given the others, in exchange for permission to spend the night outside the bridegroom’s door. The bridegroom, however, did not drink the wine that was handed to him before he went to bed, but poured it out behind the bed, and when everything was quiet, he heard a sweet voice that called to him,

“Drummer, drummer, I beg you, hear!
Have you forgotten you held me dear,
That on the glass mountain we sat hour by hour,
That I rescued your life from the witch’s power?
Did you not swear to be true to me?
Drummer, drummer, listen to me!”

Suddenly his memory returned to him. “Ah,” he cried, “how could I have acted so unfaithfully? But the kiss that I gave my parents on the right cheek in the joy of my heart—that is to blame for it all. That is what stupefied me!” He sprang up, took the king’s daughter by the hand, and led her to his parents’ bed. “This is my true bride,” he said. “If I marry the other, I will do a great wrong.” The parents, when they heard how everything had happened, gave their consent. Then the lights in the hall were lit again, drums and trumpets were brought, friends and relatives were invited to come, and the real wedding was celebrated with great rejoicing. The first bride received the beautiful dresses as compensation and declared herself satisfied.