Grimm's Household Tales

The wife of a rich man fell sick, and as she felt that her end was drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, “Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you.” Then she closed her eyes and died. Every day the girl went out to her mother’s grave and wept, and she remained pious and good. When winter came, the snow spread a white sheet over the grave, and when the spring sun had taken it away again, the man had taken another wife.

The woman had brought two daughters into the house with her, who were beautiful and fair of face but vile and black of heart. Now a bad time began for the poor stepchild. “Is the stupid goose to sit in the parlor with us?” they said. “Anyone who wants to eat bread must earn it. Out with the kitchen maid!” They took her pretty clothes away from her, put an old gray gown on her, and gave her wooden shoes. “Just look at the proud princess, how she is decked out!” they cried, and laughed, and led her into the kitchen. There she had to do hard work from morning till night, get up before daybreak, carry water, light fires, cook, and wash. Besides this, the sisters did her every imaginable injury; they mocked her and emptied her peas and lentils into the ashes, so that she was forced to sit and pick them out again. In the evening, when she had worked until she was weary, she had no bed to go to but had to sleep by the fireside in the ashes. Because of that, she always looked dusty and dirty, and they called her Cinderella. It happened that the father was once going to the fair, and he asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them. “Beautiful dresses,” said one. “Pearls and jewels,” said the second. “And you, Cinderella,” he said, “what will you have?” “Father, break off for me the first branch that knocks against your hat on your way home.” So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls, and jewels for his two stepdaughters, and on his way home, as he was riding through a green thicket, a hazel twig brushed against him and knocked off his hat. Then he broke off the branch and took it with him. When he reached home, he gave his stepdaughters the things they had wished for, and to Cinderella he gave the branch from the hazel bush. Cinderella thanked him, went to her mother’s grave, planted the branch on it, and wept so much that her tears fell on it and watered it. And it grew and became a handsome tree. Three times a day Cinderella went and sat beneath it, and wept and prayed, and a little white bird always came to the tree, and if Cinderella expressed a wish, the bird threw down to her what she had wished for.

It happened, however, that the King announced a festival that was to last three days, and to which all the beautiful young girls in the country were invited, so that his son might choose a bride. When the two stepsisters heard that they, too, were to appear among the guests, they were delighted. They called Cinderella and said, “Comb our hair for us, brush our shoes, and fasten our buckles, for we are going to the festival at the King’s palace.” Cinderella obeyed, but she wept, because she, too, would have liked to go with them to the dance, and she begged her stepmother to allow her to do so. “You go, Cinderella!” she said. “You are dusty and dirty, and you want to go to the festival? You have no clothes and shoes, and yet you want to dance!” As Cinderella went on asking, however, the stepmother at last said, “I have emptied a dish of lentils into the ashes for you. If you have picked them out again in two hours, you shall go with us.” The girl went through the back door into the garden and called, “You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me pick

“The good into the pot, / The bad into the crop.”

Then two white pigeons came in by the kitchen window, and afterward the turtledoves, and at last all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and crowding in and settled among the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick, and the rest began to pick, pick, pick, pick as well, and they gathered all the good grains into the dish. Before an hour had passed, they had finished, and all flew out again. Then the girl took the dish to her stepmother, glad and believing that now she would be allowed to go with them to the festival. But the stepmother said, “No, Cinderella, you have no clothes and you cannot dance; you would only be laughed at.” And as Cinderella wept at this, the stepmother said, “If you can pick two dishes of lentils out of the ashes for me in one hour, you shall go with us.” And she thought to herself, “She most certainly cannot do that.” When the stepmother had emptied the two dishes of lentils among the ashes, the girl went through the back door into the garden and cried, “You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds under heaven, come and help me pick

“The good into the pot, / The bad into the crop.”

Then two white pigeons came in by the kitchen window, and afterward the turtledoves, and at length all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and crowding in and settled among the ashes. The doves nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick, and the others began to pick, pick, pick, pick as well, and they gathered all the good seeds into the dishes, and before half an hour was over, they had already finished, and all flew out again. Then the girl carried the dishes to the stepmother and was delighted, and she believed that she might now go with them to the festival. But the stepmother said, “None of this will help you; you are not going with us, for you have no clothes and cannot dance. We would be ashamed of you!” With that, she turned her back on Cinderella and hurried away with her two proud daughters.

As no one was now at home, Cinderella went to her mother’s grave beneath the hazel tree and cried,

“Shiver and quiver, little tree, / Silver and gold throw down over me.”

Then the bird threw a gold and silver dress down to her, and slippers embroidered with silk and silver. She put on the dress quickly and went to the festival. Her stepsisters and the stepmother, however, did not recognize her and thought she must be a foreign princess, for she looked so beautiful in the golden dress. They never once thought of Cinderella and believed that she was sitting at home in the dirt, picking lentils out of the ashes. The prince went to meet her, took her by the hand, and danced with her. He would dance with no other girl and never let go of her hand, and if anyone else came to invite her, he said, “This is my partner.”

