Grimm's Household Tales

Once upon a time there was a king who had a daughter, and he had a glass mountain made and said that whoever could cross to the other side of it without falling would have his daughter as his wife. Then there was a man who loved the king’s daughter, and he asked the king if he might have her. “Yes,” said the king, “if you can cross the mountain without falling, you will have her.” And the princess said she would go over it with him and would hold him if he were about to fall. So they set out together to go over it, and when they were halfway up, the princess slipped and fell, and the glass mountain opened and shut her inside it, and her betrothed could not see where she had gone, for the mountain closed immediately. Then he wept and lamented greatly, and the king was miserable too. He had the mountain broken open where she had been lost, and thought they would be able to get her out again, but they could not find the place into which she had fallen. Meanwhile the king’s daughter had fallen quite deep down into the earth, into a great cave. An old man with a very long gray beard came to meet her and told her that if she would be his servant and do everything he ordered her to do, she might live; if not, he would kill her. So she did everything he ordered her to do. In the mornings he took his ladder out of his pocket, set it up against the mountain, and climbed to the top by its help, and then he pulled up the ladder after him. The princess had to cook his dinner, make his bed, and do all his work, and when he came home again, he always brought with him a heap of gold and silver. When she had lived with him for many years and had grown quite old, he called her Mother Mansrot, and she had to call him Old Rinkrank. Then once, when he was out and she had made his bed and washed his dishes, she shut and fastened the doors and windows, and there was one little window through which the light shone in, and this one she left open. When Old Rinkrank came home, he knocked at his door and cried, “Mother Mansrot, open the door for me.” “No,” she said, “Old Rinkrank, I will not open the door for you.” Then he said,

“Here I stand, poor Rinkrank,
On my seventeen long shanks,
On my weary, worn-out foot.
Wash my dishes, Mother Mansrot.”

“I have already washed your dishes,” she said. Then he said again,

“Here I stand, poor Rinkrank,
On my seventeen long shanks,
On my weary, worn-out foot.
Make my bed, Mother Mansrot.”

“I have already made your bed,” she said. Then he said again,

“Here I stand, poor Rinkrank,
On my seventeen long shanks,
On my weary, worn-out foot.
Open the door, Mother Mansrot.”

Then he ran all around his house and saw that the little window was open, and he thought, “I will look in and see what she can be doing, and why she will not open the door for me.” He tried to peep in, but could not get his head through because of his long beard. So he first put his beard through the open window, but just as he had pushed it through, Mother Mansrot came by and pulled the window down with a cord that she had tied to it, and his beard was shut fast in it. Then he began to cry most pitifully, for it hurt him very much, and to beg her to release him. But she said she would not until he gave her the ladder with which he climbed the mountain. Then, whether he wanted to or not, he had to tell her where the ladder was. And she fastened a very long ribbon to the window, and then she set up the ladder and climbed the mountain, and when she was at the top of it, she opened the window. She went to her father and told him all that had happened to her. The king rejoiced greatly, and her betrothed was still there, and they went and dug up the mountain and found Old Rinkrank inside it with all his gold and silver. Then the king had Old Rinkrank put to death and took all his gold and silver. The princess married her betrothed and lived very happily in great magnificence and joy.