She danced until evening, and then she wanted to go home. But the King’s son said, “I will go with you and keep you company,” for he wished to find out whose daughter the beautiful girl was. She escaped from him, however, and sprang into the pigeon house. The King’s son waited until her father came, and then he told him that the stranger girl had leaped into the pigeon house. The old man thought, “Can it be Cinderella?” and they had to bring him an axe and a pickaxe so that he could chop the pigeon house to pieces, but no one was inside it. And when they got home, Cinderella lay in her dirty clothes among the ashes, and a dim little oil lamp was burning on the mantelpiece, for Cinderella had jumped quickly down from the back of the pigeon house and had run to the little hazel tree. There she had taken off her beautiful clothes and laid them on the grave, and the bird had taken them away again, and then she had placed herself in the kitchen among the ashes in her gray gown.

Next day, when the festival began again and her parents and the stepsisters had gone once more, Cinderella went to the hazel tree and said,

“Shiver and quiver, my little tree, / Silver and gold throw down over me.”

Then the bird threw down a much more beautiful dress than on the preceding day. And when Cinderella appeared at the festival in this dress, everyone was astonished at her beauty. The King’s son had waited until she came, and he instantly took her by the hand and danced with no one but her. When others came and invited her, he said, “She is my partner.” When evening came, she wished to leave, and the King’s son followed her, wanting to see into which house she went. But she sprang away from him and into the garden behind the house. In it stood a beautiful tall tree on which hung the most magnificent pears. She clambered so nimbly between the branches like a squirrel that the King’s son did not know where she had gone. He waited until her father came and said to him, “The stranger girl has escaped from me, and I believe she has climbed up the pear tree.” The father thought, “Can it be Cinderella?” and had an axe brought and cut the tree down, but no one was in it. And when they got into the kitchen, Cinderella lay there among the ashes, as usual, for she had jumped down on the other side of the tree, had taken the beautiful dress to the bird on the little hazel tree, and put on her gray gown.

On the third day, when the parents and sisters had gone away, Cinderella went once more to her mother’s grave and said to the little tree,

“Shiver and quiver, my little tree, / Silver and gold throw down over me.”

And now the bird threw down to her a dress that was more splendid and magnificent than any she had yet had, and the slippers were golden. And when she went to the festival in the dress, no one could speak in astonishment. The King’s son danced with her only, and if anyone invited her to dance, he said, “She is my partner.”

When evening came, Cinderella wished to leave, and the King’s son was anxious to go with her, but she escaped from him so quickly that he could not follow her. The King’s son had, however, used a trick: he had had the whole staircase smeared with pitch, and when she ran down, the girl’s left slipper stayed stuck there. The King’s son picked it up, and it was small and dainty, and all golden. Next morning he went with it to the father and said to him, “No one shall be my wife but she whose foot this golden slipper fits.” Then the two sisters were glad, for they had pretty feet. The eldest went with the shoe into her room and wanted to try it on, and her mother stood by. But she could not get her big toe into it, and the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, “Cut the toe off; when you are queen, you will have no more need to go on foot.” The girl cut the toe off, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the King’s son. Then he took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. They were obliged, however, to pass the grave, and there, on the hazel tree, sat the two pigeons, crying,

“Turn and peep, turn and peep, / There’s blood within the shoe, / The shoe is too small for her, / The true bride waits for you.”

Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was streaming from it. He turned his horse around and took the false bride home again and said she was not the true one and that the other sister was to put the shoe on. Then this one went into her room and got her toes safely into the shoe, but her heel was too large. So her mother gave her a knife and said, “Cut a bit off your heel; when you are queen, you will have no more need to go on foot.” The girl cut a bit off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the King’s son. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her, but when they passed by the hazel tree, two little pigeons sat on it and cried,

“Turn and peep, turn and peep, / There’s blood within the shoe, / The shoe is too small for her, / The true bride waits for you.”

He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe and how it had stained her white stocking. Then he turned his horse and took the false bride home again. “This one is not the right one either,” he said. “Do you have no other daughter?” “No,” said the man. “There is still a little stunted kitchen maid whom my late wife left behind her, but she cannot possibly be the bride.” The King’s son said he was to send her up to him, but the mother answered, “Oh, no, she is much too dirty; she cannot show herself!” He absolutely insisted on it, and Cinderella had to be called. She first washed her hands and face clean, and then she went and bowed down before the King’s son, who gave her the golden shoe. Then she seated herself on a stool, drew her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, which fitted like a glove. And when she rose and the King’s son looked at her face, he recognized the beautiful girl who had danced with him and cried, “That is the true bride!” The stepmother and the two sisters were terrified and became pale with rage; he, however, took Cinderella on his horse and rode away with her. As they passed by the hazel tree, the two white doves cried,

“Turn and peep, turn and peep, / No blood is in the shoe, / The shoe is not too small for her, / The true bride rides with you,”

and when they had cried that, the two came flying down and settled on Cinderella’s shoulders, one on the right, the other on the left, and remained sitting there.

When the wedding with the King’s son was to be celebrated, the two false sisters came, wanting to win favor with Cinderella and share her good fortune. When the engaged couple went to church, the elder was on the right side and the younger on the left, and the pigeons pecked out one eye of each of them. Afterward, as they came back, the elder was on the left and the younger on the right, and then the pigeons pecked out the other eye of each. And thus, for their wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness as long as they lived.